Performance
Even if you like the looks inside and out — which many likely will — there is nothing endearing about the driving experience.
First there's the body-lean issue. When you take a highway off-ramp at speed — which the Consumer Reports’ test does — the GX leans at a significant angle. I don't recall experiencing a lean so extreme since I've been testing cars professionally, which includes most of the past decade.
If you're an attentive and safe driver, you should have no trouble navigating tight corners in the GX. But then you're still left with an anemic 301-horsepower V-8 engine that's saddled by all the weight mentioned above. Its power rating is nearly identical to the 300-hp V-6 MDX, but it's less fuel-efficient. The GX is rated at 15/20 mpg city/highway, while the MDX gets 16/21 mpg.
The GX lumbers down the highway and barely musters a grunt when passing other cars. Brake feel is soft and somewhat mushy, an attribute shared by many Lexus and Toyota models. In a large SUV, though, it's more unsettling.
While the high ride reminds me of driving a truck, the GX rides better than your typical pickup. Because of extensive work to make the GX off-road capable, however, it doesn't sail down the freeway like the larger LX, or like the MDX or Lincoln MKT. It's noisier at highway speeds, too, and takes bumps at slow speeds with more body motion than you'd expect. Again, this is something at which the Lexus LX excels.
To recap, the GX neither rides, accelerates, turns nor brakes very well.
See also:
Horn
To sound the horn, press on or
close to the mark.
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Engine/Transmission/Drivetrain/Performance
The GS gas luxury sport sedan comes in three models - GS 350 RWD, GS 350 AWD
and GS 460 RWD. Optimized for low internal friction, the GS 350's 3.5-liter V6
engine produces 303 horsepower at 6,200 ...
Fuel information
Your vehicle must use only unleaded gasoline.
Premium unleaded gasoline with an octane rating of 91 (Research Octane
Number 96) or higher required for optimum engine performance. If 91
octane canno ...