October 2023 was a busy month for me, I drove from Texas to Raceway Laguna Seca in my trusty 2008 Honda Fit, sitting in a fixed back Racetech seat, for a Gridlife Festival Weekend.
Upon arriving home my back was NOT happy.. and so I came to realize that after years of getting away with crappy Honda Fits.. it was time to get serious about having a tow vehicle at my disposal.
So, after years of thinking about trucks and having access to a tow vehicle, it was time to get serious about having one.
I've been a fan of the Lexus GX for years. I've been following the GXOR community since mid 2017, and after getting my parents a used 2010 RX450h in 2019, Lexus has been on my mind a lot more since that time.
my GF, SWMBO had told me over the years we'd been dating that her one "must have" in the next car would be seat coolers. She really wanted a car with them, and so that was always in the back of my mind, and it plays a pivotal part in my purchasing a GX460.
In early 2023 and, I became infatuated with the Ineos Grennadier and the new LR Defender. This really pushed the idea of owning not just a tow vehicle, but a 4x4 and overland vehicle. Ultiamtely pricing did in either of those options as I just couldn't afford them. So I did research on other 4x4s and pickups over the summer. What I ultimately came to realize is that pickups are horribly expensive, and also they're just MASSIVE. You're paying comparable money for a significantly less nice vehicle than a Lexus. Prior to my trip to california, I had also been looking at LS430s online, thinking about just having a more comfortable car for normal use, and something more... old man.. to offset the hotboi nature of my Fit. after tabling the idea of a truck because they were just expensive, not all that nice inside for reasonable money, and not very fuel efficient.
I ultimately came to realize that unless I was willing to drop more than $30k, I was looking at fuel mileage in the teens on the fwy, regardless of what kind of truck I picked. So I ended up back at the Lexus GX and even roped in the Land Cruiser 100 and 200 series. Ultimately crap fuel mileage did in the 100 series and the 200 series are neat, but expensive ending up back in the high $20-30k range for something you'd actually wanna own, with still a TON of miles on it. So I went back to the Lexus GX.
The GX market has been NUTTY since covid hit, with interest in overlanding being at an all time high. But prices started dipping in the fall with dealers trying to sell out the last of their brand new GX460 inventory and the rest of the GX460 market followed. GX470s have since gone down in price and are now mostly cheaper than 460s, but the 470 market is completely disconnected from a normal form of reality IMHO, so I decided to take the 470 off the table, this was also helped by one thing... the GX470 never offered cooled seats.. The ES and LS Lexus of the time did offer cooled seats, but the GX470 didn't, I learned this around the time I was shopping LS430s an briefly ES's
I did also learn that there was an RX350 sold/available with a tow package that could pull 4k pounds. Ultimately I pulled this off the table as it meant that I was stuck with using a dolly to pull the fits around.
So now we're back to the GX460... How did I come to decide this was a good fit for my needs?
Fuel economy
The GX460 is rated for 20 MPG freeway, this is comparable to the 4 Runner while making 10% more HP, having 2 more CYL... and 20% more torque.
it does require premium, but at 20 mpg, the cost per mile is close enough to the 17 mpg trucks, that it's really not a concern, and I got the range benefits of a 20+ gallon tank at 20 mpg.
Size
it's no Honda Fit.. but the height of the GX460 makes it seem larger than it is...
SUVS are tall, but while the GX460 looks enormous because it is very boxy and square in the back end, it's actually almost the size of a 2017+ Toyota Camry.
The GX460 is a few inches wider in the body than a Camry, but my 2013 GX460 is actually SHORTER by about a half inch, than a 2017 camry.
the GX460 is 10 inches shorter than a new Ford Maverick as well.
This combined with radar sensors and power folding mirrors mean the GX460 is actually easier to park in ticket spaces than SWMBO 2017 Camry.
Features Modern or Upgrade path
#1 thing on the list was cooled seats. almost every GX460 has them as standard and they work pretty well.
The infotainment could be upgraded using the beatsonic system to have android auto and apple carplay.
Fairly easy to find older models with rear air springs, and air springs are reasonable cost to replace. great for towing
Capable of pulling up to 6500lbs with a weight distributing hitch.
Full time 4WD, so don't have to deal with RWD traction problems
Dead nuts reliable interior electronics.
Ok, so we've decided we want to buy a GX460.. now.. what do we need to know about buying a used GX460?
I'll be updating my GX460 buyers guide in the trucks forum to cover that.
But the big 3 items are:
Valley Plate Coolant leaks
Transmission service history
Overall Vehicle service history
* more updates to come *
Nice rig! And interesting popcorn sky!
clutchsmoke said:
Nice rig! And interesting popcorn sky!
thanks! certainly an intersting cloud cover that day.
also I'ev made updates to the Thread Launch post to cover more details of how I decided to buy a GX460.
So one of the things I went back and forth about was the fuel economy of trucks..
it was killing me inside knowing I was throwing away my days of solid fuel economy..
but after doing more research I realized that the LS430 I was also looking at.. didn't really do all that much better.
I realized that by taking a 10-12% fuel economy penalty over a LS430... I would gain, overland capability and the ability to tow up to 6500lbs and 7 seats in a pinch.
where if I bought a used LS430.. it was still just a car.. a comfy one.. but just a car.
buying the GX got me far more usability for not much worse fuel economy.
So that shifted my search towards the GX, and after realizing the lack of cooled seats on the GX470, and honestly just not loving how old and frankly.. overpriced.. they are.. I went and dove into the GX460 market.
So the process of purchasing the GX did not go as I planned....
I was looking and looking at the market as one does on aggregator websites...and I saw a solid looking GX460 at a nearby Lexus dealer and so I decided to go test drive it because I hadn't driven one yet.
Well that turned into me liking it, the pricing, and the extensive service and maintenance history.. so I opted to buy that GX460..
After signing that I would indeed buy the GX... I realized.. I have in no way shape or form informed my GF that I was doing this... i literaly told her I was going to go take a test drive.
so upon hearing that I'm buying a GX.. SWMBO starts having a panic attack thinking I bought a new one and blew $60k.
then when told I spent under $20k.. her blood pressure slowly came down and she then wondered what POS I had bought.
upon arriving at the dealership and seeing the vehicle, she realized it had cooled seats...
immediately I went from in the doghouse.............. to on her good side.
driving around later that evening she made it known that I had made a good purchase that she the passenger princess approved of, and I was officially off the hook.
Day 2 of ownership was a fun one, SWMBO and I drove the GX up to Austin to go see some friends and hang out at an autocross. well the weather went to absolute crap on the drive up... and we arrived to rain and cold and just ugly weather.
That turned into a couple cars getting stuck up to their front axles in the mud.
So GX460 was the only truck not attached to a trailer at the event.. so it got called into action to help pull cars out of the mud.
After that, the ownership has been fairly mundane..
I did purchase an extended powertrain warranty from Lexus at the time of sale.
a month into owning the truck I noticed some odd behavoir and thought it was worth taking it to the dealer over.
Over the course of 5 months the truck made 3 visits to the dealer for these driveability issues.
we could never get the truck to present a code, and Lexus could never duplicate my concerns, they were always too sporatic to get them to happen at the dealership.
But Lexus and the dealership stepped up...
Visit #1 they threw a carbon service at the truck to try and improve driveability.. no major change.. but on their dime.. not going to complain.
Side Quest: at 5k Miles of ownership, I had the oil changed and a dealer in Chicago did a drain and fill of the transmission.
the following week the truck got to see some real proper snow for the first time in its life... and I became a BIG believer in full time 4WD systems.
The standing outside temp when this photo was taken was -15F IIRC.
In February I helped a buddy drag his car and trailer home from the track after his tow vehicle transmission crapped out when he drove it home Friday night.
Visit #2 to the local dealership was in February for torque converter shudder under low throttle. Dealer couldn't duplicate, but put me in a loaner for 3 days, so no harm there.
Visit #3 Then after 10k miles, in May I had been feeling some extra vibrations, so when i dropped the truck off for oil changes and diff services, I asked them to look over the driveline and I explained that the torque converter shudder we'd been trying to nail for 3 months had continued and actually presented itself that morning.
well Lexus took that info and turned vibration concerns into .. putting Motor mounts and a trans mount in the truck.. on their dime!
they also found an oil leak not covered under warranty, and told me the battery was caput, but since they installed it originally 3 years prior, and Lexus warrantied them for 7 years, they worked out putting in a new one with a 7 year warranty again for less than a replacement battery at Costco would have run me.. so another win there!
Then.. the week after I had the truck serviced.. SWMBO and I drove up to Chicago to see family.
Halfway through the 1k mile drive... it finally happened.
the truck threw a CEL, and pulling the code revealed a P2714 for a failed solenoid.
This happened right after I started the truck so having done some research on these before on the iH8MUD forum, i was aware that running the truck in sport mode manually through the gears was the best way to bypass this issue.
So I ran it through the gears to get up on the freeway and then put it into D once the truck had been running at temp for 30 minutes, and 500 trouble free miles to Chicago.... without cruise control.. which was mildly annoying.
Dropped the truck off to the same dealer I got an oil change and trans fluid exchange from in January.
they put me in a loaner for a week, and pulled the trans pan, found no excessive debris in the trans pan, so they put in just a solenoid and gave me the truck back.
Between the solenoid and the motor mounts.. the truck drives like it's brand new.. and it's got 190k miles on the clock.
Couldn't be happier!
This now bring us to present day!
So its been an awesome summer with the GX460..
it went to Detroit and back, with a side Trip to Road America for Gridlife Summer Apex.
4200 miles without a hiccup. The day before we left for detroit the passenger door lock started making a racket when unlocking. I bought a spare I've been keeping in the truck. we'll see how long it lasts, I changed the settings to have the truck unlock that door less.
now that we're in the fall the truck should see less use.
Truck got pressed into use as a camera position at Road America.
Then last weekend after months of not getting it handled, I finally got my 2009 fit off to a new home.
towed at 60-65 mph per the max 65 recommended by Lexus and my desire to get real MPG.
got 18+ mpg towing the 200+ miles to Houston.
