Dirt-road chic

Although the Lexus GX is already in its third generation, this is the first time it's made its appearance in South Africa. Cyril Klopper takes a closer look.

- 

The GX is based on the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado and has been available in South Africa since April this year.

The GX is the fifth addition to Lexus's X-range of off-road capable vehicles; the others are the compact UX, the midsize NX, the sleek RX and the full-size LX, which rubs shoulders with the Toyota Land Cruiser 300.

The GX is available in three trim levels: the Overtrail (R1 766 000), the Overtrail Bi-Tone with a black roof (R1 776 200), and the SE flagship model (R1 829 000), which places more emphasis on luxury than offroad ability.

What do we have here?

As mentioned, the GX is based on the Prado, but instead of a 2,8 & diesel engine and an eight-speed gearbox, the Lexus version gets a beefy 3,5 & V6 with twin turbos and 10 forward gears (from the Land Cruiser 300).