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2025 Lexus LX 700h First Drive Review: Hybrid High Life
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Mar 29, 2025
The Lexus LX has been the brand’s go-anywhere SUV flagship for years, and most recently came in for a new generation back in 2022. There’s just been one thing missing, something Lexus (and Toyota) are renowned for: a hybrid powertrain. Well that’s fixed with this, the 2025 Lexus LX 700h. The most powerful LX ever also has a round of tech and safety upgrades, along with a new Overtrail trim that’s sure to please those wanting to take the pinnacle of Lexus luxury very far off the beaten path.
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The Lexus LX has been the brand's go-anywhere flagship SUV for a few years now, with this
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most recent generation debuting in 2022. There's just been one thing missing, something that Lexus
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and Toyota for that matter, are renowned for, a hybrid powertrain. Well, that all changes with
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this, the 2025 LX700H. The most powerful LX ever also gets some safety and tech upgrades
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plus a whole new overtrail trim. So we're here in Napa Valley to drive the whole lineup
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and see what it's all about. Come along. now the lx 700h has the hydraulic height adjustable suspension that many lx models have had previous
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generations and this current one and it has a few different settings for this layout right now with
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the over trail now on the highway over 60 miles per hour or if you want to set it for when you're
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parking and getting in and out it can drop about an inch below the standard ride height so it makes
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it easier for access and well it's better for aerodynamics on the highway then you can raise it
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to different levels and the top one gives you about two inches additional ground clearance
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when you're in four high like i am right now switch over to four low however and you can
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unlock an additional two inches so you're left with four inches more than the standard ride height
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just to help you get over some additional obstacles and as lexis explained there is a secret
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level to unlock there isn't a code you have to enter it's just if it is in for low and crawl
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control it's in the most aggressive off-roading setting and the lx is finding that it still isn't
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clearing a specific obstacle, it will actually raise an additional half inch or three quarters
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inches just to try and clear that. It's called rescue mode. And well, I guess we'll see if we
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actually have to use that. You know, it's funny doing this sort of angle. It feels like I'm going
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to fall over but the LX is just taking it in stride. That's what's so impressive about this
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thing. It is a big luxurious vehicle and yet when I'm off-roading it's so capable. It makes everything
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seem easy. Right now I'm just in four low too. I don't even have any of the drive modes selected
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or tailored for this. I haven't used the center locker or the front or rear lockers. Fun fact
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this is one of the few vehicles left on sale today that still has triple lockers. One of the nice
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things about switching over to different drive modes too if you're using multi-trans select is
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it will adapt the other assists like traction control, things like that, all on its own depending
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on the mode It not turning them off fully If you for whatever reason have to do an emergency stop it will kick on all the typical assists it just making sure that you getting the most out of things so if you in say a sand
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mode it's allowing a little bit more wheel spin right so very easy very uh user-friendly
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oh yeah that climbs like it isn't a problem and then we just come down and go up over this do some fun little yumps
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came down a little strong there
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all right now we're heading over a bunch of rocks just a whole lot and again i only have
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the center locker on i haven't even switched on the front and rears yet
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again is this the most extreme trail no but the lx is doing it so easily and now we're just going
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over some uneven little leftover bits of tree yep just crawling right over easy so easy
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now I actually drove a regular gas lx 600 pretty recently for comparison you can check that out in
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the description down below but this is basically the same from behind the wheel there's not a lot
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different. There is a fully digital instrument cluster, which makes sense because everything in
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this class has that now. The only obvious tell that you're in the hybrid is that there is now
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a shift-by-wire little electric shifter, just like there is in most every modern Lexus, and that's
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kind of a necessity for the new adaptive, sorry, not adaptive, the new advanced parking assist
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that needs to be able to shift into reverse and drive without the driver's interaction
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and thus we switch it does feel a little uh a little insignificant with the general heft of the lx i like the old shifter but there's no
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arguing with progress what i find so fascinating about the lx is that because this is a flagship
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It just throws any amount of technology it can at fighting the laws of physics
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This is a big, boxy, heavy SUV, and yet it drives really nicely
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Now that adaptive variable suspension, take that as an example. It has over 650 variations of rebound and compression that it can pick and choose from
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depending on the situation, to ensure that the LX is riding as smoothly and as capably as it can
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One interesting aspect of the powertrain for this 700h is that it isn't just a full transfer over
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from the Sequoia, which is related. Now, it does have largely similar specs, 457 horsepower, 583
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pound of torque Lexus has added some additional things to address what it thinks are durability requirements So for the first time on a Lexus Hybrid there is a physical starter as well as an alternator
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Now those are there in case you're far out in the field, no reception, nothing nearby
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and for whatever reason maybe the hybrid system has an issue. Well, with those two pieces, you can still drive this just like a regular LX600
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The hybrid stuff can just be bypassed if it's not working properly. That's a thoughtful touch
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It's not necessary, but Lexus deemed it an appropriate upgrade for what it thinks people will use this for
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Of course, there are other benefits to getting the hybrid powertrain as well
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You get a 2400 watt outlet out back so you can power all sorts of things for your overlanding glamping experience
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Alright, now we are on a different sort of route. This is the very winding road that is taking us from the off-road to our next destination
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and it's probably the least appropriate place you'd expect for an LX. But guess what? The LX is
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worthy of its flagship title here too. It's predictable. It's easy to place on the road
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I have pretty clear sight lines up ahead. What makes it so maneuverable off-road, which is
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yeah, these tidy dimensions, make it pretty good on-road too. Yes, Lexus has very stubbornly stuck
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to its golden ratio of wheelbase, which means that the third row is really tiny, probably the
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worst in the segment, and that's a trade-off you're going to have to make. Now, I'm not going to pretend
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that the LX is fun on these sorts of roads. It's fun in a sort of ridiculous sense, like watching
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an elephant ride a unicycle, but it behaves itself, and because this is the overtrail and it's riding on
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squidgy 18-inch all-terrain tires, it just still rides really nicely too. I'll just switch this over
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to sport mode right now, like that. And sport mode doesn't add any more horsepower, but what it does
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do is just perks up the electric portion of the powertrain. It gets into the game a little earlier
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on, provides more torque fill, more of the time, and it just really makes this pretty darn athletic
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This is a very snaky road and the LX700H is just taking it in stride
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Now this is the F-Sport handling model so it's the most road biased model
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It has the big wheels. It should have a harsher ride than the over trail
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And maybe it has a little bit more of an edge when you're hitting the bumps but otherwise
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It feels just as composed and smooth as that model does. The transmission's really good. It knows exactly which gear it needs to be in
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There's no shuffling around for gears like some other 10 speeds on the market
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It's really hard to put a foot wrong in the LX. This is a very undulating uneven surface and I just carrying the same speed across all of it It just soaks up bumps maintains its original path It is much more calm and collected than I expected it to be on a road that is definitely more LC than LX
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Now Lexus likes to point out that this is actually the only Lexus model with both an
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overtrail and F-Sport handling trim. Now that's because there's only one other overtrail for now
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And an F-Sport handling LX always seems kind of silly in my mind, right
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Like, that's not what this vehicle is about. But if you're being honest about what you truly want in your particular SUV niche
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maybe you want the biggest, most luxurious Lexus SUV you can get
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but you're not really going to take it off-road? well then you get the S-Sport handling
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so if we want to get super fancy i mean over 140 000 american fancy then you have to get the ultra
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luxury which for 2025 is only available as the 700h thankfully i can move this seat out of the way
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so that i actually have some room to relax how about we really get relaxed so i'm just gonna
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let this take me and i would like my footrest now please there we go that's the stuff it's been a
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real hard day here in napa so oh look at that there's also vents in the ceilings there's also
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a wireless phone charger down here which isn't new for the ultra luxury but what is new is that
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Jeeves up there actually gets one too if you spec this. So that's good
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At least both of your phones are going to be fully charged. I don't know if that comes through on my microphone
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but you can actually hear the air coming through. Kind of sounds like a VCR rewinding off in the distance
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Now look, the hybrid setup doesn't fix all of the LX's problems. It still has the worst third
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row in this segment, and honestly, the fuel economy improvements aren't that great. But the added
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muscle is really appreciated both on and off-road, and the overtrail is genuinely excellent at the
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latter. Seriously, I can count on one hand the number of off-road vehicles that come with triple
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lockers from the factory these days. Can a GX do most of what the LX can? Yeah, sure. But the LX
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isn't about most, it's about the select few. If you want the best of everything that Lexus can offer
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the best interior, the best off-road ability, well, this LX700H is the one for you
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