The 2022 Lexus LX 600 debuts with F Sport and Ultimate Luxury trims

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Lexus mid-October pulled the covers off of its range-topping premium off-roader, the fourth-generation 2022 LX 600, which the company says still boasts rough-and-rugged bona fides while also expanding toward the luxury and sport horizons.

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The big body-on-frame SUV shares its chassis with the just-released Toyota Tundra pickup, and its 3.5-liter twin-turbo V-6 is a sibling to that truck’s, too, making 409 hp and 479 lb-ft of torque in this application. It uses a 10-speed automatic and two-speed transfer case to send power to all four wheels.

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The rigidity of the above-mentioned GA-F platform is up, by 20 per cent; while weight is down, by 200 kg (441 lbs). The 112-inch wheelbase stays the same, as do the 25-degree approach, 23-degree breakover, and 20-degree departure angles from the prior gen.

All of which is to say the LX still does what it’s done best since its introduction in 1995: take its passengers off the pavement in style and comfort. Further to those ends, Lexus has improved its Active Height Control (AHC) – which adjusts ride height using hydraulics – and added Multi-Terrain Monitor and a low-speed Crawl Control mode — sort of like off-road cruise control. To better stay on top of all that, it’s also fitted the brand’s first dual-display instrument panel, with a 12.3-inch upper screen and 7-inch lower screen.

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If you want to crank up the “luxury” side of the dial, Lexus is introducing a new trim above the Standard, Premium, and Luxury grades: Ultra Luxury, which brings the fight to rival extremely-high-dollar off-roaders from the likes of Land Rover et al. The focus, here, is on the back-seat passengers, who get independent VIP seating in Ultra Luxury-exclusive chairs that can recline through 48 degrees; offer up to 43 inches of legroom; and work with a foot-rest built into the back of the forward seats. The whole package works to isolate occupants from any vibration or noise.

If you’re instead more concerned about on-road performance, Lexus is also doing up an F Sport LX for the first time. These seats are built to help the driver work against lateral Gs, which you might experience more intensely thanks to the trim’s “uniquely tuned standard front and rear performance dampers” and Torsen limited-slip diff. “Special tuning of the EPS [Electric Power Steering] and AVS [Adaptive Variable Suspension] offers performance-focused response and handling stability that only the F Sport can provide,” says Lexus.

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F Sport also comes with some styling enhancements, like 22-inch rims and a special mesh grille texture instead of the standard seven horizontal bars. Did we mention the grille? Yeah, it somehow got even bigger. We didn’t think that was possible, either. The styling in general sees some tweaking — Lexus says the LX 600 has a “stout torso” with sides that “portray a strong sense of unity and mass,” but we’ll let you parse the design language yourself. More objectively, we can point out new L-shaped head- and taillights, plus new Lexus badging and logos.

The pricing of the 2022 LX is still being kept under wraps by Lexus, but we do know we can expect the luxury SUV to go on sale early in 2022. The current 2021 LX 570 starts at $112,900 in Canada.