Disclaimer:
I have searched both this forum and the general internet, without finding the answers I am looking for.
I decided that a focused question might be a good idea.

I have a '23 GX460.

There are a number of things that the car lets you configure or program, but there are other things that I'd like to adjust, and they appear to be beyond the access level available through the car's vegetainment center.


My research indicates that I can buy an OBD interface that will give me greater access to the computer system in the car, and more adjustment/configuration options, though it remains unclear just what we're talking about here.

I am also aware that I can buy sub-$100 units, and others that run into the thousands.
I neither want a cheap reader that doesn't do much, nor do I want a high end, professional mechanics tool, or the price tag that comes with it.

I am searching for a tool that will, as much as possible, let me configure whatever CAN be configured, short of genuinely hacking the actual system.
For anyone who gets the reference, what I am seeking is similar to Registry Hacking in Windows. I'm not looking to decompile the whole OS and re-write it to my specs.

As for price-point, I don't really have one in mind, though I'm certainly not going to spend multiple thousands of dollars. I suspect that I will need to spend multiple hundreds, and that's fine. That being said, I don't want anyone to limit their thoughts based on price. I'd rather know about something and choose not to buy it, than to not know at all.

Finally, I have no issues with an application that runs on a laptop. I'm certainly no expert, but I have used a laptop-to-OBD tool in the past.

-

So...
What particular tool does it sound like I am looking for?
Specific brand & model based suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

Here are the ‘22-‘23 vehicle customization settings

https://lexusgxor.com/_media/general:22_gx_lps_cst.pdf

I don’t recall offhand at the moment any ‘20+ owners using Techstream for customizations. OBD port changed starting in ‘20 and lost a pin or two.. and it would appear previous ease of customization was deprecated

You might want to reach out to Carista to see if they support customizations on ‘20+ models

https://carista.com/en/supported-cars/lexus/gx/2nd-gen

 

That's a handy PDF, thank you.

I took a quick look at the Carista page, and I'll need to take a more in depth look later.
Judging by what I saw on my first read-through, it doesn't look like it gets into some of the areas I want it to, but I suppose that's going to be a common factor across multiple products.

One of the things I want to do, which I may not be able to, is to modify the shift behavior while in non-adaptive cruise control.
I am glad that my GX doesn't apply the brakes when going downhill with the cruise on, but I'd like it even more if it didn't downshift as my speed increases.

My previous car was a 2023 Grand Cherokee, which had MUCH more annoying behavior, but before that I had driven a 2008 Honda Pilot since, well... 2008.
On that car, when driving in hilly terrain, it would stop the speed from dropping BELOW the set-point, but it would make no attempt to slow the vehicle while it was free-wheeling down hill.
I could use the brakes any time I wanted of course, but in most situations I was content to let the speed fluctuate a few MPH. This also has the benefit of not throwing away velocity (energy), so I would pick up a little bit of free energy every time I rolled downhill.

Don't get me wrong...
Nobody with any sense buys a mid-sized or larger SUV because they want a mileage machine... I just prefer to be the one making the decisions while driving, not Skynet.

Thanks again for the information, and if anyone else has additional suggestions for software/hardware, I am all ears.

 

You will likely need a 3rd party tune to address CC behavior.

@MrTorgue Got a tune on his 460