jacal

The biggest variable that I was unsure of when buying the LX was if it could complete the entire trip to my remote cottage property, door to door.

The road has been continuously improved over time, but the last half km or so is still difficult. Without ground clearance you will be scraping.

Maybe it's not a perfect test, as the snow might mask some of the irregularities. BUT I can say that the big lex made it in reasonably well. At this time of year the snow is very icy and granular, it provides very little traction - you cannot "push through" it and reach ground surface. So in a few spots I had to back up and use more skinny pedal and momentum than I want. I tried "crawl control" but it didn't do a good job in the condition and couldn't make forward progress. At the end, I drive through a small creek, but again, I had the traction and clearance I needed. I know these conditions well and am certain that the duratracs made a major contribution. I have chains from my 4Runner but did not have the time to test-fit them and so left them at home.

I was heavy footed on the trip out, but really took it easy on the return which netted me a 14.1 l/100 which means the 500km round trip required no stops. That was very important to me. I hope it doesn't change too much once I put on my roof rack.

I have some dashboard camera footage, but it does not adequately communicate the snow depth, the terrain variation, or the inclines. I will post at least 1 or 2 videos once I figure out how to remove the gps info in the lower rhs (I'm using windows 10 if you have any easy video editor suggestions).

I am very, very happy with this LX now. It has it's quirks, but I can get used to them. It does allot of things right that I need from time to time, in a slightly more compact package than the other "big utes" which also do not have the clearance, approach and departure I'm looking for.



Best,
John.

JDJackson

Congrats John on the test! I too am looking forward to using my LX other than the occasional mall trip. With the towing ability of this truck, it will be my go-to off-road exploring vehicle... since we will be camping on those outings and I do not see my wife going back to a tent! I am surprised that the crawl control did not operate as hoped. That is one function that I still want to try.

jacal

Yes JD I agree the towing capacity just begs for a test as well. I'm thinking about just renting a nice camper for a little get-away to see how it goes. Maybe something in the 5500-6000lb range to have lots of reserve.

I can't imagine the mpg under load tho.


J

JDJackson

Oh, I can... we have a Lance 2285, with the total weight being close to 5500lbs loaded. The LX tows it with aplomb! It is much better with this weight than our 100 series LC, that is for sure! Plus, with the AHC, it makes it even nicer! I usually run in 4th with the AHC in sport mode and we travel nicely... plus, having the cooler is nice for those longer trips! We are heading out tonight, in fact.

hankinid

Just for s & g's, we tried pulling a horse trailer with 2 horses that weighs about the same (weighed the same load on a feed scale up the road) and had no issues. 6-speed and a 3.90:1 axles do good work. I'd give the Land Cruiser about 80% in towing v. our normal tow truck which is a 3/4-ton Dodge with Cumins.

Have a great camping trip...weather should be perfect.

Steve

jacal

Great experiences - thanks guys.

Any concern / worry about the wheel base and towing? I live in the flattest place imaginable (mostly anyway - the Prairies in central Canada) but it can get extremely windy.

Great feedback and direct comparo LC to HD truck.



JG

hankinid

Apples / Oranges

I don't think you ever wish for shorter wheelbase unless you're towing slowly up a curvy 1-lane road in nowhere land.

I'm in a very windy area, and the trailer is not as steady in the cruiser as it would be in the Dodge. That said, the Dodge is a crew cab with a long bed. I can't close the garage door when I work on her. Not to mention she's a bit challenging on tight USFS roads. Although we normally don't tow horses in the winter, if we had to we'd take the cruiser. A large truck, even with 4wd, can get interesting when it's icy.

You've got a hard choice.

JDJackson

Guys - Had a great trip out this weekend. I'll have to get some pics up off my phone later, once I get my USB cable.

We hit snow... and hit it again, busting though to try and get to our regular camp spot, up in the mountains along Hells Canyon, which follows the borders of Idaho and Oregon.

I did not know this, but when we were struggling through some of the deeper snow, my LX automatically moved to the High position, giving me more clearance. I never knew that it would sense and move up from the Normal position, but it did! We still did not get much further, as the snow became increasingly deep and a lot less patchy. Overall, it was great though!

I'm still amazed at how well this tows our trailer too. It did a great job!

hankinid

Congratulations...even more so with pulling the trailer.

I'm not sure when the lift feature with slippage was added, It could have started with the LX 450. Our ''01 has the feature.

U-tube has a bunch of short LX and Cruiser videos produced by Toyota showing off-road capabilities of the 200 series...amazing stuff.

Welcome home. I was towing a 4-ton trailer off-road for most of the weekend. Loaded trailer weight was around 6 tons. I didn't get out of town, just drove up and down my back yard at 5 mph on a large orange tow vehicle (Kubota, not Lexus) weighing about 4 tons spreading fertilizer. No slippage was encountered.

It's springtime and the start of the agricultural season at my house.
Steve