Coolest trim of Lexus GX 550 starts under $70K

Lexus has revealed the pricing for its all-new 2024 GX 550, one of a few new SUVs we’re eagerly anticipating for next year. The 2024 GX will be offered in six trims: Premium, Premium+, Luxury, Luxury+, Overtrail, and Overtrail+. (If you’d like to argue that Lexus is actually offering three trims and ritzier versions of each, feel free to light up the comment line below.)

Factoring in a $1350 destination fee, the pricing walk for the first four levels of the 2024 GX is as follows: GX 550 Premium, $64,250; GX 550 Premium+, $69,250; GX 550 Luxury, $77,250; and GX 550 Luxury+, $81,250.

The most interesting versions of the GX, the Overtrail and Overtrail+ trims, are new to the GX lineup and aim to make the SUV more off-road-ready right from the factory. For the regular Overtrail, you’re looking at $69,250, or roughly the same as the GX 550 Premium+. The Overtrail+, meanwhile, will run you $77,250, just like the GX 550 Luxury. Kudos to Lexus’ product planners for not making the most interesting variant of the GX also the priciest.

Those Overtrail models are the ones you’ve probably seen in photographs the most—what does your money gets you there? Overtrail models get three significant mechanical upgrades for off-road worthiness over the other GX trims, starting with chunky 33-inch tires wrapping 18-inch wheels installed right from the get-go.

These trims also get an electronically controlled version of Lexus and Toyota’s Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System (E-KDSS) which locks and unlocks the front and rear stabilizer bars depending on the speeds you’re traveling to increase wheel articulation. On the road, E-KDSS will keep the bars locked, making the car more steady through turns. Off-road, at slow crawling speeds, the system will unlock the bars to add wheel articulation, helping you keep your rubber in contact with the ground.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, these trims get an electronically locking rear differential. (The only way to get the e-locker is on one of the the Overtrail trims.) All 2024 GX 550s will feature a full-time four-wheel-drive system with a Torsen limited-slip locking center differential and a two-speed electronic transfer case, but that rear locker is a big leg up for tricky terrain.

Overtrail models also get other “gloverlanding” (glamping + overlanding—we’re rolling with it) niceties such as standard windshield wiper de-icers and headlamp washers, as well as Lexus’ Multi-Terrain Select drivetrain programming which can help manage throttle input, braking, and suspension controls to make safe passage through gnarly trails a bit easier.

Upon launch early next year, Lexus will offer just one powertrain for the GX: a 3.4-liter twin-turbo V-6. The engine will be good for 349 hp and 479 lb-ft of torque, massive improvements over the 4.6-liter V-8-powered of the outgoing GX, which could only manage 301 hp and 329 lb-ft of torque.

More interestingly, perhaps, is the prospect of a hybrid version, which Lexus says will arrive later. Expect that one to crib a decent amount of its hybrid tech from Toyota’s i-Force MAX system that’s found in the upper trims of the new Tundra. The previous GX had an F-Sport trim, which often came with racier styling and a much more road-focused presence; perhaps the hybrid will usher in the return of that line? Time will tell. For now, we’re dreaming of overlanding this beast.

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