When you talk Lexus, you talk premium. And to be the cream of the crop of the premiums, you need to be something special. Lexus has a name for this elite class of vehicle: L.

The LS was built to showcase everything that Lexus represents. It even features active cruise control and a shiatsu massage function as standard.

Then there’s the LFA and who doesn’t know about the Lexus LFA. This was the Japanese brands chance to kick that little Nissan GTR in the teeth and prove to the world that Lexus could do speed as well as they could do comfort.

And today, a new member of the Royal family is reintroduced: the Lexus LX.

The luxury SUVs you already know are McDonalds R2-50 soft-serves to the Lexus LX’s Ben and Jerry’s R45 full tub.

There’s only one model of the LX coming to SA, but one is enough. The LX 570 5.7-litre V8 comes at the SE specification grade.

Inside 8 people can enjoy the SE luxury which includes electrically adjusted seats with built-in heating function for the driver and passenger, and reclining functionality with power slide for the second row of seats.

The centre console houses a full-colour multi-information touch sensitive TFT display screen giving access to the Multi-Terrain Select mode (MTS) with wheel angle display, full GPS HDD navigation with voice command and the Lexus-exclusive 19-speaker Mark Levinson sound system.

The LX does do offroad, although why would you do that, but in case you do there’s a 12V outlet in the back and 4 cameras all round to make sure you don’t drive off anything you shouldn’t. There’s also 3 TV screens inside for the bored kids picking fights with passing cars.

Outside Lexus are toting about their much bigger, more grand Spindle Grille design which is supposed to show us that they’re not just into luxury but also other bolder things like dust and sand.

The power for the LX comes from a massive V8 5.7-litre petrol engine that produces 270kw of power but a pretty decent 3.2 tonnes of towing capacity.

The car is in permanent 4WD and the safety features abound including 10 airbags, four-wheel disc brakes with a multi-terrain anti-lock braking system (ABS), brake assist (BA), electronic brake-force distribution (EBD), vehicle stability control (VSC), off road ready active traction control (A-TRAC), hill-start assist (HAC) and crawl control with turn assist.

Personally I prefer to drive my car myself, especially when off-roading, but the Lexus LX does it all for you.

Get it: www.lexus.co.za
For: R1 178 600