Almost as soon as I updated the roof rack on my 2017 Chevrolet Suburban with its new top hat from Baseline Overland, the Suburban started to have issues again. I have replaced the radiator and the coolant reservoir. And the Suburban developed yet another fuel injector issue. I have already replaced one fuel injector. With the cost of replacing all 7 of the injectors looming (~$3,600), I started to look for another vehicle.
Goodbye Suburban
I have enjoyed the Suburban. It had so much room on the inside. The kids were all spaced out. Most of them had outlets for either USBs or a 12-volt outlet. This truck has taken us to Colorado numerous times, 23 hours to Montana and back, and the panhandle of Florida. There is another concern with the Suburban. The torque converter in the transmission is known for giving out. It isn’t the IMS bearing on a 996 Porsche 911, but the repair prices are not that different. At 200,000+ miles, this was becoming more of a concern. I have a neighbor with a 2017 Sierra who replaced his transmission for $7,000.
I began to weigh my options. I thought about trying to find another Suburban. That’s a lie. It will be a long time before I look for another Suburban. I thought about another Sequoia, since my wife’s has been great for us. But I zeroed in on a Lexus GX460 pretty quickly. Before the Sequoia, my wife was driving a 2005 Toyota 4Runner V8 which she really liked. So the searched began for a GX.
Hello Lexus GX460
It didn’t take long to start zeroing in on a GX. There are a bunch of them listed for sale through CarMax, and many used examples on local dealer lots. I weighed the option of fixing the Suburban’s one fuel injector cheaply to try and get a better trade value. But what it really came down to was I drove the Suburban shuttering all the way to a dealer and test drove the GX. It immediately reminded me of what we loved about the 4Runner V8.
GX460 Interior
The GX interior is not that different from the Suburban. There are captain’s chairs in the 2nd row. The 3rd row only has two pop-up seats, so the GX fits a total of six people. We only let our youngest two kids sit in what we refer to as the “way, way back.” There is room for gear, baseball bat bags, chairs, and a wagon. But that only fits with the 3rd row laid down. The front row seats are cooled and heated, and the second row captain’s chairs are heated. The 3rd row goes up and down easily. I have “Go-Go Gadget” arms, so reaching the seats to pull them up and down is as close to a piece of cake as manually adjusted 3rd row seats can be.
The rear seat cupholders suck. They are located on the inside edges of the captain’s chairs. They were both broken when I purchased the truck. I haven’t found a 3D printed version for rear cupholders that improve on whatever complicated device Lexus devised.
The tech is tried and true. The Bluetooth works. I have never used the onboard navigation because smartphones exist. There are a couple of 12-volt outlets near the driver and front passenger. I purchased a RAM Mounts adhesive base for $20 and attached that above the infotainment system instead of drilling, screwing, and mounting a system that would have set me back a couple hundred bucks.
Yes, it holds my phone. And, yes, it won’t hold a tablet or a larger version of navigation equipment. It is a for-now solution. Partly because the GX does not have CarPlay or Android Auto, and partly because I do not need more distractions while driving. I installed it back in the fall, and so far, so good. There was one time that the heat had caused the adhesive to be a little loose with the phone’s weight. I added a little Gorilla glue to the back of the mount, and we have been good to go since then.
GX460 Driving Impressions
The GX has been everything that I wanted it to be on and off-road. The family schedule has been insane since purchasing the GX, with all four kids playing a sport each season, and getting away has been harder and harder. I was able to break away one Sunday with a couple of the kids to experience a section of the Flint Hills Adventure Trail. We picked up the trail section that heads north out of Emporia, Kansas, and made our way along the route to get up to Manhattan, Kansas.
This is where I started to fall in love with the GX. The KDSS suspension soaked up the majority of the rough riding sections of dirt and gravel roads. There were some sections where the roads were smooth enough to accelerate across areas with great visibility.
The only modification that I have made to the GX is adding a set of BFGoodrich Trail Terrain tires. Our trip around the dirt and gravel of the Flint Hills showed exactly why I went with them. The majority of the GX’s driving will be on road, around town, and even downtown. The all wheel drive system and the Trail Terrains were great on this trip. They were amazing during the last winter too. As great as the GX was playing in the Flint Hills, it was amazing in the snow and ice this last winter.
It should be stated that the couple of times I’ve had the GX downtown, it has excelled there as well. It fits in all of the parking garages, even the wonky ones with their crazy low ceilings. The all-wheel-drive system and the 4.6L V8 have all the power and torque to blip the throttle for those quick, aggressive lane changes that are practically required while driving in city traffic.
Not the Perfect Vehicle Solution
The GX is not a perfect vehicle for our family, but it does 95% of what we need it to do. The only thing it doesn’t do well is fit all six of us for long road trips with luggage. I’m probably overestimating the 5%, it is closer to 2% of our family usage for vehicles. The Sequoia handles that for us with a Yakima SkyBox cargo carrier on top. The kids only complained on a Thanksgiving road trip to the Colorado Rockies that they no longer had access to the Suburban’s onboard WiFi. I did hotspot my phone for the kids who didn’t have access to cellular data.
Lexus Maintenance
This is where I was concerned. How much more? How bad would it be? It’s close to 15% more to get an oil change for the GX than it was for the Suburban. There is an upside, though. I now get to attend my oil changes in the Lexus dealer’s customer lounge with the snacks, drinks, and a perfumed, climate-controlled environment. The first time that I took the GX in for an oil change, the dealer did an extensive inspection since it had never been to them before. The inspection did not turn up any trouble spots currently, and I’m looking forward to taking it back for its next oil change. Just to be in that calm, perfumed air conditioning again. I’m headed out for a drive to put some more miles on the GX to speed that process up.
Moving Forward
Swapping the Suburban for the GX460 wasn’t easy. But repair bills were mounting. The GX handles dirt roads and city streets with ease. The V8 and KDSS suspension smooth out every bump, and heated leather seats keep everyone comfortable. No more worrying about torque converters or injectors—just the peace of mind that comes with Lexus reliability and routine oil changes. It won’t haul six kids and luggage like the Suburban, but for daily drives and weekend escapes, the GX460 is exactly what we need. I can’t wait to see where it takes us next.