Lexus GX 460 sport-ute pours on the luxury

A menu of Mark Glover’s AutoGlo car reviews can be seen on the Business page of The Sacramento Bee’s website – www.sacbee.com/news/business/article4005306.html

Sacramento, California – Last week’s review was about a sport-utility vehicle that surprised with all it had in it.  This week, I offer my take on the 2018 Lexus GX 460 Luxury, an SUV that you expect to have just about everything.

And it does.

It’s the automotive equivalent of ordering the filet mignon and two bottles of Dom Pérignon at the priciest restaurant in town. You expect the best.

Where to begin with this Lexus luxury liner?  How about the bottom line of $75,072 on the tester? So, now that we know where we stand there, let’s move on to the fuel mileage of 15 miles per gallon in the city and 18 mpg on the highway.  Yes, you’ll be paying a lot for gas.

Now that we’ve established that money is no object, let’s move on to the vehicle’s charms.

It’s loaded with so much luxury, so many safety features and so many over-the-top comfort and convenience perks that you feel like you’re driving the presidential suite of a five-star hotel.

Heated mahogany wood steering wheel? Check. Blind spot monitor with radar cross-traffic alert? Check. Intuitive parking assist? Check.  And on and on and on …

On the roll, it’s a dream, with the 4.6-liter, 301-horsepower V-8 seemingly laboring in silence as it smoothly propels the SUV down the road.  Volunteer passengers sat open-mouthed in the three-row configuration, with one rider asking if the GX 460 was operating in hybrid mode, so quiet was the ride.

The big SUV was easy to handle, although you have to mind your manners in tight city traffic.

It’s not hard to picture yourself gliding into the valet drop-off area of a mega-luxury resort in this vehicle…and feeling right at home among the Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover and Cadillac equivalents parked there.

My tester had the “Sport Design Package” that added a few visual, comfort and technology extras, but frankly, the GX 460 looks like a conservatively styled sport-ute upon first glance.  Conservative in a million-dollar sort of way, that is.

While the GX 460 is beyond my personal household budget, I will confess to lapping up every ounce of luxury in my week with the vehicle.  If you have the funds to make it yours over the long-term, color me green with envy.