Lexus GX Tech Review: We Have Some Questions

• We've lived with our One-Year Road Test Lexus GX for about 11 months now.
• Our team has outlined its hits and misses.
• And its tech is one of the areas we think needs improvement.

Phone projection is good

Apple CarPlay looks great on this screen and it loads quickly when used wirelessly. We didn't experience any significant lag, but on two separate occasions, an error occurred that made the "A" key on the maps app stop working. About as random as it gets, we know. Otherwise, it has worked as expected. 

The adaptive cruise control is also fine. It's not the best of these systems, especially those that offer hands-free driving at highway speeds, but it does a fine job keeping within a set distance of the car in front of you. Some of these systems can be too conservative, but we haven't found that to be the case on the GX. 

Blind-spot warning is annoying

Adaptive cruise control and the surround-view and off-road camera systems are among the driver aids we can compliment on the GX. But others could use improvement. Let's start with blind-spot warning, a feature that is often the source of quiet swearing at the vehicle while driving. 

We love the little light that indicates there's a vehicle in the blind spot. It's a great piece of technology that is now ubiquitous. You can glance at your mirror and have an immediate visual cue telling you to take a second look before merging into another lane. That's great. 

The beeping? It's constant. If you are not a sociopath, you use your turn signal. Even better, you don't use your turn signal after changing the input on your steering wheel. Best of all, you use your turn signal to, gasp, alert other drivers that you'd like to make a lane change. 

But many modern blind-spot warning systems start screeching at you if you turn on your turn signal to move into an occupied lane. So your choices are: Swear at it every time it happens, wait until the lane is clear to turn on your signal, or don't use the signal at all. That second option often isn't actually an option on a crowded highway, and the third option is rude and dangerous. So that leaves us with perpetual frustration. 

Cross-traffic warning is pointless

It's easy to understand the intention of this tech, but in practice, it's not exactly helpful. If you're at a stop sign attempting to make a left onto a highway, it could be helpful for the vehicle to let me know if there's cross traffic to look out for. Here's how it actually works: When sitting at a stoplight, arrows appear on the head-up display indicating that there are cars driving past you. If you're "too close" to those vehicles, it starts to beep. 

We have a general rule that a car shouldn't beep for no reason at all, and the Lexus (unfortunately) falls victim to this. It can also offer helpful warnings, but far too often they appear for nothing.

Screen climate controls aren't great

This is a truck that dreams of off-roading and you're going to put all the climate controls on the touchscreen? Stop it. Get some help. 

It's bad enough that the heated/cooled seat controls (along with the steering wheel warmer) are touchscreen-only features. But it's worse that it defaults to an "auto" system that has all the nuance of a personal injury lawyer ad. Just let me choose how red or blue I want my hands and butt to be, OK? And please give us a physical button to do it with. You've got space. 

What's the point of the cool box?

Our Lexus GX came equipped with a "cool box" that doubles as the center console storage area. You can fit a normal single-use water bottle in there, and maybe one of those big Gatorade bottles you get from the gas station. But you're not going to fit a standard water bottle in there, and it's frowned upon to throw a couple of beers inside. 

But even if it wasn't frowned upon, you'd only be able to fit a couple 12-ounce cans. So, what is this for? The handful of Uber Black drivers that keep those tiny water bottles on hand for passengers? 

This is a problem with the Lexus GX that we identified in our model review. It's a truck that at once wants to maintain its off-road capability while delivering a luxury experience. It's certainly done the first bit. But this does not feel like a luxury car; it certainly doesn't feel like a luxury car that costs more than $70,000. 

There's a distinct lack of refinement throughout the GX. Some of those ways are understandable; it's a truck with four-wheel drive and big all-terrain tires. But there's no good excuse for what's happening in the cabin. If you took out the Lexus badging, you'd be forgiven for thinking you were inside a Toyota. That's a huge problem for this vehicle and, ultimately, for Lexus as a brand.