Lexus GX 550 Overtrail vs. Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro: Off-Road Comparison Test

This is a special video, and it's not just because we have two big, beefy off-road SUVs out here in the desert. It's because they both belong to us. That's right. It's double, double Toyota trouble for us in the Edmunds yearlong test fleet because we have added not only the finally new after 15 years Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro, but also the luxurious yet rugged Lexus GX550 Overtrail. And we thought what better way to introduce them to everyone than to go on an off-road adventure. We're going to check out their capabilities, see how fun they are from behind the wheel, and also discuss which one might be better for you to take home because even though one's a Toyota and the other one's a Lexus, they kind of cost the same. Now, even though these two SUVs have different badges on the front of them, they have a lot of similarities. Both share the same TNGA platform and even have the exact same length wheelbase. But where they differ philosophically is under the hood, because the Lexus, it's got a twin turbo V6 and the Toyota instead has a four-cylinder hybrid. Despite these widely different approaches under the hood, these two actually produce pretty similar raw power numbers. So we thought to ourselves, what better way to settle this than a good old-fashioned quarter-mile run on the dirt. Starting off here in the 4Runner TRD Pro, which is only available with that hybrid powertrain, a turbocharged four-cylinder, and an electric motor. We're going to run it in four-high with a multi-terrain select system in auto and no launch control. So I'm just going to brake torque at the line and we'll of course have the transmission in its sportier setting limited to third gear. We'll bump up to fourth if we need it. Let's see how she does. Put to the floor, just let it do its thing. Pretty good launch there, no spin off the line. Come on, there's 60, there's 75, 80, and across the line. Now it's time to see what the GX can do with two extra cylinders and one extra turbo under the hood. It's also got a 10-speed automatic transmission instead of the 8-speed found in the 4Runner, but we won't be using all of those gears. What we will be using are these paddle shifters, so we're going to put it in its manual shift mode, just like in the 4Runner MTS set to auto, four-wheel drive high, and we're going to send it. Oh, good launch there, no wheel spin. Come on, come on Lexus. Fourth gear, 88, 89, and across the line. Okay, so based on those results, it's a pretty big win for the GX. Faster to 60, faster in the quarter with a much higher trap speed. This engine, it just feels a lot more robust. Now I know the power numbers are a little bit similar, but its performance numbers, as we just saw, are much better in the GX. And when you're driving it around, the low-end torque output from this motor, it's absolutely fantastic. There's no contest here, the GX takes this one in a bit of a landslide. Now it's time to slow things down a little bit. We've set up a simulated trail course that contains many of the things that you might encounter when you have these out in the wild. So that means we've got a dirt road, we've got a little sand, we've got some whoops, and we've even got some rocks to crawl over. And we're going to see how each of these rigs handle those different environments. And we're not sure how they'll do, because even though we've had both of these vehicles in off-road videos before, they've taken on very different competition. The GX, it beat the Land Cruiser, and the 4Runner TRD Pro, it took on the Honda Passport Trailsport, which while it was impressive, it's no GX. Time to kick things off in the 4Runner. So we're going to start out at a bit lower speed on this section of our trail. It's a bit sandy, got some whoops to it, so let this thing bounce around a little bit. Now TRD Pro has Fox shocks underneath, under like the Trailhunter we had out here before. That was on Old Man Emus, and those are more set up for overlanding, they're a bit softer, and for rock crawling. The TRD Pros make this the desert running of the pair, and we're going to see how they do when we get going a little bit faster later. Now we have a little rock crawl section right here. The difference in ground clearance between these two vehicles is not that much, and neither is the difference between breakover and departure angles, but the approach angle, seven degrees different. And that means that when you're getting up on things in the 4Runner, you just have to worry about things a lot less. Now both of these vehicles have been on the Ziggurat over at Hungry Valley, and the 4Runner, it went up higher than the GX did, but more importantly, it was way easier to load in. I remember loading the GX, we actually scraped the nose of it on that bumper. No such problems in the 4Runner. Now with a name like Fox attached to those shocks, I definitely had higher expectations for how the 4Runner would ride off-road. When you're kind of just cruising along on a dirt road like this at lower speeds, it's just super busy all the time. It never really seems to settle in. And we actually checked, since these are manually adjustable shocks, they're actually right now in the softest setting. And before we checked them, I thought that maybe they were in the firmer setting because this thing just kind of bounces around everywhere. Even on a road like this, that's like a little bit washboardy, but shouldn't be that bad. You feel every rut. Here we go into the softer stuff. Multi-terrain select on this vehicle, same control that you're getting on the Lexus. And it's set in sand mode right now because I want to allow myself a little bit of slip. It actually handles these bigger impacts a lot better. And I also have a sneaking suspicion that with the Foxes, when we get going a little bit faster, it might actually perform a little bit better. All right, section here with some whoops. Yeah, these bigger impacts, the front is actually handling pretty well. They're compressing the fronts for sure, but the rebound is nice and I'm easily able to keep all four wheels down and get a bunch of traction so I can shoot out. Now this powertrain's responsiveness at low speed is actually pretty good. The electric motor really fills in the torque. So if you're going like maybe, I don't know, 10 to 15 miles an hour, you can sort of add on speed pretty quickly. It's just, it kind of runs out of breath when you're getting into the higher speed stuff, especially compared to the GX. Here we go. Let's get a little bit of speed here. Yeah, it actually settles in. The faster you're going, it actually feels better. And that kind of sticks with the TRD Pro's sort of desert running nature. It's just that, yeah, at lower speeds and even when you're on the road, leaves a lot to be desired. The other thing I got to mention too is the steering rack. A lot of turns lock to lock. You always feel like your hands are working if you're going through any turns like that. I wish that they would tighten up that just a little bit as well. Now let's see how the Lexus does. Same multi-terrain select system we have the 4Runner set to sand because I do want a little bit of slip as I'm going down the course. The big difference between these two rigs that we're going to notice out here is in the suspension. So those Fox shocks on the 4Runner, but here it's got what's called a KDSS up at the front. And what that is, is a kinetic dynamic suspension system. It's basically a fancy way to control the front stabilizer bar so you don't get the disconnecting front sway that you're getting in the 4Runner. Instead it's controlled hydraulically with a computer so it can make the ride stiff on the highway for comfort there and also make it loose off-road to give you articulation when you need it like here on these rocks. So we also get a bunch of camera views here which is good so I can see when I'm going over make sure I don't hit anything. I am a bit more careful because again this approach angle way down compared to the 4Runner so you're going to be careful with the nose as we're going around the course here. Now KDSS you can't clearly control how it behaves but I actually don't mind that because it does a really good job. Here on the slower stuff there is a giant difference in ride quality between the 4Runner and the GX. The GX just feels so much more composed and also I like the way that the steering is a bit more reactive as well. In the slow stuff there's no comparison you'd much much rather be in the Lexus. This part here in the 4Runner was kind of a breeze but here in the Lexus I definitely have to go slower because I'm worried about hanging up the nose on some of these bigger bumps. That's pretty good articulation there. All right let's speed things up a little bit. So now we're in the kind of whoopee slash washboard section and in the whoops here oh this is where you notice a difference with those Fox shocks. This suspension when it bottoms out it does so pretty aggressively. Those Fox shocks are nice because when you get close to bottoming them out they actually add more pressure in and so you don't actually hit the stops like you do on this thing and it's pretty violent when it comes off of a big bump. So right here we're coming to a big bump and you're going to see the nose of the thing really dip hard and bounce back up hard. Yeah more comfortable at lower speeds but in higher speeds with anything that bounces the Lexus kind of struggles a bit. I much much prefer the power delivery here though. More displacement, more cylinders, no electric boost but still you're just able to get the exact sort of power and torque you want out of this powertrain at all times. It really is fantastic. Yeah steering so much better. Big rooster. So yeah I think at lower speeds anything like that you're going to be more comfortable in the Lexus. It's that higher speed desert running stuff where the Toyota really shines but if you're not going to do any of that I think the GX is the one that you want to be in. It's also worth mentioning that on the road to the trail the GX holds a pronounced advantage over the 4Runner. It's quieter, has better steering and the KDSS does help it to ride much more comfortably. That isn't to say that it's great. There's a fair bit of tire noise and it can feel like a truck sometimes but up against the Toyota it's not a fair fight. We've now tested three varieties of the 4Runner hybrids, gas versions on all-terrain tires, on street tires and all of them are loud and the suspensions somehow feel too jiggly and too stiff all at the same time. Other vehicles with Fox shocks ride great on the road like the Ford F-150 or Ranger Raptor but the rear end of the 4Runner always feels like it's bouncing around and won't settle in. While we're out here we also wanted to take a closer look at the interior of these vehicles because an off-road drive often means spending a lot of time inside the car. Now these two vehicles same platform but they also vary widely in their interior approaches as you might guess. Now this 4Runner is basically a clone of the Tacoma dashboard, very different than the Land Cruiser, feels a lot more utilitarian. You have some good small item storage spaces like here but this center console it doesn't use its space very efficiently. Your wireless charging pad is here but it's kind of angled like this and the problem with that is that if you take a turn too hard your phone can actually slide right off of it. Now the center console might look big but we actually got this little lock box here which is good for having some secured storage but it really takes away the amount of small items that you can store. Now the TRD Pro's interior clearly built with off-roading in mind. I really like how rugged sort of everything feels this rubberized grab handle here for the passenger is really nice and down here next to the steering wheel you've got four pre-wired aux switches so if you want to add on lights or anything else you can do that easily and I also like that up here you get this little pop-out bluetooth speaker which you can connect your phone to and this will make your campsite just a little bit more lively. But the biggest problem that I have with the 4Runner's interior is its backseat space or lack thereof. This isn't a small vehicle it's a mid-sized SUV and the fact that an adult passenger who's anywhere close to six feet tall is going to suffer from a lack of legroom and headroom it's really not good. Oh and by the way you can also get the 4Runner the gas versions at least with an optional third row but as Emi found out don't do that. Look at this this is not appropriate for an actual adult human don't treat your friends like this just don't. Toyota's infotainment system it's fine this vehicle does suffer a little bit from that iPad tacked onto the dash syndrome but the display is big and it's easy to read. The problem that we have with the wireless android auto and apple carplay are here but they do have connectivity issues so sometimes when you get in you actually have to end up disconnecting your phone and reconnecting it to get them to work and the other problem is that to use the native navigation and voice commands in any audio streaming you're going to have to pay for a subscription and they require separate subscriptions for the streaming and for the navigation so you're actually gonna have to buy two of those. The Toyota Pro does have a pretty good surround view camera system with a few different views that are great on trails especially the one where it kind of looks like the hood is transparent so you can see exactly where the front wheels are going and the 4Runner also has a digital rear view mirror as an option something that the GX does not. The thing that I do like about the Toyota interior versus the Lexus though is physical climate control so right here big chunky knob for the temperature and you can adjust everything down here even the heated and ventilated seats without having to touch the screen at all and we're going to show you why this is better later on. As you might expect the interior of the GX is a step nicer than what you're getting in the Toyota and these front seats I would say they're also much more comfortable and the leather is just a bit nicer and on a longer drive you're definitely going to appreciate that. Now this interior does suffer from a lack of small item storage I would say you got less door pockets that you're getting in the 4Runner and this shelf here it's kind of a but it's also not that big as you can see my phone's there and it looks like it might fall out at any moment but there is one feature in here that I do like this center console is also tiny but that's because it doubles as a cooler and you can turn that on and keep whatever drink you want cold just for when you want it. Just like in the 4Runner the back seat of the GX is smaller than you would expect but there is a bit more leg room here however it doesn't have a household outlet for second row passengers like you're getting in the 4Runner. Now when you're buying a Lexus yes you're paying for Lexus luxury but you're not paying for really any difference in infotainment this is going to look familiar because it's basically the same system as a Toyota just re-skinned a little bit. Now this screen is also pretty large but it's not as usable and that's because those climate controls that I mentioned in the 4Runner the physical ones those have all been bumped up here into the screen something that we don't like because it's harder to use them without taking your eyes off the road and in this case as you can see they also just sort of shrink the area of the screen that you can use because they are persistent they never go away. Now you do get wireless android auto and apple carplay but the same connectivity issues that you're going to have in the other one and also the same problem of having to pay a data subscription to use the native navigation we really don't like that no matter what vehicle you're in. Now we're going to check out the cargo areas of these two vehicles because as we've been out here we've been taking gear in and out of them all day and we've noticed that there's actually a pretty big difference in how functional each space is even though on paper they have roughly the same amount of cargo room. TRD Pro comes with the hybrid powertrain and those batteries got to go somewhere so that means that this load floor is even higher than normal. Now we measure it from right here down to the ground and it's just over three feet and that means that if you're loading heavy things into it all day or if you're shorter you're going to have a lot of trouble getting cargo up and into this cargo area. The other problem with the load floor being high is that we measured the distance between here and this sill on the cargo area and it's only 29 and a half inches which means that taller items they may not fit in the back of the 4Runner. Now if you need to open up more cargo room the back seat does fold down but you'll notice that as you do so it actually folds all the way forward as if to give access to the third row even if you don't have one. The big problem though is with the seat folded down you don't get a completely flat load floor so if you're going to camp in the back of the 4Runner it might be a bit uncomfortable. Now the GX's load in height it's also pretty high compared to a normal vehicle but it's still about three inches less than that of the 4Runner and that means that if you're loading in gear it is noticeably easier to do so in the Lexus. But the big difference that we found between these two cargo areas was from measuring this vertical space because here on the GX is about six and a half inches taller than what you're getting in the 4Runner and that means not only that you can load in larger items it just means that it feels like you can fit a lot more stuff. And if you fold down the back seat of the GX same thing as the 4Runner it's going to fold and tumble forward to allow access to a third row whether you have one or not and sadly no flat cargo floor in this vehicle either. While we like parts of the Toyota's control scheme more and we like its off-road friendly features overall the interior is nicer in the Lexus and we think it has a big advantage in the cargo area. Saw some dudes. Couldn't resist. So it seemed to me like it would be more fun to talk to you about value while we're doing this rather than just standing still somewhere. A little selfish of me I know. With the TRD Pro it's impossible to talk about it without mentioning its price tag. $71,000 and that's not just a lot of money for a 4Runner that also puts it within spitting distance of the GX. Even in an age where vehicles are costing more and more and more this just doesn't quite feel worth it. I think a large part of that is because it feels like this vehicle has a really limited use case. It's actually the happiest when you're doing something like this when you're ripping around some dunes or you're going down a trail at speed but in every other circumstance whether you're driving on the road or crawling or even going slow on a trail it just feels compromised in some key ways. That is not what you want and I think unfortunately in our time out here with the 4Runner so far unless your use case is that you live on a dune your money is probably better served going elsewhere. Is this Immediately you can tell the difference in powertrain. This powertrain is so good. I love this thing. It's way easier for me to maintain power and momentum through these dudes in this vehicle. There's that weird sort of dead spot in the 4Runner's throttle but here in the GX no such things. I can get higher up on the hill here and just fly sand all around me and then Where this thing is not as good as the Toyota is in the suspension you can definitely tell it's not really built for this. I'm getting jostled around quite a bit more especially on the bigger bumps but still because you're getting much more consistent and better power delivery in some ways I prefer it in some ways I don't. Now if we're going to talk about value with the Lexus it's sort of the opposite of the 4Runner where we said that had a really narrow use case. The great thing about the GX is that it's good in so many environments. It's very capable if you're doing any kind of light off-roading and on-road there's absolutely no comparison between these two. Now there is an Overtrail Plus version of this vehicle that adds creature comforts but no real capability so I'd probably avoid that. I think the Overtrail is really the sweet spot and unlike the 4Runner this feels in many ways like a $72,000 vehicle and like I said you're going to enjoy it more in more places and I think that gives it better value than you're getting out of the Toyota and also you're getting this. I love this engine. Any discussion of value isn't complete if you don't talk about MPG especially when we're dealing with one twin turbo V6 and the other vehicle having a four-cylinder hybrid. So we filled them up when we left our offices in Santa Monica drove them all the way out here to Johnson Valley and we did about 200 miles total of highway and trail driving and after all of that we found that they got the exact same MPG both of them 17.8. So it seems that at the pump at least you're not really giving up anything by going for the car with the bigger and better powertrain. I can't believe that 4Runner is so inefficient. So what did we learn? We found out that even if two vehicles share the same platform your experiences with them can differ pretty wildly. The GX is a great all-around off-roader while again that 4Runner TRD Pro only happy a very small percentage of the time and the GX is for me the clear choice out of these two for a vehicle you're going to live with especially if you're going to drive it every day. The GX already took down the Land Cruiser and with a victory here over the 4Runner that makes it a clean sweep for it over the Toyotas. This sixth generation 4Runner it was supposed to be a big improvement and it is more livable in some key ways but I think that in our time with it and this is the third trim that we've tested we've had a Trailhunter we've had a Limited and now a TRD Pro and they've all been frankly disappointing in different ways. None of them really drive well on the road and yes the powertrain is better than the old tired V6 but it's not great either. But as we've shown in this video and in our other videos this 4Runner it's still plenty capable that's not the issue the issue is that after driving it I just kind of missed the old one. So be sure to stick around we're going to get up to plenty of mischief with these two in our garage for a year and as always thanks for watching.