Looking for feedback on Lexus GX470(was Mercedes GLE/ML)

[m016324]

I've already got a 70s Civic shell waiting for some TDI love so I've got that size/use covered

I'm pulling new questions specific for GX470 to this post:

1) How good is the 2uz engine? It appears to be pretty bullet proof with what seems to be typical "replace timing belt at 90k" requirement.
2) How solid is the transmission? I've been jaded against autos since 700r4 hell(four in under 100k)
3) For the year range 05 to 09, are any of them better or worse?
4) Is the nav stuff that bad? I get the impression that hard core GX470 searchers try to avoid it and find the unicorns that didn't have it. I won't be using it as I have a stand alone GPS that I favor especially due to location.

So I have an '06 GX 470 that we've owned since 2010 we've personally put just over 200k on it (bought it with 36k now has 248k). It was my wife's daily for many many years and my tow rig for about six years. They will tow significantly more than 6500 just have to stay higher in the rpms and expect really terrible mileage. The brakes could be better when towing heavier but just go slower and start braking earlier. To answer your specific questions

1. 2UZ is a great engine peppy enough for the truck but really under stressed and there a many examples over 400k with no engine work outside of timing belts which you mentioned. In addition to that we've changed out the radiator twice (popped the side tanks) and the alternator once and timing belt and water pump three times since we've owned it (easier to to both at the same time).

2. Transmission is very solid if you change the fluid. It came from the factory as a sealed lifetime fluid so many have never had their fluid changed. We've changed ours every 60k and never had an issue and I've towed quite heavy with it from Texas to Virginia several times.

3 & 4. the years you specified there really weren't any major changes except 2007 got an aux input for the stereo. Like you mentioned several times finding a non nav unit (which we have and I specifically sought out) is not easy but in my opinion makes it even more bullet proof. You can also find non nav head units for sale pretty regularly in the $350 range. The nav stuff isn't great if you just ignore it completely then it's fine but using anything on that system requires a ton of button pushes and it is very dated.

It sounds like it's a pretty good solution for the problem you are looking to solve. The one thing I would say is you'll never get better than 15.5 MPG in that truck. We've had our's forever and that's just what it gets. I think the best tank I ever saw in that truck was 18 and that was going 60 mph on cruise with just the family onboard. Towing that truck get's single digits most of the time but I usually had 5000+ lbs behind it when I was towing.

They are workhorse trucks although most people don't treat them that way. They are the same base truck as the prado which is the light version of the landcruiser for the rest of the world.

-ben

 

[arse_sidewards]

There was a frame recall on the first gens. I have seen all brands with bad frames, especially the 800 and fords of that era. Toyota was the one that stepped up and recalled them.

I meant the back half of the frame being floppy flexy garbage from the factory like a '75 C10, not the rust problem.

IIRC it was enough of a joke that Top Gear (US) took all the pickups down a test track with alternating bumps and flexed them out and whatnot.

Yep, you can save some $ maintaining your own Rover. Until the timing chain or head gasket goes and fucks everything else up and you think about your life choices and all the time you spent doing fiddly shit with overpriced parts and now you need to spend more than the thing is worth on a junkyard motor that will do the same thing in 10k miles.

There is a reason you can buy a 5 year old rover that needs work for 1/20 of its new price.

Yeah but we're talking about a well proven 20yo Mercedes platform here, not a Rover.

 

[DMG]

I meant the back half of the frame being floppy flexy garbage from the factory like a '75 C10, not the rust problem.

IIRC it was enough of a joke that Top Gear (US) took all the pickups down a test track with alternating bumps and flexed them out and whatnot.


Yeah but we're talking about a well proven 20yo Mercedes platform here, not a Rover.

Nope, it was no flexier than anything else. I would know, I towed heavy with a mid-travel 1st Gen tundra.

If you follow the thread back, we were discussing Rovers but 20 years ago, it was Daimler/Chrysler which really fucked up mercedes. It took a few years for Mercedes to recover when it ended in 2007.

 

[87manche]

A Truetrac torsen works really well with the Toyota atrac traction control. Or without it for that matter.

The atrac is axtually kind of impressive how well it works.

I sont know if a gx is the aame as a fj cruiser, but the wiring and shit for atrac was already there. Just bought a 20 dollar button and plugged it in to enable it

 

[Kyle]

There was a frame recall on the first gens. I have seen all brands with bad frames, especially the 800 and fords of that era. Toyota was the one that stepped up and recalled them.

Yep, you can save some $ maintaining your own Rover. Until the timing chain or head gasket goes and fucks everything else up and you think about your life choices and all the time you spent doing fiddly shit with overpriced parts and now you need to spend more than the thing is worth on a junkyard motor that will do the same thing in 10k miles.

There is a reason you can buy a 5 year old rover that needs work for 1/20 of its new price.

DIY and the parts aren’t bad. I’m hands deep into 2 motors torn apart in my garage.

And smile ear to ear when I romp on my supercharged L322 with 550hp. 😂

It’s not for everyone. But it’s a way to have a super nice car for super cheap.

 

[elbekko]

DIY and the parts aren’t bad. I’m hands deep into 2 motors torn apart in my garage.

And smile ear to ear when I romp on my supercharged L322 with 550hp. 😂

It’s not for everyone. But it’s a way to have a super nice car for super cheap.

Yup, it's sort of nice everyone is afraid of them

 

[DMG]

DIY and the parts aren’t bad. I’m hands deep into 2 motors torn apart in my garage.

And smile ear to ear when I romp on my supercharged L322 with 550hp. 😂

It’s not for everyone. But it’s a way to have a super nice car for super cheap.

30 hours for 1 bank head gasket sounds fun. $8-10k for a worn out used motor, even better. The fact that you have 2 motors torn apart in your garage right now is not a good sign

They shave a whopping .6 seconds off a LC200s time with that 550hp. But you do you.

 

[Bacho]

I'm going to dissent on the om642 opinions on here. Yes the oils cooler leak sucks, but it's a one time fix. Everything I've seen says the updated gaskets work and at this point I'd say most have had this done.

The carbon buildup is easy to fix with a tune.

Injectors are easy to swap when they need service. I'd pick doing a whole set vs 1 injector in a power stroke.

The trans I had was very picky. Fill was based on fuild temp and anything over or under made it act weird. But as long as you follow the chart it works.

Tons of smooth power, towing was great up to the limits of the chassis. Pretty easy to maintain, easy to tune.

Mine was in a wk grand Cherokee and if I could have put that drivetrain in something that didn't fall apart around it would have been nice. Or jeep not breaking the 4wd with an update and then not being able to fix it reliably years later

483k on my OM642. I’d be willing to drive it anywhere. The internet basically loves the parrot horror stories.

For a couple years, I was casually looking for a GL320. Everybody I ran into that had one said they were solid trucks. In the end, we decided the interior too small for our intended use.

Went domestic and soon had to deal with rather catastrophic engine failure at 198k.

 

[KacksterK5]

Neighbor has one. Over 250 on it, minimal shit.

Friend has one, 300 on it, minimal shit, replaced the head unit with an apple carplay one. Beats it like a rented mule. Needed a starter, and you have to pull the intake for that, annoying but pretty accessible and I didn't want to stab the engineers at any point during the process.

I'm of the opinion that any in car nav prior to 2015 is proprietary garbage. If they do over the air updates, they are likely 3g modems that aren't supported anymore to update. Plan on changing them out and relying on your phone.

 

[WTF?]

DIY and the parts aren’t bad. I’m hands deep into 2 motors torn apart in my garage.

And smile ear to ear when I romp on my supercharged L322 with 550hp. 😂

It’s not for everyone. But it’s a way to have a super nice car for super cheap.

LOL of course the parts aren't bad when you've got 2 parts motors in your garage on standby and an endless amount of time and willingness to devote it to fixing it when it breaks.

its not unique to the RR; its ubiquitous among eurotrash models that are plagued with catastrophic failures ( while of course no failure rate is 100% so there are certainly some unicorns living in the wild), but you can buy it for pennies on the msrp, and parts are out there ( and cheap because parts rigs are also plentiful) if you have the time and energy to work around it. And its usually rewarding to drive in the short periods between the dash lighting up like a christmas tree and/or bringing it home on a rollback.

but as you acknowledged, that kind of DD experience isn't appealing to most people. And be honest here- what's your backup transportation for when the RR is down for repairs?

 

[DMG]

483k on my OM642. I’d be willing to drive it anywhere. The internet basically loves the parrot horror stories.

For a couple years, I was casually looking for a GL320. Everybody I ran into that had one said they were solid trucks. In the end, we decided the interior too small for our intended use.

Went domestic and soon had to deal with rather catastrophic engine failure at 198k.

Is that the motor that went in sprinter vans? The one you could legitimately keep the long block alive for 500k if you spent $10k every 2 years to unfuck the turbo, cooling system, injectors, etc?

 

[Lil'John]

Someone brought up the lack of dipsticks after 2003... is it a matter of swapping in an 'older' case to get a dipstick in 2004 and later? I'm a bit paranoid of low fluid in an auto

I'm getting a bit harder on shopping and I swear it feels like Craigslist sellers don't want to sell their stuff... I've reached out to three people and gotten no reply. One of them three times over a week.

I'm a bit leery of buying way out of state without the ability to test drive plus that whole special id needed for flying. I did find a 'perfect' one that had bad bumpers but lower mileage and great price... too bad wrong coast.

I'm of the opinion that any in car nav prior to 2015 is proprietary garbage. If they do over the air updates, they are likely 3g modems that aren't supported anymore to update. Plan on changing them out and relying on your phone.

Fuck phone nav I'm still rocking stand alone windshield mounted GPS.

 

[Bacho]

Is that the motor that went in sprinter vans? The one you could legitimately keep the long block alive for 500k if you spent $10k every 2 years to unfuck the turbo, cooling system, injectors, etc?

I’ve owned it about 10 years. When I bought it I replaced a handful of glow plugs and did an emissions tune. Since then, it hasn’t needed anything specific to the engine.

There’s an awful lot of these still on the road. I’m sure they have double the mileage mine does. They must be spending fortunes on them.

 

[Lil'John]

Just get a Lexus GX470 or 460

Winner... winner. Thank you for the suggestion and to others for further info.

I just drove 220 miles down to Oakhurst to grab a 2005 Silver one. It has under 200k miles with timing belt done around 170k. It was a good deal for a mechanically solid rig(read, a few cosmetic flaws) A small ding near the pass tail light. Apparently hood ate windshield but it looked good. A bit of dash cracking on passenger side.

Overall, it checked off under 200k, light color, and well under $10k. Now I've got a few bucks to help it out.

The height control has been replaced with unknown kit... felt a bit 'wallowy'. Not top heavy but a bit too much roll. I'm going to read how to stiffen it up a bit. Another downside is the Off light for it flashes which is anoying.

During the ride back, I flogged on it a bit to see how the trans would react. As a result, 210 miles ate 13.3 gallons Freeway was pretty sane keeping it between 65 to 75 mph. Damn near every stop sign and light was a drag race

It almost got away due to craiglist not pushing email to the ownerI took a chance on a text and he almost had it sold yesterday(someone coming today) Texted me this morning that it was mine if I was coming today I think asking intelligent questions about it pushed him my direction.

I'll get a picture of it Sunday on Loon dam... the closest to 'real' offroading it will see.

 

[Kyle]

30 hours for 1 bank head gasket sounds fun. $8-10k for a worn out used motor, even better. The fact that you have 2 motors torn apart in your garage right now is not a good sign

They shave a whopping .6 seconds off a LC200s time with that 550hp. But you do you.

Over a second quicker 0-60. Mine is upgraded over stock numbers.


Since I did the big stuff, My 2011 Supercharged has been oil changes and small things here and there like any higher mileage car. 3 years and 45k miles since it was all done.

It’s not for everyone but haters gonna hate.

 

[DMG]

Over a second quicker 0-60. Mine is upgraded over stock numbers.


Since I did the big stuff, My 2011 Supercharged has been oil changes and small things here and there like any higher mileage car. 3 years and 45k miles since it was all done.

It’s not for everyone but haters gonna hate.

This isn't hate. It's just warning people that the juice isn't worth the squeeze unless you love high maintenance British SUVs. I actually liked my Disco 2.

 

[Ebs]

I see some surprisingly high mile LR3's, they musta did a halfway decent job on those.

 

[Kyle]

This isn't hate. It's just warning people that the juice isn't worth the squeeze unless you love high maintenance British SUVs. I actually liked my Disco 2.

Oh they are a ton better than D2’s 😂 I sold min with 240k on it and it’s still going mileage unknown.

But really once the newer ones have the big items taken care of they are fine.

The big issue is 1 owners don’t fix stuff that leads to catastrophic failures. And 2 shops mis diagnose and don’t fix stuff that leads to catastrophic failures. Tons of them from coolant leaks not appropriately fixed. And if you don’t vacuum fill the system on the 10+ trucks it will slow blow the headgasket from air pockets. It’s an art for sure.

That’s said still paying $700 for a 90k when new truck and putting a few thousand into it (parts) and having a relatively reliable and nice vehicle is not a bad deal for the right person.

Would I pay full price heck no.

 

[ANGRYBLACK]

Oh they are a ton better than D2’s 😂 I sold min with 240k on it and it’s still going mileage unknown.

But really once the newer ones have the big items taken care of they are fine.

The big issue is 1 owners don’t fix stuff that leads to catastrophic failures. And 2 shops mis diagnose and don’t fix stuff that leads to catastrophic failures. Tons of them from coolant leaks not appropriately fixed. And if you don’t vacuum fill the system on the 10+ trucks it will slow blow the headgasket from air pockets. It’s an art for sure.

That’s said still paying $700 for a 90k when new truck and putting a few thousand into it (parts) and having a relatively reliable and nice vehicle is not a bad deal for the right person.

Would I pay full price heck no.

You are biased financially on your Rover. It all makes sense to me now.

 

[Kyle]

You are biased financially on your Rover. It all makes sense to me now.

Of course I am.

That said they aren’t as bad as people make them out to be. I’d 100% take a used rover over a new domestic suv though.

But still the OP needs a GX460. It’s an appliance. Very little mx and it always works.

 

[ANGRYBLACK]

Your input has helped us avoid burning 10k on a supercharged Rover! Not sure if i ever said thanks. We just haven't been lucky enough as you to find a middle manager looking to sell one that they beat up just a little. We always found them owned by factory workers, security guards and other folks whom beat them to utter snot.

I've been itching to do a mild build on a Typical Middle Manager/Senior Manager Euro SUV

 

[Kyle]

Your input has helped us avoid burning 10k on a supercharged Rover! Not sure if i ever said thanks. We just haven't been lucky enough as you to find a middle manager looking to sell one that they beat up just a little. We always found them owned by factory workers, security guards and other folks whom beat them to utter snot.

I've been itching to do a mild build on a Typical Middle Manager/Senior Manager Euro SUV

Yeah am picky on my buys. Maybe 1/20 are as advertised 😂