2024 Lexus TX 500h F SPORT Performance Quick Review

welcome to extra throttle house .

i'm thomas .

and i'm james .

and i don't actually know what this is .

no , because it's brand new .

oh .

i've been living with this .

okay .

what if i told you that you can get a three row lexus now .

paint me a picture .

that isn't a body on frame , wafty derpy $150,000 lx .

very specific need , but i'm excited because that must be what this is .

this is a lexus tx .

okay .

which i , what did we say lx stands for ?

luxury crossover ?

yeah .

tx , i think , is just the initials of texas .

the seats are really wide .

this is a lexus texas .

not the internet version that has existed up until now .

fellas , don't mind , put it away .

this is a car .

don't know what you're talking about .

that's because you're an innocent young man .

it's fine .

so i'm looking at this grill here .

yes .

and this to me does not look as much like a lexus as it does look like somebody else copied lexus's design language .

well , it's still got the hourglass .

it does have the , yeah , but it's like this .

this is their integrated spindle grill .

integrated spindle grill .

yes .

it sounds like a hipster restaurant .

yeah .

so this is painted in incognito .

yeah .

so it's kind of following along with the primer , sort of audi , audi grays .

definitely a primer .

yeah , it's popular these days .

anyway , there are a few ways .

sorry , stop .

this is killing me .

ok , i'm ready .

ok .

so progressive restaurant establishments aside , losing it right now , there are a few ways you can have your tx this is based on the toyota grand highlander they've sort of come out about the same time .

yeah , it is a unibody car .

yeah , it is long it's like two inches longer .

i think it is .

yeah , don't quote me the longest three row unibody option around okay .

you can have it in a similar , similar engines , or the exact same engine , sorry , as the toyota highlander .

okay .

or grand highlander , but it gets more power .

really ?

single digits horsepower and torque , i think , per trim higher .

but it is a quite expensive car .

this is 92,000 canadian as spec .

whoa .

so what engine does it have in it ?

v8 then .

so yeah , no .

no .

you wish .

yeah .

2.4-liter four-cylinder is the base .

this is the 2.4-liter four-cylinder hybridized .

so this is the 500h instead of the 350 .

okay i like that .

then there's a 550h plus that's a plug-in hybridized six cylinder .

were you like were you really good on tests in school ?

you just like memorize everything right before you walk in and then just vomit out on paper .

yeah , yeah , 10 minutes from now this is gone .

yeah .

this is gone .

you'll drive it in a second .

yeah .

that's a lot of money for a four cylinder .

it is .

i hear the comments cry .

yeah .

i think it works really , really well .

does it ?

it's probably more efficient too , right ?

and it is a three row .

so what is wrong with normal door handles ?

yeah , it's got little , what's the little stupid buttons ?

it also has buttons on the inside as well .

don't like that .

so strangely , you can only have this as a six-seater in the 500 .

ok .

you can get the 350 in a seven-seater and the grand highlander in eight , but they've made this more executive .

oh , this isn't so bad .

yeah , you can fit full adults there .

i can fully sit here .

this is great .

no , it's nice .

and those fold down electrically at the back and they fold up electrically .

slowly .

well , i mean , i hope they do all of those things for- is it electrically or electronically ?

electr-electronically .

electrically .

no soft close , unfortunately .

not for your 90 grand .

another strange packaging option beyond the seats is that you can only get the 500h in f-sport trim .

is that a button ?

wow .

explosions .

if this wasn't extra throttle to house , oh , the effects that would have occurred .

so you can only have this in the sporty flavor you can only get these 22 inch durango arty style wheels .

they are kind of durango .

yeah , huge , aren't they ?

yeah , maybe you want more sidewall .

maybe you want to have your big lexus .

are you trying to tell me something ?

maybe , as a cushy car .

you can only have this with the sport-tuned suspension .

really ?

it is adaptive , but yeah , you can only have it like that , for the 500 .

why does the word sport come anywhere near something like this ?

sporty .

it's a three-row lexus .

what are you doing ?

get in the car .

i'm the toyota marketing .

these are the same guys that did hashtag on every part of a prius .

right .

what do they know ?

i think they're all great people .

james is just really mean .

hashtag brilliant people .

ok , here we go .

oh , that's nice and smooth .

i like that .

if you smash your foot down , then you have to wait for a downshift .

and i find the hybrids , they reward a half throttle , just that sort of initial oomph .

well , just use that ev to your advantage as opposed to trying to bite too hard into the gasoline engine right so you got 366 horsepower on tap a sport mode you know it isn't actually that slow no like that's that's all you need it's just unfortunately this has entered a price point where it has to be more than need .

because if you look at , like this is more expensive aspect than an acura mdx type s .

so are you feeling that ?

so you know how the lx was soupy back and forth ?

soupy , yeah .

this isn't soupy , but why is my head getting tossed back and forth so much ?

that's really strange .

because you're willow smith .

because what ?

she's lost her head back and forth .

her hair back and forth .

she whiffs her hair back and forth ?

pop culture .

pop culture , how does it work ?

we don't know .

walsmith slaps people .

ok .

yeah , anyway , so it's expensive .

and the toyota highlander has the same engine .

however , it doesn't have this interior , which is very pleasant .

lovely materials .

we've got alcantara under here , which is a really nice touch .

yeah , we got this similar like we were in the lucid gravity , this sort of bento style interior boxes .

wireless charger , which by the way hides away .

oh nice .

i like that idea .

yeah , so you can warm your phone .

i can want my phone in there .

yeah .

yeah , you've got this 12.3 inch digital gauge cluster here .

yep .

quite nice black levels .

it does look great .

concave screen .

you've got this big screen here , which , even though this infotainment starts to look dated , when it has car play up , it's very , very nice .

and my climate is always kind of right here .

and these are physical here .

yeah , no , i like that .

now , this all makes sense .

i don't have any problems with that .

steering wheel feels good .

the seats are a bit sporty .

and you can only option these seats with the 500h .

only f sport , remember .

only sport .

why ?

i don't know .

i don't know .

the ride is , how do you describe it ?

on a smooth road , it's smooth .

and the whole car is smooth .

yeah , but any little bumps it's kind of banging through the it's crashing .

so yes , i've driven this downtown .

i've driven this on the highway i think for the most part the ride is great .

however , it crashes on imperfections in the road .

so i find it does , on smooth roads , it maintains a smooth line more so than like an x5 or an x7 .

which even though those have the active anti-roll bars , this handles its weight better in that sense .

but yeah , it is crashy .

and again , you've got 22 inch wheels .

i'm sure that's part of the reason why .

just don't need that .

and the sport adaptive suspension .

this is really nice here .

so like if your wife wants to cross her legs , it'll get dirty really permanently .

wife , yeah .

someone hasn't been to the integrated spindle grill .

that is a very old fashioned way of thinking about a passenger seat .

i'm sorry .

if your partner crosses their legs .

no , no , what you're doing is you're applying it to your life .

that's fine .

oh , ok .

that's what you did , right ?

you were generalizing .

i didn't generalize .

you were talking about me , my wife .

me specifically .

correct .

yeah .

but yeah .

i think there are things that make this a modern car in the way it needs to be , like the active rear steer .

i did a turnaround this morning in this car .

ok , we're going to test the passing prowess , because this person is just driving me nuts .

you know what ?

it isn't slow , actually .

it's not slow at all .

and it makes me think that if you just went for the base , maybe that would just be enough .

maybe .

because part of the lexus experience is the interior stuff and that active rear steer , which , by the way , the highlander does not get .

oh .

and i did a turnaround today with the rear wheel steer .

i think i was on my own in the car , and i was like , triumph , it's a game changer .

no one was in the car .

it really changes .

suddenly the size of the vehicle stops being so intimidating , especially around cars .

yeah , no , that is definitely because i didn't know it had rear wheel steer until you told me .

yeah , but at the end of this road , when you turn around , you'll see .

ok , yeah , i'm excited to drive it .

i mean , i'm not that excited .

it is just rear wheel steer .

it's just pleasant .

there's a lot of pleasantness to this .

of pleasantries , you might say .

pleasantries .

yeah .

listen , i think this is a good option , albeit an expensive one for getting three rows .

yeah , you have to want it .

you have to really want it .

you get the mark lemonson sound system versus , i think , the jbl or the toyota .

and this is a fantastic sound system .

we were rocking out to this earlier .

so that is a big upgrade .

right .

but yeah , you have to want the lexus part .

and if you like the design and you like the f-sport seats , i actually find these quite comfortable .

you know , i did say they were a little bit too sporty , but they're not uncomfortable as a result of that .

but there is no other option .

it's just that's a strange thing .

right , right , yeah .

yeah , like right now , we're cruising down the road .

it's well insulated .

it's well insulated .

it's easy to drive .

the steering is quite intuitive .

the ride is , as you said , for the most part , very good .

but seeing as this knocks it up in the price of this , not wait for this .

where you ready ?

is this the rear wheel steer moment ?

all right , everyone calm down .

quiet .

shh , shh , no talking .

here we go .

now we have to wait .

just wait for the matrix .

my ecstasy is being prolonged here we go full lock holy isn't that another level ?

well you took that too far i can make it no don't .

i can make it .

don't try .

look , you're just a wuss .

that's the problem here .

we're testing cars , this is how it works .

we got it , it was perfect , and then you went too far .

now i gotta wait again .

that would have been a cool record though .

i do actually want , we've never done a full circle , that was the closest we've ever come to a full circle in that spot .

no , i'm genuinely very impressed by that .

that is outrageously tight .

it's incredible .

wow .

game changer .

game changer .

but yeah , so the price of this knocks it up into gmc yukon territory .

yeah .

it knocks it into , what's the other body on ?

it knocks into the body on frame segment with big v8s and magnaride .

so this feels easier to drive than those .

i like the powertrain .

i do like the powertrain .

i don't actually envy a v8 right now .

but even though i do like the powertrain , one of the issues is that the fuel economy isn't that great .

i think they advertise combined somewhere around the 9 liter 100 kilometer set .

we're getting 10.4 .

i'm doing 10.4 .

in a hybrid four .

but it's a three row suv .

that balances it out , doesn't it ?

it tows 5,000 pounds , so it's not quite what those can do but that again we're talking about this in the in this midsize truck conversation in our tacoma video 5,000 pounds gets towing done for most people most people but this is mostly gonna be a people hauler anyway yeah , and it can only haul up to six , as we said .

but those six people get to sit quite comfortably .

so yeah , i mean , this is pretty good .

it's good .

it's pretty good .

it's sizable .

i mean , buy it for the rear wheel steer alone .

yeah .

but i don't know .

and there's enough room for you and alexis , texas to shoot a whole scene that way .

on your way to the integrated spindle grill .

i don't know if it's the same audience .

you