Sentiments of the typical Toyota/Lexus buyer that prefers a transportation appliance over a vehicle with class and personality.

Same people that rely on Consumer Reports reviews to buy the cheapest item with acceptable quality. These people buy things based on basic function alone rather than buying something they truly enjoy and appreciate.

 

This is well said. I'm a fan of Toyota too, built a 200 series a few years ago and a few 4runners over the years. I looked at the GX550 before swapping my 2020 110 for another, came out of the test drive as...meh. Think after all the hype I expected more from the GX? Called my wife on the drive back from Lexus, said the GX felt like I was doing my taxes vs truly enjoying my driving experience like in the Defender.

 

Ultimately its about what you're looking for in a vehicle and going into it with both eyes open. As an owner of both a 24' Defender 130 (wife/kids) and 20' GX 460 (my DD/commute vehicle) I can see both sides of the coin Certainly the GX doesn't put quite the same smile on my face but the cost of ownership and day in/day out consistency is worth a lot for me. In large part I picked up a GX because my wife's 16' LR4 was in the shop so much we needed a decent backup family vehicle. I know I should be able to easily get 10 years out of it with basic preventative maintenance.

On the Land Rover side, I jumped back in to the Defender 130 from the problematic LR4 (which had consumed over $20K in repairs/maintenance in 1.5 years) because this time I'll be under warranty for at least 4 years while I wait to see how this model plays out from a reliability perspective. If it doesn't look favorable I'll either pick up an Extended Warranty or flip to something else. Either way plenty of fun from now until then without worrying about huge unexpected bills

 

Right with you...we also dumped about $20K in parts and repairs into our beloved LR4 in the last year between 100K and 150K miles. I just couldn't make the jump from LR4 to D5 and was so glad when the new Defender appeared. Both of our Defenders are near 40K miles. 2021 has been flawless and the 2023 has had some coolant leaks and electronic module issues covered under warranty. We have a 2025 on order and I'm going to take a chance and keep the 2021 past warranty and trade-in the chip-shortage 2023.

 

Loved the LR4 and stuck with it for so long partially because the D5 just didn’t do it properly from a design/aesthetics perspective. Had known for some time that the Def. 130 would be the right successor from a passenger capacity and ruggedness angle. The straw that broke my LR4’s back (figuratively) was a CEL on a Monday leading to a replaced frontal coolant temp sensor same day by my trusted Indy shop. CEL came back 2 days later on Thursday and had to replace the rear sensor as well… all for over $1K… and after dropping 8K a few months earlier on leaking valve covers and new radiator fan I was just done 😅