Roody’s 2018 Lexus GX460 Build, Adventure, and Hooniverse Podcast

Have I mentioned lately that I love this truck?

Well, I love this truck.

Some things about it bug me. The HVAC controls suck, the gas mileage is no bueno, and the swing-out door occasionally makes me miss my 5th gen 4Runner's rear hatch with its roll-down window. But, I still love the damn thing. It's such a treat to drive something this comfortable to and from the trail, and as much as I wish it had JLUR performance off-road, it's just a joy to come home from a day of wheeling in this rig.

Here's how it sits a lot of the time, taking frequent rests when I have press vehicles to drive




& on the topic of wireless vs wired remotes for winches (we were talking about this in a thread on IH8Mud), I make it a habit to charge the wireless remote for my Warn after each use. I used the winch to move a seemingly million pound work bench so once the job was done I did what I always do and plugged it in to charge.

 

In preparation for the AOAA event in October I have again revamped the cargo area of my GX. As much as I love the Yakima MOD drawer setup that usually lives in my GX, I needed to streamline the behind-the-third-row space to help maximize living space as I plan on sleeping in the vehicle.

So, old toolbox to the rescue, with a plastic tote box holding some things that didn't fit or were loose in the cargo area. Jumper cables now live in the storage compartment where the factory jack is.

Less is more? Now there's space on the driver side for either a folding mattress or twin air bed, which will make my spine (I'm a 33 y/o with the spine of a 60 y/o) happy vs sleeping on the ground.

 

Nice GX, do you work at Hooniverse?

 

"Work at," yes. Been writing for Hooniverse since January of 2016 and still write content (car and product reviews, mainly) for the site pretty regularly.

Recognize your YouTube channel. You're friends with Kai, right? He's been on my podcast and is the unsung hero of YouTube Toyota 4WD tech explanations. We're all in the same general locale, should wheel together sometime!

 

Wow what a small world, and yes, we are friends and he truly is the best resource for IFS guys who wants to modify their rigs.
I am from west chester PA area so yes we are fairly local with each other, and should do some camping/wheeling/gear review tripping together. I am slowly converting from "offroading" to more of a family camping or mild "overlanding" style recently due to my back issues last year, but I am still passionate about all vehicle related things.

 

Sounds good to me, are you going to the AOAA event in October?

 

GX looks great! When you say gas mileage is no bueno, how bad is it really?

 

What aoaa event is that?

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/8th-annual-aoaa-invasion-pennsylvania-oct-11-13-2024.823690/
Come hang!

 

Oh boy, another one with a bad back… you’ll fit right in!

Definitely come hang out/wheel in October. It’s right in your backyard.

 

Great question that I don't have a perfectly straightforward answer to. Bone stock I could swing 20-22 MPG on a long highway cruise/trip and averaged probably 18 MPG. With all the upgrades on my truck now it's definitely a substantial amount worse but probably 75% of my driving is stop/go around town stuff and I haven't tracked the actual fuel efficiency in a few months, and I only put around 3k miles on the GX every year so I'm not paying super close attention to MPG or driving it like I would drive it if that annual mileage was way higher (like I drove the vehicles I owned when I was doing 25-35k miles/year in the past).

If I had to guess, in its current state and given my driving conditions, the GX is probably averaging low-teens gas mileage (again, most of my driving isn't exactly MPG-friendly) and probably 15-18 MPG on the highway at the speeds common around in the area. Hypermiling I could probably make that 18-20 MPG with the tires inflated to 40 PSI or so but that's just not realistic for normal life.

All this is to say that the gas mileage isn't that bad, but my dreams of the efficiency of a diesel JLUR or Colorado ZR2 are a loooong way off. Just the price to pay for reliability, aka a different manner of realizing the Toyota tax.

AOAA Fall Bash!

Get hyped

Include me in that, L5-S1 microdiscectomy in April of 2017

 

This should be fun... time to get rid of the departure-angle killing stock exhaust

 

Magnaflow Overland exhaust is on
EDIT: Got it uploaded to YouTube, should be able to view it on here now

 

Love the exhaust upgrade, sounds great!

I pulled the trigger on a set of red tails. Any interest in my clear set as a backup pair? Probably going to sell them for cheap and figured you would be first to have a chance.

 

Thanks Chris! Definitely sounds good, especially with the windows down A little loud under load going uphill but nothing is perfect. On the bright side my wife drove it today (screw in her right front tire) and said she didn't notice any difference

Which red taillights did you go with? & how cheap are you thinking?

 

Haha I love the fact the wife didn’t notice a difference.

I went with the 17-22 or whatever year sports tails which are the darker red color. I’ll send a photo when I swap. I bought each one individually off eBay for a total of like 600. The resale on red tails is high. I’m thinking if I could get 200 for the pair of my clears I would be happy.

 

overland expo east?

 

She also had the kiddo with her, so who knows what was going on haha

Let me think on that, my gut is to say try and get as much as you can for them but I appreciate the offer

 

I wish, no chance I'm making it there this weekend. Are you??

 

I’m seeing some asking for 200 a piece or 400 the set but I think they sit for a while so I’m not optimistic I sell them fast. I just want them out for a little cash to recoup. Not a rush since it’s a few weeks before they’re on, if you think you’ll want them just let me know.