When organizing a trip with 5 friends, things are bound to not go as planned; someone is always late, someone does not pack accordingly, someone is going to be in a mood (usually me, because someone ran late and did not pack accordingly). It is hard enough to get a trip planned in the first place when you have a large group. You want to make sure the accommodations can comfortably fit everyone and get a ride that everyone can enjoy and relax in during the long drive.  

But when 3 participants cancel at the last minute, we were are left holding the bag and the conundrum of “should I stay or should I go.” Well, in this case, the cabin was paid for, and Lexus had already dropped off its burliest of luxury SUV’s, a six-figure LX600 F SPORT to chauffeur those ungrateful cancellers, so, we might as well march forward with our plans.  

With just two of us left, the main organizer and myself. We took two separate cars, because as car people, that is what we do… that and he was going up a day before me. The destination was Brian Head, Utah; never heard of it? Neither have I. But my friend, who was the main organizer, was having a family reunion and had invited the lot of us to come crash the party. Little was I aware this was about to be the real-life version of the opening scene to Home Alone, you remember that movie, right?  

Getting there wasn’t really a battle with the LX600 dominating the road eating up the 450 miles from Phoenix to Utah. Getting there required about 7 hours of drive time that included very scenic mountain roads and iconic Arizona picturesque landscape. Lexus was kind enough to offer up their largest SUV to house my friends and I, but since they all cancelled, this six-figure vehicle only contained a single occupant. At least I had control over the music and how many stops were made along the way. 

Driving the LX600 on the open road was a comforting experience that just ate up the miles with its twin-turbocharged V6 engine and supple comfort drive mode. The 7-hour drive went unnoticed partially thanks to the ear watering 25-speaker 2400-watt Mark Levinson surround sound system.  

Before arriving into Brian Head, I detoured to meet up with my friend at their family estate where the LX600 luxury presence felt right, parked outside their massive luxury home. After giving a full walk around and a detailed guide of the Lexus’ features we soon set off to drive the last 50 miles to Brian Head which has an elevation change of nearly 10,000 feet. Talk about altitude sickness.  The road there was the usual kind of mountain road that would light up and enthusiastic driver and a typical Lexus F Sport vehicle. However, given that the LX weighs as much as the mountain itself, it was a gingerly drive up.  At least this way I was able to take in the incredible scenery.   

I never knew altitude sickness was a thing until we got into town. I’m not athletic in nature and climbing any steps proved that to be correct.  Even the LX showed performance struggles powering through the thin air as it needs a significant amount of air to breathe and pass through its massive spindle grille. It was like a fat guy trying to climb a mountain, I should know. Thank goodness no one was driving me.   

Being in the same kind of work, my friend had the all-new Acura Integra Type S on loan for his review, but the cabin in which hosted his family reunion was off the beaten path and nowhere idealistic for the Integra’s 20-inch wheels and low riding profiled.  Little did we know just how rough the road was to the cabin.  This is a true back woods kind of country song place. 

With partial instructions and Google maps leading us down a wiry path, I was thankful that the LX600 four-wheel drive system is always active. But just to make sure we didn’t scratch any of our $110,000 vehicles body, I raised its active ride control to its highest setting to ensure we had full ground clearance and activated its ‘Dirt” off-road mode.  Unfortunately, the LX is not a Ford Raptor riding on 37” tires, so we had to take it super slow so we didn’t damage the expensive 22-inch forged aluminum wheels. 

It was a good thing I had the LX600 on loan that week, little did we know the depths of the terrain and after having several participants cancel, I almost reached out to Lexus to see if I could swap it for something a little more ‘fun-to-drive’. But in the end, we ended up being sort of runners, ushering a few family members back and forth from the cabin into town and helping guide other lost participants that were just as confused as we were on the trail.

Unexpectedly, the Lexus LX600 ended up being the hero of this story. If we had any other vehicle that didn’t have ground clearance, we would have been scraping the frame and potentially causing damage. And that’s just way too much paperwork to deal with. So, thank you Lexus for bringing in the laughs and confidence for we probably would have been parked on the side of the road waiting for someone to come pick us up and bring us in.