Feast Your Eyes on the New Toyota Land Cruiser Prado and Lexus GX

Taking a break from Frankfurt Motor Show previews, today we’re going to focus on two cars which we already know everything about. As often happens when you combine new things and the Internet, Toyota’s newly facelifted Land Cruiser Prado and Lexus GX were unofficially spoiled ahead of schedule. The culprit? An online Lexus fan-forum called Club Lexus. It was Monday of this week when images of Toyota’s 2014 Land Cruiser and sketches of the Lexus GX first surfaced.

Just four days later, Toyota/Lexus made their official release, complete with a wealth of images for both Japanese cars. So, without further ado, I present to you… Drum roll please! … The facelifted 2014 Toyota Land Cruiser Prado…

and the 2014 Lexus GX.

Aw, they look so cute together!

As you can see, the Lexus GX is getting significantly more aesthetic revisions than the Land Cruiser Prado. If you know what the current Prado looks like, you may find the “facelift” lacking. Beyond a somewhat reworked front-end and very slight adjustments to the bumper, the SUV remains largely the same. Inside, the only changes are an updated, more polished user interface. You can learn more via the video below:

Keep in mind, the current Land Cruiser Prado has only been on the market for three years, so this is really more of a refresh than a full-fledged update. It’s definitely an improvement and I especially like the new headlamps, but still, I wouldn’t call the SUV attractive. The changes seem negligible on the whole.

On the other hand, the 2014 Lexus GX blew past my expectations. When you hear “facelift”, this is what you’d typically expect to see. Compared to the 2013MY, the refreshed 2014MY GX feels powerful, sleek and confident.

The new aesthetic styling is consistent with the direction that Lexus has been trying to go for the past two years. You’ve got the now-iconic pinched grill, more distinctly designed LED headlamps, a reworked front bumper, and a completely restyled rear-end. You’ll also notice new alloy wheels.

Inside the new Lexus GX, we continue the trend of relatively in-depth updates. Drivers will now enjoy a beautiful 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system, new color themes in the trim, a redesigned center console and dashboard, along with a couple new security features in the Luxury trim package.

On top of all that, the incoming Lexus GX will be available for almost $5000 less than the outgoing model. Although, the new model’s Luxury trim is a couple thousand more.

Oh, and if you want to learn more about the new Lexus GX, just watch this video:

All in all, both new SUVs from the world’s largest Japanese automaker will likely do just fine. However, I’d be curious to hear what you all think about these updates… Am I being too harsh on the Land Cruiser Prado? Is there something that I’m missing? Let me know in the comments below:

Sources: Car Scoops, Car Scoops, Club Lexus