Nobody has a definitive answer on why they are even doing it. They are certainly not doing the dealerships any favors? Could it be building up engine inventory because of the recall? Or maybe because they are changing over to the hybrid? Who knows when it will end, but it will eventually.
Anyone worried about their V6TT?
- Thread starter tacobuffet_w/sideofGX
- Start date
Yeah I mean I don't disagree in regards to it being a pain to get one. No idea if there is some sort of secret strategy from Lexus to keep them scarce or some sort of supply issue, but they've been out 3 years now and there doesn't seem to be any sign things will change anytime soon. I certainly wouldn't personally pay much over MSRP for one, but let's be real you are going to immediately be underwater on the LR and I spent probably a handful of hours overall to find mine spread across multiple days. If the LR's depreciation doesn't matter for you financially sounds like you should go for it. They definitely seem like the best GX alternative assuming no major issues.
Everyone on the forum had to wait - I waited 8 months calling dealers to find mine. They pop up - folks drop out who ordered one.
I waited about 7 months, I got mine the first week of November 2025. I put in I wanted a Caviar Lux+ in late February early March of 25 and just sat and waited. My salesperson was a straight shooter and the dealership was not marking them up. I called in early October of 25 to check (originally they said it could be 6 months) and he said I was still a ways back on the allocation schedule. At that point I asked if I added a couple more colors if that would help and he said it wouldn't hurt and would probably help. A month later I got a call from him saying they had one in my second color preference (atomic silver) in the Lux+ package. I went out there and test drove it and he said I have a couple hours before the dealership would start to push and offer it to someone else. I wrote a check on the spot and haven't regretted it.
Agree, but most cars depreciate as soon as you drive them off the lot. The 550 is unique in that there is this high demand and low availability. You could buy yours for $X and then find someone who wants one and can't find one and will give you $X plus. But that is not normal for most vehicles.
I have been watching alot of Defender reviews and there is just a lot of little things you get that the 550 doesnt have. One example. I have read multiple complaints about lighting in the back storage area. They even now have aftermarket lights you can put in the top of the rear door to help. The Defender has 4 or 5 lights in the back and it lights up the whole area. The Defender has a short cut button on the end of the headlight knob that can be programed to do many things. Mute the radio, turn off the display screen, turn on your camera view etc? Those little thing make it so versatile. And the air ride is so much nicer on road then the body on frame ride. And let's face it, most of your driving will be on road. And in my opinion, and I love the 550 look, but the Defender, just looks tougher. But thats subjective. I am going to the dealer again this weekend and do another look over. But I am very strongly leaning toward the Defender, even with the depreciation issue. I have owned at least 18 to 20 cars in my life and I have only made money on one. A 1973 MG Midget I bought for $2500 and sold for $5000.
There's no need to justify your impending purchase. You should buy whatever makes you happy whether it be a Defender, Yugo, etc. The reasons for buying a Defender are yours alone.
Wishing you good fortune for your future vehicle.
Yep I get it, I do think the Defender offers some nice options I'd like to have in my overtrail. There's always pros and cons to any vehicle, nothing wrong with going another route if it works better for you.
Right now I could sell my ‘24 OT to Carvana for $1k more than I paid 1.5yrs ago…
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A good sales person and a good dealer can get you a car. Our rep stayed on top of the regional Lexus peeps and found a car pre-production that matched what we wanted. It took a month to find it and then we had to wait for build and shipping, but that honestly just built up the anticipation for us. We did consider LR but got nervous based on reliability and depreciation. We’re very happy so far.
I waited 2 months to get my VIN and another 2 months for delivery. Waited much longer on my '21 Bronco and it was made the second week of production. 4 months to get what I want isn't a deal breaker for me.
Maybe buy something else -
My thoughts -
- Most of this is supply & demand. GX & LC are selling at significant rates higher than the prior models they replaced.
- These vehicles are getting expensive for Toyota to sell. One word - tariffs. Lexus is taking a whupping on Japan production without a big price increase. You can bet you’ll see much larger than normal price increase on 2027s. That should help your resale for those worried.
- We have a ‘23 Sequoia, ‘25 & ‘26 Tundra & ‘26 Land Cruiser. More worried about the 4cyl LC than any engine concern w/ V6TT in others. Should there be a catastrophic failure, Toyota is replacing them with a crate engine out of the plant - every accy is mounted to the engine, even comes with new ECU. Pretty good commitment to doing it right, & let’s not forget that’s unheard of in the auto industry. GM 6.2L is knocking in your Escalade, Tahoe, Suburban or Silverado & your doing oil sampling to prove you have a problem & then getting a short block rebuilt in a dealership service bay, & they have heck of a lot more financial risk in their engine volumes than Toyota.
- If you want a Land Rover buy one. Nice rigs on the cover, but you know what you’re getting. Crazy in my opinion to buy that over either a Lexus GX or LX considering overall quality & future trade value. Probably better off in a Ineos if you actually go off road - but you’ll be servicing it more than likely at a Nissan dealership since that’s the dealer network they appear to have sought out in the US.
I still think the V6TT issue is a bit overblown. On this forum, we’ve really only seen one confirmed engine failure, and that was tied to the recall. If Lexus doesn’t expand the recall to 2025 models and beyond, I’d take that as a good sign.
I get why some people are hesitant—there’s definitely been a lot of fear-mongering—but at the same time, people are still buying $100k GM vehicles with arguably worse engine and transmission issues without thinking twice. And that's coupled with the long-ish history of GM, which ended up in civil action lawsuits over their shit products.
At the end of the day, get an extended warranty and drive it like any other Lexus/Toyota product. For me, the warranty was more about the electronics, given how complex these vehicles have become, but it’s still nice to have that coverage in case something major (like the engine) happens down the line.
That said, I do think the days of “old-school” Toyota reliability are fading. Increased complexity to meet modern regulations has brought them down a notch. Even so, that “notch down” still puts them ahead of most other brands, in my opinion.
I’ve owned multiple 4Runners, GXs, and Tundras, and I still think this is the nicest Toyota product I’ve had. My wife has driven Audis for the past decade, and even she prefers getting into the GX.
If you can wait, I’d say go for it—and stick to forums like this for information instead of the slop on Facebook or AI-generated content.
I get why some people are hesitant—there’s definitely been a lot of fear-mongering—but at the same time, people are still buying $100k GM vehicles with arguably worse engine and transmission issues without thinking twice. And that's coupled with the long-ish history of GM, which ended up in civil action lawsuits over their shit products.
At the end of the day, get an extended warranty and drive it like any other Lexus/Toyota product. For me, the warranty was more about the electronics, given how complex these vehicles have become, but it’s still nice to have that coverage in case something major (like the engine) happens down the line.
That said, I do think the days of “old-school” Toyota reliability are fading. Increased complexity to meet modern regulations has brought them down a notch. Even so, that “notch down” still puts them ahead of most other brands, in my opinion.
I’ve owned multiple 4Runners, GXs, and Tundras, and I still think this is the nicest Toyota product I’ve had. My wife has driven Audis for the past decade, and even she prefers getting into the GX.
If you can wait, I’d say go for it—and stick to forums like this for information instead of the slop on Facebook or AI-generated content.
Interesting opinion here on a Gx550 forum.
This two are direct rivals in thecategory with 2 different formulas.
JLR products have mastered the unibody strenght to a point that the toyota/lexus arguements that a unibody land cruiser can not be built because i will not last, might seem an arguement for extreme repeated stress.
You actually touched a very interesting point, the allocation and availability to buy one, spec one.
Defender offers more flexibility in terms of purchase and equipment.
It`s more powerful ( inline-6) , 5.0L V8 and the 4.4L TTV8 from BMW source.
Has a better transmission AISIN 10 (GX) vs ZF 8speed.
Has a better traction control, active differentials ( be sure to include the automatic locking rear diff).
That Vehicle is off road for dummies, it will do everything for you. Even though my comment might sound offensive, its my real world experience arguement for owning a L462 Discovery 5 Td6 from 2017-2022.
The Long Travel air suspension + adaptive dampers is night and day vs the Gx coil springs , AVS and E-kdss.
You loose total articulation 20 in stated by JLR ( 19.7 more like it) vs 24 in from the GX550. Both measured by Dan Edmunds on his deep dive RTI measurements.
Owning a Land rover is a way of life, its the best vehicle you will drive and own, but its a nightmare owning one. Again, zero hate , but it`s a reality.
I miss my Disco 5, the way it just ated up the imperfections on the road, no vibrations no shake , no chimy nothing, it was a perfect boat for long drives, i could go 600 miles of continued driving and do not feel any fatigue.
The Problems are so many glitches you will have with electronics ( my experience). Extremely expensive OEM brake components.
Absurd Damper prices ( 3k usd in my disco 5 ) for just a passive damper... not the air spring, just the damper.
It had to go to many times to the dealer for ecu flashes for to many system crashes. days where the screen wouldnt like to work.
For sure, no mechanical failuers i might say during my 5 year 50k miles ownership.
The problem with them come when warranty expires.
So if you wanna own it, sell it before warranty expires.
I did drove them back to back, and yes its better in every single way than my / our GX550.
But we had 3 JLR products and even though nothing has ever glided in my streets like that, its a big deal for me to experience not having my car for months.
Thats as honest as i can be.
You will own the best vehicle ever and at the same time will own the worst vehicle ever.
Never get into a LAnd rover thinking it will have issues resolved.
They will have issues, sometimes so bad, that they buy back the vehicle ( my experience with 2017 Range rover velar HSE ) so bad, that they had to take it back to factory from Panama to UK.
My dads friend bought the Big Range rover, paid over $250k usd and had so many issues, but so many .... that dealer didnt know what to do and if you ask, it was a 2026 Range Rover.
The Issues of the V35A-FTS have been seen since 2017 with the ls500. Fine, but based on my research for the J300 platform, it took around 10 years of development and testing for the chassis to withstand what a land cruiser should be able to survive.
Indeed this new engine is a marvel of complexity, might wanna read the SAE paper for the development of this powertrain.
Many things that made it better than the engines before and others not so good.
I stand by Lexus and toyota, if this 2026 engines still have problems , we have the 10 year , 200,000 kilometer warranty.
The problem with this recall is not what the recall is about, it has to do with the fact that is Toyota/ Lexus doing an engine recall, something that as long as i have learned to discover, has not been seen in a long time. That why it has become such a trend on youtube. While Gm has a worst recall right now, that hyundai and kia also have a worst recall. Pallaside right now has a nation wide sale stop because it killed a 2 year old boy crushed by the rear seat, the system did not detect that there was a person and he was crushed.
Only time will tell.
The other engine that you might not know from the J300 platform, a new diesel from toyota, F33A-FTV 3.3L TTV6 diesel with the same hot V configuration.
It had failures running 0w-20 oil, oil burning problems too...
Golden times of unmtached reliability is gone, but we have a good powertrain.
Lets stay positive.
I was pretty scared buying My 2026 gx and my family is friends of the lexus regional manager of the caribbean. Here in Panama the engine replacemente takes 30 days, they do it completely, and she assured me based on the meetings they`ve had with Japan, that the issue has been resolved.
fun Fact we here use 0W-20 in Panama, we have same heat as australia and dubai (UAE) and worse quality of gasoline, so I do not think that oil Thickness might be a problem in this engine, unless its used for hard continued work.
I do not know if any has been curious as I have been,
But this engine runs extremely hot, try when ending the trip put the engine to cool down between 1 minute to 5 minuted.
The engine bay plastics are extremely hot, I know it sounds stupid, but its hot.
- Thread starter
- #36
Hope so we have a April 2025 build a year from when they updated the main bearing part numbers, I've seen 2022 Tundras with 200k miles on autotrader as well as a 2024 GX with 68k miles, so I'm optimistic. Love our 550.
- Thread starter
- #37
I agree as well, even for the Tundras, so much clickbait from youtube "influencers" but do see them pop up in the Tundra forums so not blind either. Like you mentioned haven't seen but one GX failure and hopeful seeing some high mileage of these engines and the parts update. I agree days of just simple solid boring reliable Toyota are gone, but also so is everything manufactured post pandemic, but at least I know Toyota stands behind products and takes care of customers and it's still better than the other options. Agreed we have had a 2012 Camry, 2021 Rav hybrid, 2023 RX350h, (every gen Tacoma besides 4th gen) and the GX is by far my favorite. Gonna keep here in the stable for a bit. Tempting though to get $76k for mine with 20k miles I paid $74k for lol.
Good point. I have been remote starting mine before driving and sitting for a couple of minutes before shutting it off.
Also been doing my own oil changes between three and 5000 miles.
That`s the real fact.
The good thing of this group is giving, reading and finding real information.
attached here is:
The Defect Information Report from toyota.
Nov 6 2025.
V35A-FTS report.
People state, design flaw? I do not know. We have to wait for another official Document.
Our history with toyota Lexus have been since 2004
Land Cruiser Prado 120 Txl
Land Cruiser prado 120 Vx
Lexus gx460
Lexus Gs450h
Lexus Ct200h f sport 0
Lexus ux250h f sport 0
Lexus Nx300 f sport
Land Cruiser prado 150 vx
Lexus gx550 Overtrail
Hopefully a 2026 or 2027 Lx600 or Land <cruiser 300 sahara zx ( hopefully my father decides).
I trust the brand, the products, The confidence in what it represents.
Look, if you are able to get an allocation for a 2026 Gx , go for it and sell the gx for 76k. I f you can not, the only great option for replacement is the Armada Pro-4x, which wins in every single characteristics except longggg term reliabilty.
📷 Lexus GX 550 Random Images
📷 Lexus GX 550 Random Images
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