Albania 1999 - I was in Tirana serving as an EM officer with the International Medical Corps. one morning at IMC HQ, an admin person walked into the room and said, “we need a show of hands of anyone willing to go to Macedonia to pick up 7 new Landcruisers coming from Gibraltar. “ My hand was the first one up, and a few hours later I was on the road with a handful of volunteer drivers to pick up and transport these new white 100 series Landcruisers back to Tirana. Those days the gearboxes were manual, floors amenable to being washed down, and they had large condan antennas mounted on the front bumper like a rhino’s horn.
For me that memory of driving across a foreign country in a newly released Landcruiser was formative.
Fast forward 27 years and two Landcruisers later, my last 100 series (built out with ICON shocks, OME springs, and a Alu-cab RTT) was getting passed down to my son with 280k miles.
Looking for its replacement - the new LC 250 was first in my crosshairs. It drove great, interior was simple and fairly clean, but then I opened the hood and saw a mess of wires and harnesses that just lost me. And I couldn’t get past the feeling that a 4 cylinder hybrid engine seemed vastly insufficient to move the massive new landcruiser 250 reliably for another 25 years.
The purist in me then gravitated to the 2025/ 2026 Lexus GX Overtrail - all of the off road prowess without unnecessary and expensive knick knacks. A burly 6 cylinder twin turbo under the hood, KDSS, and all of the latest tech hooked me. I didn’t see any reason to get the Overtrail Plus at an additional $8k up cost. But then, 5 months of patiently waiting on the list and being offered color combinations that were not to my taste, gradually wore me down, until one day Fiona Ma at Longo Lexus texted me - “we got your color combination.. but it’s an Overtrail plus.”
I was torn - on one side the atomic silver / onyx black roof OT with black interior but with the “plus”features that I felt were a complete waste of money.
The Overtrail Plus build including FIO’s (factory installed options) such as Traffic Jam Assist, Massage Seats, Heads up display, Extended leg support (on drivers side), rear heated seats (in California), rear window shades, a (stupid) rear hatch kick sensor, a $1200 sound system (for a guy who didn’t even have Spotify) seemed nothing short of frivolous.. and unnecessary “magic beans” that I would be purchasing at a substantial cost with NO net gain!
Being able to cancel most of the PIO’s (Port Installed Options) knocked off about $1000 of unnecessary additions, but the OT and OT plus were still about $8k apart…
But the fact that I had waited 5 months, and Longo was one of three Lexus dealerships in California that I found who did NOT mark up their vehicles above MSRP, my frugality ultimately gave in to my fancy..
And here was the UNEXPECTED outcome: 1. I got Spotify and thoroughly love the Mark Levinson sound system. 2. I’ve come to appreciate and use EVERY additional option that before I looked at with subtle contempt. The heads up display that communicates with Maps from CarPlay gives great directions and is employed regularly. The massage function is divine on long trips, and the traffic jam assist, a welcome feature that takes away the pain of being stuck on the 405 in bumper to bumper traffic.
Even that annoying rear “hands free” kick sensor )now that I know how to turn it off) gets used not infrequently with a great deal of satisfaction. (I just turn it off when I’m doing a lot of rear cargo loading for a long trip.)
Bottom line: if you are buying this car for the long term, money is less of an object than it used to be, and to coin the Marie Kono-ism - If you find joy in these features - my feeling - just spend the money and buy the Plus. In my case my frugal purism, has given way to fanciful fondness.
View attachment 21133
For me that memory of driving across a foreign country in a newly released Landcruiser was formative.
Fast forward 27 years and two Landcruisers later, my last 100 series (built out with ICON shocks, OME springs, and a Alu-cab RTT) was getting passed down to my son with 280k miles.
Looking for its replacement - the new LC 250 was first in my crosshairs. It drove great, interior was simple and fairly clean, but then I opened the hood and saw a mess of wires and harnesses that just lost me. And I couldn’t get past the feeling that a 4 cylinder hybrid engine seemed vastly insufficient to move the massive new landcruiser 250 reliably for another 25 years.
The purist in me then gravitated to the 2025/ 2026 Lexus GX Overtrail - all of the off road prowess without unnecessary and expensive knick knacks. A burly 6 cylinder twin turbo under the hood, KDSS, and all of the latest tech hooked me. I didn’t see any reason to get the Overtrail Plus at an additional $8k up cost. But then, 5 months of patiently waiting on the list and being offered color combinations that were not to my taste, gradually wore me down, until one day Fiona Ma at Longo Lexus texted me - “we got your color combination.. but it’s an Overtrail plus.”
I was torn - on one side the atomic silver / onyx black roof OT with black interior but with the “plus”features that I felt were a complete waste of money.
The Overtrail Plus build including FIO’s (factory installed options) such as Traffic Jam Assist, Massage Seats, Heads up display, Extended leg support (on drivers side), rear heated seats (in California), rear window shades, a (stupid) rear hatch kick sensor, a $1200 sound system (for a guy who didn’t even have Spotify) seemed nothing short of frivolous.. and unnecessary “magic beans” that I would be purchasing at a substantial cost with NO net gain!
Being able to cancel most of the PIO’s (Port Installed Options) knocked off about $1000 of unnecessary additions, but the OT and OT plus were still about $8k apart…
But the fact that I had waited 5 months, and Longo was one of three Lexus dealerships in California that I found who did NOT mark up their vehicles above MSRP, my frugality ultimately gave in to my fancy..
And here was the UNEXPECTED outcome: 1. I got Spotify and thoroughly love the Mark Levinson sound system. 2. I’ve come to appreciate and use EVERY additional option that before I looked at with subtle contempt. The heads up display that communicates with Maps from CarPlay gives great directions and is employed regularly. The massage function is divine on long trips, and the traffic jam assist, a welcome feature that takes away the pain of being stuck on the 405 in bumper to bumper traffic.
Even that annoying rear “hands free” kick sensor )now that I know how to turn it off) gets used not infrequently with a great deal of satisfaction. (I just turn it off when I’m doing a lot of rear cargo loading for a long trip.)
Bottom line: if you are buying this car for the long term, money is less of an object than it used to be, and to coin the Marie Kono-ism - If you find joy in these features - my feeling - just spend the money and buy the Plus. In my case my frugal purism, has given way to fanciful fondness.
View attachment 21133
