Land Rover Defender 110 X D350 vs Lexus LX LX 500d Luxury

The Land Rover Defender 110 X. Both are genuine four-wheel drives with low range and drive modes, but the Defender is built for harder ground. Its air suspension lifts it to a 37.6-degree approach angle against the Lexus Luxury's road-biased 23, it wades 900mm, and it clears 293mm against 210mm. The Lexus LX is capable, it shares the LandCruiser 300's off-road hardware, but the Luxury grade is tuned for the road, not the rocks. Lexus builds a more focused Overtrail grade for serious dirt, yet that is not the car here. Read the Defender as the off-road pick and the LX Luxury as the softer-riding tourer.

The Lexus LX 500d Luxury. It seats seven as standard, where the Defender 110 X here is a five-seater. That is the practical heart of the choice: the Lexus keeps a usable third row and asks its cargo space to work around it, so there is little room behind the rearmost seats until you fold them. The Defender uses its length differently, trading the third row for a large flat load bay behind the second row. If you regularly carry six or seven people, the Lexus is the clear answer. If you carry gear more than passengers, the Defender's packaging is the better one.

The Land Rover Defender. Because it skips the Lexus's third row, its five-seat layout opens a big, square load bay behind the second row, quoted above a thousand litres by Australian sources. The seven-seat Lexus LX pays for its extra row in cargo space: with all three rows up there is very little room behind them, and you fold the third row to get a usable boot. Both cars fold flat to well over two thousand litres for long loads. Read the Defender as the better tool for hauling gear, and the Lexus as the better one for carrying people and gear together.

The Land Rover Defender 110 X. Its 3.0-litre inline-six diesel makes 257kW and 700Nm and clears 100km/h in 6.4 seconds. The Lexus LX 500d runs a 3.3-litre twin-turbo V6 diesel with 227kW and the same 700Nm, so it matches the Defender for pulling torque but gives up 30kW at the top. Both drive all four wheels through a modern automatic, an eight-speed in the Defender and a ten-speed in the Lexus. In everyday driving the gap is modest, both have deep diesel torque for towing and touring, but the lighter Defender feels the more urgent of the two. For outright pace, the Defender takes it.

This one needs care. The Land Rover Defender carries a five-star ANCAP rating that covers every non-V8 110 and runs to the end of 2026, so it has a tested credential the Lexus cannot show. The Lexus LX has no ANCAP rating at all, untested rather than unsafe, and it counters with hardware: ten airbags to the Defender's six, plus the full active-safety suite. The Defender earned its stars with six airbags and no centre airbag, on an older test protocol. Read the Defender as the pick if a current, tested rating matters most, and the Lexus as the better-equipped car that simply has not been through the lab.

Neither, on the headline figures. Both the Defender 110 X and the Lexus LX 500d are rated to tow 3,500kg braked and 750kg unbraked, the usual ceiling for the class. The Defender publishes a 6,700kg gross combination mass and an eight-speed automatic that reviewers rate highly for towing composure. Lexus does not publish a combination mass for this grade in our data, so we cannot run the full loaded-while-towing sum here. For most buyers the practical result is a tie: both will pull a 3,500kg van, and both have the diesel torque and weight to do it steadily. Pick on the rest of the car.

The Lexus edges it, on balance. It has two ownership advantages: it uses the LandCruiser 300's mechanicals, which underpin Toyota's strong resale and reliability reputation, and it carries a published capped-price servicing program. The trade is short service intervals, so you visit more often. The Land Rover Defender is the more efficient car on the combined claim, 8.1L/100km against 8.9, with a bigger fuel tank for longer legs between fills. Against it sit Land Rover's patchy dependability reputation, resale that trails a LandCruiser, and an options list that inflates the price fast. For lowest ownership risk, the Lexus is the safer bet.

The Land Rover Defender 110 X. Freed from the seven-seat requirement, its case gets stronger: it is 329kg lighter, makes 30kW more, clears a far steeper approach angle, wades deeper, and opens a big flat load bay behind the second row. It also holds the current five-star ANCAP rating the Lexus lacks. You pay for it with Land Rover's reliability question mark and a resale figure that trails a LandCruiser, so buy it with eyes open and service it properly. If your weekends involve real terrain and a full boot rather than a full cabin, the Defender is the clear pick here.

The Lexus LX 500d Luxury. This is exactly the brief it was built for: seven seats, a quiet body-on-frame cabin Australian reviewers rate as a clear step above the LandCruiser it shares, and Toyota's resale and reliability reputation behind the wheel. It adds ten airbags and four-zone climate, and the diesel six has the torque for touring and towing. You give up the Defender's sharper off-road geometry, its lighter body and its current ANCAP rating, and you accept short service intervals. If refinement, seat count and long-term peace of mind lead your list, the Lexus is the pick, and it costs no more to buy.