Land Rover Range Rover Sport vs Lexus LX

The Range Rover Sport is the safer pick on the headline measure. It holds a current five-star ANCAP rating from 2022, scoring 85 per cent for adult and 86 per cent for child occupant protection. The Lexus LX carries no ANCAP rating at all, which makes it untested rather than unsafe: autonomous emergency braking, lane-keep assist, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, a driver-attention monitor and ten airbags are standard on every grade. Read the Sport as the safer pick if a current star rating is a hard requirement. Read the LX as well equipped but unrated if you weigh the standard kit over the badge.

The Lexus LX seats seven in its Luxury and Sports Luxury grades, including the Sports Luxury hybrid, and five in the F Sport and Overtrail. The Range Rover Sport is a five-seater across the range, with no seven-seat option. That difference reshapes the boot numbers: with the LX's third row up it holds 174 litres to the Sport's 835, but the gap reflects the extra seats, not a smaller cargo bay. Fold the LX's rearmost seats and it carries more than the Sport behind the second row, and fully folded the two are level at about 1,860 litres. For a bigger family, the LX is the one with the seats.

The Sport has the geometry; the LX has the hardware. On air suspension the Range Rover Sport clears 283 millimetres, wades 900 and meets a 33-degree approach angle, geometry the Lexus LX cannot match at 210 millimetres and 23 degrees. Low range, though, is standard on every Lexus LX and full-time four-wheel drive comes with a centre diff lock, while the Sport reserves low range for the Dynamic HSE and above and leaves it off the SV entirely. The LX Overtrail then adds front and rear diff locks on all-terrain tyres. Read the Sport as the geometry pick and the LX Overtrail as the hardware pick.

For families the decision splits on seats and safety. The Lexus LX seats seven and fits rear climate control as standard across the range, which makes it the easier car for three rows of passengers and child seats. The Range Rover Sport answers with a current five-star ANCAP rating the LX does not have, plus standard rear-seat comfort on the Autobiography. Both carry the full active-safety kit. Read the LX as the pick for families who need the seventh seat and the standard rear climate. Read the Sport as the pick for families who put a current crash rating at the top of the list.

Both are rated to tow 3,500 kilograms braked and 750 unbraked, so the decision is about the touring package around that number. The Lexus LX diesel makes 227kW and 700Nm, runs on a proven LandCruiser 300 driveline and leans on the widest dealer network in the country, which counts a long way from a city. The Range Rover Sport D350 matches the tow rating, uses less fuel at a claimed 7.3L/100km to the LX's 8.9, and carries five years of roadside assistance to the LX's four. Read the LX as the remote-touring pick and the Sport diesel as the leaner blacktop tourer. The Sport's plug-in hybrid is the exception, rated at 3,000 kilograms.

On the prestige measure the Range Rover Sport makes the stronger case. Australian reviewers consistently rate its air-sprung ride as the segment's headline, plush and isolating even on the largest wheels, and it is the quicker car, from a 6.4-second entry diesel to a 467kW V8 flagship. The cabin reads as the more theatrical of the two. The Lexus LX answers with a hushed, deeply built interior and the reassurance of Lexus ownership, but reviewers mark its infotainment as dated and its ride as floatier. Read the Sport as the pick for buyers chasing the special-object feel, and the LX as the quieter, more understated luxury.

The Lexus LX is the cheaper way in. It opens at $177,319 driveaway for the Luxury 500d diesel and runs to about $217,000 for the F Sport hybrid as of October 2026, a fairly tight 10-grade ladder. The Range Rover Sport starts higher at $183,751 for the Dynamic SE and stretches much further, past $378,000 for the SV Carbon, across 12 variants. So the entry gap is modest at around $6,400, but the Sport's ceiling is far taller because of its V8 flagships. Read the LX as the better value at the bottom of the range, and the Sport as the one with the headroom if you want a performance flagship.

The Lexus LX publishes its servicing, which is both a strength and the catch. It wants a workshop visit every six months or 10,000 kilometres, at a capped price of about $695 a time as of 2026, roughly $6,950 over five years, which is a short interval for the class. Land Rover does not publish capped-price servicing for the Range Rover Sport in the data behind this page, so get a written quote before you sign. Both back the car with five years and unlimited kilometres of warranty, and the Sport adds a year of roadside assistance over the LX, at five years to four. For a clear running-cost picture today, the LX at least shows its hand.

Start with the diesels, because they are the sensible default in both. The Lexus LX 500d makes 227kW and 700Nm and sips 8.9L/100km, the pick for touring range. The Range Rover Sport's D300 and D350 diesels are leaner still at a claimed 7.3L/100km, with the 700Nm D350 the tourer of its range. Above the diesels the two diverge: the LX offers a 305kW petrol V6 and a 341kW hybrid flagship, while the Sport fields a 390kW V8, a 338kW plug-in hybrid and the 467kW SV. For most buyers in both camps the diesel is still the one to have; the flagships are about character.