QUEENSTOWN, New Zealand—As my column title implies, I’m not really an adventurer. I’m a car guy who’d be happy lapping a racetrack over and over in a fast car. Roughing it out in the great outdoors? Hmm, maybe I’ll drive there but I’ll stay inside my airconditioned leather-lined cocoon, thank you very much.
Which made Lexus’s Empowered Adventurer Program exactly my cup of tea. It afforded a brace of media representatives from the Philippines, Japan, Kazakhstan (only the three Asian countries on this trip), Hungary, Poland, Portugal, France and Belgium to experience the natural beauty of Queenstown, New Zealand from the vantage point from inside the luxurious cabin of a dozen Lexus GX, LBX, and LM models made available to us throughout our weeklong stay.
And what beauty! Nestled on the shores of Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown is a small, bustling lakefront community offering a bountiful array of the colorful Maori culture, as well as numerous historical and natural sites. It’s a hot spot for eco tourists and adrenaline junkies with numerous locations and facilities catering to activities like bungee jumping, parasailing, skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking and trail running amidst some of the most breathtaking landscapes in the world. Needless to say, setting one’s sights on New Zealand’s spectacular vistas on board a diverse range of Lexus vehicles made the experience all the more amazing.
Day 1 began with the all-new midsize Lexus GX seven-seater SUV. The GX (and the full-size LX) are two of Lexus’ most capable off-road vehicles. They’re true four-wheel drive off-roaders, not the more common crossovers that are geared more for urban landscapes than the great outdoors.
We set off for beautiful (expect to see that word several times in this article) Glenorchy where we went jetboating along the vast river off the foot of Mount Aspiring. I started off with the GX 550h, which in Lexus-speak is the hybrid version of the GX range. Toyota and Lexus are the undisputed leaders in hybrid technology and the GX 550h absolutely shined on the winding roads leading to Glenorchy. The hybrid drivetrain was utterly smooth and seamless throughout the drive. Riding comfort was very much of Lexus levels—plush but well-controlled even with our brisk pace up and down the mountain roads.
We got to drive the non-hybrid GX 550 Overtrail going back to the spectacular lake-and-mountain bedside view of Rees Hotel, where we were billeted. It’s a testament to Lexus engineering that I was hard-pressed to detect any noteworthy difference between the hybrid and non-hybrid GX models; this despite the Overtrail wearing 18-inch all-terrain tires, which I expected to produce more road noise on the highway. The GX 550h hybrid, on the other hand, sported bigger 20-inch pavement-oriented tires with a lower aspect ratio, but it too, did not exhibit more bump harshness on pavement despite the lower-profile tires. Both SUVs simply oozed with Lexus smoothness and power, although of course, one can expect better fuel mileage with the hybrid.
Day 2 was spent being shuttled to and from a helipad in Queenstown, after which we flew over the snow-capped mountains, highlighted by landing on one of the glaciers and having a picnic (and even a few strokes of golf) on it. But as if we haven’t seen much of Queenstown and its surrounding mountains and glaciers in our helicopter flight, we were soon hopping into the LBX crossover as soon as we got to the hotel from the helipad. I took off in a blue LBX and drove it all the way to a very picturesque strip of charming shops in scenic Arrowtown (with a stop for huge scoops of New Zealand’s award-winning artisanal gelato at Patagonia ice cream store).
The LBX proved to be an excellent entry point into Lexus ownership. It’s small and relatively affordable (with a retail price starting at P2,558,000). The LBX is powered by a 1.5-liter normally aspirated 3-cylinder engine giving out 136ps and 120Nm of torque. Those numbers might not seem much, but the little car performed solidly going to Arrowtown, easily keeping up with the fast-paced traffic on the highways. More importantly, it delivered on pretty much all the values one would expect in a Lexus—comfort, luxury, features and amenities, safety, and of course, design.
But wait, there’s more! Lexus shuttled us to a sumptuous Japanese cuisine dinner at the Kobe Restaurant of the posh Millbrook Golf & Country Club in no less than the magnificent and unbelievably opulent LM luxury minivan. Piloting duties went to Madeleine Chan, the highly intrepid Deputy General Manager of Toyota Motor Asia Pacific. We were running a tad late for dinner so she had to put the van through its paces through the highways and winding roads leading to the golf course. Lifestyle Asia editor-in-chief Candy Dizon and I were luxuriating in the massager-equipped ultra-comfy captain’s seats in the two-seat rear cabin of the LM. We were playing with the mini-tablets that controlled the myriad features of the LM, including the cool glass divider that gives complete privacy to the rear occupants. The LM moved its considerable size and heft effortlessly, the smooth V6 engine hardly making any noise, and the suspension admirably delivering the perfect balance between comfort and handling. Despite Madeleine taking sweeping corners with impressive speed, we were hardly perturbed at the back. There is serious engineering beneath the all the metal and leather of the Lexus LM.
Day 3 had me again in the LBX. But this one was no ordinary LBX; it was the amazing (and very rare) LBX Morizo RR. Think of it as a high-performance hot hatch that will take you from point A to point Z with the biggest smile on your face. It’s a car enthusiast’s dream, powered by a 304ps/400Nm turbocharged 1.6-liter 3-cylinder engine and a track-tuned chassis personally developed by master driver Akio Toyoda (a.k.a. Morizo) himself. This little Lexus rockets from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.2 seconds and has a 230 km/h top speed.
In pursuit of the distinctive Lexus quietness, measures were thoroughly implemented to suppress noise and vibration even during sporty driving. To maximize vehicle performance, features such as a Direct Shift 8-speed automatic and a Lexus-first 6-speed iMT (Intelligent Manual Transmission), have been adopted. I got to drive the automatic, which, with the paddle shifters, made short work of the switchbacks leading to Wanaka and on to fog-shrouded mountain passes of Ayrburn. In sedate driving, it was as quiet as any Lexus, but flick the paddle for a lower gear then floor the throttle and you hear a very scintillating growl from the engine and the exhaust. Wonderful!
Day 4 was a day of overlanding, and I was lucky to have been assigned no less than the GX Premier, which boasted captain’s seats for the second row. I got to ride in the lap of luxury as a passenger going up the narrow dirt roads in the mountains overlooking vast expanses of sheep, horse, and cow farms in Ben Lomond Station and on to Moonlight Lodge. After lunch (and a sheep-shearing demonstration), I got to go behind the wheel of the GX Premier to play in a real-life sandbox testing the vehicle’s four-wheel drive capabilities. I even did a river crossing with the GX Premier.
After four days and over 300 kilometers driving all over Queenstown and its surrounding towns and cities (and mountains and glaciers) and making new friends with so many fascinating people, we had soaked up so much majestic scenery and memories to last a lifetime. This is nothing less than a bucket list trip. And doing it behind the wheel of Lexus vehicles, big and small, made it all the more magical. Lexus’ #ExperienceAmazing is not just a social media hashtag, it’s a real lifestyle that calls you out onto the open road to become an empowered adventurer. Thank you, Lexus, for bringing out the adventurer in me.
