Well I wasn't able to drive it but I sat in all the seats and made vroom vroom sounds while in the driver's seat. Seriously, the driver's seating position felt great. I'll have to get used to the big digital display screens that are now mandatory in our brave new world. There are only buttons/dials for driver & passenger side temperature control and radio on/off/volume. Then a hazard button below radio on/off and two scrolls for the inner dash vents. Everything else is on the damn touch screen. The steering wheel has the typical radio volume switch and probably preset station scrolling, plus all the cruise control and phone and voice stuff. Then below the giant flat screen is the off road mode select that I'll probably never touch and then the nice shifter and then the 4 high/4 Low and rear locker switches which will most definitely be used.
I had a lot of glare in my photos from the morning sun, I've added some photos I grabbed off the web.
The feel in the front seats feels like total Land Rover Discovery. Tall glass, low waistline, excellent visibility, the hood humps over the tires are really nice, will be very useful for placing your front wheels off road. Rearward visibility is great too - the 2nd row windows hump up at the rear end leading to the smaller rear quarter windows but from the driver's seat looking back it doesn't seem small or cramped. Overall it has a nice airy feel like a Disco.
Rear seats have plenty of leg, shoulder, and head room (this was a non-sunroof model) and they adjust from full straight up & down seat backs (good for squaring off the cargo area behind) to a really nice relaxed laid back vibe. The rear seats fold forward and create a 2nd row shelf that is about 10.5 inches above the rear cargo floor. Then they also tumble forward but the front seats need to move forward for them to fully tumble forward. The seats don't magically disappear and create a flat floor like the LR4. The LR4 will go down in history as the best cargo area ever - 3rd row and 2nd row fold completely flat.
The rear cargo area is nice and huge, feels just like the LR4. I don't have my LR4 measurements on hand but here are the GX550 measurements:
- rear cargo opening is 36" high, going up to 41" high once you are past the opening and in the rear cargo area
- rear cargo floor is a max of 50" wide, down to 43" wide between the wheel wells
- rear cargo floor is 44.5" deep between the 2nd row seats in the up position and the inside of the rear hatch closed
- with 2nd row seats tumbled forward, you get 63" depth from inside rear hatch to tumbled seats
- with 2nd row seats only folded down, you get 79" from inside rear hatch to back of front seats (can get more if front seats crammed into the dash)
If you want a flat floor, you're going to need to build a 10.5" high platform to match the height of the folded 2nd row seats. Or tumble the seats forward and leave the hatch open with your feet hanging out (only 63" or 5' 3" deep). This thing is also set up for 3rd row seats so you have cup holders and little storage areas back on the sides of the cargo area. Great for your camp light, flashlight, phone, water bottle, Rolex, wedding ring, gun, spare mags, etc. when you're truck camping. There are even 3rd row grab handles up there.
The rear hatch is really nice - automatically raises & lowers with massive powered pistons (those will be expensive). After owning all versions of rear doors & hatches, I like this one the best. The hatch goes up & out of the way unlike the Disco 1 & 2 doors and the hatch provides nice overhead shade and rain protection. Hang 3 sides of tent material canvas from the raised hatch and you have party central back there. The clamshell hatch on the LR4 provides a nice work bench but then you can't reach all your cargo and you have to constantly jump up onto your knees on the lower clamshell to reach shit. I hate that. And the LR4 overhead clamshell provides weak overhead coverage.
All in all, it's very nice but also very plain jane which I really like. One of the reasons I've always liked the Land Rover Discoveries - nicely done but relatively plain and not overly fancy. I can't wait to go a bit bigger and more aggressive on the tires, fit one of those sweet flush-fitting Toyota roof racks, chop the front & rear plastic bumpers to fit steel bumpers and a winch, and generally fuck up a perfectly nice vehicle.