I’ve ridden in both the GX460 and the LX, my best friend is a partner in a Lexus dealership. They are lovely vehicles, but cost much more than I’m willing to spend on a vehicle and are much larger than I like. As for the interior of the Land Cruiser vs the Range Rover, the former was much more oriented to all-terrain capability, whereas, in recent years the Range Rover has been focusing more on its interior luxury (hence the appellation Chelsea Tractor) but not to the detriment of its all-terrain capability. A more apt comparison would be with the two Lexus models.
Manual (what I call standard) transmissions in North America, I believe that less than 5% of the vehicles sold are with manuals. Today, they are a niche product, unfortunately. My 2003/4 Lexus IS300 had a manual hooked to a straight six engine. It was terrific car to drive, but Lexus discontinued the manual transmission shortly after I purchased the IS. When I sold the IS last year I had four bidders on the car, without advertising it for sale, all from employees of the Lexus dealership where I had the car serviced. Given its uniqueness and excellent condition it was in great demand among petrol/gear heads here, so I got top dollar for it even though it was going on 18 and the climate in Canada can be tough on vehicles. However, I still have a 2005 BMW Z4 with a manual transmission, but I don’t drive it in the winter and store it in my garage to protect it from the ravages of winter; it’s a lovely car to drive. I was not raised in Canada so Iearnt to drive on a manual and when I took my first driving test you could only take it on a manual. From then on I’ve been hooked on manuals and taught my children how to drive a manual. I can’t really say why the automatics dominate the market here. Perhaps it started because petrol/gasoline was so much cheaper here than the UK/Europe in the days when the automatics had worse mileage than manuals, so the penalty was minimal.
No doubt about it, big vehicles rule in North America, especially pickup trucks. I lived in Texas for 10 years where the pickup is king even in the cities and suburbs. I never understood this, but as I said I was not raised in North America, let alone Texas. Pickups are not quite as ubiquitous in Canada as they are in the USA, possibly except for the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan and Northern Ontario, but there are still plenty of them along with full-size SUVs. I think the penchant for large vehicles is due the relatively low cost of petrol/gasoline and the long distances here compared with the UK and Europe. I’m not a fan of large cars even though we have a mid-size SUV, Audi Q5, and would be content with something the size of a Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic; however, it seems as though cars are on steroids and get bigger every year.
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