By Ross Ballot
As stout as it was mechanically, the 2010-2022 Lexus GX460 was a technological dinosaur even in its heyday. Laden with ancient infotainment featuring an antique looking screen and infuriating controls, the system only received a factory infotainment upgrade for the vehicle’s closing 2022-2024 model years. To remedy the earlier GX460’s woes, Hamilton Motor Company set out to build a DIY retrofit kit that emulates the refreshed model’s center stack. Long story short, Hamilton succeeded with flying colors.
My own 2018 GX was one of those trucks with said frustrations. Issues were plentiful: Not enough buttons; woefully slow; screen doesn’t support swiping; no CarPlay; etc. Grom’s VLine2 attempted to bridge the gap and served a decent improvement but it couldn’t help the OEM system’s old bones.
What is it?
Instead of just being a plug-in CarPlay dongle or even simple screen swap, Hamilton’s Conversion kit is a full center stack replacement for the pre interior-refresh GX460. It comes as one unit that you swap in for the components above the OEM CD player (which stays), and it has a 12-inch screen just like the post-refresh 460. The system has wired and wireless CarPlay and Android Auto, and critically it preserves all factory functions. That means the original microphone, steering wheel controls, backup camera, and factory software are as usable as they are in a stock rig. And most importantly: Real buttons and knobs!
…why is it?
We’ve come a long way from swapping in single and double-DIN radios. As cars have become more screen-reliant– and people have become more phone dependent– the vehicles around them have been tailored accordingly. As such, tech like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are frequently at the top of the list for what consumers are looking for most in their next vehicle.
But secondhand buyers also don’t want to spend money they don’t have to, and the post-interior-refresh GX460s regularly sell for a $10k premium over the models with the old interior. Hamilton touts a full DIY install for its conversion kit, which means buying an earlier GX460 and ponying up for the $1,349 Hamilton conversion product is still a huge money save versus buying the newer vehicle.
Install
I’ve been through this rodeo before. Installing the Grom VLine2 meant pulling the whole original head unit out of the vehicle, so I was familiar with the process that kicks off the Hamilton install. I wasn’t prepared for how much undoing there was from my mosh-posh Grom doings, and though removing everything only took about 15 minutes it was the close to 4 hours of sorting out my prior shortcuts that led to my mental undoing in this process.
Once that was sorted out, installation of the Hamilton kit was pretty straightforward. Every wire comes labeled, and there are plenty of good YouTube videos showing how to make A match up with A, B match up with B, and so on.
Install including pre-assembly probably took 7 hours in total, of which 4 were because of my past self unintentionally sabotaging this round being a headache-free process. I could do the whole thing again in probably an hour and a half. Bonus? In the process– since the cup holder center tunnel covering was already out of the GX– I routed my external GMRS speaker into its theoretical forever home, wedged underneath the shifter.
Conclusion
I have no qualms about saying when things don’t work great, or a product doesn’t work as intended, but that’s not the case here. I’ve been using the Hamilton retrofit kit in my GX for four-plus months now and while it’s not perfect– no retrofit kit is, and no new vehicle has perfect tech either for that matter– it’s pretty great. Even the sound quality of the stock speakers seems improved versus with the stock head unit. That could be placebo effect though.
And though the Hamilton’s buttons, knobs, and panel matching aren’t 100% up to Lexus quality standards, the fit and finish are solid. Every install and setup issue I had was easily remedied by Hamilton’s excellent customer support team. Occasionally it won’t connect to my phone automatically, but I don’t doubt that’s the fault of my phone.
Ultimately, the Hamilton kit delivers on its promise. My 2018 GX460’s stock infotainment and even the Grom VLine2 worked fine and bothered me minimally, but– as I have said countless times– I’m extremely fortunate to drive an array of the latest and greatest cars out there, and that means getting back into my 460 felt like a time capsule– which is a good thing, in some capacities. It’s why I bought it, and why I love how it’s stuck in the year it was conceived in– just the right amount of tech, no more, no less. V8, body on frame, no interfering ADAs, etc. Then again, it sometimes also just feels old, more like the 2010 model year vehicle the GX460 was introduced as. That old foundation is still there, but the Hamilton kit makes the livability of the truck in modern times that much better.
Needless to say, I’m extremely impressed with the Hamilton conversion kit and so far I highly recommend it. I’m not just saying that because they sent it to me at no charge for the purpose of media/marketing. This is a truly great update that makes a pre-interior refresh GX460 feel very much like the later vehicles at a fraction of the price. I love how it has improved the look and functionality of my GX’s interior, and only “those who know, know” will notice it’s not OEM. Well done, Hamilton.