The Lexus GX460 doesn’t feel comfortable in this place.

For one, this luxury SUV with a short wheelbase somehow has seven seats. Second, I’m rolling up on a sporting good store in a shopping mall — this should be scaling the actual North Face. One man’s excess is another man’s family car, I suppose.

But I’m not complaining at all. The GX has more lacquered wood in it than Ivy League libraries, so how could I gripe?

The GX is somewhat of a throwback anyway. This body-on-frame luxury utility vehicle is the kind of car that used to greet car buyers on car lots only 15 years ago. Back then, crossovers hadn’t dominated the market yet, and driver were still dominating every gas pump trying to feed those thirsty SUVs. By 2000 we were buying millions of SUVs like it each year before sales plummeted in 2005 thanks to gas prices. Haulers built with that rugged, truck-frame construction have nearly gone extinct because of it, but true SUVs like the Lexus GX, Land Rover LR4 and others are still here sopping up buyers where they can.

On the way past the Gap it occurred to me: What if this were the mountaintop for SUVs? What if the millions of tons of sheet metal and steel were all leading up to this? If the pinnacle of the SUV’s evolution were a Lexus GX, would that be such a bad thing?

I’ll ponder over a Cinnabon later.

The GX isn’t bent on world domination — in sales at least. Last year the wildly popular RX outsold its bigger brother GX by nearly 10 to 1, and Toyota head Jim Lentz still proclaimed the year a win for everyone at Lexus. Perhaps that’s because the subdued four-wheel drive GX is a bit of a sleeper in most lots. It doesn’t quite look like a V8-clad monster that can tow 6,500 lbs., nor does it look like it weighs more than 5,000 lbs. more. Although its horsepower is modestly pegged at 301 ponies — the output from many V6s these days — its capability is nonpareil. A locking rear differential, full-time four-wheel drive and exceptionally grippy all-season tires are all features I would use if I weren’t waiting for this lady to pull out of her parking space. Does she need a pastel-colored invitation to get a move on?

What the GX succeeds at is the experience inside its four doors. For 2013, engineers slowed the window roll near the top so it wouldn’t be too noisy when you can’t have wind blowing in your face. Remember that big, 4.6-liter V8? It whispers in the cabin, unless you’re looking to blow the doors off of someone at a stoplight. And the GX comes standard with what Lexus calls its Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System that adjusts stabilizer bars for better handling on- and off-road.

I’ll admit that I have probably been in more comfortable seats that in the driver’s seat of a GX in my lifetime, but for the life of me I can’t remember what those are right now. If I pressed myself, I’d say it would have been one of those self-massaging chairs at the Sharper Image, and that’s fine company if you’re Lexus.

Although there is much more switchgear in here than you’d expect from a luxury automaker (those guys charge more for less knobs, somehow) the experience of having those options isn’t off-putting. It’s nice to know that this soft, semi-aniline leather clad brute can dirty itself up and descend down a mountain with crawl control at the press of an actual button. I like the redundant controls in the center stack for climate and audio too, considering my fat fingers fumble on many touchscreens. If you spring for the optional Mark Levinson sound system, almost $4,000 more, you could drown out the mindless thumping techno reeking from Abercrombie and Fitch that I can hear all the way out here from the back of the parking lot.

If the optional stereo didn’t clue you in before, then I’ll make it even clearer: the GX460 isn’t cheap. Starting at $53,795 for the base GX and running up to $58,590 for the Premium model — which adds softer seats, heated second row seats and not much else — the GX is meant for well-heeled buyers. Our test model would ring up a $66,815 bill at your local dealer.

But that brings us back to the first idea. If the days of bulky, thirsty SUVs are nearly over, then the best of the rest shouldn’t be an easy conquest. Even though the 18 mpg is respectable, the heavy SUV is a reminder that we should ask the very most from these cars that can scale Kilimanjaro without spilling our Jamba Juice. The Lexus GX certainly delivers that.

I feel comfortable in this place. The Lexus GX is good for that.