Toyota Land Cruiser drive by Steve Rogers
When it comes to off road legends Jeep and Land Rover are first in line. Fair enough, they’ve been around the longest but we need to add another to the roll of honour.
The Land Cruiser is a bit of an unsung hero yet it has quite a history not to mention enough sales to cover the whole of Wales.
It was born all but 75 years ago in August 1951 as the Toyota BJ and quickly made a name for itself by becoming the first vehicle to climb to the 6th station on Mount Fuji. A lofty 7,874ft along the Yoshida Trail, a favourite with trekkers.
The BJ became Land Cruiser three years later and has clocked up 11.3 million sales in 170 countries. Watch anything on the tele from Africa and the Middle East and you are guaranteed to see Land Cruisers churning up the dust.
And so the story goes on with a spanking new model, this one sitting on a new platform that has a body-on-frame set up for the first time aimed at increasing rigidity and improving the ride and handling on and off the road.
As for the new body design it looks as if it has been carved out of granite. It's all sharp edges without a curve in sight. It caused quite a stir at my local recycling centre, loads (all men) wanted a look and said it looked great but no one could put a name to it.
See what I mean about Land Cruiser being an anonymous unsung hero.
At almost five metres long and standing at 1.935m it is an intimidating monster and looks as if it is ready to turn into a Transformers super hero. The running boards and handles on each door frame are needed just to haul yourself into the seats.
Something you don’t have to worry about are potholes, the 20 inch wheels crash through them as if they weren't there yet the ride is still on the jiggly side in spite of the new platform, but then what can we expect from a car that can do amazing things when tackling the most treacherous offroad conditions?
The Land Cruiser uses the same four-cylinder turbo diesel as the Hilux pick up. It is robust but agricultural and someone paying more than £80 grand might expect something a little more refined but we have to accept where the majority of sales come from and drivers on rough tracks in the Middle East are not too fussed with such niceties. They want something that won’t break down.
In spite of its whopping 500Nm of torque this is no flyer even with a new 48v hybrid battery that supplies 12kW of power and is good for an extra 65Nm or torque at start off. Hauling its three tonne body weight means acceleration is ponderous but it can pull three and a half tonne which is probably more important.
All that reflects on the economy which is around average. My best result was 29mpg but most of the time I was hovering between 26-27mpg, thankfully an 80 litre tank ensures more than 400 miles between fills.
I doubt the Land Cruiser will spend much time off road in the hands of UK buyers and that lofty price tag doesn’t sound quite so intimidating when you go through the spec sheet which goes on forever. You are left wanting for nothing whether it is driver and
passenger safety aids or those luxuries like heated and ventilated seats front and back, yet don’t expect Range Rover style luxury. In many ways the car’s cabin is dated, I counted 36 switches, not counting those on the steering wheel, which for me is a joy. You can play them like a piano without the stress of dabbing at a touchscreen, although it has one of those as well.
What I liked about the Land Cruiser is that it doesn’t carry the snob reputation of its posher rivals. Lots will look on this as the king of the castle as far as luxury off roaders go and who can argue with that.
Favourite feature: The ice cold cool box between the front seats.
Fast facts
Land Cruiser Invincible
£82,845
2.8 litre diesel; 204bhp
8 speed automatic
0-62mph 12.3secs; 105mph
26.4mpg combined
282g/km. 1st VED £5,690
Insurance group 49
Boot: 742-2000 litres
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