Oh, the Land Cruiser. One of the oldest car nameplates still in mass production. An automobile as praised and respected in Japan as Willys CJ in North America. Besides all that, a product capable of catching up with all the tendencies established in this industry while retaining the same character which built its reputation decades ago. At a first sight, one can easily think this is nothing but another full-size SUV, which is sold for an amount of money as large as most of its characteristics. However, the truth is Toyota managed to make Land Cruiser a timeless car in a wonderful sense of the expression.
The most obvious way in which this vehicle can be considered timeless is its very concept. In a global market increasingly dominated by crossovers of all sizes and prices, the remaining old-school SUVs are either outdated models which still sell well enough to survive, or newer ones which were already created under the new tendency that has surrounded the segment over the past few years – making them as fancy and extravagant as high-end sedans. What makes Land Cruiser such a strong exception is the fact that it goes back to when utilitarians were just big. They had to deliver excellent off-road capabilities, and that was all they did. The imponent style was just a nice natural implication of that. People who wanted luxury actually avoided them, because they used to be noisy and uncomfortable.
Sure, Toyota couldn’t keep offering noise and discomfort and ask people US$ 80,000 for a piece of it. Over all those years, Land Cruiser’s habitability skyrocketed, but it has always stayed away from the status of a “luxury car” – which was made much easier after the introduction of Lexus LX. This article’s pictures begin to show that from the vehicle’s exterior: while LX had almost its entire sheetmetal changed, “LC” only sports a new front fascia. The headlights are sleeker and perfectly integrated to the new hexagonal grille, but none of that looks “fashionable”. It doesn’t even follow Toyota’s current design language. You will have a good impression when you see it on the street, but probably without having immediately dropped everything you were doing just to look at it.
The cavernous interior can be asked in two trim colors: Black or Terra Brown. Either of these wrap a room which only has small upgrades to show for the new year. One of these went to the Entune infotainment system, which uses a 9” touchscreen and, in case you don’t want to use it, the Eyes Free technology for you to operate Apple applications using Siri’s interface. Rear-seat occupants, in turn, enjoy two 11.6” displays. Everyone will also enjoy Qi wireless inductive chargers, and a JBL Synthesis audio system which uses fourteen speakers. As far as safety is concerned, Toyota included the “Safety Sense-P”, which is essentially a package of electronic programs: frontal collision avoidance, pedestrian protection, and pre-collision system are added to the other ones Land Cruiser already offered.
Just like its spindle-grilled sibling, Toyota’s full-size SUV only carries a 5.7-liter V8 engine once again, which is good for 381 hp of power and 401 lb-ft of torque. The difference is that it adopted an eight-speed automatic transmission, which has two more gears than the previous one. Such change helped this vehicle to achieve a combined fuel consumption of 15 mpg. Besides, you can make better use of the 8,500 pounds of towing capacity now: there’s a Trailer Sway control, which works with the stability control in order to compensate lateral oscillations. Those who might actually use Land Cruiser in places like those of the pictures will like that it retained the full-time 4WD with low-range transfer case, a Torsen locking central differential, and 30° and 20° approach and departure angles.