I recently wrote about my time doing some off-road testing in and also reviewing the new Isuzu D-Max pickup truck off the beaten path. Ah, but what I forgot to mention was that there was another off-roader there, waiting and eager for a test drive… The all-new and very highly anticipated Toyota Land Cruiser. At long last, after much waiting around, the UK off-roader segment is heating up again, and the king is finally back.
Now, if you know your Land Cruisers, then you might’ve noticed that what I have here isn’t 100% a Land Cruiser, per se. Or, at least, as far as this generation’s Land Cruiser bloodline and family lineage is concerned. While this might be called a ‘Land Cruiser’ here by Toyota UK, in other parts of the globe, this would otherwise be referred to as the ‘Toyota (J250) Land Cruiser Prado‘, which is actually the brand’s “baby” Land Cruiser.
Meanwhile, in other markets, you might have been able to spec the proper, big boy ‘J300’ Land Cruiser, instead! Nevertheless, while us Brits have to make do with a not-quite-a-full-sized-Land-Cruiser, that isn’t to say that it should be underestimated when tarmac runs out, as you’re still getting the full Land Cruiser experience, and this bite-sized, ‘lite mode’ Land Cruiser retains much of its bigger brother’s off-roading skills and capability.
Way More Than Just The ‘Baby’ Land Cruiser
Besides the fact that you aren’t, in theory, missing out on much, which is, of course, all well and good, how does it actually fare? Well, to test out if this new Land Cruiser here is all that we hoped and dreamed of, I thought I’d give it a go at the Millbrook Proving Ground; probably the best place to test any new car. Oh, but not the Alpine Course, with miles of swooping asphalt and curvaceous bends, which most of you might know it for.
Rather, we’re going to Millbrook’s off-road testing area, with its challenging terrain that would break most off-roaders in half. If you want to learn more about it, I’d recommend checking out my recent, aforementioned Isuzu D-Max off-road testing review blog, where I made a detour and spent some time talking about the actual course itself. One thing’s for sure, though, Millbrook doesn’t just have the one off-road course, as there are many paths and routes.
Each one comes with varying degrees of difficulty and distinct testing zones for every possible scenario. This time around, however, since I didn’t have an instructor and co-driver with me to provide some comforting guidance and to be my safety net, as I drove around each test area, I did take it relatively a bit easier than the more insane testing that I did earlier with the Isuzu D-Max, particularly the absurd ‘One-In-One’ vertical drop.
It Makes Hardcore Off-Roading A Trivial Thing
Nonetheless, it was still more than enough for me to get a grip on what this new Land Cruiser could be capable of when presented with an off-road challenge! And indeed, it really is a fantastic off-roader! Proof of that was me trying to fiddle around the new Land Cruiser’s interior and trying to figure out what all the buttons do, then realising that I drove nearly three-quarters of this off-road course in just its ‘normal’ drive mode.
That’s without even going into some of the hardy, off-road-y drive mode settings! Yet, it had no qualms going over the more difficult bits of the testing course. It kind of makes hardcore off-roading feel utterly trivial, with just how easy it is to get in the all-new Land Cruiser and drive effortlessly, without needing to fuss about with it to make it perform well when you’re off-roading, like what we’ve done in older off-roaders.
The only times when I had to move the drive mode dial over to the dedicated off-road settings, it did make quite a noticeable change in how it felt. From what I noticed, it gave you a bit more sponginess and depth of travel in the throttle pedal, so there’s a bit more room for you to accurately manage the accelerator, as well as keeping the transmission in a slightly higher gear, and optimising your gear shifts to better handle off-road terrain.
Naturally, as you might imagine for such an off-roader, the increased ground clearance that you get is hugely welcomed, particularly when I was navigating the new Land Cruiser down the many steep hills that you’ll find here at Millbrook, as well as the dizzyingly sharp drops, in addition to speeding through tight dirt lanes and gloopy pools of mud. It took on everything that I could throw at it, without even breaking a sweat.
A Factory-Built Off-Roader With No Equals
It’s worth remembering, too, that I was doing all this myself, without supervision from an experienced off-roader by my side, and driving the new Land Cruiser for the very first time ever, with which I had zero trouble getting around. You’ll definitely appreciate the fact that, from the factory, Toyota seemingly designed and engineered this new generation of Land Cruisers to be an absolute breeze to drive and go off-roading with.
This is thanks to the metric tonne of clever bits of hardcore off-road engineering to aid you while you’re out in the sticks. Notably, it retains an old-school and very traditional body-on-frame chassis, even while some of its closest rivals have moved to a unibody construction. The former configuration allows you a bit more flex, thus giving you a natural advantage when you’re tackling harsher off-road terrain and tough trails.
Even the exterior styling of this new Land Cruiser, with its low bonnet line, makes it very easy for you to see out of. Additionally, with how the corners and edges of the bonnet line are shaped and designed, it makes it easier for you to know where you’re placing the car, which certainly helps when you’re driving between a rock and a hard place. Plus, with the Land Cruiser’s brutish and beastly design, I do quite like the look of it.
On top of that, the Land Cruiser’s rigid chassis and improved four-wheel drive system are both complemented by the new powertrain, which is a 2.8-litre turbocharged inline-4 diesel engine, to be matched with an 8-speed automatic transmission. With only around 202 bhp of power, it doesn’t sound like it has a whole lot of gusto and oomph under the bonnet to move around this massive off-roader, until you look at the torque figures.
The New Gold Standard Among Off-Roaders
With about 505 Nm of torque, there’s a generous supply of push and shove when you need to get this spacious 4×4 going, and it definitely helps out when you’re trying to trek over unwelcoming terrain, too. Some other bits and bobs, as well as creature comforts to make going off-road that much more effortless, the new Land Cruiser comes with an electronic rear diff lock, in addition to an improved 4WD system over its predecessors.
Elsewhere, you’ll find a nice crawl control system for better low-speed manoeuvrability, and it does so by taking control over your accelerator and brakes, allowing you to focus more on the steering, as well as the rather neat multi-terrain drive management software! There’s also Toyota’s Stabiliser Disconnect Mechanism, enabling you to disconnect the sway bar, and that should offer you more wheel articulation and better ground contact.
Oftentimes, when I’m testing anything off-road, most off-roaders do their job in pulling me through without any complaints. That said, this new Land Cruiser is truly built different, as the extreme off-road courses that I took it down around the Millbrook Proving Ground weren’t even close to scratching the surface or reaching the limits of what it could truly do. This is by no means the threshold of the all-new Land Cruiser’s off-roading abilities.
But Is It Worth The Toyota Land Cruiser Tax?
So, if you need a massively capable off-roader, without compromise in either its on-road refinement or the many amenities and luxury that you get in the cabin, it’s hard to find anything remotely comparable. Granted, with its starting price of around £77,845, the new Land Cruiser is not cheap, and it’s a tough pill to swallow, even for the Land Cruiser faithful. But, then again, it does represent the apex of what a refined off-roader ought to be!
Being a Toyota, you can bet that it’ll be stupendously reliable and it’ll offer you rock-solid dependability, and by virtue of it also being a Land Cruiser, it might hold on to its market value exceptionally well, too. Besides, given how long the waitlists are for this new Land Cruiser, not just here in the UK, but around the world elsewhere, it’s clear that many people are more than willing to pay that premium, so maybe there’s something in it after all.
