Toyota Land Cruiser is an off-roader built by Toyota since 1951. The Land Cruiser is a main flagship SUV-lineup, as well as being a longest in the production. It is well known throughout the world for very good off-roading and reliability. It is a direct competitor to the Nissan Patrol and Mitsubishi Shogun (despite the latter being discontinued). The Land Cruiser also has a compact version badged as Land Cruiser Prado which retains the drivetrain. In the US-market, the Land Cruiser rebadged as Lexus LX, after its marque launch in 1990.
The model has two distinctive types; the Jeep type (J70) and more luxurious passenger type (J300 since 2022). The Jeep type spans over three generations, with the current model J70 having been produced without interruption since 1984. It is purposely built for off-roading, and is used by various government organisations, including the United Nations. On the other hand, the passenger type was introduced in 1968 as a more luxurious and comfortable counterpart to the Jeep type, while keeping its off-road abilities. Several generations have succeeded each other, with the current one being the J300 released in 2022.
Engine started an inline-6 up to J100 (comfort-type) and current J70, newer generation now replaced with V6 or V8 engine, the current J300 now uses a V6 with an additional of twin-turbocharged derived from the Dynamic Force lineup. Drivetrain uses a 4WD in all generations.
Appearances[]
- In Series 25 (Old Top Gear), Jeremy reviewed the Land Cruiser alongside the Mercedes G-Wagon and the Range Rover. Jeremy pointed out the many buttons for the drivetrain. In the end, he favours the Range Rover.
- In Clarkson's Car Years, the J80 Land Cruiser appeared in an archive clip from the Original format. The clip describes which becomes dominant in the market.
- In a later episode, Jeremy was seen dropping off the children to school. He also described his why he hated driving SUVs.
- In Clarkson's Top 100 Cars, the J100 Land Cruiser was ranked in 24th place.
- In Series 1, Episode 10, Jeremy reviews the Prado version of the Land Cruiser where he dubbed it the 'perfect family car'.
- In the Bolivia Special of Top Gear, Hammond's vehicle of choice was the J40 Land Cruiser, which he referred to as "the Donkey". The journey ended up being very troublesome for the Toyota. He also attempted to climb the volcano; however, due to high altitude and suffering hypoxia, his vehicle along with James and Jeremy's lost much power, and they finally decided to descent. At the last hurdle, Hammond's Land Cruiser suffered major mechanical issues, as it rolled down an embankment, rolled over and lost a wheel in the process.
- In Series 2, Episode 2 of James May's Cars of the People, May reviewed the J40 variant of the Land Cruiser and discussed its history.
- In The Grand Tour finale One for the Road, the J20 Land Cruiser was one of the salvage vehicles in the scrap yard somewhere in Zimbabwe.