Toyota Land Cruiser

What We Like

Off-road prowess

All Land Cruisers come standard with the necessary goodies to get down and dirty off-road, including locking rear and center differentials, full-time four-wheel drive, a “crawl” mode, 8 inches of ground clearance, and generous approach/departure angles to prevent the front or rear bodywork from hitting an obstacle.

But the First Edition trim we sampled also had a six-mode adjustable terrain system (Auto, Dirt, Sand, Mud, Rock, and Deep Snow) as well as the ability to disconnect the front stabilizer bar from inside the cabin as standard equipment. (The midtrim Land Cruiser also has these as standard.) The first system varies power delivery depending on the surface, while the latter allows the suspension to better keep the wheels in contact with the ground at severe angles when off-roading.

Is it technical? Yes. Does it work well? Absolutely. The Land Cruiser played the part of an agile mountain goat when scampering up our rock hill course. It gobbled up the craggy ascent with ease, its crawl mode adding gas when needed, along with minimum wheelspin and impressive suspension articulation. The front camera scanning the path ahead was an added bonus and allowed the driver to make reactions based on what was directly in front of the tires rather than having to look farther ahead over the hood to choose their line.

Throwback styling

True, a vehicle doesn’t get any extra points in CR’s ratings for styling, but that doesn’t mean we can’t call it as we see it. And we like what we see with the Land Cruiser. Toyota went all out with the vintage appearance, such as the round headlights, contrasting-color roof, rectangular side mirrors (more on these below, however), and “Toyota” spelled out on the grill, all of which recall the Land Cruisers of yore. Even the boxy styling is retained, with a modicum of curves and aerodynamics applied. Nobody is going to mistake the Land Cruiser for a Highlander, just as the Ford Bronco and Explorer look like they were adopted from different litters.

Plenty of physical controls

There are dozens of buttons, knobs, and levers in the Land Cruiser’s cabin, which look overwhelming at first but is actually a good thing. Climate functions are all handled by buttons, the various drive modes are controlled by both buttons and a rotary knob, and the console between the seats houses not just buttons and levers for the drive wheels and differential modes but a real gear selector. Add in the buttons and rocker switches on the steering wheel and you end up with a vehicle that has a fairly intuitive—and not distracting—set of controls

Yes, the 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen doesn’t include a knob for tuning the audio system or making selections in other menus, which is an ongoing frustration with every Toyota and Lexus infotainment system, and the volume knob is oddly placed far away from the front passenger’s reach. It’s not perfect, but the Land Cruiser’s interior is refreshingly analog in an age of touch-sensitive controls and the headaches they bring.

Subtle luxury

Toyota did an impressive job blending some luxury and comfort touches into the off-road look and feel of the interior. There are a fair amount of padded surfaces throughout, such as the upper door inserts and the front and rear window sills. The air vents in particular have a high-quality feel, and the buttons for some of the climate functions have a nicely damped action. Both the steering wheel and gear selector have a hefty, work-like feel to them, but they have leather trim and are well-shaped. Even the outside of the Land Cruiser is well-done, with even panel gaps and tasteful design.

There are a few places that are letdowns. Outside, the cover for the trailer hitch looks like something pulled out of the spare parts bin and thrown on at the last minute because Toyota forgot to design an integrated cover. Inside, the hard plastics around the gauge cluster, infotainment screen, lower interior door panels, and center console seem like a cost-cutting measure. Keep in mind that our rented version is the top-trim Launch Edition, so the base 1958 is likely to be less plush inside.

Ride quality for the platform

You won’t ever forget that the Land Cruiser is a body-on-frame SUV when it exhibits some shaking over rough surfaces on the road, something a unibody SUV like a Highlander or RAV4 doesn’t suffer from. So far, it feels as if the Land Cruiser has the most impressive ride comfort of all the vehicles using this platform that we’ve tested (Sequoia, Tacoma, and Tundra). Some of this comes from the longer suspension travel for off-roading, and some comes from the tires with their tall sidewalls, which help absorb impacts. While the body will move about over some undulations, the motions are controlled and don’t feel floaty or as if the body is moving separately from the rest of the vehicle. Only large bumps or a transverse ridge across a lane will noticeably upset the Land Cruiser or punch through to the cabin.

Seamless hybrid operation

The hybrid system in the Land Cruiser isn’t designed to deliver fuel-economy numbers that challenge a Highlander Hybrid. The benefit is that it rarely makes itself evident but provides numerous other perks. Drivers were able to cruise on electric-only power up to roughly 10 mph. After that, the engine would kick in. If you’re quick on the throttle you won’t even see “EV-only” driving. But the electric-gas transition is very smooth, whether when driving or starting up from a stop, and the SUV will frequently coast around town or on the highway with the engine off.

Observed fuel economy

While not a fuel-economy special, we saw about 20 mpg in mixed driving when using the onboard trip computer. In comparison, our tested 2014 Land Cruiser got 14 mpg overall from its V8. The Land Cruiser is rated by the EPA at 23 mpg combined, which is a lot better than the Lexus GX’s 17 mpg combined rating. Of course, we’ll put our own Land Cruiser through our battery of fuel economy tests to see how it measures up.

What We Don't Like

On-road handling

When venturing off-road, the Land Cruiser is a champ. But on-road behavior … isn’t a chump, but it doesn’t stand out for the right reasons. The steering is very slow, requiring a lot of twirling to get around even the most benign corners. On top of that, the steering has a syrupy feel to it, with very little feedback as to the road surface. The biggest issue is the top-heavy feeling and the Land Cruiser’s weight. These combine to create a lot of body lean around even modest corners. The off-road-focused tires reach their limits of adhesion early, squealing in protest when they’re forced to carry the big SUV around a corner at even a moderate pace.

Overall, the Land Cruiser is controlled and composed, especially given its off-road intent. But it’s not going to drive like a unibody family SUV.

Short gas warning range

As we’ve found with many other Toyotas, the Land Cruiser doesn’t give drivers much warning before potentially running out of fuel. The “low fuel” alert comes on with just 19 miles remaining. That’s no problem in town, but if you’re out in the woods you may want to make sure that 5-gallon jerry can is topped off—and the nearest gas station is less than 50 or so miles away.

Tailgate window

Toyota used to feature a power-retractable rear window on many of its SUVs. This made it easy to carry longer items but also protected the window when doing so. Like the Sequoia, the Land Cruiser’s tailgate window only pops up to open, held up by struts. It’s an okay solution, but the retractable window was far better and you didn’t have to worry about damaging the glass. The power-retractable rear window is still a feature on the 4Runner.

Cargo compromises

The rear load floor is fairly high off the ground, likely due in large part to the combination of the solid rear axle and the hybrid battery. While it isn’t as egregious as in the Sequoia, this raised floor increases the lift-up height to load cargo and cuts into available space. In addition, the second-row seats don’t fold down completely flat so, depending on their weight, long items loaded into the Land Cruiser aren’t fully supported by the cargo floor.

Powertrain refinement

While there’s plenty of power from the turbocharged four-cylinder hybrid engine and eight-speed automatic transmission, giving the Land Cruiser strong acceleration at any speed, this combination isn’t the most well-mannered. Not only is the engine loud, but the sound is also uncouth and unbecoming of the Land Cruiser’s price. The noise is even less appropriate in the Lexus GX, but it’s still out of place here. Drivers noted that there are sometimes vibrations felt through the steering wheel and chassis when the engine is asked to accelerate at anything other than minimal throttle. Power delivery feels uneven, too. One driver noted that during acceleration the power comes on initially as expected, but it’s sometimes followed by a burst of additional power, almost like there was some turbo lag. Finally, while the transmission smoothly executes upshifts, downshifts—particularly when coming to a stop—can be rough. When slowing to a stop, the transmission makes abrupt, jarring shifts, and the SUV ends up shuddering as you decelerate.

Sensitive brakes

While the brakes behave normally when slowing down, such as when reducing speed on the highway or a secondary road, they become touchy when coming to a full stop or creeping along. Some drivers noted the Land Cruiser wouldn’t slow in a linear fashion, as if the brakes were grabbing oddly because of the regenerative braking system. The driver would have to adjust how much pressure was put on the brake pedal a few times during a stop. Pulling into a garage or parking space with a bollard was a similar challenge because it was difficult to feather the pedal enough to stop smoothly and prevent running into a stationary object.

Squeezed display

Despite having a giant touchscreen infotainment system, Toyota puts all settings for the advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) in a small portion of the gauge cluster. The result is that the names of the systems are often abbreviated, and adjusting settings requires a lot of toggling through menus and submenus with the steering wheel controls.

Outside mirrors

As cool as the side mirrors may look as part of the Land Cruiser’s throwback styling, their tall, narrow dimensions create a visibility challenge. Changing lanes becomes a check, check again, and then check a third time process because it always feels as if the driver can’t see everything in their blind spot. Sure, there’s a blind spot warning system, but that’s an assistance system to add to your confidence, not the sole way of checking if the lane is clear.

What We'll Keep an Eye On

Noise on the highway

The Land Cruiser’s key competitors—the Ford Bronco and Jeep Wrangler—are incredibly noisy at any speed other than a crawl. For the most part, the Land Cruiser is quieter than both of these SUVs. But the Toyota is fairly noisy on the highway, mostly because of its boxy shape and the complex basketlike roof rack. We’ll see how much highway noise punches through to the cabin when we test our own purchased one.

Getting in and out

It’s a big step up to get into the Land Cruiser, given its elevated ride height. Fortunately, the doors open wide and leave a decent space to climb into. The grab handles by each opening help people pull themselves up and in, and there’s no ducking needed because the roof is so high. The First Edition trim we rented has standard rock rails on each side, which look as if they’re steps and can be used to help climb in. In reality, they’re designed to protect the lower body from rocks, stumps, and other debris when off-roading, and they’re too narrow for most people to use as a step. The midtrim Land Cruiser is available with optional running boards. We’ll see what cabin access is like when we buy our version to test.

Driver monitor

The driver monitor system uses a camera on top of the steering column to observe the driver and issue an alert if it notices that the driver is looking somewhere other than the road ahead. But it seems to have the same warning time for looking at a phone as for checking if there’s a car in the SUV’s blind spot. This is frustrating and annoying, made worse because of the narrow side mirrors.

Active Safety and Driver Assistance

The Land Cruiser comes with the latest Toyota Safety Sense suite, dubbed TSS 3.0. This includes automatic emergency braking with pedestrian, cyclist, and motorcyclist detection; lane departure warning; road sign recognition; and automatic high beams. Plus, it includes Proactive Driving Assist. In some situations, this feature can provide “gentle” braking and/or steering assistance based on radar and camera information to help with turns, following vehicles, and responding to a pedestrian or bicyclist. In addition, blind spot warning and rear cross traffic warning are also standard.