BARRETT JUNCTION, Calif. – This can be our literal first drive of the all-new 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser, however we’ll be making an attempt to get one for a extra substantive check as quickly as potential. Our drive was restricted to a couple laps of a specifically created off-road course, and never even an particularly lengthy one, plus a half-hour of highway time on a winding rural freeway with lengthy sweepers and hefty grades. In brief, this was not the venue for a radical or honest analysis, even inside the normally restricted scope of a typical first drive occasion.
The story of the 2024 Land Cruiser additionally obtained much more sophisticated due to what occurred the night time earlier than our drive: The equally all-new 4Runner was unveiled. Whereas 4Runner pricing received’t be introduced till the autumn, the present technology would recommend that the 2025’s hardcore off-roading trim ranges must be in the identical ballpark because the Land Cruiser’s beginning value of $57,345. Contemplating these trim ranges share the Land Cruiser’s new body-on-frame platform, robust hybrid powertrain, have comparable dimensions and supply much more tools, each of the mechanical and creature consolation selection … properly, why get the Land Cruiser?
Toyota describes that entry-level “Land Cruiser 1958” as a “clean canvas” for extra devoted off-roaders who wish to make their rig their very own. Seats are lined in a sturdy material, door and sprint surfaces are rock-hard plastic, frills are stored to a minimal and choices are scarce. You possibly can’t get the brand new manually disconnecting stabilizer bar, skid plates or roof rails, together with the latter as an adjunct. This DIY idea appeared intriguing when the brand new Land Cruiser was unveiled, and there might positively be these completely satisfied to spend $6,000 lower than the place to begin of the higher “Land Cruiser” trim stage. Nonetheless, I’d contend the disconnecting stabilizer bar is hardly a frill, they usually’d get that, plus an entire bunch of different {hardware} within the new 4Runner TRD Professional or Trailhunter – {hardware} they wouldn’t must spend cash including to a stripper Land Cruiser.
I stored asking varied Toyota representatives some variation of, “What are the explanations somebody would possibly select a 1958 as a substitute of a 4Runner TRD Professional or Trailhunter?” Nobody might level to a spec, characteristic, demographic, use case or normal goal purpose. Ultimately, although, one decidedly subjective reply began to shine by means of: Individuals who desire a Land Cruiser will desire a Land Cruiser. The target factors within the 4Runner’s favor received’t actually matter, a lot as they didn’t when somebody selected (or chooses on the used market) the flawed however unquestionably lovable FJ Cruiser. It is all about fashion and character. A 4Runner is a 4Runner, and 4Runner persons are going to need a type of. Land Cruiser individuals will desire a Land Cruiser, and hey, in the event that they’re swayed by all that goal stuff to get a 4Runner as a substitute, they nonetheless purchased a Toyota. A greenback right here, a greenback there. Honest sufficient.
That’s not the final 1958 quandary, nonetheless. With regards to fashion, you could have seen that the 1958 has spherical LED headlights and plain black trim all over the place on the fascia, whereas the improve “Land Cruiser” has a group of rectangular LED parts and a mix of body-color and alloy-look trim. The one-year-only First Version (pictured under in beige) combines the spherical headlights with the remainder of the improve Land Cruiser fascia. Judging by web response and my fellow attendees on the press launch, the retro spherical headlights are enormously most well-liked. Primarily based on some whispers, nudges and winks on the first drive occasion, don’t be shocked if demand ends in a headlight choice of some type as soon as the First Version is sundown.
Each Land Cruiser will get the identical “i-Drive Max” hybrid powertrain mixture of two.4-liter turbo inline-four, eight-speed automated and electrical motor that produces 326 horsepower and 465 pound-feet of torque. My fast, grade-heavy jaunt did it no favors, however this performance-oriented hybrid appears abundantly as much as the duty of shifting a bit of over 5,000 kilos of Land Cruiser. That’s about 800 lower than the previous model, which had a 5.7-liter V8 with a number of extra horses, so much much less torque and a pair of,100 extra kilos of towing capability. It additionally obtained 14 miles per gallon mixed. The brand new one will get 23 mpg mixed, which additionally blows away the turbo V6 within the Lexus GX (successfully the Land Cruiser’s fancy twin) that will get 17 mpg mixed. The GX isn’t that rather more highly effective than the Land Cruiser, so I’d say that regardless that the four-cylinder produces fairly a little bit of uncouth buzz, the LC’s gas economic system benefit would nonetheless outweigh the GX’s efficiency one.
The lengthy sweepers of my brief drive revealed highway holding to be commendable given the body-on-frame construction, off-road-oriented suspension and high-profile all-season tires of the 1958 I drove. Physique roll isn’t extreme, steering is exact with applicable weighting (if there’s some added in Sport mode, I didn’t actually discover), and the well-sorted damping didn’t have the physique bounding about in mid-corner bumps. That mentioned, there’s no escaping the actual fact it’s a body-on-frame truck. There are the telltale wiggles and jiggles over bumps, and very similar to the mechanically associated Sequoia, I’d suspect that the obtainable 20-inch wheels might amplify that sensation.
Off highway, the important thing differentiator between Land Cruiser variations is the presence of the brand new manually disconnecting stabilizer bar that improves wheel articulation. Though the e-KDSS system within the Lexus GX Overtrail is a extra subtle automated disconnect system with advantages each on- and off-road, it’s additionally extra sophisticated and makes it tougher (and costlier) for these hoping to change their suspension. The guide disconnection is best for that, and it nonetheless does wonders whereas traversing the assorted lopsided off-road occasions Toyota created for the course. Like this …
To be clear, the 1958 was nonetheless in a position to make it by means of, however there was extra lateral rocking and physique motion. The “Land Cruiser” trim stage additionally will get Multi-Terrain Choose off-road drive modes added to the usual Crawl Management low-speed off-road cruise management and hill-descent management.
Each 2024 Land Cruiser will get a full-time four-wheel-drive system, which successfully equates to all-wheel drive with a low-range chosen by pushing a thick toggle on the middle console down and again towards 4WD Low. Subsequent to which can be buttons for the electronically locking heart and rear differentials, and the stabilizer bar. A multi-purpose knob wheels by means of on-road drive modes and, in that case outfitted, the Multi-Terrain Choose choices.
Floor clearance stands at 8.7 inches, with method, breakover and departure angles of 31 levels, 25 levels and 22 levels, respectively. The 1958 has barely worse method of 30 levels attributable to its completely different wheel/tire package deal, which I suppose these DIYers will chuck anyway. All the above are worse than the present 4Runner, however all however the method angle are higher than the final, old-school Land Cruiser (32/24/21 levels). It must also be mentioned that the brand new Land Cruiser’s a lot smaller dimensions (4.4 inches narrower, 2.1 shorter in size), make for a lot simpler off-roading on tighter trails. It’s not fairly swapping an elephant for a horse, nevertheless it’s shut. Visibility can be distinctive, with its tall, upright windshield and flat, squared-off hood that make the view out of the brand new 2025 4Runner look like a pillbox by comparability. Ought to that not be sufficient, all however the 1958 embrace a wide range of digital camera views (though it will be good in the event that they stayed on at speeds a number of ticks increased than 9 mph).
As talked about above, inside high quality differs wildly between the 1958 and higher “Land Cruiser” trim (the First Version is identical because the latter). The 1958’s fabric is sort of good with a sure retro high quality to its feel and look, however all of the onerous plastic is tough – actually and figuratively. Even the door armrests are unpadded plastic. Ouch. You additionally get an 8-inch touchscreen and a a lot smaller instrument show than the colourful, multi-view 12.3-inch unit within the different trims. These additionally get a 12.3-inch touchscreen, although it successfully runs the identical interface. The higher trims additionally get padded door and sprint surfaces (and armrests) lined in SofTex simulated leather-based, leading to a cabin that appears and feels the a part of one thing costing greater than $60,000. The design can be much less extreme and, properly, Tacoma-like than the brand new 4Runner’s, offering an altogether stronger reply for “Why Land Cruiser as a substitute of 4Runner?” After all, you additionally must pay extra.
When it comes to area, I’m 6-foot-3, and had no drawback getting snug up entrance with both the 1958’s guide seats or the opposite trims’ energy ones. I discovered entrance legroom within the previous Land Cruiser to be tight. I might sit comfortably behind myself within the new Land Cruiser with a finger-width to spare between knees and entrance seat again. Headroom is extra considerable than the 4Runner’s, whereas the seatback reclines generously. Cargo area suffers as a result of hybrid system’s battery pack that raises the ground by roughly a hand-width, leaving a small, full-width bin on the cargo space’s trailing edge. Toyota didn’t present cargo capability, however contemplating that the Lexus GX’s third-row seat raises its cargo ground by an analogous quantity, I’d suspect the Land Cruiser to have roughly the identical 40 cubic toes. That’s enormous, and the boxy form ought to make cargo loading a breeze.
Talking of a third-row seat, although, the Land Cruiser doesn’t provide one, a minimum of on this market. However as a result of it does somewhere else and, once more, shares a lot with the GX, there are nonetheless air vents, armrests, USB ports and cupholders within the cargo space together with seize handles to assist hoist you out of a 3rd row that doesn’t exist. Does this matter? Not likely, and I suppose your cargo might be stored cool. It may also be powered by a 2,400-watt inverter again there.
As said on the very starting, there’s much more to study concerning the new 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser. Whereas it proved itself on a path that appeared pretty analogous to typical off-road use (no insane boulder fields have been traversed), we nonetheless have to make the kind of drive on-road you’d make to get to the path within the first place. To not point out extra day-to-day driving, however then that’s hardly ever found on a primary drive occasion. One factor we received’t be capable to decide for years and even a long time: how this smaller, lighter, hybrid-powered and supposedly much less robustly constructed Land Cruiser will evaluate in the long term to previous generations which can be nonetheless traversing the Sahara, Andes and elsewhere with the sterling construct high quality and bulletproof reliability that made the Land Cruiser identify legendary. You possibly can, the truth is, get a next-generation a type of, it’s simply solely the Lexus LX right here within the States. And if you happen to’re iffy on frills, that positively received’t be for you. No quandary there.
Till the second drive, then …
