Stylistic nods to the previous don’t detract from the brand new Toyota Land Cruiser’s spectacular skills

Not many automobiles can concurrently declare to be a mainstay of world humanitarian help and now have wars named after them. Welcome to the world of the Toyota Land Cruiser, the off-roader that’s extra rugged than any Land Rover, can beat a Jeep throughout all terrain and has a heritage to match. Like Land Rover, the Land Cruiser’s origin story is aligned intently with army automobile design; Toyota’s first enterprise into the sphere was with a licensed model of the unique Willys Jeep.

All through the 50s the corporate advanced the unique American design, making it extra refined and versatile, with out shedding any of the off-road functionality. In 1954, the ‘Land Cruiser’ title appeared for the primary time, a deliberate try and create a extra ‘dignified’ contender to the UK’s Land Rover.

Over the following a long time Toyota produced innumerable variants and variations of the Land Cruiser. The earliest fashions are collectible classics, with corporations like Icon 4×4 providing closely restored and reworked variations. While the army connection is not particularly marketable, Land Cruisers have discovered favour with businesses just like the UN and NGOs all over the world. That battle? The Nice Toyota Battle occurred on the tail-end of Chadian-Libyan Battle in 1987, so named for either side’ reliance on modified Toyota Hilux and Land Cruisers as battle automobiles.

We’ve lately spent a while within the J250 mannequin, also called the Land Cruiser Prado in some markets, which is produced alongside the bigger and barely much less tech-heavy J300 mannequin. Specialists within the marque level to the truth that the Land Cruiser title at present adorns three totally different mannequin traces, Station Wagon, Heavy-duty and Gentle-duty. Regardless of its bodily scale, the J250 is rated as ‘Gentle-duty’, but it surely’s nonetheless a massively succesful and interesting machine.

First up, when you’ve hauled your self up into the cabin (a helpful step-plate is supplied), is the now unfamiliar however unusually comforting sound of diesel combustion. A 2.8-litre engine placing out simply over 200hp drives all 4 wheels, with a plethora of low gear ratio and particular off-road modes to help when the going will get tough. The engine itself is much from easy, particularly on this period of hybrids and EVs, but it surely actually conveys the automotive’s purposefulness, with large quantities of torque surging by means of the pedal giving one confidence in any scenario.

Seven a long time on, the Land Cruiser nonetheless finds itself in shut competitors with the Land Rover Defender, regardless of the latter comprehensively outgunning it when it comes to energy, luxurious and gross sales volumes. However whereas the Defender is now extra overtly lifestyle-focused than it ever has been, the LC carries a bit extra credibility.

Partly that’s because of the longevity of the mannequin cycle and Toyota’s conventional disdain for model over substance. The earlier era Land Cruiser was not a beautiful machine, however aesthetics are completely moreover the purpose with regards to getting out of a muddy riverbed or crossing 1000’s of kilometres of desert.

The brand new automotive is somewhat totally different. Conscious of the ever-growing cult of the early fashions, Toyota has taken the bizarre step of providing two sorts of front-end styling for the brand new automotive; spherical headlights, or rectangular. The previous supplies a direct visible hyperlink to the Land Cruisers of outdated and kind the premise of the restricted variety of First Version automobiles. The oblong models are much less friendly-looking and convey a sure humourless intent.

The remainder of the LC is self-consciously rugged, with squared off edges, chamfered surfaces and weird components just like the body-coloured bumper panels beneath the headlights. There’s a faint suspicion amongst purists that the toughness of the latest Land Cruiser is compromised and maybe that’s true when in comparison with the Land Cruiser 70 Sequence, nonetheless in manufacturing for sure markets regardless of being launched in 1984.

It’s a straightforward automotive to drive, regardless of its bulk, with wonderful ahead visibility because of the peak. The innate sense of impregnability that comes with a big SUV can be simple; a pleasure to expertise, however not such a pleasant factor to inflict on others. While the LC was by no means going to be fast or dynamically interesting automotive, it has a easy and relaxed method on the freeway and sufficient shove to make becoming a member of junctions simple and never intimidating.

Accusations of going smooth may be linked to the excessive specification ranges, with plush leather-based upholstery, JBL stereo system, enormous sunroof and dual-zone aircon. Sure, there’s a 12.3in touchscreen, digital dials and a head-up show, however very sensibly, all the first controls are buttons and dials with not a capacitive change in sight.

Like all massive 4x4s, the LC is profoundly unsuited to metropolis life and being massive, heavy and purely ICE powered, it’s not precisely low cost to run. However should you’re hauling horses or boats or often cope with rutted tracks and icy slopes, the Land Cruiser guarantees means and reliability in equal measure, and that’s value absolutely value extra in the long term.

Toyota Land Cruiser, from £77,845, Toyota.co.uk