The New Toyota Land Cruiser: A Beast on and off the Road

Toyota has taken its iconic Land Cruiser SUV to new heights with the latest iteration, boasting an impressive array of features and technologies designed to tackle even the most challenging terrain. The new model comes equipped with four-wheel drive and locking differentials as standard, ensuring that drivers can take on even the toughest off-road adventures with confidence.

One of the standout features of the new Land Cruiser is its advanced electronic system, which includes a "Select" mode. This innovative feature allows the car to automatically detect the surface it's driving on and adjust its settings accordingly. Whether you're tackling rough terrain or navigating city streets, the Select mode ensures that your vehicle is optimized for optimal performance.

Another impressive feature of the new Land Cruiser is its Multi-Terrain Monitor system. Similar to the Clearsight system found in some Land Rovers, this innovative technology provides drivers with a unique view of their surroundings through the car's infotainment screen. This allows them to navigate complex terrain with ease, avoiding obstacles like boulders and curbs that could pose a hazard.

In terms of powertrain, the new Land Cruiser boasts an impressive 10-speed automatic gearbox - a significant upgrade from the eight-speed unit found in its predecessor. While this may seem excessive for on-road driving, it's designed to provide improved fuel efficiency and reduced emissions when cruising at higher speeds.

However, Toyota has also recognized that its previous model was not ideal for on-road performance. To address this, the new Land Cruiser features a stiffer platform with a lower center of gravity than its predecessor. This improves handling and reduces the car's tendency to lean during faster cornering. Additionally, the new model is 200 kilograms lighter than its predecessor, thanks in part to an aluminum roof replacing the steel unit.

Other notable upgrades include advanced safety features such as pedestrian and cyclist detection. These features are designed to alert drivers of potential hazards on the road, providing peace of mind when navigating busy city streets.

Inside the cabin, Toyota has given the new Land Cruiser a thorough makeover. Gone is the dated aesthetic of its predecessor, replaced by a more modern design with a massive central touchscreen controlling many of the car's functions. Notably, climate control remains manual, with physical buttons available for those preferring a more tactile experience.

The interior has also been expanded to accommodate different seating configurations - five or seven seats are available, just like their predecessor. While size may not change significantly, the new model is designed to provide ample space and comfort for passengers.

Finally, Toyota has unveiled its "GR" version of the Land Cruiser, a visually enhanced package that includes alloy wheels and black bumpers. This is more akin to an upgrade pack than a full-fledged rally spec homologation special - drivers can expect a unique look without sacrificing performance or practicality. However, this particular model will not be available in the UK or Europe, with a planned release date for the Middle East and Russia in 2021.

For those who can't wait for their own Land Cruiser, there is some good news: the author has found an excellent deal on another off-roader that can be purchased immediately. Clicking on the banner at the top-right corner of the screen will reveal this opportunity - details can only be shared with those willing to take advantage of it.

The article concludes by inviting readers to like and comment below, as well as join the Car Wow Newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest news and reviews from the automotive world.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is the new landcruiser 300. it's the latest version of toyota's legendary 4x4 and it's an alternative to the land rover defender and mercedes g-class and in this video i'm going to tell you everything you need to know about it buying a new car then head to carwa and my team will help you find your next car at a fair price car wag your one-stop car buying comparison site some off-roaders have barely changed since they first went on sale well visually anyway take the jeep wrangler for example sure the new car is bigger than ever but you can still instantly recognize it as a jeep the same goes for the mercedes g-class yes it's a bit bigger now and has independent front suspension instead of an old-fashioned beam axle but it still looks really similar to the original g-wagon other off-roaders have been given a modern overhaul like the new land rover defender you'd never mistake this for an old-school land rover but it still has a similar character the same goes for the suzuki chimney and the new ford bronco but the toyota land cruiser is a bit different because it hasn't had one identifiable look through the years so toyota could have been really brave with the new car's design but it wasn't it looks really similar to the old model it's just as boxy and has similar square headlights the new car does have an even taller grille though and there's a new piece of black trim that runs from one headlight to the other wow it also looks a bit tougher than the old land cruiser from the side because it has some extra wheel arch extensions and deeper side skirts the rear pillar is a slightly different shape now but you'll probably only notice if you're a proper land cruiser nerd the changes at the back are pretty tough to spot too the new 300 brake lights are slightly pointed in the old cars and it has a few bits of extra trim in the bumper that's a lot so what do you think is this the coolest looking off-roader on sale or do you prefer something like a g-class or a jeep wrangler let me know in the comments we'll put a pin comment you can vote which is your favorite some new suvs like the new land rover defender use a monocot body shell just like an ordinary car but others have a separate body and chassis like the jeep wrangler and the mercedes g-class this is a little bit old-fashioned but having a separate chassis is better for some off-roaders because you can fit solid axles and beefy suspension to deal with massive bumps and that's exactly what toyota's done for the new land cruiser it's built on a brand new platform called the tnga f which uses a separate body and chassis the old toyota land cruiser came with one engine a yeehaw 5.7 litre petrol v8 but you get a choice of two new v6s in the latest 300 version first up is a 3.5 litre twin turbo petrol v6 that produces 415 horsepower and 650 newton meters of torque that's a lot more than the 381 horsepower and 543 newton meters you got from the old v8 there's also a new 3.3 litre twin-turbo v6 diesel engine it only makes around horsepower but it cranks out a massive 700 newton meters of torque that's 50 newton meters more than you get from a three liter six-cylinder diesel defender and 100 newton meters more pulling power than a three-liter mercedes g400d and on top of all that there's a rumor that toyota is working on a hybrid land cruiser with a v6 petrol engine and a 180 horsepower electric motor borrowed from the hybrid lexus ls i know a hybrid land cruiser sounds a bit strange but fuel economy does matter in off-roaders too you know you don't want to run out of petrol halfway across the sahara desert now do you you could get the previous toyota land cruiser and the smaller land cruiser prado with toyota's kinetic dynamic suspension system this used a load of hydraulics to automatically adjust the suspension to give you as much grip as possible on uneven surfaces it could change the stiffness of the dampers and even disconnect the anti-roll bars to give you better axle articulation the new land cruiser uses a similar system but it's controlled by electronics instead of hydraulics which helps it react faster to changing conditions toyota says this is the first time an electronic system like this has been fitted to an suv some suvs are all about style over substance but others have to deliver the goods like the mercedes g-class and the land rover defender well the same goes for the new toyota land cruiser the new model comes with four-wheel drive and locking differentials as standard obviously but there's also a system called the select this can automatically detect what surface you're driving on and set the car up for you which is handy if you don't want to fiddle with the settings yourself there's also a new multi-terrain monitor system this works a bit like the clearsight system in a land rover defender and it shows you a view through the car's bonnet on the infotainment system it's supposed to stop you hitting boulders on a muddy trail but should help you avoid tall curbs when you're parallel parking in the city too if you want to check out my in-depth review of the new land rover defender click on the pop-up banner appearing in the top right hand corner of the screen now the old land cruiser came with an eight-speed automatic gearbox but there's no such thing as too many gears in an off-road up so toyota has crammed a whopping 10 gears into the new car don't worry you still get the usual low range gears so you can engage super slow crawler modes to deal with steep slopes but these extra gear ratios should help it use less fuel and emit less carbon dioxide when you're cruising on the road the old toyota land cruiser and even the smaller prado model were brilliant off-road but not the best on it so toyota has made a few changes to the new car to fix its on-road manners for starters its new platform is stiffer and has a lower centre of gravity than the old cars this will help it deal with bumps better and should stop it from leaning so much in faster corners but that's not all because toyota has made the new car much lighter partly thanks to its new aluminium roof instead of the all-car steel one the old land cruiser weighed more than 2 600 kilos but the new car is 200 kilograms lighter and reducing a car's weight makes everything better from performance to fuel economy to tyre wear and handling of course toyota has also added some upgraded safety kits including pedestrian and cyclist detection which might be handy if you're not used to driving such a massive car in town toyota has given the new land cruisers interior a thorough makeover the old car looked like it was stuck in the early 2000s but the new model is way more high-tech there's a new dashboard design but the biggest change is the huge central touchscreen this controls most of the car's functions but not the climate control you still get a row of old-fashioned physical buttons for that which is great news and easier to operate when you're driving you can get the new land cruiser with five or seven seats just like the old model and because the new car is almost exactly the same size it'll be just as roomy inside too toyota's also revealed a gr version of the new land cruiser yeah a gr as in gazoo racing you know the people who built the awesome yaris grmn and the air pick g are yaris but don't get too excited this new land cruiser isn't some rally spec homologation special it's more like a visual upgrade pack bit like audi's s-line or mercedes amg line this means you get some different alloy wheels and new black bumpers that should hide any scratches you get while off-roading don't think about putting your name down for a new land cruiser 300 if you live in the uk or europe because it won't go on sale here i'm afraid it will go on sale in the middle east and russia though sometime in 2021 and it'll probably set you back the equivalent of around seventy thousand pounds if you can't wait for that i found a great deal on my favorite off-roader that you can buy right now i'm not gonna tell you what it is but if you click on the pop-up banner appearing now in the top right hand corner of the screen you can check out the car and the deal i've got on it hey if you enjoyed the video please give it a like also let me know if any other videos you'd like me to do in the comments below if you click there you can watch some more videos and if you click on that box there you can actually sign up to the car wow newsletter where we'll keep you up to date of all the latest news and reviews from the car world in between these video uploads so just click on that sign up it's completely free and of course you can cancel anytime you want to thanks for watching youthis is the new landcruiser 300. it's the latest version of toyota's legendary 4x4 and it's an alternative to the land rover defender and mercedes g-class and in this video i'm going to tell you everything you need to know about it buying a new car then head to carwa and my team will help you find your next car at a fair price car wag your one-stop car buying comparison site some off-roaders have barely changed since they first went on sale well visually anyway take the jeep wrangler for example sure the new car is bigger than ever but you can still instantly recognize it as a jeep the same goes for the mercedes g-class yes it's a bit bigger now and has independent front suspension instead of an old-fashioned beam axle but it still looks really similar to the original g-wagon other off-roaders have been given a modern overhaul like the new land rover defender you'd never mistake this for an old-school land rover but it still has a similar character the same goes for the suzuki chimney and the new ford bronco but the toyota land cruiser is a bit different because it hasn't had one identifiable look through the years so toyota could have been really brave with the new car's design but it wasn't it looks really similar to the old model it's just as boxy and has similar square headlights the new car does have an even taller grille though and there's a new piece of black trim that runs from one headlight to the other wow it also looks a bit tougher than the old land cruiser from the side because it has some extra wheel arch extensions and deeper side skirts the rear pillar is a slightly different shape now but you'll probably only notice if you're a proper land cruiser nerd the changes at the back are pretty tough to spot too the new 300 brake lights are slightly pointed in the old cars and it has a few bits of extra trim in the bumper that's a lot so what do you think is this the coolest looking off-roader on sale or do you prefer something like a g-class or a jeep wrangler let me know in the comments we'll put a pin comment you can vote which is your favorite some new suvs like the new land rover defender use a monocot body shell just like an ordinary car but others have a separate body and chassis like the jeep wrangler and the mercedes g-class this is a little bit old-fashioned but having a separate chassis is better for some off-roaders because you can fit solid axles and beefy suspension to deal with massive bumps and that's exactly what toyota's done for the new land cruiser it's built on a brand new platform called the tnga f which uses a separate body and chassis the old toyota land cruiser came with one engine a yeehaw 5.7 litre petrol v8 but you get a choice of two new v6s in the latest 300 version first up is a 3.5 litre twin turbo petrol v6 that produces 415 horsepower and 650 newton meters of torque that's a lot more than the 381 horsepower and 543 newton meters you got from the old v8 there's also a new 3.3 litre twin-turbo v6 diesel engine it only makes around horsepower but it cranks out a massive 700 newton meters of torque that's 50 newton meters more than you get from a three liter six-cylinder diesel defender and 100 newton meters more pulling power than a three-liter mercedes g400d and on top of all that there's a rumor that toyota is working on a hybrid land cruiser with a v6 petrol engine and a 180 horsepower electric motor borrowed from the hybrid lexus ls i know a hybrid land cruiser sounds a bit strange but fuel economy does matter in off-roaders too you know you don't want to run out of petrol halfway across the sahara desert now do you you could get the previous toyota land cruiser and the smaller land cruiser prado with toyota's kinetic dynamic suspension system this used a load of hydraulics to automatically adjust the suspension to give you as much grip as possible on uneven surfaces it could change the stiffness of the dampers and even disconnect the anti-roll bars to give you better axle articulation the new land cruiser uses a similar system but it's controlled by electronics instead of hydraulics which helps it react faster to changing conditions toyota says this is the first time an electronic system like this has been fitted to an suv some suvs are all about style over substance but others have to deliver the goods like the mercedes g-class and the land rover defender well the same goes for the new toyota land cruiser the new model comes with four-wheel drive and locking differentials as standard obviously but there's also a system called the select this can automatically detect what surface you're driving on and set the car up for you which is handy if you don't want to fiddle with the settings yourself there's also a new multi-terrain monitor system this works a bit like the clearsight system in a land rover defender and it shows you a view through the car's bonnet on the infotainment system it's supposed to stop you hitting boulders on a muddy trail but should help you avoid tall curbs when you're parallel parking in the city too if you want to check out my in-depth review of the new land rover defender click on the pop-up banner appearing in the top right hand corner of the screen now the old land cruiser came with an eight-speed automatic gearbox but there's no such thing as too many gears in an off-road up so toyota has crammed a whopping 10 gears into the new car don't worry you still get the usual low range gears so you can engage super slow crawler modes to deal with steep slopes but these extra gear ratios should help it use less fuel and emit less carbon dioxide when you're cruising on the road the old toyota land cruiser and even the smaller prado model were brilliant off-road but not the best on it so toyota has made a few changes to the new car to fix its on-road manners for starters its new platform is stiffer and has a lower centre of gravity than the old cars this will help it deal with bumps better and should stop it from leaning so much in faster corners but that's not all because toyota has made the new car much lighter partly thanks to its new aluminium roof instead of the all-car steel one the old land cruiser weighed more than 2 600 kilos but the new car is 200 kilograms lighter and reducing a car's weight makes everything better from performance to fuel economy to tyre wear and handling of course toyota has also added some upgraded safety kits including pedestrian and cyclist detection which might be handy if you're not used to driving such a massive car in town toyota has given the new land cruisers interior a thorough makeover the old car looked like it was stuck in the early 2000s but the new model is way more high-tech there's a new dashboard design but the biggest change is the huge central touchscreen this controls most of the car's functions but not the climate control you still get a row of old-fashioned physical buttons for that which is great news and easier to operate when you're driving you can get the new land cruiser with five or seven seats just like the old model and because the new car is almost exactly the same size it'll be just as roomy inside too toyota's also revealed a gr version of the new land cruiser yeah a gr as in gazoo racing you know the people who built the awesome yaris grmn and the air pick g are yaris but don't get too excited this new land cruiser isn't some rally spec homologation special it's more like a visual upgrade pack bit like audi's s-line or mercedes amg line this means you get some different alloy wheels and new black bumpers that should hide any scratches you get while off-roading don't think about putting your name down for a new land cruiser 300 if you live in the uk or europe because it won't go on sale here i'm afraid it will go on sale in the middle east and russia though sometime in 2021 and it'll probably set you back the equivalent of around seventy thousand pounds if you can't wait for that i found a great deal on my favorite off-roader that you can buy right now i'm not gonna tell you what it is but if you click on the pop-up banner appearing now in the top right hand corner of the screen you can check out the car and the deal i've got on it hey if you enjoyed the video please give it a like also let me know if any other videos you'd like me to do in the comments below if you click there you can watch some more videos and if you click on that box there you can actually sign up to the car wow newsletter where we'll keep you up to date of all the latest news and reviews from the car world in between these video uploads so just click on that sign up it's completely free and of course you can cancel anytime you want to thanks for watching you\n"