Known as the Prado in Asia-Pacific, Toyota Motor Europe’s Land Cruiser is the second biggest SUV sold in this region. It’s not cheap, but its 4×4 abilities are immense and the build quality and finish are Lexus-like.
If you’ve only ever lived in Europe, it’s possibly a bit hard to fathom one of these vehicles as a family car. Yet in places, that’s exactly what this is. Take Australia, as one example, a place I visit about once a year for working holidays. There, Toyota is the long-time market leader, thanks to the strength of its passenger cars and LCVs, and there are thousands and thousands of Prados cruising the land or more accurately, the streets of suburbia. Yes, they’re also Big In The Bush, but the larger 200 Series, or what we know in Europe as the Amazon or Land Cruiser V8 mostly rules there, ably backed up by its not-so-little brother.
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TME’s current Land Cruiser has been around since December 2009 (it debuted four months prior to that in Japan as the Prado), and should have another two and a bit years of production to go. Ours is built by Hino Motors at its Hamura plant in the western suburbs of Tokyo. There are two other places where it’s made: Vladivostok and Chengdu. Chinese build (Toyota ‘Puladuo’) is via SFTM, the Sichuan FAW Toyota 50:50 joint venture which also makes the Coaster minibus, while Russian assembly is courtesy of Sollers-Bussan at the rate of 1,000/month. Mazdas and SsangYongs are put together from kits at the same plant.
China is an increasingly important market for the Land Cruiser: in October 2013, Toyota announced plans for an expansion of the SFTM venture’s Chengdu plant. Annual capacity is to rise from 30,000 vehicles to 50,000 from March 2015. At the same time, a 2.7-litre four-cylinder model will be added to the existing range of 4.0-litre V6 Puladuos.
This 611L series model uses the same body-on-frame construction as the previous, third generation vehicle. It depends on different markets’ preferences but there are five- and seven-seater formats. In the home market, only a five-door bodystyle is offered, in combination with 2.7-litre four-cylinder or 4.0-litre V6 petrol engines. In Europe, a 3.0-litre four-cylinder diesel is also available, as is a three-door body.
What TGB calls its 2014 Land Cruiser features the facelift which first appeared in Japan this time last year. It wasn’t just a nip and tuck, however, as the handling was also tweaked. At the front end, there’s a deeper bumper, what Toyota calls a ‘heritage-inspired’ grille and revised light clusters. The rear end also gains new lamp units and there are different alloy rims and some fresh exterior colour choices.
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By GlobalDataFor the interior, Toyota has redesigned the dashboard. This now includes a new control panel for on and off-road driving systems, a colour TFT multi-information display screen and Optitron meters. The revisions to the double wishbone front and four link rear suspension systems have been worthwhile. The compliancy of the ride is surprising given the ladder frame chassis that helps to ensure the vehicle has such superb off-roading and towing abilities. Safety features have also come in for some attention with a Blind Spot Monitor and Rear Cross Traffic Alert both now available.
You can’t help but compare the Land Cruiser to the Discovery even if, at 4,780mm long, it’s not quite as big. While the ride might be comparable, the steering isn’t up to Land Rover standards. There’s a lot of twirling to be done and the turning circle is larger than you might be expecting if you’re used to a similarly sized car or crossover. There’s no question marks over high speed stability, though.
Performance is fair, with a top speed of 109mph and 0-62mph achieved in 11.0 seconds. The CO2 average is 213g/km, the VED band is K and insurance group is 34E. I saw consumption of 25.3mpg but the official EC Combined number is 34.9mpg. Another ratio or three for the five-speed automatic transmission would help matters, as would stop-start. I would expect to see an Aisan eight-speed gearbox in the replacement model, and the word is, there should be a hybrid powertrain too, which would be a first for any Land Cruiser.
You drive round in rear-wheel drive most of the time and there’s a picture on the instrument panel to show you which axle(s) is or are engaged. High or low range can be selected via controls on the panel under the HVAC switches. The suspension has Sport and Comfort modes and these proved useful as the latter improved things on potholed city streets.
Having such a big capacity, you’d think the 2,982cc four-cylinder engine would be a rattly thing but you’d be wrong. It’s very well insulated from the cabin so while there’s no disguising its diesel clatter, it’s not excessive. Power is 140kW (188bhp) @ 3,400rpm, while torque is 420Nm @ 3,000rpm.
The test vehicle had seven seats but you’d struggle to keep adults in the rear-most ones happy for a long journey as there isn’t a great deal of legroom. They each fold at the press of a button, whirring down or back up. This you can do from switches behind them, or else from alternate controls in front of the second row. There is a plethora of standard equipment which even stretches to heated back seats, leather upholstery, a fridge that takes up to six half-litre bottles, triple zone climate control with ceiling vents, rear electric suspension lift, front and rear parking sensors with a view on the monitor, a Blu-Ray entertainment system, SatNav, a JBL 14-speaker sound system and electric adjustment for the steering wheel. In that context, the on the road price of GBP52,960 doesn’t seem too bad at all.
