The 2021 Toyota Land Cruiser is a full-time four-wheel-drive icon with a handful of luxurious touches.
The Toyota Land Cruiser SUV is an icon. Its go-anywhere, haul-anything perspective is a direct hyperlink between utility autos from the previous and trendy luxurious SUVs of at the moment. It’s nostalgic and helpful in all the proper methods, but it surely’s not as comfy as fashions which have embraced luxurious greater than utility.
Our 5.Zero TCC Score is totally common for something however; the 2021 Toyota Land Cruiser is succesful, rugged, and enviable. It’s simply too thirsty and too costly. (Learn extra about how we price automobiles.)
This Land Cruiser’s fundamental design dates again greater than a decade by now, and the Land Cruiser’s title has been round for greater than 60 years. This 12 months, like final 12 months, there’s a Land Cruiser Heritage Version accessible with particular wheels and badges—despite the fact that each Land Cruiser is a “heritage” mannequin by now.
Assessment continues beneath
That’s as a result of the Land Cruiser nonetheless makes use of an enormous 5.7-liter V-Eight that’s gradual and deliberate, but in addition highly effective. All 371 horsepower comes on with the subtlety of a grenade, and its full-time four-wheel-drive system feels simply as highly effective. An 8-speed automated handles shifting duties nicely, though it’s by no means able to making the Bruiser environment friendly.
As much as eight can match throughout the Land Cruiser, however 5 can be a higher thought. Common Land Cruisers have a normal third row that’s cramped and never helpful; Heritage Editions make that third row optionally available (and we predict it’s higher for it).
Leather-based upholstery is normal. The identical goes for lively security options and a few luxurious fittings. The Land Cruiser predates smartphones so don’t count on its infotainment system to grasp these both.
Toyota fees at the very least $86,910 for a well-equipped Land Cruiser—no trim ranges, no powertrain selections, one possibility. Choose your paint and discover the closest grime highway to discover.
Not many SUVs can go the identical locations a Land Cruiser can, however many SUVs can go nearly each different place extra comfortably. That’s the tradeoff.
The Land Cruiser hasn’t modified since virtually the Bush period. Burning Bush, maybe.
Toyota isn’t eager to mess with success, and the longest-running nameplate in Toyota’s historical past in America gained’t change a lot this 12 months. It’s good wanting however massive, and we like its quick overhangs. It’s a 5 for fashion.
The Land Cruiser’s calling is off-road functionality, and its tall experience peak and quick bumpers converse to that. It’s aerodynamically awful however completely rugged.
It has some trendy touches: chrome and cameras, LED headlights and lively security gear, too. It has some heritage cues: a rear tailgate, and on Heritage Version fashions, cool badges.
Inside, the sprint will get an enormous 9.0-inch touchscreen however the remainder of the inside can really feel extra cramped in darker colours. We propose hotter brown leather-based.
Assessment continues beneath
Few SUVs dream of functionality just like the Land Cruiser’s.
Regardless of our rating, the Land Cruiser’s efficiency is spectacular—off-road, we imply.
Its 5.7-liter V-Eight is mighty (and mighty thirsty) when the highway ends, and the Land Cruiser’s even keel on the freeway is a boon, too. It steers with all of the eagerness of an outdated, lazy beagle and with even much less engagement. It’s a 6 and no, we don’t be ok with that quantity both, till we recall what it’s prefer to drive on pavement.
The 8-speed automated teamed to the V-Eight is well-behaved, however desirous to upshift within the title of gas economic system. (It gained’t win that battle, nonetheless.)
The Land Cruiser is a full-time four-wheel-drive automobile and it has each trick within the guide. A stable rear axle, ladder body, locking heart differential, hill descent management, two-speed switch case, tighter path turning entry—all of them. A trick suspension that pushes down on the wheels helps articulation and traction and makes the Land Cruiser extra comfy on the highway too.
Few machines are as succesful because the Land Cruiser off-road—that’s what individuals pay for. The one downside: Some equally priced SUVs are extra comfy on the highway with almost as a lot off-road functionality.
Assessment continues beneath
Snug and spacious, however the Land Cruiser is eclipsed in luxurious lodging.
Consolation isn’t the Land Cruiser’s first mission, but it surely largely succeeds anyway. It’s massive inside, with as much as three rows of seats that may seat as much as eight, though not everybody might be comfy.
Ranging from a median rating of 5, the Land Cruiser will get factors for the first- and second-row lodging and a spacious cargo maintain. It’s an 8.
Each Land Cruiser leaves the manufacturing unit with leather-based upholstery, but it surely lacks the finesse of equally priced rivals. The entrance row is heated and cooled, all-day comfy for lengthy journeys or path driving. The second row is heated, too (however not cooled) and simply accessible. Two adults will comfortably match, and three abreast is ok for regular to smaller adults.
The third row is cramped and never simply accessible. It’s normal on Land Cruiser and accessible on the Heritage Version fashions, however we don’t advise them for something apart from occasional use for kids. In the event that they’re not in use, they retailer in a clumsy means that eats into accessible cargo house.
With the third row upright, the Land Cruiser carries 16 cubic toes of cargo. With it packed away, that house grows to about 43 cubic toes, and with rows two and three stowed, the massive Cruiser carries about 82 cubic toes.
The Land Cruiser’s supplies are good, however not for a truck that prices almost $90,000. Each rival has higher inside supplies by now, it’s a consequence of the Land Cruiser’s relative age.
Assessment continues beneath
There is probably not a wall sufficiently big to tangle with a Land Cruiser.
The Toyota Land Cruiser hasn’t been crashed within the title of security scores and that’s unlikely to vary. We’ll withhold our score right here, too.
It’s geared up with automated emergency braking, lane-departure warnings, adaptive cruise management, blind-spot displays, and automated excessive beams.
Outward imaginative and prescient within the hulking SUV is bearable, however a problem.
Assessment continues beneath
Toyota does the considering for us: There are virtually no choices for the Land Cruiser.
There isn’t a lot we’d change on a 2021 Land Cruiser straight from the field. There isn’t a lot we are able to change both.
The Land Cruiser touches all the proper bases for a brand new automobile: automated emergency braking, massive 9.0-inch touchscreen, USB ports, and a moonroof, however skips smartphone compatibility software program. It throws in luxurious gear, too: heated and cooled entrance seats, leather-based upholstery, navigation, wi-fi smartphone charger, heated second-row seats, premium audio, and a cooler. We’d count on the entire above for the Cruiser’s $86,910 beginning worth, together with vacation spot. We’d additionally count on extra.
The Land Cruiser will get factors above common for its touchscreen however loses two for its excessive worth, relative to its opponents, and one other for a dearth of choices. It’s a 4.
Consumers contemplating a Land Cruiser have three choices: common or Heritage Version ($2,330), a rear-seat leisure package deal ($2,200), and paint coloration. Land Cruiser Heritage Editions can ditch the puny third row for extra cargo capability, which we promote.
One of the best Land Cruiser? It’s the one which will get used most frequently.
Assessment continues beneath
Let’s block adverts! (Why?)
