Ian Lamming experiences the latest Toyota, a 4×4 legend…
PARK up, stand back and watch. The crowds start to form, many alighting from their own leviathan SUVs to have a closer look… at a Toyota?
Granted, it’s an unusual colour – desert beige with a white roof – and it’s no ordinary Toyota, it’s a legend.
This is the latest Land Cruiser, the stalwart off-roader that has plied the world’s roughest roads, tracks, jungles and deserts for the past 74 years.
It’s the chosen transport of friends and foes, combatants and medics, whether that’s in countless war zones or equally dangerous supermarket car parks. That’s because it is tough and utterly dependable. It will go anywhere and get you back no matter how arduous the conditions and you’ll feel safe and secure even when the elements and shells are raining down.
I could stop right here really. Something that has lasted more than seven decades and still inspires awe in the general public must be good – and it’s about to get even better. More than 11 million have been made over several generations to ply the roads and tracks of a troubled globe.
This particular Land Cruiser is the ‘light duty 250 series’ and is for the UK and European market. In reality there’s nothing light about this titanic Toyota. A measure of its size is that I can chuck my gangly bicycle in the back without having to do anything at all. There’s no need to remove the front wheel or even turn the handlebars, it just lies there, end to end, with room to spare, with the seats lowered in the capacious load bay.
With the three rows of seats back in place there’s comfortable accommodation for seven, but the strangest thing is that the Land Cruiser never seems overly large or unwieldly to drive. It’s like an inverse Tardis. It looks big on the outside but when you are behind the wheel it seems to shrink into a more manageable form.
Narrow country roads, congested towns and cities and restricted car parks are all dispensed with consummate ease, mainly because the driver sits imperiously high and beepers and cameras keep you fully informed about your extremities.
On the road, people defer to the Land Cruiser’s size or if they are obviously struggling with the prospect of reversing then you can leave the asphalt for the dirt knowing that you’ll be able to return to the road easily enough.
This particular Land Cruiser is the retro version with round headlamps and it looks fabulous. There’s a more contemporary version with squarer LEDs but heritage is good for me and I can see just why so many people wander over for a good gander.
Inside blends modern with traditional but my heart is instantly warmed by the dominance of switches over a touch screen. The driver sits nice and close to the dash which probably explains why Land Cruiser is so manageable to drive. Everything is to hand and the steeply raked windscreen isn’t that far away from your nose end so you feel on top of proceedings and in control.
It is well specified, well-made and built to last. It is also very comfortable and with driver modes and diff-locks galore, the perfect vehicle for a quick circumnavigation of the world.
The 2.8 litre turbo diesel is just about enough but set to get even better with the introduction of a hybrid very soon. This should offer even more refinement, power and economy than the plain diesel which has almost enough puff for modern demands and reasonable economy for such a beast as I manage around 32mpg.
In its new retro suit of clothes the new Land Cruiser is impossible to resist. It is great to drive, even better to be seen in and is definitely worth a very close look.
