You are a builder of rugged, off-road vehicles. For nearly half a century, you introduced yourself to drivers not only in developing countries, where the phrase “off-road driving” was a redundancy, but also in the United States, where you foresaw off-road driving as the chosen but coming thing.
You are Toyota, you have sold your Land Cruiser on these shores since 1957 and, for many years, your customers wanted off-road capabilities, highway performance be damned.
That was then, this is now.
And now means melding that stiff, jarring, but oh-so-much-fun capability in an oxymoronic amalgam that adds quiet luxury. How to pummel granite to pumice without spilling that latte?
In the 2000 Land Cruiser – fifth generation born in late 1998 and with antiskid capabilities this year’s added feature – Toyota has done as well as any manufacturer in combining rugged, proven off-road performance with subtle highway smoothness and quiet.
The basic box that first came here as the soft-top, limited horsepower, two-door FJ25, became Toyota’s best-selling model by the early to mid-’60s. The 1972 Land Cruiser – first car I ever bought brand new, for a whopping $1,995 – was pure box. Two bucket seats up front (lift the seats to reveal storage bins), two facing fold-down seats in the rear, manual hubs up front, a long-stroke six for an engine, and the essence of escape imbued throughout. I am convinced that, without the nostalgia with which these early ’70s Land Cruisers seduced today’s baby boomers, SUVs would have been a harder sell.
But, oh, how they have changed.
It was in the 1980s that all Land Cruisers became four-door and the two-door died (bring it back, please). The automatic transmission and (gulp) air conditioning soon followed. By 1995, it was a full-blown yuppie-mobile, favored by sports stars and the nouveau riche.
But even then, outer skin and bigger size aside, it had not fully evolved. It still had solid axle suspension, which made it suspect on road and off, a frame that could be stiffer, and a six-cylinder engine that, while capable, was being left behind as other upscale SUVs hit the market.
Which brings us to today.
Even as the Toyota Tundra, the first big-truck (read V8) Japanese product to challenge US manufacturers, was still a gleam in some designer’s eye, Toyota dropped a version of the Lexus V8 into the Land Cruiser.
In 1998, it added a stiffer, nine-crossmember frame. Torsional rigidity went up, and, with the addition of front suspension that added double wishbones, trailer arms and a stabilizer bar, and a 4-link rear setup that includes coil springs and a stabilizer bar, handling went from mystifying to quietly subtle.
Outside, it still looks like a stiff box – albeit with rounded corners. Its flared fenders give it a muscular crouch that befits what it will really do. Integrated fog lights and color-coordinated front and rear bumpers and side moldings are in keeping with what is essentially an understated look.
Inside, the jammed interior seating is long gone. Up front, firm leather buckets support you thigh, side, and back. The middle seats, which split 60/40, are also firm and leather and hold three adults with plenty of support and room. In the rear cargo area, a three-person – as in children – bench seat unfolds in halves from opposing walls. This means you can carry eight people, but with those rear seats in use, there is no room for gear. In the front rows, room is more than ample and headroom abounds.
Throughout the cabin, there are myriad storage bins and slots and pockets. Every seat has a cupholder, which will please aficionados of the where-do-I-put-my-bottle-of-water school.
Controls are large and accessible, and I was impressed with the size of even the secondary buttons for the audio system.
So you ride in comfort and convenience, but you also ride in safety. This is, after all its permutations, a ry safe rig. Dual air bags up front, side-impact door beams. Four-wheel, antilock disc brakes bring its two-tons-plus to quick, straight stops. ABS and antiskid aid this, of course.
On the highway – previously the Land Cruiser’s terrain of inconvenience – it was smooth, supple, and surprisingly quiet. That’s because the straining 6 is gone and the Lexus-based V8 has replaced it.
In its earlier incarnation, it was the Lexus 4.0. Here, it’s the 4.7-liter, 32-valve version – delivering just over 15 miles per gallon, much of that travel spent fully loaded with people and ski gear. Coupled with a 4-speed electronically controlled transmission, it is sedan quiet and smooth on the highway (and so like the Tundra pickup truck) that a blindfolded rider would be hardpressed to say in what type of vehicle they were riding.
I remember my first Land Cruiser (and wish I had it back); remember a New Year’s Eve when we took it up a rough road to a tower atop a New Hampshire mountain and then down no defined road and, miraculously at the time, safely home. I suspect, swathed in leather and luxury, I could do the same with this year’s model, and that says something for both tradition and evolution.
Nice touches
– The air system that runs through the ceiling. Great use of normally unused space.
– The easy-to-grab triangular grips that help you hoist yourself out of the rear seats.
Annoyances
– The lack of space in the console bin between the front seats. I’m not sure why this varies so much from manufacturer to manufacturer.
SIDEBAR:
The numbers
Base price: $50,828
Price as tested: $53,272
Horsepower/Torque: 230/ 320 lb.-ft.
Wheelbase/Overall length: 112.2 inches/192.5 inches
Width/Height: 76.4 inches/ 73.2 inches
Curb weight: 5,115 lbs.
Seating: 7/8 passengers
SOURCE: Manufacturer
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