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Antiquated, outdated, too big and too thirsty. Real off-road vehicles no longer fit into our times. The arguments that I heard when I drove the test car to acquaintances were always stereotypical. Take a look behind the facade, for many it is not a question of possibilities - but rather the question of whether you can question beloved prejudices.
The Land Cruiser - For a country beyond my horizon.
60 years Toyota Land Cruiser. Toyota is rightly proud of the 60-year career of the Toyota Land Cruiser. It all started in 1951 with the “BJ” series and the similarity to another well-known “original Jeep”, the Willys Jeep, could not be denied. In the last few decades, however, Toyota has found a completely independent path and has consistently pursued it.
Today the Land Cruiser is a clear commitment to the real off-road world. Large and completely inelegant, but powerful and convincing even on the worst mogul slopes. It does not matter whether in Africa, Asia or the Hindu Kush - if you are looking for a stable and spacious all-wheel drive - you will be happy to use the large Toyota.
At a time when urban parking is scarce, fuel is expensive, and SUVs are somehow frowned upon, a Land Cruiser doesn't have it easy. But how much is an off-road vehicle from the day before yesterday? Can you see big off-roaders as dinosaurs? Threatened with extinction?
- Model Name: Toyota Land Cruiser 3.0 D-4D
- Equipment: Basic
- Test car Price: 42.400€
- Basic price series: 37.450€ (3 doors, 6 gear manual)
- displacement: 2.982 ccm³
- Power: 190PS
- maximum speed: 175km/h
- Acceleration: 0-100: 11,0 seconds
Gallery
That's what he wants to be:
The last dinosaur on our road. An off-road vehicle that does not want to apologize for its size or unwieldiness. His talents can only be found by those who dare to be “off-the-road”.
He can do that:
Drive from the city center to the end of the world. The Land Cruiser is off the roads to the special copies. Reliable and comfortable through the terrain.
He can not do that:
And he probably does not want to: denying his roots as a true off-roader!
Exterior design: "Form / Function"
The off-roader classic is difficult to reinvent. Toyota has then also thought of a slight evolution in the design of the Land Cruiser and continued to adapt the shape only to the function. A powerful grill in the front, a flat bonnet and large glass surfaces announce the unimportance of fashionable constraints or an exaggerated dictate of wind tunnel testing. 
The Land Cruiser is primarily one thing: big. Hiding its bulky shape with optical retouching was not an issue in the developer's specifications.
Rating: 4 of 10 points
Interior design: "Plasticfashion"
Welcome to 1990. Rarely has an automobile whispered so clearly to me: “I don't care where the journey of haptics, design and ergonomics has gone in the last 20 years. I'm a functional vehicle - not an actor. "
If I had just given my pre-defined opinion about the interior qualities of models from the land of the rising sun - the basic variant of the Land Cruiser shocked me with blunt sobriety. What looks like plastic is also plastic. What looks like painted plastic - that's clear. Form follows function. Nobody wants to win the haptic rating here. Impress with leather, foamed plastics or fine materials. No interest. After all, you can find the most important operating levers without having to look into the manual. A massive gearshift lever commands the automatic transmission, before using a rotary switch and button, the options for influencing off-road capabilities.
Rating: 3 of 10 points
Driving performance & driving experience: "I want it wild"
"I don't belong here." If you sit quietly in the Land Cruiser and circling the massive full-size SUV through our city centers, you can hear the quiet mantra and you don't have to be a car expert to understand the clumsy nature of the fat man. Inner cities are not his destination. However, the long Land Cruiser develops considerable travel qualities on German autobahns. Stoically straight and amazingly calm.
If you thought that a real off-roader could only iron out the gross damage, the Land Cruiser teaches you better. The entire chassis works decoupled and only allows the adverse effects of the road surface to be filtered into the interior. And despite the feeling of being decoupled, the Land Cruiser does not swim as badly as you might expect due to the spring deflection and balloon tires when cornering quickly on the motorway.
Rating: 6 of 10 points
Everyday factor: "dinosaur"
Sheep shepherd? A farm in the Australian outback? Or is the daily challenge only on the way to school? A Land Cruiser looks as out of place in the city as a brontosaurus in a rabbit enclosure. I'm tempted to say: A Land Cruiser is a dinosaur and it needs its freedom. He needs his exercise and he needs wild routes with challenges. A life in allotment garden colonies and row house suburban settlements does not do justice to the Land Cruiser.
Rating: 10 of 10 points (Full marks for character strength!)
Standard equipment: "With without."
The driven basic version does not offer any superfluous luxury. Nothing to impress with at the regulars' table. On the other hand: What is not there cannot break, and so the basic Land Cruiser is the most honest Land Cruiser. Presumably, it will be the basic version that most convincingly plays the role of global citizen. At home on the gravel roads of South Africa. Confident on the muddy paths in South America. Reliable on the go on safari and in tough everyday use.
After all, Toyota already delivers the basic version with an ABS system that is coordinated with the respective surface. In addition, there is the reduction gearbox for real off-road challenges and a Torsen differential between the front and rear axles that can be locked at the push of a button.
There is nothing in the Land Cruiser Basis that you would not expect in terms of equipment. Only the “Keyless-Go” access provides a “consolation point”.
Rating: 1 of 10 points
Engine: "Rumble in the Jungle"
3 liter displacement, but only 4 cylinders. It is therefore clear that torque comes before maximum power and so the snarling turbo diesel then also delivers 190PS and 420Nm to the automatic transmission. The character of the Land Cruiser Diesel is also clearly defined. It is a simple doer, a painter - who on the one hand provides impressive “thrust moments” with the power of its 420Nm, but on the other hand prefers to mumble in the range below 2.000 revolutions.
The enormous thirst of the 16-valve diesel should not be blamed on the engine alone - in its grumpy mentality it overcomes the performance that it has to provide to move the big Land Cruiser, but it also wants to be adequately fed. If you don't always drive the Land Cruiser D-11D in a way that optimizes consumption, you can expect an average of 4 liters.
Falling short of the 10 liter mark is possible on extended stages on country roads and a cautious driving style.
Rating: 3 out of 10 points (confident, but not polite. There are no more points.)
Gearbox: “Sleeper”
The test car came to visit with a 5-speed automatic. An automatic transmission that goes well with the large Landcruiser. All prejudices of automatic transmission haters can be combined on this transmission. Slowly. With a large converter slip. The jumps in the translation are big - the entire transmission just looks old-fashioned. Nevertheless - it fits perfectly into this environment of a huge vehicle and a leisurely pace.
In off-road operation, an automatic transmission is the most sensible choice - slow crawling over gravel paths and through river beds - you couldn't ask for a more sensible partner for this. In everyday life you want a 6th gear and every now and then that the transmission goes to work with a little more vigor.
Rating: 2 of 10 points
Multimedia & Audio: “Listen to the Nature”
The basic version has a radio. It can be used to receive radio stations. Strangely enough, the test car has integrated a navigation solution. Here I am waiting for information from Toyota, which equipment variant that was, or whether the navigation device was an individually retrofitted solution.
Rating: 0 out of 10 points
Offroad art: "Desert ship"
My last visit to the desert around Dubai was accompanied by a land cruiser. When talking about serious vehicles with taker qualities away from paved roads abroad, the name Toyota Land Cruiser comes with great certainty. No desert tour without Land Cruiser.
Thanks to the stiff ladder frame and the simple, but effective off-road, rigid rear axle, the latest Land Cruiser generation also offers the necessary ingredients to move forward in rough terrain. In the driven version with 5-speed automatic transmission, the power is transferred from the transfer case to a TORSEN center differential. This can be locked using a button in the interior. In addition, a reduction can be switched on using the rotary switch - then the heavy car climbs an impressive 42 °.
Only the narrow embankment angle of the long 5-door Landcruiser interferes temporarily in the area. Above all, the exhaust pipe on the right digs into the embankment when driving backwards. (Sorry Toyota - the scratch comes from me!)
Rating: 8 of 10 points
The cost factor: "Money for nothing?"
In the 5-door basic version and with 6-speed manual transmission, the large Toyota costs € 40.200. The version with the 5-speed automatic transmission comes to € 42.200. The short 3-door variants are just under € 3.000 cheaper.
If you want to turn the fairly colorless basic off-roader into an off-road vehicle with reasonable equipment, you should squint at the TEC edition. For 64.800 € there are such nice extras as air suspension, an off-road driving program (CRAWL), the multi-terrain monitor with all-round visibility around the vehicle, a leather interior with electric seats and a JBL navigation system on board.
If you really want to get it going, you can drive the Land Cruiser V8 with a 4.5 liter diesel engine, which would simply double the purchase price of the test car.
Rating: 6 of 10 points
Defects on the test vehicle:
- No.
Rating:
No problems, no defects - that's how it should be. You can also use it to cross the Namib Desert.
Two sentences to:
Engine:
With a displacement of 3 liters and only 4 cylinders, the 190hp diesel engine does not even bother with fine manners. But he pulls powerfully and bravely turns towards the 4.000 mark - that should be enough for everyday life in the Land Cruiser.
Transmission:
The 5-speed automatic is simple to operate and does not make any effort to improve gearshift comfort, but it fits well with the 420Nm diesel and likes to let it work at low speeds.
Inner space:
It probably doesn't matter what the cockpit looks like and what it is made of. When it comes to tours through war zones, the reliability of an off-roader counts - but a little more attention to detail could go down well in the suburbs of Berlin, Hamburg and Munich.
offroad:
It is the desire for adventure and security: If I were out in the Amazon jungle now, I could, I would. It has become difficult to access these talents as long as you are in everyday German automotive life.
That was really annoying:
The running boards below the exit. On the one hand, the running boards are too narrow to really stand on them and, on the other hand, the land cruiser is not as high as you would need this help. For this you mess up your pants regularly when getting in and out.
And finally ...
The acquisition of a desert ship, a dinosaur, needs to be carefully considered. Those who only want to pull the large horse trailer will find more comfortable off-road vehicles on the market with better manners on flat tarred tracks. However, if you plan to cross the Gobi Desert with your own car, you will probably not find a better travel partner. The basic version of the Land Cruiser, as I was able to test it, is a simple off-road vehicle. Big, heavy and only moderately clear - but blessed with the aura of the indestructible. Anyone who drives Land Cruiser wants to get to what others only dream of on their own.
If you always wanted to drive a real off-road vehicle, you should get it. As long as this automotive anachronism still exists.
Ranking: 43 from 100 points
There is no room for discussion: The points result in an overall ranking and are comparable across all vehicle classes - as they are directly and objectively based on the model class and target group. The more points, the better the vehicle. A sports car cannot achieve 100 points because its everyday use is low. A family van may fail in the “straight performance”. The ranking is of course completely subjective - it is that my-car-blog Ranking. Bjoern Habegger
Links:
Facebook gallery | Manufacturer Website | Technical data | Flickr Photos | Wikipedia
My test result is not for sale and was therefore created without the manufacturer's influence or control!
