Oz Debut for Toyota’s New Land Cruiser

Despite the crowds, glamor and attention that it would have received at this year’s Frankfurt show, Toyota opted not to launch its brand new Land Cruiser there. Instead, in a few weeks’ time this internationally renowned off-roader will make its debut in Sydney, Australia, a market where the vehicle enjoys true significance.

The new Land Cruiser has been completely redesigned from the ground up to be not only one of the most capable off-roaders, but one of the most luxurious ones as well. It was developed alongside the new Lexus LX 570, which made its debut at this year’s New York auto show. The new Land Cruiser is slightly larger than the vehicle it replaces, offering better interior room for its eight passengers, but also featuring heavily reworked underpinnings including an independent front suspension with double wishbones for better maneuverability and ride comfort.

The Land Cruiser is also available with KDSS (Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System), which offers up better on-road and off-road capabilities through electronically decoupling anti-roll bars that give the vehicle more wheel articulation when needed while ensuring lower levels of body roll while on the road.

Both engines available to the Land Cruiser at its European and Asian launches are V8s, one gasoline and the other diesel. The gasoline engine is the same tested and true 4.7-liter VVT-i V8 from the Lexus product range that makes 288 horsepower and 328 lb-ft of torque in this application, but it’s the diesel that’s of greater interest to most Land Cruiser buyers. This new 4.5-liter V8 churns out 286 horsepower - almost enough to match the gasoline unit - but provides a gargantuan 480 lb-ft of torque, better durability and improved fuel economy.

The diesel V8 also gets an extra gear in its automatic transmission, with six-speeds versus the gasoline engine’s five-speed unit. When Toyota brings the Land Cruiser to North America, it will most likely come equipped with the 5.7-liter i-Force V8 engine from the Tundra, as it’s offered in its more luxurious cousin, the LX 570.

The new Land Cruiser also features something that Toyota calls, “Crawl Control”, which acts sort of like hill descent control, but works on all angles and is especially useful for traversing rocks, sand, steep hills or slippery terrain. This electronically controlled feature groups the engine and brakes together with a speed cap to ensure that drivers don’t get stuck, or when they do get stuck, they can get going more easily. Via a rotary dial, drivers can select different speeds, ranging from 1 to 3 mph. As for the four-wheel drive system, it’s a full-time unit featuring a Torsen limited slip differential that can distribute power between the front and the rear axles as needed. It’s also got a locking mode and low range, of course!