Toyota answers the prayers of millions of off-road enthusiasts by unveiling the LC300 Land Cruiser.

Toyota has finally answered the prayers of off-road enthusiasts around the globe by unveiling the latest generation of Land Cruiser, internally codenamed J300. The legendry SUV was unveiled on Toyota’s 70th Anniversary.

The Land Cruiser was first introduced in 1951 as a military-type utility vehicle. Since then, the Land Cruiser has undergone various transformations and even spawned few newer models to adapt to the requirements of off-road enthusiasts around the world. 

Over these years, the Land Cruiser has not only carved out a reputation as one of the best off-road SUVs but has also been widely accepted as the most reliable among enthusiasts. 

Even though the current generation LC200 Land Cruiser was considered as one of the most advanced SUVs at the time of launch (2007), the lack of significant upgrades to cater for the needs of modern buyer meant the sales declined over the years. This is despite the LC200 Land Cruiser further strengthening the family’s core reputation. 

Many experts also point out the competition’s rapid advancements in integrating modern technology as a reason for the decline in LC200 sales, which also happens to be LC200s biggest weaknesses during recent years.

Toyota understood this problem around 2016 itself and started to work on the next generation of Land Cruiser. During the development phase, the biggest challenge Toyota faced was to improve the benchmarks set by the LC200 Land Cruiser itself.

For achieving this feat, Toyota has taken a different route from its rivals. Unlike Toyota’s rivals who have opted to use monocoque chassis, Toyota has chosen to stick with the rugged ladder-chassis platform. 

However, Toyota has thoroughly engineered the new body-on-frame platform of the latest J300 Land Cruiser to set new off-road and on-road benchmarks without sacrificing any of its strengths. For starters, Toyota has pulled back and lowered the engine for a lower centre of gravity and to further aid the resulting dynamics. The body panels are all aluminium significantly reduce the overall weight. This not only improves the driving dynamics but also improves the J300's performance and efficiency. 

Looks-wise, the new J300 Land Cruiser is unmistakably Land Cruiser as it still retains the same boxy silhouette from the LC200 Land Cruiser and looks more like a facelift rather than a completely new model. This apparently is the only similarity. 

The front section gets a dominating 4-slat grille outlined by a U-shaped air intake, and flanked by two slim LED headlights on either side. The side profile looks a tad too simple, even though the squared-off wheel arches, the door-mounted rear-view mirrors and the functional roof rails try hard to gain the onlooker's attention. The rear also carries a similar story, but the smart-looking four-piece tail lights do brighten things a little.  

It is on the inside that the new Toyota J300 Land Cruiser feels like a completely new model and feels like a huge step-up from the J200 Land Cruiser. The whole interior feels more premium with the use of top quality materials.

Despite being thoroughly modern, Toyota has opted to swim against the latest trend of large-dominating touchscreens and touch-based controls, and still prefers to use a far more traditional layout with physical buttons for AC controls and shortcuts. This approach clearly shows Toyota’s intention with the SUV and its target buyers.

The new J300 Land Cruiser also comes fitted with plenty of modern features such as adaptive cruise control, lane support, drive modes, wireless phone charger, surround-view camera, Start/Stop button with fingerprint scanner among many more features. The latter not only ensures an added layer of safety, but the system identifies the user and sets the user’s preferred car settings.

The next big change in the J300 Lan Cruiser is under the hood. Toyota has binned the large V8 diesel and petrol engines in favour of more efficient and powerful engines.

Replacing all the previous petrol engines is a 3.5-litre turbocharged V6 petrol motor with 409hp and 650Nm of torque, while the large 4.5-litre V8 diesel motor is replaced with a smaller 3.3-litre turbocharged V6 diesel motor with 304hp and 700Nm of torque. Both these engines will be mated to a 10-speed torque converter automatic gearbox as standard and will be offered with a proper low-range transfer case. 

According to sources, the new Land Cruiser J300 has already arrived at all GCC showrooms, expect a slight bump in price tag though.

 

Athul Z

Content Creator, MYTYRE.