2014 Toyota Land Cruiser

2014 Toyota Land Cruiser

The 2014 Toyota Land Cruiser can still go off-road, but it’s become increasingly expensive with time. So expensive, in fact, that it might be a hard sell.

• Interior / Exterior »

The 2014 Toyota Land Cruiser wears traditional SUV styling with Toyota’s big, modern design language across its front end. It’s instantly recognizable for its size, though the current Land Cruiser also has a few of the most current industry trends going for it–like LED running lights, and it’s bigger, bolder grille. While it might not look truly luxurious like the Land Rover lineup–or its near-twin, the Lexus LX 570–the Land Cruiser has the look of a confident off-roader, with big, handsome lines.



Inside, the Land Cruiser has the same, very upright, chunky styling that all the newer Toyota trucks have received. It’s a pretty technology-heavy presentation, with a navigation screen top and center, plus climate, audio, and off-road controls below that, and it emphasizes a certain truth about the Land Cruiser’s appeal—that it’s rooted more in gated communities than in remote outposts. New this year are a perforated leather trim, more glossy woodgrain on the dash, and brighter metallic trim surrounding some of the dash panels.

• Performance »

There’s only one available drivetrain in the Land Cruiser, and it’s a brawny, rugged one intended for off-road use. It’s not our first choice of vehicles if you’re just looking for a family hauler, but the Land Cruiser rides comfortably with reasonable power.

The Land Cruiser is powered by a 5.7-liter V-8 that produces 381 horsepower and 401 lb-ft of torque. That engine is mated to a six-speed automatic transmission and full-time four-wheel-drive system.
It’s just shy of 6,000 pounds, thanks largely to its very heavy body-on-frame construction. That structure also gives it some substantial towing ability, even though it sounds and feels pretty smooth on the highway. The Land Cruiser isn’t quick, though–you just can’t bend the laws of physics–and the steering feels numb, due its four-wheel-drive system.

It’s a wonder that the Land Cruiser handles as well as it does–there’s very limited body roll in the turns–thanks to its Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System. It’s able to stiffen the front and rear anti-roll bars for highway driving, while essentially disconnecting them when you head off-road. Even with that system, the Land Cruiser can be a little firm, which is especially obvious through potholes and large bumps. It’s a great system for off-road comfort and handling with such a large vehicle, but rough roads will leave no question in your mind about the fact that the Land Cruiser is based on a truck’s platform.
On-road dynamics aside, the Land Cruiser is a real champ in the dirt. The Land Cruiser sports an approach angle of 30 degrees, a real low range for its 4WD system, and a locking center differential that can shift from 50 to 70 percent of available torque to the rear wheels, depending on the traction state and needs of the moment. The rear suspension offers a full 9.5 inches of travel to help articulate the wheels over the most demanding terrain. The Land Cruiser’s construction also aids its off-road ability, with its body-on-frame construction making it more rugged and tough than most.
The Cruiser’s stability control is also deeply integrated into its off-road package to manage grip: Hill Descent Control makes it easy to cruise slowly down tricky inclines, Trailer Sway Control mitigates the wagging motion induced by towed loads, and Hill Start Assist helps keep you from rolling backward on uphill starts. Newly added CRAWL control adapts throttle and braking to one of five settings tailored to different surfaces, making the Land Cruiser simpler to drive on mud, rocks, sand, or snow. Finally, an Off-Road Turn Assist does what other torque-vectoring systems do: it clamps an inside rear brake to help tighten corners.
The Off-Road Turn Assist feature pulses the rear corner brakes to help the vehicle make sharper turns when maneuvering through tight quarters on rugged terrain. CRAWL Control with Off-Road Turn Assist includes Downhill Assist Control (DAC), which is designed to augment the low-speed descending ability of low-range by helping to hold the vehicle to a target speed with practically no driver intervention. Hill-start Assist Control (HAC) provides additional control for off-road driving by helping to keep the vehicle stationary while starting on a steep incline or slippery surface.
When bigger is better, there’s the Toyota Land Cruiser. Other crossovers and SUVs have downsized, and drivers are choosing more compact, more carlike wagons, more than ever–but for a few thousand drivers each year, nothing gets things done like the massive, and massively capable off-road, “Land Crusher.”

Even by the standards of its class, the Land Cruiser’s price tag is large, and its thirst for fuel is gargantuan. Over the years, the renowned Land Cruiser model name has morphed from a tough but basic Jeep-like vehicle to a huge, luxurious vehicle that competes with the high end of the German and English utility brands, hanging onto its off-roading abilities despite its many premium features. A past filled with desert treks, mountain climbing, and safaris has given way to a more refined exploration of high-end shopping malls and affluent suburbs.

Still, the Land Cruiser remains a highly capable vehicle that can do most things in most places. That’s an enduring niche if a low-volume one, even if the values epitomized by the Land Cruiser stand in almost direct opposition to those of the rest of the Toyota lineup: sensible, reliable, un-flashy cars–including the uber-green Prius hybrid.

The universe of mega-SUVs is shrinking, especially when provided by a mass-market brand like Toyota. That makes it surprising that Toyota even bothered to bring the very expensive Land Cruiser back for an encore. Starting at just a smidge south of $80,000, it’s not the luxury icon that Land Rover has in the Range Rover, and it’s $30,000 pricier than Toyota’s own, slightly more practical Sequoia. Unlike the Range Rover, its shape is hardly iconic, and the base price is extraordinarily high–but what other vehicle has inspired the “Land Crusher” nickname and lived (again) to tell about it?

In looks, the Toyota Land Cruiser isn’t all that different from the far cheaper Sequoia or the Land Cruiser’s near-twin, the Lexus LX 570. Its 381-horsepower V-8 powers the hulking, 5700-pound, body-on-frame utility vehicle through four-wheel drive with a locking differential that combines with rugged suspension design to provide hardcore off-road ability. It will both accelerate the 5700-pound Land Cruiser to highway speeds and beyond (though with a prodigious consumption of gasoline) and slip and slide over slick rocks far from any highway at all.

But this prodigious off-road talent compromises its usefulness as an urban utility vehicle. The steering’s loose; the ride can be choppy unless it’s fully laden with up to eight passengers. And three of them will have to ride in third-row seats that fold up to the sides of the cargo area–not into the floor like most modern crossovers, because that’s where the rear axle lives. In this land of compromise, the latest electronics keep the
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