Thursday 18th January 2018

Toyota launches Land Cruiser Utility

Fed up of fancy pants 4x4s and £150k restomods? Does Toyota have the Land Cruiser for you!

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At the top of the Volvo XC90 range sits the Inscription T8 Twin Engine. It costs £70,405. Crowning the Land Rover Discovery pricelist is the 3.0 V6 HSE Luxury at £68,595. And you'll need £78,955 for an Audi Q7 TDI Vorsprung.

Should those be a bit much for your requirements - unlikely given the seemingly rabid popularity of all luxury SUVs - then Toyota has a solution. As part of the 2018 range facelift, a Utility model has been launched. Available as standard as a three-door manual (with steel wheels), the Land Cruiser Utility is described by Toyota as a "workhorse" and, er, "simple". See, the fripperies have been stripped from the press material as well.

All 2018 Land Cruisers are powered by the familiar 174hp, 2.8-litre diesel, so really this purist spec (and most affordable) version should also be the quickest. At £32,795 for the three-door manual (or £34,095 for five doors, or £35,795 with an auto and the extra doors) it's also the best part of £20k cheaper than a top-of-the-range Invincible. And according to the press release you get two sets of roof rails in addition to the fog lights, air conditioning and CD player. Marvellous.

It's your typical fare for the rest of the range facelift: new equipment, refreshed styling, a greater focus on safety. Nothing radical then, but this is a car built on sturdiness, durability and dependability. The fact it has higher wing top sections now (to better pinpoint the extremities) is probably of more relevance than the redesigned light clusters, reprofiled bumpers and new illumination for the dials.

The new Land Cruiser is on sale now, isn't limited in production and isn't facing a huge waiting list. Should that still be too much of a delay between you and your Land Cruising though, 72 are for sale on PH: no three-door cars, sadly, but this 2002 Amazon looks reassuringly rugged and no-nonsense. It's yours for £15k...

[Jellinek]

Very interesting, but not at all surprising, that Toyota have moved so quickly on the Defender market. I fear that JLR’’s decision to take the Defender upmarket has effectively eroded the bedrock on which the marque is built.
Will be watching the sales numbers of this version very closely over the coming months...

[W124]

What a cool car! A bit big for me but it’s a blessed relief to see something with steel wheels and rational tyres on it. Bet it rides well. No curbing issues.

fk it! I’d actually buy one of those. In death blue as a five door auto. With cloth if they do it.

[powerstroke]

would buy a van version good old Toyota Proper working 4x4s for people who need them not want them

[stuckmojo]

lovely car. To buy and use carelessly for about 20 years with no fuss. Perfect.

[Willy Nilly]

[Sensei Rob]

Nice.

[Too Drunk to Funk]

Don't know why you'd not buy a better specced secondhand Cruiser over this.

[Willy Nilly]

Too Drunk to Funk said:

Don't know why you'd not buy a better specced secondhand Cruiser over this.

There are plenty of people that work this sort of vehicle hard and don't need any fripperies and won't want to pay for them. What good is 2 grands worth of cream leather interior when you chuck your chainsaw in the back and it leaks 2 stroke over it?

[BugLebowski]

Almost perfect, now we just need to up the towing limit to 3.5t and I'd be all over this.

[seefarr]

If you want to go anywhere, buy a Land Rover. If you want to get back, buy a Landcruiser.

You can still buy the Landcruiser 70 series in Australia (and I guess other markets?). 4.5L turbo-diesel V8, 5 speed manual transmission, 180L fuel tank and a hose-down vinyl interior. Very cool things:





http://www.toyota.com.au/landcruiser-70

[sparkythecat]

Like most proper 4x4s it looks crap in white.
Wonder what the towing capacity is?

[GTEYE]

sparkythecat said:

Like most proper 4x4s it looks crap in white.
Wonder what the towing capacity is?

The white one also looks a bit truncated,a bit like a cut-n-shut!

[lindrup119]

W124 said:

What a cool car! A bit big for me but it’s a blessed relief to see something with steel wheels and rational tyres on it. Bet it rides well. No curbing issues.

fk it! I’d actually buy one of those. In death blue as a five door auto. With cloth if they do it.

Looks crap in 3 door spec, especially as it doesn't look like the black trim along the body bottom doesn't extend to cover the door?

This however, looks excellent:

[mcbook]

This looks like a great thing. £34k for the 5-door version looks like great value.

Will be interesting to see if there's actually a market for this stripped-back version. Sales will shed light on how many people are interested in a real 4x4 versus those interested in image of a 4x4.

[stuckmojo]

lindrup119 said:

Looks crap in 3 door spec, especially as it doesn't look like the black trim along the body bottom doesn't extend to cover the door?

This however, looks excellent:

oof. Want. Just like that.

[LasseV]

sparkythecat said:

Like most proper 4x4s it looks crap in white.
Wonder what the towing capacity is?

3000kg. I need this car. Actually no, i want one but i don't need it. Handy car if you live ina countryside like i do. In a typical finnish fashion, there is a bad roads and assloads of snow and i drive a Prius....

[mcbook]

Here's mine (fantasy build), for the bargain price of £34,795. It's got cruise control and AC, who needs anything else?

[sparkythecat]

Is it an illusion, or has it got cart springs at the back?

[mcbook]

sparkythecat said:

Is it an illusion, or has it got cart springs at the back?

It does look like that but that's just one of the links and not a leaf spring that you can see.

[Richard-390a0]

Looks oddly proportioned as a 3 dr when compared to the 5 dr version. I wish them all the best with this as it's about time a proper utility spec 4x4 was on sale again.