Land Cruiser Heritage Edition launched in US
A limited run Land Cruiser with a V8 and bronze wheels? Oh how we envy you America
It's been 60 years since the Land Cruiser was first introduced to the US, so to mark the occasion Toyota is producing a limited run Heritage Edition that gains vintage details and a plusher interior.
Like the regular US-spec Land Cruiser, the 1,200-run Heritage Edition is offered in V8 form only, meaning it has 386hp and 4,01lb ft of torque to play with and drives all four wheels through an eight-speed automatic. But to set it apart from the rest of the range, it gains a set of 18-inch BBS wheels finished in bronze. Yum.
Additionally, the special variant ditches side steps and uses black rather than chrome surrounds, helping to de-clutter the exterior's design. Darkened headlight housings and fog lights with dark chrome surrounds add to the look, while a set of classically styled badges that look like they've been pinched straight off of a J40 are a nod to the model's six-decade past.
Inside, the Heritage Edition gets black leather upholstery as standard with bronze stitching, which matches the shade of the wheels outside, as well as the highest-specification 9.0-inch infotainment system. Only two rows of seats are available and there are weatherproof mats as standard, emphasising that the Heritage Edition would rather be treading along a rocking valley with a boot full of camping gear than carrying the kids to kindergarten.
To be honest, that's true of the regular car too - the Land Cruiser is a proper body-on-frame SUV with double-wishbone front and four-link coil-spring rear suspension, after all. Little wonder it has ranked as a favourite for those who live and work in hard to reach places ever since its inception as a military vehicle.
Still, we'd like ours with bronze wheels and vintage badges, but for those of us who live on the other side of the Atlantic, no heritage model is planned. That means we'll have to make do with the regular diesel Land Cruiser, although thankfully even this more humble model is one of the most capable off-road vehicles to have ever made production.
They are designed with a 25 year service life. Any weight reduction will reduce that. Our one is about to tick over 480,000 very tough miles. It gets worked hard every day of the week. It's on all of its original suspension parts,I engine has full compression on all basic cylinders and it doesn't use a drop of oil. I'm fairly sure it is still on it's original clutch too. It does 24mpg regardless of whether we are towing a 3 tonne trailer or driving along. And we are perfectly happy with that economy. It's one of the most reliable engines ever built, if they go screwing with it because of stupid emissions regulations then I am certain they will make it less dependable. A downsized engine to achieve lower co2 would almost certainly be worse on fuel when being worked hard even if it's better when cruising. I still doubt it would crack 30mpg even on a motorway run. That's not a trade off I would be willing to take.
Any car can be made more efficient and lighter without affecting reliability. Lightness equals better efficiency and MPG. There are always ways older engines can be brought up to date with turbos, cylinder cut-outs under light load, better ignition and more efficient injectors. Honda continue to evolve their VTEC engines which AFAIK and despite the complexity of the valve/camshaft arrangement, they have never had a warranty claim for, and routinely do comfortably into the 100's of thousands.of miles. Range Rover managed to lower the weight of their flagship by 400 Kgs by using aluminium instead of steel.
As for 'stupid emissions regulations', they're here for a purpose whether we like it or not, though of course there will always be dinosaurs justifying why they should be excluded from trying to lower their consumption, and look what happened to them!
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