2024 Toyota Land Cruiser First Look: The Return of An Icon

MotorTrend

The iconic Land Cruiser rides again in the U.S.

Transcript

00:00 After a long three-year hiatus, the unkillable is back.

00:04 Meet the all-new 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser

00:07 in all its boxy and retro glory.

00:09 Are you stoked it's back?

00:10 'Cause I'm stoked it's back.

00:12 (upbeat music)

00:14 But first, a little story time.

00:23 A long time ago, the first Land Cruiser touched down

00:26 in the US market in 1958.

00:28 The subsequent generation, the 40 Series,

00:30 was an instant hit and became the best-selling Toyota

00:33 in the US between 1961 and 1965.

00:37 You'll instantly recognize it for its boxy design

00:39 and round headlights.

00:40 Fast forward all the way to 2008,

00:43 where the Toyota Land Cruiser 200 Series debuted

00:45 as the last generation to be sold here in the US.

00:48 Until now, obviously.

00:50 This one was a pretty big departure

00:51 from the original Land Cruiser idea.

00:53 It was upscale, luxurious, decidedly un-boxy.

00:56 It was posh, it was posh.

00:59 And it was posh enough to start competing with Lexus,

01:02 which is a big corporate no-no.

01:04 It was a good truck, but was it a real Land Cruiser?

01:07 Eh.

01:08 But now there's reason to celebrate

01:09 because the new Land Cruiser seems to go right back

01:11 to those old 40 Series roots.

01:13 Actually, it looks like how the 40 Series would today

01:16 if it were still alive.

01:17 This body-on-frame truck has a ton of right angles,

01:20 a high vantage point, and is actually slightly smaller

01:22 and narrower than the 200 Series.

01:25 When was the last time the new version of a car

01:26 got smaller than the one it replaces?

01:28 All versions of the new Land Cruiser will be powered

01:30 by Toyota's 2.4 liter turbocharged

01:32 four-cylinder hybrid i-Force Maxx engine.

01:35 Oh, it's a mouthful.

01:36 They'll make a respectable 326 horsepower

01:39 and 465 pound-feet of torque.

01:42 The trucks will use an eight-speed automatic

01:44 and have full-time four-wheel drive,

01:45 at least 8.7 inches of ground clearance

01:48 and up to 6,000 pounds of towing capacity.

01:51 At launch, there will be three trims.

01:53 The first is the Land Cruiser 1958,

01:55 which is your base trim.

01:56 It'll have the smaller eight-inch infotainment screen,

01:59 fabric trimmed in manually adjusted seats,

02:01 and round headlights.

02:03 This is the good one, the honest one.

02:05 This is the way a Land Cruiser should be, you know?

02:07 Humble and simple, but certainly not any less premium.

02:11 Then there's the Land Cruiser trim,

02:12 which gets the bigger 12.3-inch infotainment screen

02:15 and multi-terrain select adjustable off-road drive settings.

02:19 You'll be able to tell it's a Land Cruiser trim

02:21 from the outside because of the horizontal headlights

02:23 instead of the rounded ones.

02:25 Finally, the Land Cruiser First Edition

02:27 is limited to 5,000 examples for North America.

02:30 On it, you get a roof rack, rock rails,

02:32 a front skid plate, mud flaps,

02:34 and exclusive interior touches.

02:36 The First Edition also gets rounded headlights.

02:39 So that retro trend seems like it's already

02:41 in high gear these days,

02:42 especially with the off-road SUVs

02:44 like the Land Rover Defender and Ford Bronco.

02:46 You may now add the Toyota Land Cruiser to that list.

02:50 However, it is not a replacement for the 4Runner

02:53 in case you were nervous.

02:55 Toyota says the Land Cruiser is for a more mature buyer,

02:58 while the 4Runner is meant for a younger buyer.

03:01 Regardless of how it's positioned, though,

03:02 it's pretty incredible Toyota is bringing this thing back.

03:05 It's also like way cooler than the J300 series

03:08 they get in other parts of the world, so suck it.

03:10 As for the biggest question of all, the price.

03:13 Toyota didn't get specific, but did say

03:16 the new Land Cruiser will start in the mid $50,000 range.

03:19 So you can use your imagination from now

03:21 until it gets closer to being on sale.

03:23 Being the rebirth of an icon and all that,

03:25 the new Land Cruiser's got big shoes to fill.

03:28 So we'll see how all that shakes out.

03:30 (upbeat music)

03:33 (upbeat music)

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