2018 Toyota Land Cruiser Road Test and Review

2018 Toyota Land Cruiser exterior by Ron Sessions ・ Photo by Ron Sessions

Before there was a Camry or a Corolla or any other high-volume product we now associate with Japan’s largest automaker, there was the Land Cruiser. The gutsy off-road icon was often seen in the pages of National Geographic or on the Discovery Channel tackling impossible terrain in unforgiving locales around the world. The Land Cruiser first came to the U.S. in the late 1950s and was one of the first Toyotas sold in the U.S., making it Toyota’s longest-running nameplate here. Renowned worldwide for its toughness and durability, the Land Cruiser started out as sort of a bare-bones Japanese Jeep but more recent versions (especially those now exported to the U.S.) have morphed into all-terrain luxury vehicles with opulence that can rival some Land Rover models.

There is just one well-equipped four-door, eight-passenger 2018 model that retails for $85,610 including destination and delivery. The only optional feature offered is a rear-seat DVD entertainment system. Beyond dual-range four-wheel drive, the Land Cruiser’s long list of standard features is comparable to that available in any of Toyota’s Lexus luxury division’s products.

King of the Hill

Make no mistake, the Land Cruiser is one tough truck and drives like one, too. Its on-road dynamics, particularly its light, uncommunicative steering, floaty body control and somewhat mushy braking, are closer to what was the norm, say, in the 1980s or 1990s SUVs than in today’s burgeoning crop of crossovers with passenger-car manners. But the Land Cruiser’s credo is getting there and back in one piece more than polish and precision at autobahn speeds. That requires some old school thinking in terms of gauging up componentry to survive off-road punishment. The overall feeling is one of uncompromised solidity, built tough to go the distance. Drivers simply learn to adapt to the Land Cruiser’s somewhat slower reflexes and give surrounding traffic a bit more space.

Photo by Ron Sessions

Luxurious Command and Control

The Land Cruiser’s generous ground clearance is key for off-pavement perambulating, and its old-school body-on-frame layout is great for durability and strength, but both make for a bit of a climb up into the interior. The standard running boards spanning the full length between the front and rear wheel openings help in that regard, but the driver and passengers should be aware of that step if they don't want to get their clothes dirty in the process.

Once ensconced in the cabin, however, interior occupants are surrounded by high-quality materials and convenience features. You sit up high with a commanding view of the road. The supportive and all-day comfortable seats are covered in perforated, buttery, semi-aniline leather, the fronts heated and ventilated with power adjustable lumbar support. The automatic climate control has four zones of adjustment, one each for driver, front passenger, second- and third-row inhabitants. A wireless device charger for Qi-compatible phones is at the bottom of the center stack and the bi-level center console has a built-in cooler.

Photo by Toyota

Second Row Doesn't Mean Second Class

The same high-quality perforated leather that’s up front covers the 40/20/40 split second-row seats. The seats have multi-level heating, can slide fore/aft and the center section converts into a cushy armrest. Second-row passengers get their own map lights, and the available rear-seat entertainment system features a pair of 11.6-inch screens, HDMI input, RCA jacks, a remote, and two wireless headphones.

Photo by Toyota

Adult-Rated Third Row

The great thing about the Land Cruiser’s old school shape is that it enables the vehicle to offer more interior space for a given footprint. For example, the Cruiser is actually two inches shorter bumper to bumper than the curvy new Lexus RX 350L three-row SUV, but the senior Toyota’s tall roof and squared-off flanks give it another inch of second- and third-row headroom and several more inches of legroom back there. It’s even got 3.5 inches more third-row legroom than the much-larger Chevy Tahoe, making it viable seating for adults. Second-row seat bottom sections that can pivot forward aid third-row access. Also, third-row headrests can be folded forward when no one is seated there to improve rearward visibility for the driver.

Photo by Ron Sessions

Cargo Master

The 50/50 split third-row seats can be folded down (or even removed,) which along with folding down the second-row seats nets the Land Cruiser’s maximum 81.7 cubic feet of cargo capacity. The third-row seats can also be folded up along the sides of the cargo area for situations where someone needs to carry something tall but can’t leave the third-row seats at home. The Land Cruiser also has a split tailgate/liftgate, great for occasions where an open tailgate can become a handy tabletop in the field (did someone say tailgate party?) and the shorter liftgate creates a convenient way to quickly drop things into the cargo hold while the still-closed tailgate keeps items (think honeydew melons or soccer balls) from rolling out.

Photo by Ron Sessions

Connected Cruising

The guts of the Land Cruiser may be old school but the sturdy SUV has kept up with telecom tech. Bluetooth is standard and the standard 14-speaker Entune JBL audio system with a nine-inch high-resolution touchscreen and integrated navigation can pull tunes from SiriusXM, HD Radio with iTunes tagging. Also standard is an AM/FM/CD player and a USB port with iPod connectivity or your phone via the Entune App Suite. Big knobs for volume and tuning eliminate fiddly scrolling and tapping through multiple on-screen menus.

Photo by Ron Sessions

Eight Great Cylinders

Under the hood of Toyota’s iconic SUV is an all-aluminum 381-hp 5.7-liter DOHC V8 with variable valve timing that delivers 401 lb-ft of torque. It’s the same engine as the top optional choice in Toyota’s full-size Tundra pickup truck. With the standard towing package, it can handle a trailer load up to 8,100 lbs. The smooth and hushed V8 is teamed with an eight-speed automatic transmission, and when called upon is capable of moving the nearly three-ton SUV to 60 mph from a stoplight in just under seven seconds. Acceleration is effortless whether just cruising around town or merging into a fast-moving freeway traffic flow. Unlike some other premium-priced SUVs, the Land Cruiser runs on less-expensive 87-octane regular unleaded. This proves helpful for the wallet as the four-wheel drive Land Cruiser is also old school when it comes to fuel economy with 13 mpg city/18 mpg highway/15 mpg combined EPA estimates.

Photo by Ron Sessions

Traction Action

Four meaty 285/60R18 mud and snow tires offer excellent all-occasion grip in conjunction with the Land Cruiser’s standard full-time 4WD system and Torsen limited-slip center differential that apportion drive torque 40 percent front/60 percent rear. It’s working all the time, but there are several other systems activated with buttons or knobs on the center console at the driver’s disposal.

A Multi-terrain Select system helps the driver manage wheel slip according to conditions. With the two-speed transfer case in low range, standard Crawl Control offers a kind of low-speed, off-pavement cruise control that applies throttle or braking to maintain a driver-selectable pre-set speed. More trail assistance is available via the Cruiser’s standard Downhill Assist Control that uses rapid anti-lock brake pulsations to limit speeds down steep grades, and Hill Start Assist that tames scary rollbacks when starting out on an uphill incline. Off-Road Turn Assist helps the Cruiser make sharper turns in tight spaces by braking an inside wheel.

Standard Kinetic Dynamic Suspension helps tame body lean on pavement, but off-road disconnects the stabilizer bars to enable greater wheel articulation over humps and deep ruts. Even if you never plan to take an off-road adventure, it’s reassuring to know the Land Cruiser has systems to deal with “what ifs” should you find yourself off the pavement in a weather-related emergency.

Photo by Ron Sessions

Safety On-Road and Off

Beyond the billet-like high-strength steel body structure and 10 standard airbags, the 2018 Toyota Land Cruiser is equipped with a full complement of safety gear. The advanced Toyota Safety Sense-P system with millimeter-wave radar and a monocular camera bring automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane departure alert (although not the sometimes annoying lane-keeping with steering assist,) automatic high beams, and dynamic cruise control. Additionally, the Land Cruiser is equipped with blind-spot and rear cross-traffic monitoring, very important features for a vehicle often loaded up with people or cargo. The standard backup camera has trajectory lines and can be switched between narrow- and wide-angle views to suit different situations including trailer hookup.

Photo by Ron Sessions

The Genuine Article

Long before SUVs and crossovers became the default vehicle choice for the majority of U.S. car buyers, the Land Cruiser was offering honest all-terrain, all-weather transportation in an unassuming wrapper. The price has climbed steeply and the standard amenities list morphed into luxury territory, but at its core, the 2018 Toyota Land Cruiser is the same nuts-and-bolts straight shooter it’s always been—only better. Much better.

Photo by Ron Sessions