This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Toyota Land Cruiser. With such a long history and no doubt remarkable in the world of 4×4 SUVs, the model name has been around longer than any other for Toyota and towers over the rest of the market in regards to legacy. The latest Land Cruiser 300 Series was revealed on August 2, 2021. This new model was the first full platform change in 14 years .The predecessor, the 200 Series, was released in 2007.

There have been rumblings that the 300 Series will not grace North American auto dealerships. Toyota has confirmed this to an extent. The main reason to pull the Land Cruiser from the marketplace was a traditional lack of sales. Our beloved J200 series Land Cruiser new sticker price listing was near $90,000 dollars and had to face a variety of competitive name plates from within. You could get a much larger Sequoia for significantly less expense and comparable interior trim. The off-road ready to upgrade 4Runner for even cheaper. Your Lexus LX could be had for a similar price tag and all of the off-road capabilities enjoyed by the Land Cruiser.   

So What Is So Special About The 300 Series Anyways?

The Land Cruiser is known throughout as a world class off-road masterpiece. It owns a reliable reputation and is used worldwide for mission critical operations especially in third world countries and super remote locations. 

Part of the redesigned new Land Cruiser (300 Series) development objective was to inherit and evolve the key features of off-road performance and durable reliability. The engineers also were tasked with updating the decade old platform to a modern driving experience.   

With this criteria, Toyota based the 300 Series Land Cruiser off of the newly established TNGA (Toyota New Global Architecture) ladder-frame vehicle platform. The frame increases rigidity and reduces overall weight and with a lower center of gravity. There is improved weight distribution and an all new advanced suspension system that takes this to the next level. 

The vehicle designers adapted years of advanced vehicle technology and carefully implemented a new powertrain, interior, and exterior making significant improvements to the driving experience. 

All of this was carefully orchestrated by Toyota’s in-house Land Cruiser aficionados, various vehicle specialists, and off-road racing team drivers who served on the design team. 

Chief Engineer of the 300 Series, Takami Yokoo, explained in a Toyota Times feature; “Surpassing the Predecessor” about the new vehicle development. “Really, it stems from the need to protect the Land Cruiser’s value as a “companion that can go where you want, when you want, and come back safely”, which has remained strong for 70 years. Each new model must outperform the previous in those three areas of reliability, durability, and drivability on rough terrain.”

“When developing the 200 Series, I challenged myself to make the front differential case aluminum. The goal was to reduce weight, but this sparked a big debate within the development team on whether we really should be using aluminum. To answer that question, we spent some two years conducting tests to break the differential. If we saw a boulder, we would run the test car into it. We wanted something that could withstand such punishment. That’s what it took to get the job done.”

300 Series Advanced Off-Road Tech

Traditional off-road performance was improved on through the implementation of:

• Basic suspension performance  and wheel articulation.
• A first of its find E-KDSS (Electronic Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System) to enhance road-holding performance 
• Multi-Terrain Monitor to display obstacles as viewed from the driver’s viewpoint through viewing screen.
• Multi Terrain Select system automatically selects the best driving mode based on changing road surfaces. 

Driving Performance

The 2022 Land Cruiser drops the V8 for a new twin-turbocharged 3.5 liter V6 gasoline engine producing 409 horsepower. Toyota will also offer a 3.3-liter turbo-diesel paired with a 10 speed automatic transmission.

How Do You Obtain A New Land Cruiser Stateside?

So what does all of this mean and how can one get a 300 Series Land Cruiser in the states? The Lexus LX, when equipped with the off-road package, are said to have all of the same off-road prowess as their Toyota Land Cruiser counterpart. The Lexus GX is equally compared to the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado but can also be compared to a Toyota 4Runner. Off Road Xtreme will be test driving the off-road capabilities of a 2021 Lexus GX 460 in the near future. Stay tuned and check back for that review. Until then we recommend scooping up any local used Land Cruisers as they are highly valued off-road 4×4 suvs.