“If you want to travel into the outback, take a Land Rover. If you want to come back again, take a Land Cruiser.” It’s a well-known gag in Australia and other more rugged parts of the planet (where the word ‘outback’ could be substituted for desert, mountains or any kind of wilderness). After more than 70 years of tough Toyotas, though, the joke might be wearing thin.
After all, the latest Land Rover Defender is a very different beast to the one that could trace its roots back to 1948. And the Toyota has also evolved, becoming more refined, luxurious and expensive. Has this former trailblazer – the vehicle of choice for everyone from guerilla fighters to UN peacekeepers – become just another school-run SUV?
I’ll spare you the suspense: no, it categorically has not. This new Land Cruiser (known as the Prado in other markets) is still a traditional 4×4, with a separate body on a ladder frame chassis, a low-range gearbox, lockable differentials and a diesel engine. When Top Gear magazine tested it off-road against a Defender, Mercedes-Benz G-Class and Ineos Grenadier, the Toyota proved the most capable of the quartet.
My 10-day test was challenging in different, less dramatic ways. Commandeered for a family holiday to Norfolk, the Land Cruiser served as long-distance transport, a local runaround and even an impromptu beach car. And thus I discovered what this £80,945 Toyota is like to live with.
A bit of all-white
Retro styling is all the rage, and it seems even the staunchly sensible Land Cruiser isn’t immune. This ‘J250’ model’s blocky, Tonka-toy shape harks back to the J60 and J70 series Land Cruisers of the 1980s. Its bluff front end, burly wheelarches and a towering stance set it apart from the hordes of copy-and-paste crossovers. In ‘UN-spec’ white, I think it looks fantastic.
That said, if you were quick enough to bag one of the sold-out First Edition models, your Land Cruiser will have round headlights and look even cooler. Sadly, British buyers are now limited to the square lamps seen here, which resemble oversized Lego bricks. No doubt someone will offer an aftermarket round light conversion before long.
Following the First Edition, there is only one (fully loaded) trim level offered in the UK, too. The modestly named ‘Invincible’ comes with seven seats, 20-inch alloy wheels, black leather upholstery, dual-zone air conditioning, heated and ventilated seats and a reversing camera. A very short list of extras comprises your choice of four paint colours (white, grey, black or gold), plus a few no-nonsense accessories such as rubber floor mats and roof rails.
Drinking from black pump
Toyota sells the Land Cruiser with a 2.4-litre petrol hybrid drivetrain elsewhere in the world, but – you guessed it – we Brits have just one option: a 2.8 diesel. More specifically, it’s a four-cylinder turbocharged engine shared with the Hilux pickup, which delivers a modest 205hp and 369lb ft of torque. Drive goes to all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic gearbox, with an additional set of low-range ratios for the rough stuff.
Diesel has garnered bad press in recent years, leading to a steady decline in sales. Indeed, the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show only 4.2 percent of new cars now drink from the black pump – far behind both plug-in hybrids (14.9 percent) and electric vehicles (27.5 percent). Few would dispute that diesel engines still suit large, heavy 4x4s like the Land Cruiser, however. A 0-62mph time of 10.9 seconds might seem slow, but the ability to crawl up steep gradients and tow a massive 3,500kg matters more.
Equally, diesel provides tolerable fuel economy in a vehicle weighing 2,415kg, and with the aerodynamic properties of a garden shed. The Land Cruiser returns 26.1mpg in the official test: a figure I found surprisingly each to match, and even exceed, during my 10-day test. It’s worth noting, though, that CO2 emissions of 284g/km mean a tax bill north of £6,000 in your first year of ownership. An insurance rating of 48-49 (out of 50 groups in total) will inflate the Land Cruiser’s running costs, too.
Inside the Toyota Land Cruiser
Climb aboard the Land Cruiser (make use of the side step unless your legs are particularly limber) and your first impression is one of space. There’s enough headroom to wear a top hat, should you so wish, and the standard panoramic roof floods the cabin with light. Gazing out over the horizontal bonnet, elevated above most other SUVs, the driving position feels imperious.
There’s plenty of room for passengers, too. The middle bench won’t slide back and forth, but its backrest reclines for comfort, while tall side windows add to the airy, spacious feel. Access to the third row is easy if you flip the chairs in front forwards, and it’s comfortable enough for adults on shorter journeys. That said, a Land Rover Defender 110 is more accommodating in seats six and seven.
When seven-up, the Land Cruiser can carry just 130 litres of luggage, but this swells to 566 litres with the third row folded flat. Drop down all the rear seats and you have something akin to a small van – perfect for when I needed to transport two paddleboards to the beach. The top-hinged tailgate is electrically operated, and you can open the rear glass separately, Range Rover-style, which is useful in tight parking spaces.
Ready for anything
If you hate the recent vogue for dashboards that are essentially glorified iPads, the Land Cruiser should be to your liking. Its dash has plenty of proper, physical buttons, including a shortcut to turn off the driver assist (ADAS) systems. Most are chunky enough to be operated while wearing gloves, too – important for the many owners who use Land Cruisers as working vehicles.
Behind the traditional automatic gear lever, plenty of the controls on the centre console relate to the four-wheel-drive system. The one labelled SDM (Stabiliser Disconnect Mechanism) detaches the front anti-roll bar, providing 10 percent more wheel travel when crawling through ruts or clambering over rocks. Other switches include DAC (Downhill Assist Control) for steady, engine-braked process down slippery slopes, and the rotary MTS (Multi-Terrain Select) controller, which offers Dirt, Sand, Mud, Rock, Deep Snow and Auto modes for driving off-piste.
There is still a screen, of course: a 12-inch display that is easy to navigate and compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The standard 14-speaker JBL audio system also sounds punchy and there’s a cooler box beneath the centre armrest. It all feels robust and built to last, even if the flat, unyielding plastics wouldn’t pass muster in a similarly priced Audi, BMW or Mercedes-Benz, Or indeed an SUV from Toyota’s own premium brand: Lexus.
Diesel do nicely
The rattle and thrum of a diesel engine has become a rare refrain in 2026. In fact, this was the first diesel-powered press car I have driven all year. How times have changed since 2012, when diesel had a new-car market share of more than 50 percent.
This particular diesel is pretty smooth for an engine pinched from a pickup (it also served with a larger turbo in the previous Land Cruiser). It pulls strongly from low revs and cruises contentedly on the motorway. You are always aware of its presence, though. In town, where a plug-in hybrid SUV might zip around silently in EV mode, the Toyota sounds gruff and a tad agricultural. It can also get coarse and thrashy when worked hard, such as when tackling steep hills.
On the plus side, the eight-speed automatic gearbox is a good judge of any given situation, shifting promptly without the slurring effect of an old-fashioned auto. And while acceleration is leisurely by modern standards, the Toyota’s steering and suspension prefer slower inputs and a steadier pace – so it hardly seems to matter.
Off the beaten track
This preference for a laid-back life manifests itself in lots of body-roll through corners and a ride that can become choppy and discombobulated. The electric power steering also feels a bit ponderous and the car’s sheer size demands some circumspection on country lanes. All of this encourages you to make calm and considered progress; this isn’t a sports utility vehicle, nor does it try to be one.
Instead, the Land Cruiser excels off the road, where its more flexible suspension and slower responses pay dividends in terms of traction and stability. Factor in four-wheel drive, low range, centre and rear locking differentials and a wading depth of 700mm, and you have a vehicle that makes up in ‘utility’ what it lacks in ‘sport’. Some crater-sized British potholes and a few inches of snow certainly aren’t going to trouble it.
Admittedly, the closest I got to off-roading was a stretch of sand beyond a coastal car park, normally used by tractors to tow boats ashore. But where a regular car would have (literally) got beached, the big Toyota didn’t hesitate. It feels unstoppable. Invincible, even.
Verdict: Toyota Land Cruiser
That sense of being built to last is backed up by reliability surveys from around the world that regularly place Toyota near the top. The brand also has potentially the best warranty offer in the UK: up to 10 years or 100,000 miles if you get your car serviced annually at a Toyota dealership. Land Rover, by contrast, offers just three years of cover, albeit with an unlimited mileage.
So, while the joke about Land Rovers and Land Cruisers is perhaps a little outdated, the Toyota is still the vehicle you’d choose for an expedition into the unknown. Or perhaps simply as a 4×4 to buy and own long-term, rather than chop in every three years on rolling PCP finance deals.
The J250 Land Cruiser certainly isn’t perfect; it’s slow, lumbering and not particularly premium – either in terms of its image or perceived quality. It’s also expensive for what feels more like a workhorse than a luxury SUV. And yet… rather like a classic car – or, dare I say, an original Defender – those flaws become a part of its character. Driving a Land Cruiser isn’t exciting, yet nor is it dull.
As for the price, the limited number of these vehicles being imported into Britain means Toyota won’t have a problem selling them to Land Cruiser loyalists – and it should keep used values buoyant, too. Not everybody will understand why you’ve bought one, but I don’t think it’s a decision you would live to regret.
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