Toyota Land Cruiser (2018-2024) Review & Prices

The Toyota Land Cruiser is a rugged, go-anywhere four-wheel drive SUV with a spacious cabin and a durable diesel engine with plenty of pulling power.

It might not be as upmarket inside as a Land Rover Discovery, but it’s just as spacious. The back seats in five-seat models are wide, soft and supportive and even the rearmost seats in three-row Invincible versions are spacious enough for adults to get comfy.

It’s not just people the Land Cruiser can carry with ease – its boot is pretty spacious, too. There’s room for four large suitcases in five-seat mode and space to load up some camping gear and a pair of mountain bikes with their wheels attached with all the back seats folded.

There’s also a three-door version available in the entry trim level, although the extra space and practicality of the five-door makes it the much-preferred option. Especially as there’s not much between them price-wise.

Sadly, while it’s just as practical as other large SUVs, the Toyota certainly doesn’t feel as high-tech. Pick an entry-level car and you’ll have to make do without any touchscreen infotainment system at all, even the 9.0-inch display in Active models doesn’t come with satellite navigation as standard. For that, you’ll have to pick a higher-spec Icon or Invincible model.

So it might not feel quite as modern inside as some alternatives, but the Land Cruiser does come with a host of fancy tech designed to make crossing the Namibian desert feel as easy as a Surrey school run. In addition to lockable differentials for extra grip on slippery surfaces, there’s a ‘crawl’ feature that’ll help you tackle steep inclines with ease – think of it as off-road cruise control.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t feel quite as at home on the smooth tarmac roads you’re likely to spend most of your time on. Its old-fashioned suspension might be great at coping with knee-deep mud but it’s less adept at ironing out bumps and potholes around town and you’ll hear a lot more wind and tyre noise at motorway speeds than in a Land Rover, Audi or BMW. The Land Cruiser’s automatic gearbox isn’t quite as smooth or as responsive as in most alternatives, either.

Thankfully, the Toyota’s 2.8-litre diesel engine makes up for the gearbox’s shortfalls. It has plenty of pulling power – ideal if you regularly haul heavy trailers. Unfortunately, this poke comes at the expense of heavy fuel consumption – you’ll be lucky to see more than 30mpg in normal driving conditions. Not great when some alternatives can touch 50mpg.

Similarly, the Toyota doesn’t come with quite as many high-tech features as a Land Rover Discovery, Audi Q7 or BMW X5, but if you can live with that compromise – and regularly head off-road or tow a trailer – it’s worth a second look.

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The Toyota Land Cruiser looks like great value when you compare it to tough off-road rivals like the Land Rover Defender and Mercedes G-Class – and it is great value if you’re looking for go-anywhere wheels that should never break.

However, there’s a reason why the Mercedes and Land Rover are more expensive and it’s because they’re a lot more sophisticated with clever tech that makes them comfortable on road and very capable off it. Having said that, if you want a car you can count on to deliver incredible reliability, the Toyota beats both those alternatives hands down.

The Toyota Land Cruiser is one of the toughest and most capable off-roaders you can buy, but sacrifices its on-road manners to do it

In town

The Toyota Land Cruiser feels like a big, uncompromising SUV when you’re driving in town. Its inert controls and sheer size make it a pain to drive down busy streets. At least speed humps are never going to be an issue.

The Land Cruiser has a proper raised driving position that dwarfs other cars and SUVs, giving you a great view of the road ahead. Assuming you can find a parking space big enough to fit in, parking it’s not that difficult as you get decent visibility out of all four corners and all models come with a reversing camera. Big tyres mean kerbing is less of a concern, which is handy because the Toyota’s poor turning circle means mounting the occasional kerb is not out of the question.

On the motorway

The Toyota Land Cruiser isn’t a terrible motorway cruiser, once it’s got up to speed it cruises relatively quietly with wind flutter around the wing mirrors the only real concern.

Getting to a cruise can be a noisy affair, mind you, thanks to the Toyota’s gruff engine and it can pogo over bumps and feel susceptible to crosswinds. The vague feel to the steering also needs constant correction just to keep you in lane.

Autonomous driving aids? No. The Land Cruiser gets standard cruise control on basic models and active cruise control – which does the braking and accelerating for you – on the top-level Invincible cars, but it can’t steer you around bends like the most advanced systems.

On a twisty road

Twisty roads aren’t really where the Land Cruiser belongs. The Toyota has an old-school, sturdy ladder-frame chassis that makes it feel like a whale in corners, helped by long-travel suspension that serves up a healthy portion of body lean. Add to that, steering that gives you next to no idea how much grip the front tyres have and, it’s fair to say, the Land Cruiser is not a car that goads you to drive quickly.

Where the Toyota belongs is off the country roads and in the countryside, off-road. It can go places most other SUVs fear to tread: climb 40-degree gradients and wade through water 700mm deep. Its four-wheel-drive system has a low-range gearbox that’s useful for towing and you get clever suspension that can decouple its anti-roll bars to give you maximum wheel travel.

The final clever trick the Toyota has up its sleeve is low-speed cruise control that chugs the Land Cruiser at an easy pace for offroading.

The five-door Toyota Land Cruiser has a commanding driving position and up to seven seats, but it’s not as practical as some alternatives

The 4x4 gives you the high-set driving position of a proper offroader but you don’t need to be tall to get comfortable behind the wheel. All models have manual height adjustment on the driver’s seats so even small people can see out, and you also get manual lumbar adjustment.

Want more luxury? Then you’ll need to go for Invincible trim. That gives you electrical adjustment on both front seats, with power lumbar adjustment and cushion tilting on the driver’s seat. Invincible models’ front seats are also heated and cooled.

All models get plenty of smaller storage areas including a lockable glove box, front and rear cupholders and reasonably larger door bins. Invincible models also have a fridge in the centre console for keeping drinks cool.

Space in the back seats

The Toyota Land Cruiser Active is the only model to come with just five seats, but the back seat has plenty of space for two adults, with the car’s boxy shape translating into plenty of headroom. That said, the Toyota feels narrow next to alternatives and isn’t as comfortable with three people sitting abreast.

The rest of the range has seven seats with a middle row that slides backwards and forwards and reclines. Behind them, you’ll find a third row of seats which has room for adults but is more suitable for children. Invincible models give you added luxury in the form of middle-row seat heating and tri-zone climate control that gives your centre-row passengers their own ventilation controls.

Boot space

The Toyota Land Cruiser’s boot swings open from the side, meaning it can be tricky to get access if you park tight against a wall or another car.

Assuming you can access it, you’ll not be upset with its 640-litre capacity and the large opening left by the rear door, and the tiny load lip means loading is easy, especially because the Toyota’s tall height means you don’t need to lean in when loading.

Erect the third row of seats, which rise electrically out of the floor, and boot capacity dips to 120 litres – or less than you get in a Volkswagen Up city car.

The three-door version has only 380 litres of luggage space.

While some alternatives have posh interiors, the Toyota Land Cruiser’s cabin is functional and hard-wearing, but not very luxurious

The Toyota Land Cruiser comes with Toyota’s Touch 2 infotainment system. It doesn’t have the pin-sharp graphics you’ll find in comparable systems in the Land Rover Defender or Mercedes G-Wagon and Toyota’s touchscreen isn’t as responsive as the screens on either of its alternatives. It also does without the sophisticated voice recognition you’ll find in the other cars, although you do get plenty of steering-wheel-mounted controls.

It's also good news that all Land Cruisers come fitted with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard so you can mirror the display of your phone and use many of its apps on the car’s big screen.

Underneath the infotainment, you’ll find the controls for the four-wheel drive system, centre differential lock, suspension and stability control.

Does the Land Cruiser have the luxurious feel of other posh SUVs? No. Basic models get leather trim for the steering, wheel handbrake and gear knob, but for a full leather interior, you’ll need to go for the top-of-the-range Invincible version. Even then, the quality of the interior doesn’t feel as posh as in the Land Rover or Mercedes.

The Toyota’s standard nine-speaker stereo is reasonably good, but Invincible models get an upgraded JBL Premium Sound System. It has 14 speakers and a punchy 605W output.

The Toyota Land Cruiser is only available with one engine – a 204hp, four-cylinder 2.0-litre diesel that hauls it from 0-62mph in 9.9 seconds and onto a top speed of 109mph. It’s a powerful engine which generates 500Nm of torque from just 1,600rpm, giving you effortless off-road performance and a 3,000kg towing capacity.

However, it does like fuel – you’ll not see much better than 25mpg fuel economy, and high CO2 emissions of 267g/km mean you pay £2,365 to tax the car in year one – the highest tax band.

The Toyota Land Cruiser hasn’t been crash tested for safety by Euro NCAP but it does come with seven airbags and stability control. Having said that, it’s unlikely to be as safe as the Land Rover Defender, which got a five-star rating from NCAP. All models come as standard with motion, tilt and glass-break sensors.

Toyota has an excellent reputation for reliability and the Land Cruiser comes as standard with a warranty that lasts for 100,000 miles or ten years, whichever comes first, so long as the car’s service schedule is maintained at a Toyota dealer. The current car has been on sale since 2018 and has been subject to one recall – for an incorrectly tightened fuel pipe – since then.