(By Tom Lohnes) – After more than 60 years of production, off-road dominance, and consistent reliability, The Toyota Land Cruiser is dead in the U.S market.
What is responsible for the Land Cruiser’s demise? Well, it is no secret that the Land Cruiser delivers a Jeep interior at a Range Rover price. Starting at upwards of $80,000, the Land Cruiser isn’t far off it’s far more luxurious Lexus cousin in price. With an aging 5.7-liter V8 under the hood, solid axles, and a downright ancient 6-speed automatic, the 200-series Land Cruiser excels in only one place: Off-Road. Take the Range Rover, for instance. It was great off-road but lacked on the street, similar to the current Land Cruiser, but then it took a sliver of off-road greatness off and added a ton of livability and luxury to make sure their flagship was up-to-date. This was the LC’s fatal flaw, not acknowledging that the current-gen Land Cruiser didn’t attract the same people as the older ones did, and still making the same SUV for different people.
Although the Land Cruiser itself is dead here, it will soldier on globally and there is still an open slot in their lineup for something with the iconic name. Will it be a futuristic electric overlander or just simply a new name on the ancient artifact that is the Sequoia? Well, only time can tell, and if you want a Toyota SUV that excels in the mud, Direct yourself towards the 4Runner.
That’s okay, every single one will still be around in 20 years for those of us who want one as a project. They did lose some appeal when they dropped the solid front axle though
I’d say that as broken as GM is you can’t beat a suburban . Whether you want it in Chevy , GMC Yukon, or the Cadillac Escalade name plate on it .