Toyota Land Cruiser: A worthy successor?

Estimated price: from NIS 450,000

Competitors: Ford Bronco, Land Rover Defender

We liked: passenger compartment, off-road capabilities, 7 seats, human engineering

We didn't like: assistance systems in the field, noise isolation, comfort of driving in the field.

Toyota Land Cruiser is a concept that has become synonymous with toughness and durability, it is forged in the basalt plateaus of Iceland, burned in the Sahara deserts, formed in the humid forests of Asia, swayed between farms in South America, transported tourists in the Serengeti, hovered over dunes in Saudi Arabia, emerges from underground in Australian mines - How powerful is the Land Cruiser? So strong that it defeated one of the greatest forces of nature - the list price. How tough is the Land Cruiser? Do you know Chuck Norris jokes? So Chuck Norris tells Land Cruiser jokes.

Well, that's not the model you see here. I mean, it's called a Land Cruiser, but this Land Cruiser, "ours" is actually the younger sibling in the line and joined it in 1984 when it sits between the rugged 70 series, and the station wagon series that went on to become a clunky and too luxurious land yacht to have that we still make Same as a "terrain machine", but between us, it's more of a crazy cash machine in the rich gulf countries. And I start his story precisely from this point because in fact, even though he is the middle child, neither there nor here, he is actually the one who is required to meet the very challenging task of the Kolboinik SUV.

The one that contractors come to work sites with, yuppie families park at the entrance to a villa in Moshav, farmers go down for a spin in the muddy plantation with it, and its gasoline versions drug smugglers and illegal aliens make butterflies in the security forces at the borders of Egypt and Jordan. And now, after we got to know him, the Prado Land Cruiser that we started About 90, 120, 150 and from now on 250 from the stage of presentation to the stage of getting to know each other face to face with headlights.

And headlights are really the first issue you face when you meet the new Land Cruiser. Toyota decided to do something very un-Toyota and produce the model with two fronts. The first (and more enjoyable in my opinion) is that of the first edition that you see here in the khaki shade, which pays homage to the classic Land Cruiser. The other versions will come with square and more modern lighting units. "Why bother with two different designs for the front?" I ask Kita Morizzo, the model's chief engineer. According to him, some customers will want the association with the past and some will want a modern, innovative look.

"So why limit it to one release?" I continue reeling the rod after he bites the bait "exclusivity" he says and smiles, and we both know - exclusivity is worth money, and a name like a Land Cruiser and the thrills he reels in are worth a lot of money. By the way, a deeper investigation made it clear that in principle it is possible to switch between the square and round headlights, as long as the vehicle is not equipped with adaptive lighting.

So there's the matter of the headlights, but the front of the new model hides a few more interesting things upon closer inspection. Look at a picture of it from the front and notice all the separate plastic parts there. So different from what we are used to in modern vehicles with their uniform plastic mask.

Here the business is a little different, as in real off-road vehicles (e.g. Wrangler) here, too, the front is made up of a number of separate plastic parts, in his case six. The idea behind this puzzle is that in the event that the front hits an unplanned rock or a groove that is too deep, only the The damaged parts and not the whole bumper. They are also assembled so that there is little space between them and this is not due to the laziness of the workers, but to allow this "freedom" for each part so that it does not damage the one next to it. The only question is how this whole construction ages over the years.

In general, at Toyota, the exterior design was treated not only as a frill on the strings of nostalgia, but as one that should serve a purpose. The hood line, for example, which is low on its sides, is intended, and indeed provides, as we will see later, a better viewing angle to the corners of the chassis. The lower window line also makes it easier to look out. It's a point that veteran Land Cruiser foxes have criticized its exterior design over the ages, after it became bulbous and clumsy in pursuit of the "tough" look while taking a toll on cabin airiness.

By the way of public taste, the new Prado cruiser will for the first time give up a short version in a three-door body, according to the manufacturer, the demand in the world is more inclined to the long version. And since we touched on the airiness of the passenger cabin (promise not to write the word "airiness" again), we will also talk a little about it. Because he, perhaps more than anything, was something that really needed care in this model. Anyone who climbed aboard the outgoing Land Cruiser in recent years could not help but see the signs of age everywhere. Wood decorations and leather upholstery can hide its roots to a certain extent, but then you see all the buttons, which have accumulated in the cabin over the years as the systems have been added.

The whole business started to look like a patchwork on a patchwork and the quality of the materials also did not exactly match a vehicle of its class and price. So I'm happy to report that the new cabin definitely catapults it into the current era with respect. When I talk about the "current era" I am of course talking about the problem of flooding the vehicles with screens and concentrating all the operation on them.

There is also a screen here and it is an information and operation center, but they left every important function and one that should be available by pressing a button. The air conditioning system, seat heating and ventilation, the driving modes - all on dials and physical buttons. Even the battery of controls on the steering wheel is logically arranged.

By the way, the steering wheel, as well as the general structure of the dashboard and even the air conditioning vents, all nod to the design of the legendary Land Cruiser Series 70. There is something to improve, such as the operation of the off-road driving dial that requires both pressing and turning, and if there is a way to make the screen not jump to the parking display every time you slow down to a few kilometers, but we will delve into that in the local test when we experience it for more time.

The quality of life in the back seat is already decreasing in height, the plastic is becoming stiff and relatively simple again, the seat itself is less supportive and comfortable than the front one. The bonuses? Here, too, the line of windows is low and allows for a good view outside, and the air conditioning vents in the middle beam and on the roof are definitely more efficient. The third row of seats with seats 6-7 is still very crowded, as in the current generation, I would put mostly children there, teenagers who don't want to sit next to little brothers, not standard-sized adults.

The new model mixes features that it continues from the outgoing generation with some completely new components. Take for example its platform, above the ladder chassis as in the previous generation sits a shortened platform of the giant Land Cruiser 300. This is actually one of the things Moritsu-san is very proud of, in a conversation with eight eyes and too many glasses of whiskey sour he says that he was very proud of being able to take the oversized platform, shorten it and turn it into a vehicle that is easier to maneuver easily. The word "short" may be misleading, because it is still quite a large vehicle with 4.93 meters from trunk to trunk (9 cm more than the outgoing generation), a width of 1.98 meters (again, 9 cm more).

The wheelbase grows from 279 to 285 cm and despite the increase in dimensions and despite the fear of generational decline, the ground clearance remains at 21.5 cm as well as the approach angle of 31 degrees and this is only the departure angle that has decreased from 25 to 23 degrees. To the question of why all these have not been improved, the answer is quite clear - for those who are not interested in it, it will not bother them, for those who do care anyway, they will drive from the showroom to the improvement workshop and they will raise it.

The issue of improvements and upgrades may be a bit challenging in this generation. The use of some versions of adaptive dampers, the detachable stabilizer bar, electric steering for the first time - I'm pretty sure that Toyota worked at least towards the end of development with the leading companies responsible for all "aftermarket" products, but it will be interesting to see what all this evolution will do to the culture of improvements that go hand in hand with The Land Cruiser. And if anyone is stuck right now with "What?! It has a stabilizer bar coming off?!" So yes, Toyota also went for the Konz-patent that allows you to disconnect it with the push of a button and allow the front wheels to send themselves a few more centimeters lower than the stabilizer bar allows.

From a very unscientific, amateurish test and in field conditions, it seemed that the business buys him something like 10-15 cm of travel in which the wheel manages to reach the ground, but this is another thing that is more correct to check in a local test under the conditions we know and where it can be compared to competing tools that offer This solution is like the Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco. The electric steering it received allows it to line up in terms of safety systems such as lane departure correction which is now done from the steering wheel (and not by activating the brakes on the 150).

The one who continues from the outgoing generation is the engine. The same four cylinders, turbo diesel, 2.8 liters and with 204 hp and 51 kg, but Toyota told about a different turbocharger that improves the availability of power. I mostly noticed the difference introduced by the 8-ratio gearbox compared to the 6 in the past. The new box made by Aisin makes it possible to make better use of its horses and the flexibility of the engine and place it exactly at the point where it delivers the goods. He really, really doesn't need one more horse, the pace at which he travels is more than enough for an SUV with a ladder chassis.

It is true, it is required to raise the rpm with effort, similar to the current generation in cases of a towing-towing combination, but in the end it is an off-road vehicle, for which there is no reason in the world for it to behave like a sports car - contrary to what some of its owners do in the geographical and demographic periphery of Israel. , to its very great debt, in regards to its noise and rough nature, no real improvement has been registered. It still has a rattling sound and is present at a level that is far too high for a car of its price.

The Land Cruiser is also marketed in the United States with a hybrid gasoline engine and 330 hp, Toyota said that if they detect a demand for this engine in Europe, it may also come to us. This generation, we do not see electrification - a challenge that, at least from the point of view of its chief engineer, to convert the -250 for full electric drive, this is something that would be happy to continue to push and develop. But next year a diesel version with a mild hybrid system will be launched. The 30% stiffening compared to the outgoing generation, and the use of the TNGA F platform meant that it is much less "scattered" and therefore drives well More on the road in terms of weight transfer control, but it comes at a cost in ride comfort. At a relaxed cruise it's fine, once we hit the trails, we quickly disconnected the stabilizer bar to "relieve load" from the front suspension.

And on the trails and in the field he definitely shined. The tools we received were shod with beefy sole Yokohama Geolander tires or slightly more milky Michelin LTX RRAIL with none of them he had no trouble navigating the road. The first part of the launch did not include any unusual challenges. Really, everything we did with it could also be done in a Forester with good tires.

The ride comfort was also good on the stony paths, the downhill cruise control also did a fine job and the range of speeds that allows the transmission to be selected in high-lock mode was absolutely good. But after crossing the water and later in the "playground" they prepared for us in Toyota, everything already looks different. In contrast to off-road complexes at regular launches, where all the transitions are designed to be at a challenge level of 15%-10% less than the vehicle's real capabilities, here the business definitely matched the level of the Land Cruiser, including places where if you didn't come right, at the pace, at the angle of turning the steering wheel at the entrance To Collis, in the sticky swamp mud basins - you had to reverse and correct to pass.

Personally, I would have raised the bar a little more just for the challenge, but we were the first wave of journalists and it's really a shame to just bang tools. In any case, he will meet the real terrain in a test under local conditions. And with the required caveat of a short drive and a first meeting - we can say with confidence that Toyota kept the Land Cruiser 250 faithful to the original, that off-road vehicle with a sturdy base and excellent assemblies that knows how to give work even in difficult conditions.

We didn't get to try the multi terrain select controls, which control the throttle, brakes and steering, at a level that allows for a serious impression. The only disappointment that was recorded and it was significant enough to spoil the whole thing was from the automatic downhill travel and crawling system or Toyota - DAC and CRAWL. They should allow the vehicle to control the speed of the climb or descent on its own and leave the driver's attention to the steering. In practice, this is one of the medium systems we have encountered in terms of performance. Unpolished in its operation, with excessive body sway and "waves" of unmeasured throttle portions. It is not clear why it was needed with such a successful low gear ratio and such a flexible engine. It would have been better to give up the whole story. Either you do well, or you don't do it at all.

Small asterisk, the cars we drove were early production versions, there may be improvements by the time the model gets here. It is also possible that these improvements could come later. In the draft they say that the OTA (remote system update) capabilities include not only the multimedia and safety systems, but also the entire drive unit, i.e. the engine, gearbox, drive shaft, axles, differentials and more. If the OTA support is indeed one that enables the improvement of the functioning of these systems, it is worth seeing how they will improve its functioning.

The bottom line:

Although I read so much about it, I came to the first driving session with the Land Cruiser with a slight apprehension, "what if they screw up the whole thing?", I thought to myself "what if they turn it into some fancy SUV with too many electronics and too few irons , what if they too, like driving icons, look for 'new audiences' or those regrets of the marketing departments?" We saw it happen in the new Land Rover Defender, I felt it in the current Porsche 911, so my concern had a solid and justified basis. After all, they don't. The Land Cruiser 250 is one of the most accurate evolutions of vehicles I've driven in recent years. They kept everything that was good, polished everything that needed to be polished and produced a cohesive and well-made product. And don't worry, in today's car industry, "conservatism" is almost taboo.

But all this has a price, literally. One of the features they talked about in the Toyota press release was that the 250 would return to its roots, one of the words they used was affordable. Well, at this point I almost burst out laughing. I have known this industry long enough to know that it goes in one direction and is a lot of things, but not affordable.

The new Land Cruiser is expected to land in Israel towards the end of this year, and it is not going to be affordable. In fact I will be a Bar Refaeli before the new Land Cruiser is "affordable". The current Land Cruiser in the 5-door configuration starts at a price of NIS 400,000 for the not very popular entry level and reaches NIS 463,000 for the Sahara Limited. The new generation will become more expensive by at least NIS 50-70 thousand from the current starting prices.

That means it leaps far above the Jeep Wrangler (which is excellent, but far from its level of refinement) and will be dragged into pricing territory that goes head-to-head with the Ford Bronco Wild-Track and Badlands, and in its more expensive versions scrapes the price floor of the Land Rover Defender. And these are two great vehicles, the Bronco in the off-road and the Defender on the road and a little off-road. This will also be the point where he will have to prove that his name, the 7-seater service offer and the price gap that will still be kept from them, are good enough to bring the thousands of customers who didn't want to hear about anything else to the showroom. My bet is yes.

The writer was a guest of Toyota in Scotland

On the technical side: Toyota Land Cruiser 250Engine, drive: turbo diesel, doubleVolume: 2,755 ccPower (HP): 204Torque (kgm): 51Gearbox: automatic, 8 gears

Dimensions:

Length (m): 4.93Width (m): 1.98Height (m): 1.94Wheelbase (m): 285Trunk (liters): 408Angle of approach/departure: 23/31Belly space (cm): 21.5Tires: 265/70 R18

Performence:

Acceleration 0-100 (seconds): not yet publishedMaximum speed (km/h): 165/170 (with 18/20 inch tires, depending on size)Fuel consumption (manufacturer): not yet published

safety:

European crash test score: not yet testedActive safety: autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane keeping, warning of a vehicle in a dead zone, warning of opening a door to an unoccupied road, automatic high beam