The latest Land Cruiser is smaller, less expensive, and more fuel-efficient than the previous generation, which was last sold in North America for the 2021 model year. The new model also shares its basic architecture with the Lexus GX and Toyota 4Runner, including its wheelbase.
At Consumer Reports, we always push for greater fuel efficiency. However, in the case of the Land Cruiser we dearly miss the silky-smooth V8 that powered the last generation. In its place, the Land Cruiser has a turbocharged four-cylinder hybrid powertrain. Yes, fuel economy did improve to 20 mpg overall—compared to the dismal 14 mpg overall in our tests of the previous-generation model—but the driving experience is far worse, as this engine suffers from excessive noise and vibrations.
A vehicle doesn’t get any extra points in CR’s ratings for styling, but that doesn’t mean we can’t call it as we see it. And we like what we see with the Land Cruiser. Toyota went all out with the vintage appearance, such as offering the “1958” version with round headlights, contrasting-color roof, rectangular side mirrors, and “Toyota” spelled out in big, blocky letters on the grill, all of which recall the Land Cruisers of yore. Sadly, our test model has the narrow, rectangular headlights…truth be told, we wish they all came with round ones.
All Land Cruisers come with the goodies to get down and dirty off-road, including locking rear and center differentials, full-time four-wheel drive, a “crawl” mode, eight inches of ground clearance, and generous approach/departure angles to prevent the front or rear bodywork from hitting an obstacle.
Tough off-road ability doesn’t always translate into comfortable on-road driving, and that’s the case with the new Land Cruiser. Bumpy roads bring an unsettled experience with lots of shake and jiggle, tossing occupants around. Yet, for some drivers, a few of whom affectionately referred to our rig as the Land "Bruiser," the SUV's character shined brighter than its flaws. One driver said, “The more I drove the Land Cruiser the more I tended to like it. It gives a truck-like feel that I enjoy, and I like that it’s now cheaper and a little more accessible. The retro look is well done, but I would want to swap in the round headlights. Can’t help but wonder how the turbo hybrid powertrain will hold up to the Toyota reliability lore.”
With the allure and legacy that follow a new Land Cruiser, we’d be remiss if we didn’t confess that this SUV comes with undeniable compromises that give us pause. Said one tester, “It’s retro and charming alright, but it’s a truck through and through on the road. It might be slightly more livable than a Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco, but that’s not saying much.”
We bought a top-tier 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser (which doesn’t have a specific trim name) 4WD Wagon for $69,770—anonymously from an area dealer, as we do with every vehicle we test—for the purpose of this road test review.
Driving experience
There’s only one powertrain available, a 326-horsepower, 2.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder hybrid engine paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission. Full-time four-wheel drive is standard, as are standard electronically controlled locking rear and center differentials which, when off-roading, allow power to be directly routed to wheels that have grip instead of spinning a wheel that may have compromised traction or may have lost contact with the ground.
Keep in mind that the hybrid system in the Land Cruiser isn’t designed to deliver fuel-economy numbers that challenge, say, a Toyota Highlander Hybrid. The benefit is that the hybrid system rarely makes itself evident as it switches back and forth between gas and electric power, but provides numerous other perks. Drivers were able to cruise on electric-only power up to roughly 10 mph. After that, the engine would kick on. If you press relatively hard on the throttle pedal, the gas engine will turn on almost immediately. The SUV will coast around town or on the highway with the engine off at times. We measured just 20 mpg overall in our testing, which isn’t wonderful, but it’s legions better than the old V8’s 14 mpg.
There’s plenty of power on hand, giving the Land Cruiser decent acceleration at any speed, but its 8.5-second 0 to 60 mph sprint is still a touch slower than the Bronco. Plus, the powertrain combination isn’t the most well-mannered, either. Not only does the engine get loud when accelerating, but the unrefined sound it makes is uncouth and unbecoming of the Land Cruiser’s price. Drivers noted frequent vibrations felt through the steering wheel and chassis when the engine is asked to accelerate at anything other than minimal throttle.
Power delivery feels uneven, too. One driver noted that during acceleration the power comes on initially as expected, but it’s sometimes followed by a burst of additional power, almost like there was some turbo lag. Plus, you feel the transmission operating with some rough shifts. And when slowing to a stop, the transmission makes abrupt, jarring downshifts, and the SUV ends up feeling like it’s shuddering.
The Land Cruiser’s key competitors—the Bronco and Wrangler—are incredibly noisy at any speed other than a crawl. For the most part, the Land Cruiser is slightly quieter than both of these SUVs. But the Toyota is fairly noisy on the highway, mostly because of its boxy shape and the complex basketlike roof rack. Highway wind noise quite noticeably punches through to the cabin.
You won’t ever forget that the Land Cruiser is a body-on-frame SUV when it comes to driving on paved roads. The ride brings lots of shaking and jiggling over even semi-smooth surfaces—something a unibody SUV like a Highlander or RAV4 doesn’t suffer from.
The Land Cruiser’s handling is also unmistakably clumsy. The steering is very slow and has a syrupy feel to it, with very little feedback about the road surface. The biggest issues are the top-heavy feeling and the Land Cruiser’s weight. These combine to create a lot of body lean around even modest corners. The off-road-focused tires reach their limits of adhesion early, squealing in protest when they’re forced to carry the big SUV around a corner at even a moderate pace. It proved secure enough in our emergency handling tests but it did not inspire much confidence. Braking performance was adequate, but the amount of nose dive the truck exhibited can be uncomfortable for passengers.
Cabin comfort
Toyota did an impressive job blending some soft-touch surfaces into the off-road look and feel of the interior. There are a fair number of padded surfaces throughout, such as the upper door inserts and the front and rear window sills. The air vents in particular have a high-quality feel, and the buttons for some of the climate functions have a nicely damped action. But it’s a tough sell to convince anyone that you’re looking at a nearly $70,000 interior, once they see some unfinished edges, a lack of rubber liners for the door pockets, and a headliner that feels shockingly cheap to the touch. But the worst part is that the doors sound terribly tinny when you close them.
It’s a big step up to get into the Land Cruiser’s cabin, given its elevated ride height. Fortunately, the doors open wide and leave a decent space to climb into. The grab handles by each opening help people pull themselves up and in, and there’s no ducking needed because the roof is so high. Our Land Cruiser came with narrow side running boards, which didn’t always help testers make the climb up.
Most of our testers found the front seats to be wide and accommodating, and we appreciated the two-way lumbar adjustment and generous range of adjustability—including a manual thigh extension, which is unusual for Toyota. Still, it’s disappointing that a $70,000 vehicle doesn't have four-way lumbar support adjustment. The rear seat offers generous head and legroom, but the seat itself is fairly flat, with minimal contouring and very little built-in bolstering. Unlike its Lexus GX sibling, the Cruiser does not offer a third-row seat.
The rear load floor is fairly high off the ground, likely due in large part to the combination of the solid rear axle and the hybrid battery. While it isn’t as egregious as in the Toyota Sequoia (which we’ve also tested), this raised floor increases the lift-up height to load cargo and cuts into available space. In addition, the second-row seats don’t fold down completely flat so, depending on their weight, long items loaded into the Land Cruiser aren’t fully supported by the cargo floor.
Controls and usability
While not perfect, the Land Cruiser’s interior is refreshingly analog in an age of touch-sensitive controls and the headaches they bring. The climate system is controlled by easy-to-use manual buttons. We’re also pleased to see a physical rotary volume knob, simple windshield wiper controls, and a straightforward gear selector. Media, navigation, phone, and vehicle settings are done through the central infotainment touchscreen. The driver’s instrument screen, which handles all of the advanced driver assistance systems, is super tedious to use.
Active safety & driver assistance
Standard active safety and driver assistance features include automatic emergency braking with pedestrian, bicyclist, and motorcycle detection, along with automatic emergency braking that operates at highway speeds, blind spot warning, rear cross traffic warning, reverse automatic emergency braking, lane centering assistance, lane departure warning, lane keeping assistance, adaptive cruise control, and automatic high beams. Plus, it includes Proactive Driving Assist. In some situations, this feature can provide “gentle” braking and/or steering assistance based on radar and camera information to help with turns, following behind another vehicle, and reacting to a pedestrian or bicyclist.
A rear occupant alert system comes standard. It’s designed to remind the driver—based on rear-door logic—to check the rear seat when the Land Cruiser is turned off to help prevent children and pets from suffering heatstroke or hypothermia if unintentionally left behind in the vehicle. There’s also a rear belt minder, which alerts the driver if a rear passenger unbuckles their seat belt during the trip.