It is fair to say that it has been a pretty big week for Toyota. And if you don’t know why, that’s because the company has launched its new Land Cruiser, dubbed the LC300, marking the first new addition to the Land Cruiser lineup in nearly 15 years. Something that many people all over the world have been waiting patiently for, and if looks are anything to go by, it should be a pretty massive improvement over the generation that it is about to replace. It's just as well It's finally here, as rival car companies have had the Land Cruiser in their sights for some years now

There have even been a few teaser images of the GR Sport version of the SUV filtered into the press releases. But how will it compare to the previous example of the Land Cruiser? After all, a wait time of 15 years or so is going to raise expectations and Toyota will know they must get this right if they are to live up to all the build-up that the Land Cruiser has got, particularly in the last few months. This could be the toughest iteration yet of Toyota's flagship SUV. So we will try to list a few ways in which the new Land Cruiser is an improvement over that of the last generation of the popular SUV and off-roader.

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New And Improved Engine

Toyota Land Cruiser Engine Design LC300
via Toyota

Perhaps one of the biggest and most important changes with the new Land Cruiser is the change of engine. Those of you who remember the last generation of the Land Cruiser will know that the Toyota was powered by a rather fuel-hungry 5.7-liter V8 engine. Whilst it was great to have a V8 engine in a car as big as the Land Cruiser, you certainly weren’t going to be saving any money on long drives and were hardly going to get any good gas mileage from it. Thankfully, things have changed a bit in the new model.

Gone is the gas-guzzling monstrosity that was under the cars hood. In its place are now two V6 engine options. There is the regular, naturally-aspirated twin-turbo V6 option that actually produces 30 hp more than the V8 engine, at 409 hp. There is also a less powerful, but still with a twin-turbo, diesel V6 engine that produces roughly 305 hp. This has all been mounted to a ten-speed automatic transmission, and the Land Cruiser has quite a respectable 0-62 time of just 6.7 seconds. When you consider how big the car is, that is pretty impressive indeed.

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Plenty Of Weight Has Been Saved

Toyota Land Cruiser LC300 White Side Shot
via Toyota

You would be absolutely forgiven if you thought that the new LC300 example of the Land Cruiser weighed the same, if not more, than the previous generation of the SUV. It certainly is a pretty big car. But remarkably, Toyota have done a fantastic job in being able to shave some weight from their latest flagship SUV. Toyota have achieved this by placing the car on its new GA-F platform, which is based upon the TNGA architecture that the 2022 Tundra may also be based upon. The results of this change very much speak for themselves.

What the change in platform and architecture has allowed Toyota to do is make a lighter chassis that is still more rigid than it was previously, and with a center of gravity that is now much closer to the ground than it was before. Impressively, this has allowed the new Land Cruiser to weight some 200 kg less than the previous generation of the Land Cruiser. When you factor in some of the more modern technology that will be in this car, plus the addition of those twin-turbos, it is pretty amazing what Toyota have been able to achieve.

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The GR Sport Version

Toyota Land Cruiser GR Sport Teaser
via Toyota

Whilst this isn’t an improvement on the previous model as such, it was something that probably didn’t escape many peoples eyes when the official press releases for the car dropped on June 10th. Mixed in with all the images of the new car was a slightly different looking version, with a new grille and “Toyota” written across it as opposed to the Toyota logo. This looks to be the long rumored GR Sport version of the Land Cruiser, although cannily, Toyota then have not released any further details on this version nor even mentioned it in the press release. The plot thickens. In the long, 70-year history of the Land Cruiser, this is one of the most significant additions to the lineup yet.

Overall, A Major Modern Improvement

Toyota Land Cruiser LC300
via Toyota

The addition of features such as Apple Car Play, Android Auto and a sizeable infotainment system inside will just go to add to the modern feeling that the new Land Cruiser provides. With the last Land Cruiser having its full unveil back in 2007, a more modern iteration of the fabled off-roader has certainly been something that is long overdue. Even less interesting stuff such as the Safety Sense, adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping assist are all modern features that in 2021, we really can’t live without. The Land Cruiser has changed a lot over the years, and this heralds the start of a whole new chapter for the SUV. Toyota expects the new Land Cruiser to be available for delivery in the summer of 2021.

Source: Toyota

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