Toyota has once again teased us with a press release confirming the release of an “all-new Toyota Land Cruiser” that will make its world debut on August 1st, 2023, at 9:20 p.m. EDT. The solitary image accompanying the press release is of a handsome and dusty nose and bumper (facia) in front of a 1990’s Land Cruiser FJ62, creating an impression that this vehicle will be of a similar breed. Speculation is rife as to what precisely the new Land Cruiser will look like, but more important to us overlanders is how practical, affordable, and adaptable will the Land Cruiser be for our needs.
This will all become clearer in just over a month, but we can tell you now that we hope the new offering from mighty Toyota will be more of a nod to the past than a grasp toward the future, despite the company asserting that “With 65 years of heritage, you can choose to slow down or reinvent yourself. We chose the latter”. Well, we would like to see a vehicle that will be within reach of the moderately successful modern explorer with all the safety, comfort, capability, and reliability we expect from a modern Toyota but without too much emphasis on stitched leather seats, a cutting-edge Mark Levinson premium sound system, a head-up display, heated, ventilated, and power-folding second-row seats, and a rear seat entertainment system. The kids can look at their phones or out the window! We want a vehicle that we can customize to our needs, including adaptability for aftermarket products, without the need for expensive modifications to the vehicle itself. We also want 285, 75 R16 tires, an interior you can wash with a hose, a cavernous and rugged load area, and a high roof load rating and GVWR. Is that too much to ask?
Ask any Classic Land Cruiser owner if he hasn’t already offered to tell you, and he will say that the old Land Cruiser is the kind of vehicle that will take you there and bring you back with a minimum of fuss and with absolute reliability. Some have mocked these rugged vehicles as the insurgent’s vehicle of choice, and if we are honest, that is the vehicle we hope Toyota will deliver, the type of Land Cruiser you can bolt a 50. Cal on and ride off into the desert. But instead of tools of destruction, we want to adorn the vehicle with tools of travel and liberation. Again, ask that classic Land Cruiser owner what he would love to see in the new LC, and he would likely say something along the lines of, “More 70 Series and less Prado, please”. But it is clear from the silhouette of the new Toyota Land Cruiser teased in an earlier press release that this new vehicle will be closer to the shape of the $90,000 Land Cruiser 300 (released back in 2021, aka the Lexus LX) and less of the dictatorship toppling 70 Series.
I mean, if the Australians can have the Kalashnikov of motor vehicles, why on earth can’t we (even if they do insist on giving paint scheme names like French Vanilla, Sandy Taupe, and Merlot Red)?
All will soon be revealed, and there will either be a massive round of applause or a polite sniff and a bored clap, and it is us, the overland enthusiasts, who will likely be the loudest or quietest voice in the room. With the explosion of the overlanding lifestyle, you would imagine that those very smart fellows over at Toyota’s design HQ will have taken notes of the market’s criticism of recent highly anticipated releases (I am talking about you, new Defender) and realized soon enough that they need to create a vehicle that will please the UN, farmers, and us in equal measure. And then sell them by the shipload.
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