Allow them to eat cake! And be dissatisfied

Toyota brought back the Land Cruiser, sort of
The Land Cruiser’s coarse, low-cost, unrefined, and poorly packaged
America deserves the true Land Cruiser, referred to as the 300 Series

Enthusiasts bemoaned the death of the Toyota Land Cruiser in 2021. We then rejoiced upon its return in 2024.

Disappointment has ensued for a lot of, though not all, which have ridden this rollercoaster of emotions.

During our all-too-brief first encounter with the brand new Toyota Land Cruiser in 2024 it was clear the icon attempted to pivot to retro charm. Living with the Land Cruiser has proven that the retro charm only goes up to now, and it’s dissatisfied your complete editorial team.

Listed below are the professionals and cons of the 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser after spending time living with each the bottom 1958 trim and dearer, and barely nicer, Land Cruiser trims.

Spoiler: This simply doesn’t feel just like the Land Cruiser all of us knew, loved, and missed. Is its different formula something higher, not less than in some respects? We reasoned through what you get within the Land Cruiser, now, and got here up with the next pros and cons.

2025 Toyota Land Cruiser 1958

Pro: The Land Cruiser looks like a Land Cruiser

Just not the one you’re pondering of. The Land Cruiser looks like its namesake. The square upright profile, short overhangs, and flared metal all speak the Land Cruiser language. However the 200-Series has some throwback queues to its design with a nod to the J80 of the ‘90s with its front and rear ends.

2025 Toyota Land Cruiser Land Cruiser and Land Cruiser 1958

The brand new 300 Series, which is the real Land Cruiser the remainder of the world gets, is a real evolution of the outgoing 200 Series. The brand new Land Cruiser America received is referred to as a Land Cruiser Prado to the remainder of the world. The 1958’s round headlights and Land Cruiser model’s horizontal chiclet LED headlights are throwbacks to the 1960’s 40 Series and 1980’s 60 Series, respectively. Respectfully, nobody currently buying this stuff goes to understand that because they weren’t born yet. Same goes for the vertical taillights harkening back to the FJ60s. Is all of it Land Cruiser design parts bin from all of the eras mashed into one? You betcha. It looks retro. It looks like a Land Cruiser. Nobody under 40 goes to know that. Nevertheless it does seem like a Land Cruiser, just not the one we wanted and the remainder of the world gets.

2025 Toyota Land Cruiser 1958

Con: Land Cruiser seems like low-cost tin can

The Land Cruiser was a flagship for Toyota. For the reason that Nineties-eras J80 the Land Cruiser’s had wide, overstuffed seats, plush door coverings, and nice soft-touch dashboards. It could not have felt like a bank vault shutting like a Mercedes-Benz G-Class, but it surely sure as heck didn’t feel low-cost (and it wasn’t). The most recent Land Cruiser fails on all these fronts. Open the door, shut the door, and it seems like this thing is a tin can with thin metal. It’s further proven with the skinny sheetmetal on the hood flexing and bending within the wind on the highway, which might induce an LOL moment if it weren’t so sad.

2025 Toyota Land Cruiser Land Cruiser and Land Cruiser 1958

While we love the bottom 1958’s throwback tweed-like seat upholstery, it feels completely misplaced in a $56,700 SUV. This isn’t a $35k Wrangler. The 1958’s interior has shiny, low-cost, hard plastics in all places from the door panels to the dashboard covering. In the event you touch it, it’s low-cost plastic. The upper Land Cruiser trim—yes, that’s actually the upper trim level’s name, making it the Land Cruiser Land Cruiser—has a nicer interior for $61,470 with a soft-touch dashboard, some center console and door panel soft-touch materials, and leather upholstery. Nevertheless it all feels thin with hard plastic felt beneath on the panels, and the soft leather seat upholstery doesn’t feel durable or up for adventure. The Land Cruiser Land Cruiser I tested was $73,344 of yikes thanks largely to the $4,600 Premium Package that added a JBL sound system, memory for the leather-trimmed driver’s seat, a heads-up display, and power front seats. There was also a $1,440 roof rack that created a ton of wind noise on top of the wind noise that comes screaming off the side mirrors at anything greater than 40 mph. No less than the expensive Land Cruiser Land Cruiser gets a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster and 12.3-inch touchscreen for the cash quite than the 1958 model’s 7.0-inch cluster and eight.0-inch touchscreen.

2025 Toyota Land Cruiser

Pro: Land Cruiser has enough off-road worthy hardware

Every Land Cruiser comes standard with full-time four-wheel drive with a 2-speed transfer case, center and rear locking differentials, and Toyota’s Multi-Terrain Select system, with off-road modes available in each 4Hi and 4Lo. There’s also a crawl control system, which is like off-road cruise control. It’s more refined than Toyota’s previous system that clunked and thunked. The nearly $60k base 1958 model can’t be optioned with the electronically controlled disconnecting sway bar, but it surely’s available on the Land Cruiser Land Cruiser model for $1,250. Sadly, the outgoing Land Cruiser’s trick KDSS (hydraulically controlled disconnecting sway bar system) isn’t even an option. It’s just gone.

2025 Toyota Land Cruiser 1958

Altogether, the hardware is, as the children say, legit, and competitive with other off-roaders. It’ll get where the Land Cruiser is attempting to go, except for the incontrovertible fact that no Land Cruiser is on the market from the factory with all-terrain tires—a hilarious and bizarre oversight that claims rather a lot. The incontrovertible fact that front, rear differential, and transmission steel skid plates are all optional is each concerning and speaks volumes. There’s also no front locker to be seen anywhere on an options sheet.

2025 Toyota Land Cruiser

Con: Land Cruiser doesn’t feel effortless, cosplays efficiency

Goodbye, V-8. Every Land Cruiser is a hybrid with a 2.4-liter turbo-4 paired with an electrical 48-hp electric motor sandwiched within the 8-speed automatic transmission. Power output is rated at 326 hp and 465 lb-ft of torque for the combined system. Land Cruisers are supposed, and historically, conquer the land effortlessly. This one doesn’t and won’t. It’ll get where you’re going, probably, but it surely feels strained, sounds and feels coarse, and is unrefined. One might even describe the powertrain as a bunch of hamsters spinning a wheel beneath the engine. Though, you may hear the turbo go whoosh, which is sort of fun. The transmission’s a gem with quick, clean shifts. However the engine seems like it might be at home in a third-world country, not a flagship. The buttery smooth V-8? It’s missed. From 0-30 mph the Land Cruiser feels quicker than it should due to the electrical assist, but then things fall off sharply from there and aerodynamics start kicking in with the brick-like profile. EPA fuel economy rankings of twenty-two mpg city, 25 highway, and 23 combined are markedly higher than the outgoing model’s 13/17/14. Nevertheless it’s unrealistic to see these rankings of the newer model translating to the true world. In multiple weeks of testing multiple Land Cruisers over the course of tons of of miles I saw a median of 18-19 mpg in mixed suburban driving. Notably higher than the 12 mpg the outgoing Land Cruiser averaged? Yup. Efficient? Not likely.

2025 Toyota Land Cruiser

Pro: Land Cruiser sticks to the script with buttons, knobs, toggles

While the Land Cruiser seems like an enormous step backwards in some ways there’s one thing Toyota didn’t forget: Easy-to-use controls are king while each driving and going off-road. To that time the Land Cruiser wins with large knobs, buttons for all essential off-road controls, toggles and buttons for climate controls, and an actual volume knob. If the touchscreen failed you’d lose your tunes, but making it home wouldn’t be an issue.

2025 Toyota Land Cruiser

Con: Land Cruiser packaging should make engineers weep

The packaging of the Land Cruiser is borderline embarrassing. Somewhere, someplace, an engineer must cry softly over the specifications and design they were handed to work around. The hybrid’s battery pack sits within the cargo area. This forces a triple liftover point forcing cargo to be lifted over the bumper, cargo area lip, after which the battery pack shelf. Fold the second row and it’s not a flat load floor. My 11-year old sitting behind my 5-foot-10 frame noted the second row got here up short on legroom. The receiver, which is barely rated to tow 6,000 kilos, has a plastic cover that requires either a screwdriver or key to remove push pins, then a second plastic surround, and that’s all to disclose the industry’s only receiver (i.e. only Toyota and Lexus products) that encompasses a double-wall and air-gapped design. That requires a hitch pin that’s 4.0-inch long, which isn’t common. Toyota’s engineering team has said that the design is for strength, but nobody else within the industry does this.

2025 Toyota Land Cruiser 1958

Time has marched on, and seemingly the Land Cruiser’s attempting to return to a land before it became a stealth wealth symbol. The worth has been rolled back twenty years, however the 2005 Land Cruiser, referred to as J100, was a much nicer vehicle than today’s Land Cruiser. This latest model will cruise the land, but it surely doesn’t feel just like the Land Cruiser all of us knew and loved. I would like to adore it; I sort of prefer it; but I do know what it may very well be. The remainder of the world gets the true Land Cruiser (300 Series), and there’s seemingly little to no reason it could’t exist in America for $65,000 to $70,000. The Land Cruiser we got almost seems like a money grab. Toyota said it might bring back the Land Cruiser, and it did. But simply because it wears the badge doesn’t mean it’ll meet your expectations. Disappointment might ensue.

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2025 Land Cruiser Land Cruiser

Base price: $56,700 including $1,450 destination charge

Price as tested: $73,344

Powertrain: 326-hp 2.4-liter turbo-4 hybrid, 8-speed automatic, 4WD

EPA fuel economy: 22/25/23 mpg

The hits: Looks like a Land Cruiser; off-road hardware, buttons, knobs, and toggle switches

The misses: Feels low-cost; coarse powertrain; not cruising anything effortlessly; compromised packaging; not the Land Cruiser you remember

This Article First Appeared At www.motorauthority.com

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