Let them eat cake! And be disappointed

• Toyota brought back the Land Cruiser, kind of
• The Land Cruiser’s coarse, cheap, unrefined, and poorly packaged
• America deserves the real Land Cruiser, known 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 many, though not all, that have ridden this rollercoaster of emotions.

During our all-too-brief first encounter with the 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 so far, and it’s disappointed the entire editorial team.

Here are the pros and cons of the 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser after spending time living with both the base 1958 trim and more expensive, and slightly nicer, Land Cruiser trims. 

Spoiler: This simply doesn’t feel like the Land Cruiser we all knew, loved, and missed. Is its different formula something better, at least in some respects? We reasoned through what you get in the Land Cruiser, now, and came up with the following pros and cons.

Pro: The Land Cruiser looks like a Land Cruiser

Just not the one you are thinking of. The Land Cruiser looks like its namesake. The square upright profile, short overhangs, and flared metal all speak the Land Cruiser language. But 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. 

The new 300 Series, which is the real Land Cruiser the rest of the world gets, is a true evolution of the outgoing 200 Series. The new Land Cruiser America received is known as a Land Cruiser Prado to the rest 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, no one currently buying these things is going to realize that because they weren’t born yet. Same goes for the vertical taillights harkening back to the FJ60s. Is it all Land Cruiser design parts bin from all the eras mashed into one? You betcha. It looks retro. It looks like a Land Cruiser. No one under 40 is going to know that. But it does look like a Land Cruiser, just not the one we wanted and the rest of the world gets.

Con: Land Cruiser feels like cheap tin can

The Land Cruiser was a flagship for Toyota. Since the 1990s-eras J80 the Land Cruiser’s had wide, overstuffed seats, plush door coverings, and nice soft-touch dashboards. It may not have felt like a bank vault shutting like a Mercedes-Benz G-Class, but it sure as heck didn’t feel cheap (and it wasn’t). The latest Land Cruiser fails on all these fronts. Open the door, shut the door, and it feels like this thing is a tin can with thin metal. It’s further proven with the thin sheetmetal on the hood flexing and bending in the wind on the highway, which would induce an LOL moment if it weren’t so sad. 

While we love the base 1958’s throwback tweed-like seat upholstery, it feels completely out of place in a $56,700 SUV. This isn’t a $35k Wrangler. The 1958’s interior has shiny, cheap, hard plastics everywhere from the door panels to the dashboard covering. If you touch it, it’s cheap 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. But 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 in large part 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 more than 40 mph. At least the expensive Land Cruiser Land Cruiser gets a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster and 12.3-inch touchscreen for the money rather than the 1958 model’s 7.0-inch cluster and 8.0-inch touchscreen. 

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 both 4Hi and 4Lo. There’s also a crawl control system, which is like off-road cruise control. It is 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’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.

Altogether, the hardware is, as the kids say, legit, and competitive with other off-roaders. It’ll get where the Land Cruiser is trying to go, aside from the fact that no Land Cruiser is available from the factory with all-terrain tires—a hilarious and weird oversight that says a lot. The fact that front, rear differential, and transmission steel skid plates are all optional is both concerning and speaks volumes. There’s also no front locker to be seen anywhere on an options sheet.

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 electric 48-hp electric motor sandwiched in 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 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 can hear the turbo go whoosh, which is kind of fun. The transmission’s a gem with quick, clean shifts. But the engine sounds like it would 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 thanks to the electric assist, but then things fall off sharply from there and aerodynamics start kicking in with the brick-like profile. EPA fuel economy ratings of 22 mpg city, 25 highway, and 23 combined are markedly better than the outgoing model’s 13/17/14. But it’s unrealistic to see these ratings of the newer model translating to the real world. In multiple weeks of testing multiple Land Cruisers over the course of hundreds of miles I saw an average of 18-19 mpg in mixed suburban driving. Notably better than the 12 mpg the outgoing Land Cruiser averaged? Yup. Efficient? Not really. 

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

While the Land Cruiser feels like a massive step backwards in many ways there’s one thing Toyota didn’t forget: Easy-to-use controls are king while both driving and going off-road. To that point the Land Cruiser wins with large knobs, buttons for all essential off-road controls, toggles and buttons for climate controls, and a real volume knob. If the touchscreen failed you would lose your tunes, but making it home wouldn’t be a problem.

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 in the cargo area. This forces a triple liftover point forcing cargo to be lifted over the bumper, cargo area lip, and then 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 came up short on legroom. The receiver, which is only rated to tow 6,000 pounds, 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 reveal the industry’s only receiver (i.e. only Toyota and Lexus products) that features 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 no one else in the industry does this.

Time has marched on, and seemingly the Land Cruiser’s trying to go back to a land before it became a stealth wealth symbol. The price has been rolled back two decades, but the 2005 Land Cruiser, known as J100, was a much nicer vehicle than today’s Land Cruiser. This latest model will cruise the land, but it doesn’t feel like the Land Cruiser we all knew and loved. I want to love it; I kind of like it; but I know what it could be. The rest of the world gets the real Land Cruiser (300 Series), and there’s seemingly little to no reason it can’t exist in America for $65,000 to $70,000. The Land Cruiser we got almost feels like a cash grab. Toyota said it would bring back the Land Cruiser, and it did. But just 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 cheap; coarse powertrain; not cruising anything effortlessly; compromised packaging; not the Land Cruiser you remember