Toyota Land Cruiser 300 (2021) Launch Review

An all-new Toyota Land Cruiser does not come along very often… In fact, they tend to be on the market for a decade or longer before any meaningful changes are made to them. We were, therefore, excited to appraise the Land Cruiser 300 at its local launch in the Western Cape, where we tested it over the course of 3 days.

What’s new on the Land Cruiser 300?

This ZX version is aimed at the luxury buyer where the GR Sport model is for the off-roader.

In Africa, the Toyota Land Cruiser has well and truly earned its stripes. It’s renowned as a vehicle with which you can travel to the most remote locations on the planet – one that can overcome virtually all the road (and off-road) obstacles that it might encounter along the way to its destination… and then transport you back to where the journey began without suffering as much as a minor mechanical glitch.

This new Land Cruiser 300 (LC300) utilises all-new underpinnings, but retains a ladder-frame style chassis, which is something its (unibody-based) rivals eschew. It has one of two brand new engines under the bonnet, a reworked suspension and electronic damping setup and some 200 kg have been shaved off its overall weight. Don’t be fooled, however: the kerb weight is still a massive 2.6 tonnes.

The interior from Noah’s Ark (sorry, Land Cruiser 200 acolytes) has been replaced with a modern cabin that’s fitted with most of the connectivity and convenience features you would expect.

A few new names have joined the range’s lineup, but most notably you can get a GR Sport derivative, which is an off-road-focused Land Cruiser 300 that best embodies what a Land Cruiser should be.

There is a lot to get through in terms of new bits of kit on the LC300 (as you would expect when a new Cruiser only comes around every 13 years!) so the following is just a highlights package.

Check out our specs & pricing article to see what’s available on each Land Cruiser grade.

New petrol and diesel engines any good?

Both the ZX and GR Sport derivatives are available with either a turbopetrol or turbodiesel motor.

Yes, there has been some downsizing in the new Land Cruiser 300’s engine lineup, but, not to the extent that a lot of its rivals have gone to. On the petrol front, a twin-turbo 3.5-litre unit is employed in tandem with a 10-speed automatic transmission to deliver peak outputs of 305 kW and 650 Nm of torque. This engine pulls eagerly and smoothly right the way through the rev range, delivering relaxing – but nonetheless brisk – acceleration. The 10-speed ‘box is perfectly suited to its requirements too; it seamlessly delivers shifts (devoid of harshness or clunkiness) when moving up or down the range. Maintaining freeway speeds is a doddle, but seeing as the Toyota weighs all of 2.6 tonnes, you may, on occasion, need to flatten the accelerator pedal to complete swift overtaking manoeuvres.

The claimed average fuel consumption for the petrol version is 12.1 L/100 km, but after 3 days of driving in mixed conditions, the indicated figure displayed in the instrument cluster (of the test unit we drove) had only just crept into the 16L/100 km zone. Suffice to say the petrol-fed Land Cruiser 300 is thirsty, but when fully fuelled, the Toyota does have a sizeable (130-litre) tank to empty.

> The Land Cruiser Legend – How we got to 300

The turbodiesel unit makes use of a 3.3-litre V6 with maximum outputs of 225 kW and 700 Nm of torque. It’s clear that Toyota has worked hard to ensure that its engines deliver smooth and consistent power across the rev range rather than trying to make them feel like performance engines that simply deliver a lot of torque early on (to make them feel fast)… and little shove thereafter.

The 10-speed automatic transmission feels just at home in the turbodiesel version of the Land Cruiser 300; its calibration keeps the engine spinning nicely in its torque band. Whereas the turbopetrol derivative felt like the default option for dune driving in the Land Cruiser 200, it now makes no difference which engine you choose as there’s plenty of power available from both units.

The turbodiesel LC300 certainly uses less fuel than its petrol counterpart. It has a claimed consumption of 8.9 L/100 km and, after traversing the same terrain as we did in the aforementioned petrol-fed test unit, we saw a (relatively) admirable indicated efficiency figure of around 11L/100 km.

What’s the difference between GR Sport and ZX?

The GR Sport has a blacked-out grille and alloy wheels as well as different badging on the front.

The GR Sport, with its blacked-out grille and alloys, is an off-road biased derivative, but it’s still equipped with all the ZX’s features, apart from a few metallic paint options and rear entertainment screens.

The GR Sport’s off-road-specific equipment includes smaller 18-inch wheels shod with tyres that have thicker sidewalls (265/65) for a more compliant off-road ride quality, front and rear locking differentials (the other models only have a rear diff lock) and the E-KDSS system. To explain it in the simplest way possible, the E-KDSS suspension system locks and unlocks the anti-roll bars. This allows the wheels an extra 30 mm of articulation compared to the models fitted without the system. The system is now electronically controlled via an off-road mode selector dial.

Is the Land Cruiser 300 luxurious inside?

Three interior trim options are available: white, black and this red colour, which is exclusive to the GR Sport model.

By virtue of its modernised cabin architecture – as well as the numerous connectivity options it offers, the Land Cruiser 300’s interior represents a quantum leap over that of its venerable 200-series predecessor. We drove both the ZX and the GR Sport derivates, which have largely similar specifications inside.

The outer areas of the cabin are covered in soft-touch leather, which is neatly stitched and spread out across the doors and dashboard. The armrest/centre console is huge and opens from both driver and passenger side. Inside it is a fridge compartment that’s cold enough to be called a deep freeze, while the front cupholders could easily accommodate supersized McDonald’s shakes. The wood-trimmed cupholder- and transmission lever surround wasn’t as convincing as the rest of the cabin materials, while the “brushed aluminium” plastic surrounds of the centre fascia tended to reflect sunlight quite badly.

The climate-control settings can be adjusted via either the infotainment touchscreen or the row of buttons just below it (you can also use the latter to activate the front seats’ heat and cooling functions and even warm up the steering-wheel rim).

Rear passengers are availed dual-zone climate control too, as well as heated and cooled seats. Rear legroom is Business Class-esque with the ability to recline the seatbacks. The ZX derivative additionally features rear screens with Wi-Fi connectivity and wireless headphones.

What’s the tech and safety like?

In the ZX derivative, a pair of entertainment systems are availed to rear-seat occupants.

There’s nothing groundbreaking in the Land Cruiser 300 in terms of new tech introductions, but the newcomer offers everything available as standard on the ZX and GR Sport derivatives. A wireless charging pad and two USB ports (one USB-C and one USB-A) are fitted at the front but, whereas the infotainment system supports Android Auto and Apple Carplay smartphone screen-mirroring technology, it only works if a phone via a cable connection. Three USB ports are spread out in the rear, while there are two 12V outlets as well as a 2-pin 220V plug-point in the load bay.

Interestingly, the 3rd row of seats can be folded down electronically, but there isn’t an option for an electric foldaway towbar.

Meanwhile, Toyota has installed the full suite of safety features in the LC 300, which includes all the basics as well as park-distance control with 360-degree camera views, vehicle sway control, lane-keeping assistance and adaptive cruise control. The sensitivity of the lane-keeping assist is adjustable, but we found the system quite invasive when trying to overtake slower traffic when it would forcibly nudge you back towards your lane by gently braking the outer wheels, which is (obviously) not ideal. Thankfully the system can quickly be turned off by holding down a button on the steering wheel for 3 seconds.

What’s the Land Cruiser like to drive?

The LC300 is much better on-road than the 200 but still leans towards comfort rather than sport.

Despite being underpinned by a ladder-frame chassis and not featuring air suspension – two aspects that appear to be in direct opposition to the newcomer’s segment rivals – the new Land Cruiser 300 rides well on all road surfaces. Its on-road handling ability is, by far, the biggest improvement over the 200-series, which was soggy and had exaggerated body roll at anything over 25 kph. The LC300 holds its body upright more assuredly and showcases better road manners, but its suspension errs on the side of comfort rather than sportiness, which is exactly what you would want from a luxury off-roader.

When traversing gravel and dirt roads, it’s notable how quiet the Land Cruiser is; its cabin is well insulated from sound and dust. In terms of the ride quality, it’s pliant but composed and you would only notice slightly more harshness than in a Premium SUV if you are familiar with how good the air suspension systems of the Land Rover Discovery and -Defender are. Obviously, air suspension comes with its own complexity and reliability issues – those are problems that Toyota naturally wanted to circumvent in a vehicle whose owners would most certainly require it to journey far away from service centres at times.

> All the details on the new LC300

We didn’t really get to test the full breadth of the Land Cruiser 300’s off-roading abilities aside from a few beach dune passes and some short rocky climbs, which Toyota’s juggernaut breezed over without any issues whatsoever. Switching from 4-high to 4-low is as simple as toggling a switch next to the transmission lever and the terrain selection dial allows you to fine-tune the traction control and 4×4 system’s settings for the terrain you intend to traverse. It makes off-roading feel like a very simple exercise and, if you do ever get stuck, the Crawl function can get you out of nearly any situation.

Pricing and after-sales support

Land Cruiser 300 pricing starts from R1 283 200 for the GX derivative and climbs to R1 842 900 (September 2021) for the turbopetrol-powered GR Sport version. All derivatives are sold with a 3-year/100 000 km warranty and 9 services/90 000 km service plan, which can be extended at additional cost.

Summary

Currently, the Land Cruiser 300 has an 18-month waiting list.

Given that the local market’s demand for the Land Cruiser 200 remained stable for 13 years (or at least without suffering considerable fluctuations in that time), you’d expect that those luxury off-roader customers are just as excited to get their hands on the new Land Cruiser 300. A Land Cruiser owner tends to be a life-long buyer of the product and this new model is highly unlikely to disappoint them. The improvements to the on-road driving experience have been well implemented to improve the big Toyota’s handling, but without the loss of the hard-earned off-road capability that it’s renowned for.

The interior is modern and luxurious save for a few small sections of plastic that feel out of place. There’s also much better levels of tech and connectivity, which buyers now demand at this price point.

The drivetrain and long-distance comfort are the highlights of the package. Despite the petrol version’s relatively high thirst, the smooth power delivery and slick-shifting 10-speed transmission really lift the Land Cruiser 300 into the upper tier of the Premium SUV segment; previously, it was mostly considered as an off-roader and not a real threat to the likes of the Range Rover/BMW/Mercedes-Benz SUVs.

It’s just a pity that the semi-conductor shortage has caused huge production delays. As things stand, if you order a Land Cruiser 300 today, you’re only likely to take delivery of it at some point in 2023.