Fabled off-roader is rejuvenated with a cool retro design and mechanical updates targeting better on-road manners
There can’t be many vehicle manufacturers with a wider breadth of model range than Toyota.Sure, one could haul a Mercedes hatchback in a Mercedes artic, but they don’t live next to each other in showrooms, whereas you could drive away from a Toyota dealer in anything from a 65mpg hybrid supermini to a straight-six manual sports car – or an off-roader with a ladder chassis, a live rear axle and a 2.8-litre four-cylinder diesel.The Toyota Land Cruiser helped build the Japanese brand’s reputation for solid engineering, and although it has become a bit of a niche thing in Europe, elsewhere it’s still massive.You can take that literally: in some markets, Land Cruiser is its own model range, including the 4.6-metre-long Land Cruiser 300 Series and the ultra-old-school Land Cruiser 70 Series. That comes with a 4.5-litre V8 diesel and a manual ’box. I’d love to try one.Over here, we get just the 250 Series, also known as Prado, and it’s entering a new generation for 2024. It’s not electric, it’s not even a hybrid (not over here, anyway) and the mechanical specification hasn’t radically altered from the old one.But although the new J250 Land Cruiser isn’t a radical departure from the J150 of before, there’s still plenty to talk about.
