Is the Land Cruiser the best in the world?

define "best"

for me the suburban is the best. holds as much as anything else, hauls with the best of them, takes mods well, and unless you are actually going "offroading" its fine (snow, boat lifts, camping, etc.)

haul a boat + carry 8 adults and their stuff = win (plus if your dont have a lot of stuff just fold the seats down and it doubles as a ACed tent for a tall guy )

for offroad its tought to top jeeps wrangler and if you want some luxury to go with it range rover is where its at.

keep in mind im racist against toyota and have ZERO experience with this one so take it for what its worth (not a whole lot).

 

Yes.

Although having said that, Carsonp makes several good points particularly the mods point. The aftermarket for Chevy trucks/Suburbans is just freaking humongous.

 

Happy 7000th post Colin

Jedi

 

I think a Range Rover's on road manners, luxury & off road abilities will trump a Land Cruiser. A Land Cruiser will be more reliable, however.

 

I did not like the Land Cruiser my wife once owned. She now has a MB GL350 Bluetech that I like much better...as much as one can like an SUV...which for me, is limited.

 

How can you be racist against a truck?

I concur. A Range Rover under warranty is a beautiful thing. Probably the only SUV I can put up with.

I think the 8,000 annual export for the Land Cruiser isn't low, given oil prices heading back toward $150/barrel or maybe worse.

 

Also agreed, the driving dynamics on the BMW designed RR are amazing. Incredible steering precision, considering.

....however from a reliability standpoint, I would opt for a Landcruiser as well.

 

We have one now as well. Our Cayenne was certainly faster, but the ML is much more roomy and practical with equal ride and creature comforts. Getting nearly 30 mpg on the highway is a nice bonus as well. We intend to own this car for many years. After my wife tires of it in 3-4 years I will probably start putting 30k/year on it with my commute.

The Land Cruiser has a combined mpg of 15, typical for a full-size luxury SUV. If gasoline goes much higher for a protracted period of time, resale on all of these vehicles will be terrible. The Expeditions and Suburbans of the world (non-luxury SUVs that also get poor mileage) will be near worthless to trade in with $6 gas.

If anyone remembers the stories from 2008 about people being offered $1000 trade in on a five year old SUV, I don't see any reason to think it will be different this time.

 

We drove her GL350 ~ 500 miles round-trip to a horse show last week-end and averaged 29mpg with the cruise set at 75mph with 6 passengers and luggage for three days.

 

A Suburban is rated at 15mpg city and 21mpg highway, and it can tow 4tons. The foreign manufacturer bias on this site is amazing.

 

The MB GL350 BlueTech diesel will tow 3 3/4 tons(7500 pounds), gets almost 30mpg on the highway and has a luxurious interior. I've owned a Suburban even loaded with leather, DVD, ect..., it's still a work truck.

 

I think Toyota has import quotas imposed on trucks.

I have a 10 year old LC and a GL450. The 450 is a suburban pansy SUV in comparison to the Land Cruiser. But my wife likes it, otherwise I would sell it.

I think if I had to drive from Alaska to Chile, I'd probably take the Land Cruiser. In 166,000 miles, I've had to replace a faulty coil. Zero problems other than that. ZERO. Christ, the 450 had it's first warranty issue after only 500 miles, and has been in for warranty service 3 times in 2 years.

 

FWIW, I rented a 2009 Tahoe for a business trip and it was an OK vehicle but only got about 19 mpg in very easy highway driving for 800 miles. It had less than 10k miles on it so maybe it would have improved over time. It had leather and the seats were very comfortable, it is huge inside with is a good thing.

It is hard to say because a rental has a harder life than someone's own car, but the interior already was starting to look tired, many surfaces were showing wear and scratches. A couple of trim pieces were already broken.

But these cars are built to a price and represent decent value for the money. My comments were not a knock on Fords or Chevys, but rather a reminder of what happened the last time gas prices soared.

 

its my way of saying im biased against japanese vehicles

 

If I had to pick an "End of the World" vehicle it would be an 80 series Land Cruiser.

 

To the OP, the 200 series (Newest Land Cruiser), is arguably the pinnacle of the luxo-4x4 market right now.

NATO's and NGO's preference in the Land Cruiser is Toyota's quality of engineering put forth into them. Coupled with a more widespread availability of parts worldwide, it's not hard to understand why.

Parts are not so readily available for a Land Rover Defender as would be for the Land Cruiser in say, South Africa.

It is particularly the Land Cruisers equipped with solid front axles that are the utilitarian workhorses, and are preferred by laborers and hobbyists, and your occasional terrorist. This is overall a much tougher design over the current one. Likewise, these are available to overseas markets that require more durability to that of the US market.

The US market's demand for more comfort and better road manners have been present in the Land Cruiser since 1998, switching from solid front axles to independent front suspensions. Albeit, SFA are available throughout the rest of the world, they are no longer being imported to the US due to market demands. IFS is present in Land Rovers, Land Cruisers, and the newly re-badged Nissan Patrol (Infiniti QX56 in the US); IFS is here to stay.

 

You would really need to define your use. Land Rover closed it dealership in Alaska, but Toyota and even Subaru are thriving up here. Probably different in the lower 49, east and west. Depends on what you want to use it for, and how you may want to tailor/customize it to meet your needs. Do you want best luxury or best off road capability?

I love the Land Rover Defender 110 wagon (proven performer, but can't import new ones), so personally would buy a Toyota LC or 4Runner for the long term, probably used. Save the money for appropriate tires, gears, suspension work. That is for my definition of "best" for where I live, how I drive, etc.

 

That may be true, but this site is called Ferrarichat not Suburbanchat. The foreign bias should be naturally expected!

 

No kidding! Best at what?

I've spent a lot of time off-road in the jungles of Costa Rica. Rough roads that are everything from washboard to very steep with holes requiring big articulation. Mud, water up to the windshield crossings, and just plain pounding. There is nothing that stands up to a Range Rover in these conditions. Nothing is even close.

Now, if you are cruising around on American highways, just about any SUV is ok. In fact, I would rather have a Landcruiser than deal with all the problems Range Rovers have. If you are towing a boat or small trailer get a nice Suburban. Just don't ever think you can take if off road.

 

Are they trail rated?

 

Believe me - I am a big fan of the Land Rover's capability - it's legendary. However, everyone seems so quick to dismiss the Land Cruiser's off road capability. Forget the new version - it's been neutered. The 1993-1996 80 series would seriously challenge a Land Rover for off roading - it has the ground clearance, manual locking front and rear diffs, as well as an auto-locking center diff.

Land Rover has the approach angles, which gives it an edge, but I think the quality of the Toyota gives it the nod IMHO.

An FJ45 series - notably the Troop Carrier - are quite hearty as well. I've seen those in water up to the hoods and still go.

 

As others have said, depends on your needs. If you want a reliable truck that will last 400k miles with good off road capability, good luxury, and good enough towing, get a TLC. If you want some more flash, more lux, marginally better off road capability, and are willing to trade in before warranty expires at a substantial loss, buy a RR. If you don't mind having something that will be great for towing but will look cheap in 2 years, buy a Suburban.

To Mule from Alaska....Colorado and Vermont may be the "lower 49ers" that do not fit the mold. Super high concentrations of Audi Allroads in these locales, as well, so that should say something.

There is a reason why, even when gas prices were high a few years ago, these things could still fetch 20 grand when they are a decade old and had 120k on them. They're not exactly Kia Sorento's (probably the SUV in question getting $1,000 trade in value).