Category: Large 4x4s 
Price Range: £40,395 to £56,350
Off-road performance, muscular V8's performance, seven seats, high equipment levels
Performance on the road, choppy ride, hefty proportions
The finest off-roader, the most compromised on tarmac.
£55,995
Off-road the Toyota is nothing less than a five star 4x4; on the road, it's another story.
In the dirt, a low-ratio addition to the auto means ascents and practically anything else in the Land Cruiser's path is tackled with ease. Descents are now dealt with safely, thanks to addition of DACS descent control that uses the ESP to individually brake wheels and ease you down slippery hills. There's also the added security of a lockable centre diff, should the going get really tough.
An innovation unique to the Land Cruiser is the ability to raise the height of the big 4x4 without the usual air suspension. Toyota resisted air suspension because of reliability concerns, preferring a system that employs the dampers instead to increase the ride height.
Hit the tarmac and the big Toyota is a vast improvement over the model it replaces. The new Land Cruiser now benefits from car-like double wishbones up front, while the traditional torsion bar carries over at the rear, but with the addition of some passive rear steer to help cornering.
Also helping the big Toyota negotiate bends is something called Kinetic Dynamic Stabiliser Bars (KDSS) that, in theory, works to cancel out the alarming amount of body roll the old car used to suffer. In practice, turn into a bend sharply and the body heaves alarmingly, but by the time you've reached the middle of the bend, the hydraulics ensure the Land Cruiser corners with less attitude than ever before.
The problem is, the Toyota can be difficult to place thanks to vague steering and compared to the new band of SUVs with sharp car-like handling, the Land Cruiser lags far behind.
The new 282bhp certainly delivers against the clock, hauling well over 2.5-tonnes to 62mph in 8.2 seconds and onto a limited 130mph. In reality it doesn't feel quite as quick as the figures suggest, but buyers - especially those who tow - will appreciate its strong mid-range torque.
