Category: Large 4x4s 
Price Range: £40,395 to £56,350
Superb off-road ability, well-controlled road-manners, robust and practical.
Gets pricey if you want all the off-road kit, diesel engine is noisy at times, cheap-feeling interior plastics.
The revised Land Cruiser gets heaps of new tech to make it even more accomplished off-road - and pleasantly civilised on it.
In China the Land Cruiser is now as the Shamowang - King of the Desert - while in South America it's 'El Macho'. Sadly in the UK we have no pet names for Toyota's monster 4x4. Maybe we should start one right here. Answers on a postcard please.
This, the latest iteration of the Land Cruiser - a vehicle widely regarded as a 'go-anywhere' machine - should be greeted with high expectations by the off-roading fraternity. The previous model has been pretty much the default choice for anyone outside of the UK that needs a vehicle that'll handle the harsh terrain. Even in credit crunch, anti-4x4 times the Land Cruiser has stood up pretty well. In 2008 global sales were 332,090 - almost 15% up on the previous year.
So what's new with this one? Well, Toyota has given the Land Cruiser a slightly revised front end with a chunkier grille and more aggressively styled wheel arches. It's now 45mm longer too, although it sits on the same wheelbase as the previous model.
There's just the one engine available in the UK - a four-cylinder 3.0-litre turbodiesel producing 171bhp and 302lb-ft of torque. Power is distributed to the wheels via a five-speed automatic transmission and a full-time rear-wheel-drive system. Prices range from £29,795 for the entry level LC3 rising to £44,795 for the LC5.
But is El Macho a match for the recently relaunched Land Rover Discovery? Read on to find out.
