12 essential tips for a car test drive
Learn how to make the most of your car test drive with essential tips to ensure you make a well-informed decision.
- The Toyota Land Cruiser is a full-size four-door, five passenger SUV.
- The SUV got a hybrid drive train when it debuted as a 2024 model.
Is it still love, or love at second sight? I’m sharing my experiences with new vehicles after living with them for a few days or revisiting them after a few months.
Car of the week: The 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser SUV, the brand’s oldest truck nameplate. I wrote about it last April.
What it is: The 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser is a full-size four-door, five-passenger SUV with a standard hybrid engine and four-wheel drive. Toyota’s Land Cruiser dates to 1958. The new model that debuted as a 2024 model got a hybrid engine and shares its basic engineering with the Tundra and Tacoma pickups and 4Runner SUV.
How much you’ll pay for the Toyota Land Cruiser
Prices start at $56,700. The Land Cruiser FE model I tested stickered at $75,430. Prices exclude $1,395 destination charge.
How’s it selling?
Toyota sold 29,113 Land Cruisers in 2024.
What I liked most the first time I drove a Land Cruiser
In a brief off-road test last year, the Land Cruiser’s hybrid drivetrain proved very capable on steep, unpaved trails. Available off-road features include locking rear and center differentials and disconnecting front stabilizer bar. The Land Cruiser’s tidy proportions make it manageable on trails and easier to park than larger SUVs like the Chevy Tahoe and Ford Expedition.
Land Cruiser competitors
- Chevrolet Tahoe
- Jeep Grand Cherokee
- Ford Expedition
- Nissan Armada
What I love about this Toyota now
The Land Cruiser looks ready for any adventure. It’s loaded with advanced features for off-roading, but is still a comfortable daily driver ― even over uneven pavement. The passenger compartment is roomy and well-appointed, with controls that combine physical buttons and dials with a 12.3-inch touch screen and virtual assistant. Other goodies include an available JBL audio system. It’s a delightful full-size SUV, though prices rise fast as you add features.
What could be better about this Toyota SUV?
Despite its fuel efficiency, the 2.5L turbocharged hybrid power plant needs premium gasoline to achieve its rated power and fuel economy. That will make it more expensive to run than the V6 Jeep Grand Cherokee, which runs fine on regular, per EPA estimates.
Apple CarPlay refused to work a few times during my test, despite initially connecting easily.
Things I’m not sure about the Land Cruiser
The Land Cruiser’s size and price get very close to Toyota’s 4Runner SUV, which is new this year, and slightly longer than the Land Cruiser, Toyota’s flagship SUV. Does Toyota need two SUVs so similar?
Key features of the Toyota Land Cruiser SUV
- Seats five
- Rear- or four-wheel drive
- Standard hybrid power: 326 horsepower and 465 pound-feet of torque
- 6,000 pounds towing
- 2.4L turbocharged engine, Eight-speed automatic transmission
- Estimated fuel economy: 22 mpg city/25 highway/23 combined.
