2022 Toyota LandCruiser

Claimed boot space is 1153 litres with the second row in place, expanding to a cavernous 2502 litres with them folded and tumbled forward. Although you don’t get sixth and seventh seats, the rear air vents and cupholders carry over.

You’ll be grateful for the powered tailgate, given how large it is. You need plenty of space behind you to open it, but once it’s raised the opening is van-like.

The 2022 Toyota LandCruiser 300 hasn’t been crash tested by ANCAP or Euro NCAP.

The whole range will feature the following active safety features:

• Autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection (day/night) and cyclists (day)
• Adaptive cruise control
• Lane-departure warning with brake to steer
• Traffic sign recognition

GXL and above gain blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert, with lane-trace assist featured in the VX and up.

Combined fuel economy for the 2022 Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series is8.9L/100kmon the combined cycle.

The car drinks diesel, and holds 110 litres of fuel split across an 80L main tank and 30L sub-tank.

Toyota Service Advantage covers capped-price servicing for the first 10 services at a cost of $375 each. Intervals are every six months or 10,000km, whichever comes first.

Owners will be able to extend their warranty on the engine and driveline to seven years by sticking to the service schedule.

Power in the 2022 Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series comes exclusively from a 3.3-litre twin-turbo V6 diesel engine making 227kW of power and 700Nm of torque, the latter of which is on tap between 1600 and 2600rpm.

The standard transmission is a 10-speed automatic, and full-time four-wheel drive with a centre differential lock is standard. The GR Sport gains front and rear differential locks, along with its e-Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System (e-KDSS) and adaptive variable suspension.

The GR Sport is recognisable as a LandCruiser when you fire it up. The view over the heavily scalloped bonnet makes you feel like the king of the road, and it’s still a big brute to thread through city streets.

It’s a more refined brute than before, though. The engine fires quietly and settles into a smooth idle, and the steering feels lighter and quicker than in the LC200 at low speeds.

A lot of people were worried about the switch from a V8 to the twin-turbo V6 engine used in the new LandCruiser. On first impression, the new engine covers for its smaller displacement with smooth low-down responses and impressive punch on the move.

Some small-displacement turbocharged engines have a moment of lag, before surging forward when the revs hit a certain mark and the boost kicks in. The engine in the LC300 feels linear on constant throttle inputs, giving you back exactly what you ask for rather than lurching forward as the turbochargers kick in.

That makes it easier to manage in traffic, and a better companion when you need to precisely dole out the engine’s torque on tight off-road trails.

Put your foot down and, once the 10-speed automatic has sorted itself out, the GR Sport gets a move on. It feels fast off the mark given its size and weight, and offers plenty of punch for highway overtaking. The transmission is smart enough to hang in the peak torque band between 1600 and 2600rpm, and there’s enough gears to make sure you’re never far from that band.

It’ll take a long time to know if the new engine is reliable as its predecessor, but anyone worried about how it performs should breathe easy.

One of the calling cards of the GR Sport is its electronic Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System (that’s e-KDSS to you and me), which can independently lock and unlock the front and rear stabiliser bars. In conjunction with the car’s adaptive dampers, the system is designed to deliver a combination of mogul-crushing wheel articulation and more car-like on-road dynamics.

There is a definite difference between the drive modes, although that’s down to the adaptive dampers. In Comfort the car feels like a bit of a barge, floating along and letting the body make one, two, three movements over highway crests and dips. Flicking through Normal, Sport, and Sport Plus gradually tightens up the body control.

Although the new LC300 feels less boat-like than the LC200, with better ride compliance and better body control, the e-KDSS feels quite subtle in its operation compared to the active anti-roll bars you can now get in Volkswagen Group products.

Check out our video for a representation of the difference, but our team noted the LandCruiser VX without adaptive dampers but no e-KDSS rolled less than the more expensive and (supposedly) more sophisticated GR Sport in the corners.

With a locking centre differential, locking front and rear differentials, low-range, and a staggering array of electric assists to help take you further off the beaten path, the GR Sport is one of the most capable cars we’ve tested at the Werribee four-wheel drive park.

It waltzed up the log climb, and offered Ram TRX-rivalling levels of wheel articulation through the offset moguls.

When you’re done getting dirty, the LandCruiser turns into a comfortable, quiet highway cruiser. There’s hardly any wind or road noise in the cabin at 100km/h on average Australian roads, and the engine sits just above idle.

Unlike its predecessor, the LC300 also has a relatively up-to-date suite of active driver assists. It will maintain a gap to the car in front, and now has a system that will actively steer keep you in your lane – but its lane-keeping assist is still brake-based, rather than steering you back into the lane as you drift.

The LandCruiser is available in:

• Glacier White
• Ebony
• Crystal Pearl
• Arctic White
• Silver Pearl
• Graphite
• Merlot Red
• Eclipse Black
• Saturn Blue
• Dusty Bronze

The LandCruiser will be backed by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty when it arrives in Australia, with seven-year coverage on the powertrain.

Toyota has done an incredible job of modernising the LandCruiser without undermining what has made it so popular.

It still feels like it’ll take you around Australia without breaking a sweat, and it’s still the least pretentious luxurious, comfortable four-wheel drive money can buy. Sure, you could get a BMW or Range Rover, but they say something very different about you to the LandCruiser.

The biggest sticking point is the price. There’s no question the off-road technology and strength of the LandCruiser name are both worth close to $140,000, but the range shares a huge chunk of its infotainment with a $30,000 economy hatch, and there’s more luxurious options to be had elsewhere in the same price range.