2023 Toyota LandCruiser

Standard on the base LandCruiser GX is:

• Five-seat interior
• Single-piece tailgate
• LED headlights
• Keyless entry and start
• Dual-zone climate control
• 9.0-inch infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• Nine-speaker stereo
• 4.2-inch trip computer display
• Reversing camera
• One-touch windows for all doors
• Six cupholders

Moving to the GXL brings:

• Seven-seat interior
• 18-inch alloy wheels
• Rear cross-traffic alert
• Blind-spot monitoring
• Wireless phone charging
• Auto-dimming rear-view mirror
• Multi-terrain select off-road modes

Jumping to the VX adds:

• Seven-seat interior
• 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen
• 7.0-inch trip computer display
• 10-speaker stereo
• Eight cupholders
• Remote power windows
• Power-adjustable steering wheel
• Heated and ventilated front seats

The Sahara brings:

• Seven-seat interior
• 14-speaker JBL sound system
• Head-up display
• Heated steering wheel
• Easy-access ventilation controls for rear passengers
• Heated second-row seats
• Power-folding third-row seats

The GR Sport features:

• Five-seat interior
• Black 18-inch alloy wheels
• Black wheel arches, side steps, door handles, mirrors, window trim
• Unpainted front and rear bumpers
• Black or red-and-black interior trim
• Front and rear differential locks
• Electronic Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System (e-KDSS)
• Adaptive variable suspension, adaptive high-beam, carbon trim

The range-topping Sahara ZX has:

• Five-seat interior
• 20-inch alloy wheels
• Unique front bumper, body-colour wheel arch mouldings
• Illuminated tread plates
• Rear mudguards
• Chrome grille, rear bumper trim
• Heated/ventilated first and second-row seats
• Carbon trim
• Hands-free tailgate
• Limited-slip rear differential

The LandCruiser is available in:

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

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 300 is brand new, having only hit local showrooms in 2021. Given the last model lived for more than 10 years, we're expecting this car to stick around well into the 2030s.

A hybrid option is expected to join the range in the coming years, however.

There aren't any options on the LandCruiser, although Toyota does offer a big range of factory accessories.

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

The LandCruiser has been crippled by supply shortages, with wait times blowing out to around nine months.

The LandCruiser outsold its nearest competitor, the Nissan Patrol, comfortably in 2021. It's worth noting, however, the Toyota's sales figure includes the LandCruiser 70 wagon.

Toyota sold 14,356 examples in 2021.

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.

The LandCruiser 300 is the first car to be built on a body-on-frame version of the latest Toyota global platform.