The Land Cruiser deserves its reputation as road royalty
When Al-Futtaim Motors announced the arrival of the 2017 Toyota Land Cruiser in showrooms, it described this UAE stalwart as the “King of 4x4s”.
That is a pretty big claim when you consider the volume and standard of the competition. Does this huge SUV – more often seen on the school run than in the dunes – really deserve such a moniker.
The sceptic in me didn’t believe it, however having now driven the Land Cruiser the sceptic is in a full-on fistfight with the realist that shares the same grey matter.
You see, the Land Cruiser is an incredibly good 4×4. It is very well built, huge in size and equipped with everything you need to go off and on road. Need to drive through a wadi? It’s got Crawl Control.
Need to transport a flat-pack kitchen from IKEA? Put down all the seats to form a cavernous back. Need to collect the kids and their friends for a playdate, put the three rows back up and it seats eight.
Yes, the Land Cruiser is very versatile and one of the few SUVs on the market that genuinely has special utilities.
Of course, most people who own one only tap into a fraction of its potential, instead using them as glorified people carriers.
Given the Land Cruiser ranges from Dhs199,000 to Dhs339,500 that’s seems a waste of money.
If you just want to transport bodies from A to B then there are plenty of worthy cars without the off-road capability at half the price.
For 2017, Toyota has given the Land Cruiser exterior and interior upgrades plus some new safety features, including Hill-start Assist Control and the aforementioned Crawl Control, as well as rear fog lights, all as standard.
Under the bonnet is the same choice of engines, including 4.6-litre and 5.7-litre V8 for the top of the range VXR. The VXR, which I drove, also comes with a 10.1in Dual FHD display rear seat entertainment system – which is useful for those playdates.
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