The first sentence in the press materials for the 2016 Toyota Land Cruiser reads, “how do you improve ultimate?” As we got our first miles behind the wheel, it appears you simply make it better, and here that means more modern.
Toyota started by giving their Land Cruiser a new front clip, which means a new pair of front fenders, a bulgier hood, and a fresh new face. New LED projector-beam headlights, a brash chrome grille and a cleaner front bumper do go a long way to updating its look.
At the rear, they gave it the latest new LED light-tube taillights and LED brake lights along with some new chrome trims for its dual-hinged tail gates. New wheel designs complete the visuals for the 2016 Land Cruiser, its green house remaining the same as 2015 model.
If you like the new exterior which we did, you’ll really like the new interior. A completely new dash design erases all of the old-school truckisms that defined this SUV inside. Now it has truly modern design, technology, convenience features, and top-notch materials.
This isn’t to say the old interior wasn’t good, this just takes the ultimate as they say and makes it better. And best of all, it still has that upright old-school vibe I just referenced, but now it feels and looks more its price.
A new 9-inch center display EnTune infotainment system has everything you would expect in terms of features, capability and connectivity – Siri Eyes Free too. Down below, the console not only has a place for your phone now, but Qi wireless charging. While there you’ll find soft touch trims wrapping the newly designed console and very nicely finished woods wrap the dash and door panels.
The seats in our tester were a rich Semi-aniline Terra Brown leather that were immensely comforting, and standard by the way. And yes you can get black instead. Rear seat passengers will enjoy dual entertainment screens as standard equipment and those seats can be folded and configured in several ways as can the third-row.
The bottom line here is that the Land Cruiser interior brings a level of Swiss Army Knife versatility to the marketplace with a quality level on par with Mercedes-Benz and Land Rover. And it should be as it costs virtually the same.
Past all the fluff, capability is major calling card for the Land Cruiser, and the 2016 model doesn’t disappoint. It’s 381 horsepower 5.7 liter V8 now drives all four-wheels through a new 8-speed automatic transmission.
The extra gears do offer a noticeable improvement in drivability and a feeling of more power at more places in the driving range. Fuel economy doesn’t change at all here, still rated at 13 mpg city, 18 mpg highway, and 15 mpg combined.
The transmission also seemed to be a better friend when climbing around off-road, with a nice low first gear to go along with the Land Cruiser’s legendary chassis capabilities. This is without question the most comfortable and luxurious rock climbing ride you will find anywhere.
And with all of its electronic traction, crawling and hill descent controls you can motor along the edge of a glacier almost with no experience at all, and look like a pro.
And if you are a pro and don’t need all that stuff, you’ll still enjoy the fully lockable drive system and a hugely articulate suspension with more off-road hardware toys than I can list. It’s more than anyone else offers in this class. Period.
But while all that’s good and a big part of the Land Cruiser’s price, so is for 2016 a new suite of driver-assistance and safety systems called Toyota Safety Sense-P. It has auto-braking front collision avoidance, lane departure alert and radar cruise control.
There’s also a new blind spot monitor with rear cross traffic alert will help the shopping mall parking lot adventure, and a standard backup camera can help with backing up to that trailer.
Base price for all this is $83,825. There are no multiple trim levels, no factory options or packages but our 2016 Toyota Land Cruiser as tested was 85,155 which included a destination charge of $1,095 and dealer added floor mats for $235. Even at $85 large, Toyota still makes you pay for the floor mats.
