2008 Toyota Land Cruiser

Toyota's Land Cruiser is truly a global vehicle. In the past fifty-five years, some four million Land Cruisers have been sold in more than 125 countries. Originally a crude but highly utilitarian off-roader patterned after American military jeeps, the Land Cruiser has branched out to encompass a plethora of shapes, styles, and amenities. Toyota's oldest nameplate, the Land Cruiser has been built in the form of a pickup and an SUV, as a softtop and a hardtop, with two doors and four. Today, the Land Cruiser sold in America comes in only one body style and a single trim level, an eight-seat SUV loaded with at least as many luxury features as off-road items. It's exactly the sort of vehicle we love having in our Four Seasons fleet, even if the price of gas conspired against it over the course of the year.

The newest Land Cruiser, introduced for 2008, continues the move away from mountain stream crossing and toward mainstream cruising. Still, the 200-series Land Cruiser has plenty to offer adventurers. The requisite hardware includes full-time four-wheel drive, a two-speed transfer case, and a locking center differential. From the cockpit, a host of buttons reminds you that the Land Cruiser continues to take off-roading seriously. This switchgear allows the driver to change stability control modes, lock the center differential, choose high or low range, set the transmission to sport mode, start in second gear, and even switch off the side curtain air bags so they don't unexpectedly deploy during extreme off-road maneuvers.

Like most SUVs in our hands, the Land Cruiser spent less time 0ff-road and more on pavement, where it proved less adept. The soft, long-travel suspension allowed the Toyota to float, bob, and pitch. Over broken surfaces, the ride became even more disheveled, leading technical editor Don Sherman to write, "The rear axle is not just live, but fully animated." The brake pedal had lots of do-nothing travel before engaging suddenly, a lack of linearity that failed to inspire confidence and made smooth driving a chore. When the brakes finally did grab, the Land Cruiser's soft suspension sent the nose into a dive, but stopping distances were commendably short.