(first posted 12/8/2015) The Toyota Land Cruiser is inarguably one of Toyota’s most iconic nameplates. Continuously produced since 1951 (Toyota’s longest-running model) with over 5 million units produced, and currently sold in 146 countries, the Land Cruiser has carved out a successful audience around the world as a reputable, go-anywhere vehicle. But here in the U.S., despite our love for big SUVs, the Land Cruiser never truly found the same success as its rivals achieved in this market, with sales drastically falling to historic lows in recent years.
Land Cruisers of past, while never setting any sales records, were considerably more successful. Particularly the J80 and J100 series, the former of which was released in 1990, when gas was cheap and when SUV fever was taking off in the United States. Over its J60 predecessor, the J80 grew several inches in every dimension and rode on a 4.7-inch longer wheelbase.
Style-wise, the J80 was an attractive, inoffensive update of its predecessor. Although it designers greatly softened the straight-edged 1980s look of the J60 with rounded corners abounds, the basic boxy shape still remained, making the car unmistakable as a Land Cruiser. Prominent flared wheel arches, thick lower bodyside moldings, and body-colored running boards gave it the cladded look then popular on high-end automobiles and SUVs. Land Cruisers sold in other markets, however, typically did without these prosthetics.
Unlike most competitors, who featured electrically-operated pop-out style third row vent windows, Toyota stuck with the center divided sliding side windows for one more generation. Power first and second row windows were now standard on all U.S. market Land Cruisers, with a power moonroof an extra cost option.
Standard power initially came from the same 4.0L inline-6, making 155 horsepower and 220 pound-feet of torque. In other markets, two 4.2L diesels (one a turbo) were available. Beginning in 1993, a larger 4.5L inline-6 replaced the 4.0L in North America. Producing 212 horsepower and 275 pound-feet of torque, the 4.5L was a welcomed addition, though Toyota never offered a V8 in this generation Land Cruiser, something its competitors boasted.
Fuel economy for the 4.5L was rated at only 12 miles per gallon city/15 highway. While these numbers were likely enough for some people to balk at, with gas prices close to $1 per gallon for regular (which was fine for use in the Land Cruiser), it was very possible to completely fill the Land Cruiser’s 25.1 gallon tank for under $30. For comparison, a 2016 Land Cruiser only manages 13 city/18 highway, and despite gas prices at their lowest in recent memory, owners of modern Land Cruisers are still taking a significantly greater blow to their wallets at the pump.
At the time of introduction, all North American and European-spec J80 Land Cruisers featured full-time four-wheel drive as standard equipment. A two-speed transfer case with separate gear shifter allowed the driver to directly shift into LO-range 4WD for serious off-roading. Depending on engine, some Land Cruiser models sold on other continents still offered part-time four-wheel drive. Anti-lock brakes (with or without available electronic front and rear differential locks) were a new option in 1993, and were standard on all North American-spec Land Cruisers.
On the inside, the J80 boasted a vastly refined interior with better ergonomics and higher-grade materials. An imposing rounded instrument panel (owing a strong resemblance in shape to the upcoming XV10 Camry’s) placed a wide center stack slightly angled towards the driver for easier view and reach. A redesigned dash came in 1995, bringing with it dual front airbags and a new instrument panel. Despite this, most controls were carried over.
A large center console with storage compartment and center armrest was standard between the front two buckets. Full-length armrests with integral pull handles now graced the front and rear doors, with small lower door storage compartments up front. Those expecting to enjoy a beverage behind the wheel were best to stick with bottled water or Fruitopia (after all, this was the ’90s), as cupholders were nowhere to be found.
While somewhat utilitarian interiors were still the norm for Land Cruisers elsewhere in the world, in the U.S. it became increasingly common to find J80s loaded with numerous luxury options, such as leather, 8-way power seats, automatic climate control, wood trim, security system, and alloy wheels, all a nod to the Land Cruiser’s growing popularity among affluent suburban families who rarely took their SUVs off-road.
This shift towards highly-contented, status symbol SUVs even spawned the creation of the badge-engineered Lexus LX450. Arguably the first full-size SUV from a luxury brand, it predated the Navigator and Escalade by two and three years, respectively. Despite the introduction of the Lexus LX450, Toyota chose not to diminish the Land Cruiser’s very high-aiming ambitions, releasing the 40th Anniversary Edition in 1997.
Commemorating Toyota’s 40 years of selling cars in the United States, the Land Cruiser 40th Anniversary Edition featured many popular options as standard, along with a few unique extras, and retailed for $48,790 ($72,300 in 2015 dollars), roughly $7,600 more than a base Land Cruiser and $90 more than a base LX450.
Among the 40th Anniversary’s standard equipment, included power seats, automatic climate control, leather-wrapped steering wheel, and 9-speaker premium audio system, along with unique alloy wheels, two-tone leather seats, accent-color bodyside moldings and bumpers, and special badging on the exterior and floor mats. Only 4744 of these editions were produced, in either Antique Sage Pearl or this car’s Emerald Green.
J80 production ended in December 1997 in Japan, although this series continued to be produced and sold in Venezuela until 2008. The J80’s successor, the J100 Land Cruiser, arrived in 1998. Continuing on the J80’s path towards greater comfort and luxury, the J100 boasted numerous refinements to the interior, ride, and technology, as well as offering a V8 for the very first time. Thanks to these welcomed updates, sale of the J100 remained brisk until the early-2000s, when rising fuel prices began to threaten the popularity of all large SUVs.
The J100’s successor and the current Land Cruiser sold in the United States is the J200, which entered production in 2007 and first arrived on U.S. shores as a 2008 model. Despite its significant redesign, the J200 has never achieved the success of its predecessors. Land Cruiser sales in the U.S. haven’t topped 4,000 units since 2005, which is somewhat understandable, given higher gas prices and lower large SUV sales across the board.
Additionally, the 2008 J200 was priced nearly $10,000 above the outgoing J100, and its release coincided with the Great Recession. Despite gas prices falling in the past several years, the Land Cruiser has only seen very minimal updates since 2008. Even the 2016 facelifted model can’t hide the car’s age, with an interior looking painfully unworthy of its $83,000 price tag.
What’s worse is that the related Lexus LX570, with its substantially more luxurious interior, bolder styling, and far more glamorous persona stickers for a mere $5K more. And let’s face it, most people purchasing an $85K SUV care about snob appeal, which the Lexus has infinitely more of. It’s no wonder that the LX consistently outsells its less posh sibling by nearly a 2 to 1 margin most years.
Those looking for a large, unpretentious Toyota SUV are likely to purchase the Sequoia, which boasts significantly more interior space, the same 5.7L V8, and a starting price that’s almost half that of the Land Cruiser. That being said, the current generation Sequoia has similarly received little in the way of updates since its 2007 launch, and despite its higher sales in the U.S., its days could be numbered. Sold in only select markets, the Sequoia is part of a vehicle class with ever diminishing returns. A full redesign just isn’t worth it for Toyota, which doesn’t have a significant market share of this segment.
Given the functional demand for off-road vehicles like the Land Cruiser in many parts of the world, not to mention its long heritage, it’s unlikely the Land Cruiser will be disappearing anytime soon.
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I think the Land Cruiser was handicapped in the U.S. by taking such a long time to introduce a more powerful engine; compared to a Grand Wagoneer or later the Grand Cherokee, the J80 was really sluggish. For serious off-road use, you might not care, but the U.S. Land Cruiser was really too expensive for that kind of duty. I know there are some people who just love the earlier Land Cruisers, so there seems to be a certain amount of cult favorite status, but I assume it had a fairly narrow market.
Minor typo on the electronic locking diffs: “were a new optional in 1993.”
Good catch. Fixed.
Interesting background. First off, I’m shocked/impressed that Toyota sold 4,744 40th Anniversary units. What was the total production for 1997? I usually assume Land Cruisers have relatively low volume sales (at least compared with U.S. competitors), though the totals may be higher than I’m guessing, especially during the height of the “big” SUV boom. I also think the price tags were shockingly expensive on Land Cruisers (we looked at one in summer 1999 before we got our Jeep). I couldn’t see it being worth the money, though I know they are incredibly durable.
I’m surprised Toyota hasn’t done more with the Sequoia. Given its Tundra base, it seems like it would be relatively inexpensive to keep refreshed. I know the segment is very stale at this point, but I’m surprised Toyota would just walk away and let GM have such a large, lucrative majority share.
I had forgotten (if I ever knew ) that there was a special 40th Anniversary edition. Nice catch!
I have always had a minor crush on this generation of LC. My gripe with them was that the got so loaded up with luxury items that they lost the more “honest” vibe of the FJ60.
Good account Brendan.
I guess you could argue that the 1994 Range Rover series 2 was first SUV from a luxury brand, but it didn’t have the market reach of the Toyota. Size wise, they’re within a couple of inches all round.
I considered that, but while it’s certainly a luxury brand today, Land Rover started out by offering quite humble sport utility vehicles.
Well, the Land Rover was initially just a model from Rover (which could be considered a luxury brand), and Range Rover eventually became almost a brand in it’s own right, before “Land Rover” was officially spun off as a separate brand.
So I’d argue the original Range Rover could have a claim.
I’d agree on the origins of the Land Rover, but by the mid 1990s the Range Rover was (in the UK and Europe at least) clearly seen and sold as a luxury, not working, vehicle
I completely agree, in California at least the Range Rover was considered pure luxury starting in the 80’s. The featured generation of US Land Cruiser (and the Lexus LX once introduced) were logical competitors with the Land Cruiser being considered the “smart” buy.
“Sloane Rangers” were the stereotypical UK Range Rover customer, akin to US “Yuppies.” If Woodhouse were alive, he could have a field day parodying these people.
They don’t ape the Queen, however, for she drives a Defender.
By the mid 90’s? The Range Rover was the very model of a luxury SUV starting in the early 80s, if not already the late 70s. Even if it wasn’t glitzed out with expensive interiors, it exuded the understated style that old money often preferred. But by the early-mid 80s, it was a full-on luxury item.
I used to see gray-market imports RRs in CA in the 80s, when they were very expensive. They were always seen in very expensive parts of LA or SF, and never used for their utilitarian purposes.
I was taking the 1994 series 2 Range Rover as being the first that was designed to be a luxury SUV, rather than one that was progressively gltzed up to get to that point.
Thanks for this in depth study of the J80 Land Cruiser. You voiced the view that the fact that Lexus offers it’s badge for a few thousand more must hamper Toyota sales because a lot of people in this price range are image oriented. I would have thought it would have worked in the reverse direction. That people would view themselves as in need of the capabilities of the Land Cruiser and choosing the Lexus for it’s name and extra luxury would show that they are just buying it to use as a car.
I like that the Toyota retained the inline 6 so long in these. Didn’t the roots of this engine date back to a copy of the Chevy Stovebolt 6?
According to Wikipedia, you’re right! It said many Type A, B, & C parts were interchangeable with the Stovebolt. That must’ve been a boon for amateur mechanics.
I inspected a 2015 Kruise Lander [gag name] briefly while buying our Prius. The $80K price of that tank floored me, as did its MPG. Toyota here is covering the extrema of the efficiency spectrum. BTW the 2016 Prius is supposed to do 58mpg max.
I think that cars like the Land Cruiser and the Corvette do good things for both brands. Both being specialty vehicles at much higher than typical brand price points, it forces, or should force, the dealers to treat the upscale buyer knowledgeably and fairly. Hopefully this can trickle down to all customers. Similarly, the prospect of a Toyota engineer being assigned to Land Cruiser or Chevy engineer being assigned to the Corvette team where in both cases best in world level work is happening, has to help other product lines.
The Type A, B, and C were built from 1935 to 1941, and was a true license built Chevy six. But those engine are never seen in the US.
The Type F six, as used in the Land Cruiser, is only ‘loosely based” on the Chevy six, and parts do not interchange.
IMO Toyota should’ve leveraged the Land Cruiser name into a sub-brand (as they have in other markets, and in the US with Prius); its’ at least as iconic and redolent of global adventure as Land Rover.
In the USA the Landcruiser has been priced out of the market. Those in the market looking for a fullsize Toyota SUV(and not many are) ether opted for a Sequoia and saved a butt ton of cash over the LC and got more room or spent a few grand more and bought the Lexus version. In a way it is just like the situation with the Nissan Maxima. That car doesn’t not really sell much anymore because people ether buy the Infiniti version or an Altima.
In any case Toyota’s large SUVs and large trucks are perennial also rans to the Big Three. In 2014 The Toyota Tundra sold about 118,000 units. By contrast Ford sold over 700,000 F150 trucks(and 2014 was an off year for Ford trucks since everybody was waiting for the new 2015 aluminum bodied F150)
My theory is, Toyota is hedging their bets against the next gas crisis & doesn’t want over-capacity in Yankee Monster Trucks (YMTs). But still, it’s strange considering how they are major players in most other market segments, even the American big car (i.e., Avalon).
There are surprisingly many choices for large, $70K plus SUV’s, a market that can’t be that large. Escalade, Denali, LX450, Range Rover and the choices from BMW and Mercedes come to mind. In this company a $83K Toyota, even with the “Land Cruiser” cachet, is lost. Really no room to grow here.
Although the Tundra might be far behind the Big Three is sales, this is more a factor of limited production capacity. 120,000 units per year is about the max at its Texas plant. Not bad considering they had zero presence in the full size truck market 15 years ago. I think Toyota could sell as many as they want to.
Correct on their sales. Researching sales stats for an upcoming article, the three best-selling vehicles in the US are the F-150, 1500 series Silverado, and Ram 1500 – in that order. So said the Wall Street Journal for sales through the end of October for CY15.
Toyota, surprisingly, wasn’t even in the top ten of sales with the Tundra. Taking it further, I’ve seen maybe a half-dozen Sequoia’s ever. I’m likely not living in their target market area. Really, that’s a shame as the Toyota has a lot to offer and would (maybe surprisingly) be a choice of mine for another pickup before purchasing from at least one of the Big Three.
One thing Toyota is among the Top Ten: According to KBB, the Tacoma & Tundra have the best resale values among light trucks (not counting the Wrangler, which is not really in their class). While it could be attributed to relative scarcity, I think it’s more likely the usual reason with Toyotas.
From what I know, I believe that all light trucks have quite good resale values. Even the lower end models are fairly pricey when new, and with demand so strong there are always buyers looking for used bargains, driving up the price.
It would be interesting to know how much better Tundra resale value is over F-150. My 2012 F-150 is easily the best new vehicle I’ve ever purchased. After 3 years and 33,000 miles, you can’t really tell any difference over when it was new. The single problem I’ve had was the power folding mirrors began to operate erratically in very wet conditions, and this started after the dry guys at a car wash grabbed the mirrors and moved them manually in 20 degree weather. The dealer couldn’t find any mechanical problems, and “flashed” some software to sync them. This was done under warranty, and I’ve had zero issues since.
Yeah, my ’06 F-150 Crew 4×4 has had the best resale of any vehicle I have ever owned. By a long shot. When you need a truck, a Prius won’t do, I think that is a big reason resale has remained high.
And when you need fuel efficiency, a truck won’t do. Just in case that wasn’t clear, either.
High resale value is only an indicator that a vehicle is worth keeping.
I live in Indiana where they build them, and not even I have seen many Sequoias.
Tundra and Sequoia production is constrained by the limits of Toyota’s US production facilities. They do not have the many large plants that Ford, GM and FCA have. And those three are moving passenger car production to Mexico to make room for more truck production.
Toyota is in it for the long haul, but they are conservative in expanding production. for several years they said that they would
They are conservative, period. The current Tundra is outdated and outclassed by everything else. That’s not to say it doesn’t have any appeal. But I don’t know if I believe their sales numbers are being limited by production capacity.
I always figured that the Tundra’s rationale was that it looked like at least one of the big 3 was going under in the early 2000s. Since that didn’t happen, it seems like Toyota decided to let the truck go stale.
As the U.S. began turning in earnest to SUVs as standard passenger cars in the early ’90s, I kept thinking, “doesn’t Toyota still have the Land Cruiser and why isn’t it selling?” Half the time, I was never sure it was still in production – or at least in U.S. dealerships.
As the number of auto shows that I attended increased, I crossed with a few LCs, and it was apparent that while handsome and carrying a deservedly legendary name, the vehicle had some serious drawbacks compared to the modern competition…
*Poor Space Utilization
*Atrocious Gas Mileage Achieved with a SIX!
*Some Crude Points of Design / Parts Integration
*Unbelievable Sticker Price
I kept thinking that eventually Toyota would capitalize on the large SUV market, and they finally did with the Sequoia – which likely stole a few more LC sales.
Toyota’s interest in the big SUV market has always seemed a bit ambivalent. The Sequoia was a worthy effort, but it’s now two generations behind the Suburban.
I may be wrong, but it even seems that the Suburban has overtaken the LC in many of the international markets where it once reigned.
Living near several very upscale subdivisions I can’t go to Target without seeing a few Escalades, even a few large Lexus SUVs. But, you could drive across the area for weeks and not see a Land Cruiser.
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My sister had a J80, Land Cruisers had always intigued me until I drove it. It was very crude and slow and felt much larger than it was.
It did make 200K miles for them, but at that point it was falling apart and expensive to fix.
I just don’t really see anything appealing about them anymore.
yeah, there was absolutely no second row leg room unless you were under 5’4. Really, same for the front. If you were a taller American with some weight on you, it was akin to being a sardine in a can.
But I really think they fixed many of the 80s shortcomings with the 100 series. A much more comfortable truck in my opinion.
Nice catch, my favorite all-time Land Cruiser model. The Land Cruiser, the Global King of off-roaders. Well, actually there are three different Land Cruisers. The old-school and square 70-series, the 150-series midsizer (called the Prado in many countries) and the big 200-series.
And a Land Cruiser is never a poser.
Also known as the Official Land Rover Recovery Vehicle.
Did they keep the gas inline 6 in other markets longer or did they also go V8. If it is still in production, it must be one of the oldest engines, albeit much developed anywhere.
I just checked wikki, the stovebolt came out in 1929…. 86 years old
What do you mean, 86 years old? The original 1929 Chevy six was only built through 1936, replaced in 1937 by a completely redesigned engine (“Blue Flame”). And then in 1962/1963, it was replaced by a totally new design again.
wikki,this is all long before my time, describes them as generations of same engine family.
Toyota cloned a 41 Chevy for its 1941 model but certain unpleasantries around the Pacific kept it from the market they must have however remembered how to build the engines as the early Landcruiser had basically a Chevrolet BlueFlame engine and in NZ at least they often got replaced by genuine BlueFlames upon expiry.
This article says there were several prewar models; which do you mean?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_AA
It says they found an AA survivor in Russia, now on display in Holland. Toyota was unable to find one in Japan, they had to reconstruct it.
Land Cruisers very rarely have a gasoline engine here. The two trailer towers above have a 4.2 liter inline-6 turbodiesel under the hood.
The current top model (200-series) has a 4.5 liter V8 turbodiesel. The smaller 150-series is powered by a 2.8 liter inline-4 turbodiesel (177 hp).
The ohv F-Series six was replace by the DOHC FZ1 six in 1992. But the block was still a development of the earlier ohv six.
The V8 replaced the 6-cyl in Australia in 2002 for the 100/105 wagons, but the 6-cyl continued in the 70-series commercial L/C’s until 2007 when they became diesel-only. Other markets were probably similar.
Given that the Landcruiser is a global vehicle (420,000 built in 2012), I don’t imagine that US sales are terribly influential overall. The 200-series has definitely gotten softer over the years, but they still sell a lot of the old 70-series.
The 1FZ 4.5 liter inline six was in production in Venezuela until 2007 like the article states though it got direct injection at some point after the 80 was discontinued in the U.S. The engine was only used in America in the 80 series from ’93 or ’94 to 1997. Some say that it is the bigger bore cousin of the famous Supra 1JZ motor that also powered Lexus GS300 and SC300.
Solid engine but a little underpowered. Would have been better suited mated with a manual transmission & trd turbo.
When the 1FZ 4.5L was introduced there was at least one company here that turbocharged it, making about 500hp from memory and giving pretty alarming performance to the Landcruiser! I gather they were intending to sell to the Middle East rather than the local market.
The engine blocks for the two engines look a little similar, also the 1FZ has no space where a camshaft or pushrods might once have lived, so I doubt there is a relationship to the old L/C engine. I’ve never heard about anything on direct injection for the engine though.
My understanding is that the 1FZ was an evolution of the F series engine. They have the same 3.7″ stroke, which tends to support that. The fact that it is called “FZ” also supports that.
Undoubtedly the block was changed to some extent, possibly quite substantially, in the conversion to DOHC head. But in any case, it’s not related to the smaller 3.0 inline six.
The Land Cruiser is certainly iconic. Could we have a CC on the AK-47 of the transport world, the Toyota Hi Lux Truck, the favorite ride of guerrillas, insurgents in developing countries?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a J200 here, and even in LA, J100’s were pretty rare. I think you have to be a Land Cruiser cultist (and they do exist) to insist on a new Land Cruiser these days–the message owning one sends in the US is, “I’m well-to-do, and an oddball.”
When Toyota built its truck plant down in San Antonio it claimed capacity of 250K. It also claimed that it was designed to be expanded to 500K if demand warranted. Since sales have never hit 250K and are currently about half that, it is hard to believe that the issue is capacity constraint.
The 80 and 100 series were pretty popular here in CT. I hardly ever see 200 series thou. If i had the cash I would buy one. There are less and less of the wealthy yankee’s buying them and alot of the people that had them have gone two ways escalade (or denali) or more commonly MB GL or Audi Q8. Flash it seems in style even here in New England not like in Cali or Miami but a little more then it used to be.
In 2015 the Land Cruiser was showing rust around the taillight and running boards. It wouldn’t surprise me if the bottom is even worse. Did these have frame rust problems like the Tacoma? Has the poor truck has been completely consumed by now?
This one looks ready to tackle that rock bed it is sitting in front of.
I have one concern. With all those window stickers just to the left of the driver’s view, would these not impair visibility while driving? I have read lots of discussion about the thickness of the A pillar being a problem, and you certainly have to make sure to get a good look for pedestrians, but these stickers really don’t help visibility. Maybe they should have been mounted at the top where the sun visor is? I always keep my oil change reminder sticker at the very top left of my windshield.
Missed this one first time around, and while I enjoy (enjoyed, I suppose, he’s disappeared 🙁) Brendan’s writing, there are a few factual errors here. Regardless, as a former 1993 FZJ80 owner for 13 years, I’ll say it had its strengths and weaknesses, and I’m a bit surprised that it has become a cult off-road vehicle here in the US in the years after we sold ours in 2008. It’s rare, at least here in the western US, to see one stock anymore, most are modified in the “expedition” or “overland” theme, and to be honest I do see a lot getting used miles from the nearest pavement in our mountains and deserts. But, like most Toyotas, they have some weaknesses and are not quite the paragons of reliability or longevity that some may think. I suspect that if we had kept our rare “triple-locked” (ie front rear and center diffs) ‘93 and continued adding miles at a reasonable rate, assuming it was maintained and repaired as needed, we could sell it now for about what we got back in 2008.
Here is mine on the Rubicon Trail in 1998.