What Car Shoppers Need to Know
- The Toyota Land Cruiser is an off-road-oriented mid-size SUV with a turbocharged four-cylinder hybrid powertrain.
- Its rough-terrain-focused features include standard four-wheel drive and locking rear and center differentials.
- The Land Cruiser has two rows and room for five people; unlike the related Lexus GX SUV, it does not offer a third-row seat.
The Land Cruiser is a mid-size SUV that’s built to both go off-road and offer some inherent luxury. It’s not as luxurious (or as large) as the previous-generation Land Cruisers that Toyota offered prior to 2024, and it rides on a version of the body-on-frame platform shared by the Toyota Tacoma and Tundra pickups. A turbocharged four-cylinder hybrid powertrain is the only engine choice, and buyers get standard off-road features such as 4WD, locking rear and center differentials, skid plates and an available disconnecting front sway bar. The Lexus GX is a more luxurious version of the Toyota Land Cruiser.
What’s New for 2027?
After debuting for the 2024 model year, this generation of the Land Cruiser sees only minor changes for 2027, including available heated and ventilated outboard rear seats and an available high-mounted air intake that’s intended to limit dust and debris from clogging the engine’s air filter during off-road driving.
Pricing
The Land Cruiser comes in only two trim levels. The prices listed below include a mandatory $1,595 destination fee and are correct as of August 2026 (manufacturers sometimes change a vehicle’s pricing over the course of a model year).
- 1958: $59,675
- Land Cruiser: $65,750
Trims and Features
Toyota outfits the Land Cruiser with its Safety Sense 3.0 suite of driver-assist systems, which includes forward collision warning with pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning with steering assistance, lane-centering steering, road-sign recognition and automatic high beams. This SUV also comes standard with blind spot warning, rear cross-traffic alert, front and rear parking sensors with automatic braking, and safe exit alert. On the top trim level, buyers can also add front cross-traffic alert, traffic jam assist and automatic lane changes.
1958
The entry-level 1958 trim (so named to honor the first Land Cruiser, which debuted in the U.S. for 1958) comes standard with plenty of off-roading features, including full-time 4WD with low-range gearing, locking rear and center differentials, front and rear recovery hooks, and skid plates for the engine, transfer case and transmission. It also has circular LED headlights and foglights, rain-sensing wipers and 18-inch alloy wheels.
The cabin is sparsely appointed given this SUV’s price. It comes standard with cloth upholstery, manually adjustable heated front seats, a 7-inch digital gauge cluster, an 8-inch infotainment touchscreen, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a six-speaker audio system, a three-month satellite radio trial, three-zone automatic climate control, keyless access and start, a 2,400-watt AC inverter and a universal garage door opener.
Land Cruiser
The Land Cruiser trim level gets more off-roading features, including electronically disconnecting front sway bars for better suspension articulation and Multi-Terrain Select, which adds off-road drive modes that include Auto, Dirt, Sand, Mud, Rock and Deep Snow; these are in addition to the base Sport, Normal, Eco and Snow drive modes. It also has rectangular LED headlights and Rigid-brand foglights for a different look up front.
This trim level also adds luxury and tech features you’d expect at these prices. Those include a power liftgate, synthetic leather upholstery, a power-adjustable driver’s seat, ventilated front seats, a power tilt/telescoping steering wheel, a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster, a 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen, a 10-speaker audio system and wireless phone charging. Also standard are roof rails and running boards.
Powertrains and Fuel Economy
The Land Cruiser offers only one powertrain, and its hybrid setup teams a turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine with an electric motor in the eight-speed automatic transmission. It makes 326 horsepower and 465 pounds-feet of torque, with full-time 4WD standard. Because the powertrain is focused on power as much as efficiency, the Land Cruiser’s fuel economy is decent for an off-road-focused SUV but not impressive among hybrids: It earns an EPA-rated 22/25/23 mpg city/highway/combined.
Interior
The Land Cruiser has premium pricing, but its standard interior doesn’t have premium equipment. The base 1958 trim has cloth upholstery and manually adjustable front seats — the kind of accommodations you’d expect in a mid-line compact car. At least the front seats are heated. Moving up to the Land Cruiser trim brings synthetic leather upholstery, power-adjustable and ventilated front seats, and a power tilt/telescoping steering wheel. Buyers must spend almost $5,000 on a Premium Package to get real leather upholstery, driver’s seat memory, heated and ventilated rear seats, a moonroof and other niceties.
According to Toyota’s measurements, the Land Cruiser has 46.2 cubic feet of cargo space behind the backseat and 82.1 cubic feet behind the first row.
Versus the Competition
The Land Cruiser competes with the Land Rover Defender and higher-end versions of the Ford Bronco, Jeep Wrangler and Toyota’s own 4Runner. With up to 8.7 inches of ground clearance, it doesn’t sit as high as its Jeep and Ford competitors, and it doesn’t offer an air suspension to increase the ride height, like the Defender does. The Land Cruiser’s 32-degree approach angle and 22-degree departure angle also don’t match the Wrangler and Bronco; they’re closer to the Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro’s figures. The Land Cruiser is priced higher than all these listed vehicles except the Defender, but it’s not well appointed in its base level, and even the top trim doesn’t get standard leather upholstery. It does, however, offer more cargo space and passenger room than most of those rivals.
Do We Like the Toyota Land Cruiser?
We appreciate the Land Cruiser’s off-road capability, ride quality, interior space and fuel economy, not to mention its retro charm. It’s also relatively refined in on-road driving compared with a Bronco, Wrangler or the 4Runner. It’s disconcerting, though, to spend close to $60,000 and not get power seats, leather upholstery or big screens — and to be surrounded by lots of hard plastic. If you won’t be doing any serious off-roading, there are plenty of mid-size SUVs that offer better value and more features for the money.
