Tough Love

The new Land Cruiser becomes more civilized while staying true to its roots

- By Gareth Dean, Ray Leathern

01 Toyota Land Cruiser 300 3,3 V6D GR Sport

• Price: R1 811 900
• 0-100 km/h: 8,23
• Top speed: 210 km/h
• Power: 225 kW
• Torque: 700 N.m
• CAR fuel index: 10,68 L/100 km
• Co: 238 g/km

No doubt, by the time you read this road test, you will have digested plenty of rhetoric regarding the Land Cruiser's storied past and reputation for hard-as-nails, go-anywhere ability. So, we'll spare you the history lesson and focus on the present. The latest iteration of Toyota's halo SUV has landed, bringing with it new engines, an all-new platform, and a knee-buckling weight of expectation to build on the luxury and terrain-conquering credentials of its forebears. We got behind the wheel of what Toyota considers the most off-road focused model in the LC300 lineup- the 3,3 V6 turbodiesel in GR Sport specification - to see if these changes will add to or erode that impressive legacy.