Toyota Land Cruiser Advice

It wasn’t the first Toyota LandCruiser aimed at families, but the 60 Series was a game changer in Australia.

Think the 100 Series and 105 Series are the same? Think again.

When people of a certain age hear the words 'Toyota LandCruiser', the venerable 40 Series is the vehicle that springs to mind.

There’s no doubt that it was the Toyota 40 Series that really put the LandCruiser badge on the map in Australia. But by 1984, the world had moved on and even purchasers of these simple and rugged machines were demanding more. Toyota had already split its focus to arrive at the family-wagon line-up (the 55 Series and later 60 Series) to cope with private owners, but for its fleet and trade customers, it took the successful elements of the 40 Series, went back to the drawing board and sketched up the 70 Series family of vehicles. And of those, the 75 Series was the smash hit.There was still a market for the short-wheelbase (BJ and FJ70) and mid-wheelbase (BJ and FJ73) but as kids got bigger, caravans got heavier, holidays got more elaborate and expectations got higher, bigger was definitely better in four-wheel-drives. Which is why the long-wheelbase 75 Series was the star of the LandCruiser workhorse line-up virtually from the word go.The 75 Series tag was applied to all the long-wheelbase variants including the pick-up, cab-chassis and the Troop Carrier. That said, the 75 name was dropped for those vehicles in 1999 when Toyota facelifted the model. Suddenly, what had been a 75 Series pick up or cab-chassis was now a 79 Series, and a 75 Series Troop Carrier became a 78 Series. Yes, it’s largely academic, although those later cars were much improved with coil-sprung front suspension and longer leaf springs at the rear for much better ride quality. Technically, though, the 75 Series only ran from 1984 to 1999, even though the 70 Series family as a whole is still soldiering on largely unchanged.Like all LandCruisers, the 75 Series was built on a separate ladder chassis with the body mounted on top. It’s a crude way of building a car (even in 1984) but it’s also a good way to make the end result super strong and capable of taking its share of rough treatment without getting bent out of shape (literally). Compared with the 40 Series it replaced, the 75 (as did all 70 Series cars) got a chassis with boxed members making it even stronger and more flex resistant than before.Styling wasn’t a radical departure from the 40 Series either but the dashboard was a huge step forward with a proper padded section and much more modern (and easier to read) gauges. The rest of the interior was still pretty bare though with vinyl seats and floor coverings but, back then, that’s how folks wanted it. The cabin on the pick-up and cab-chassis was a strict three-seater with none of the extra-cab or king-cab thing going on. The dual-cab 79 Series was still many years off, too. The Troopy, meanwhile, could be had in three-, six- or 11-seat layouts with a front bench, a front and rear bench or a front bench and jump seats running lengthways in the back respectively. Folks in the rear of the 11-seat version did it pretty hard, especially as they were sitting side-saddle.The four-wheel-drive system is resolutely old-school. Forget viscous couplings, centre differentials and full-time AWD, the 75 Series got a part-time system with a transfer-case to give two distinct sets of gear ratios. On the bitumen, the vehicle ran in two-wheel-drive. If the track got a bit greasy, you could select high-range four-wheel-drive. And then, when you were hopping over boulders and climbing cliff faces in the scrub (which, incidentally, the Cruiser was very good at) you selected low-range 4x4 and let those super low ratios do their thing. You could also forget about rotary-dials and electronic switches to shift between those modes, too; the 75 Series subscribed to the old mantra that a proper off-roader has a minimum of two gear-sticks.Initially, the 75 Series was available with two engines, a choice of petrol or diesel. The petrol six-cylinder was the 3F with a claimed (but possibly very optimistic) 110kW of power while the diesel alternative was the familiar old 2H with even less poke (76kW to be precise). Both were tied to a four-speed manual transmission and both offered performance that was, er, relaxed. The diesel in particular didn’t actually accelerate; it accrued speed like you or I accrue sick leave.Ride quality with the leaf springs at both ends was on the jouncy side, too, so perhaps it was just as well the 75 was no slingshot. The live axles also contributed to a fair bit of unsprung mass and the way they walked around at highway speeds meant you had your hands full making little steering corrections to keep the vehicle on the straight and narrow. A 75 Series with wear in the suspension and steering is a proper handful.But all that was forgotten when the outskirts turned to the mulga, and the Cruiser was suddenly in its element. It could tackle the toughest tracks with the best of them and soon became the default vehicle for anybody who wanted to go seriously off-road. It’s no accident that the majority of off-road wheel-tracks in this country are 1415mm apart (the exact width of the 75’s track measurement).Toyota gave the 75 Series the diesel engine it deserved in 1990 with the arrival of the 96kW, 4.2-litre 1HZ. Although it lacked the grunt of a modern turbo-diesel, the overhead camshaft design was smooth, flexible and, provided you had optioned the factory snorkel kit, would run under water. And it would do so with just basic maintenance for somewhere in the region of a million kilometres.  A five-speed manual also turned up at the same time.In 1993 the last real facelift arrived before the 75 became the 78 and 79, and at that time, Toyota finally replaced the old 3F petrol with the 1FZ-FE. It was simply a better thing and although it was still a six-cylinder, it was now 4.5-litres in size and made a thumping 158kW of power. It had a fine thirst, however, and you can expect any petrol 75 Series to use at least 15 or 16 litres per 100km on the highway (more if you have a roof rack fitted) while a diesel is a little more frugal at around 12L/100km for the same journey. Both these later engines are excellent off-road, but the main difference is on-road work where the petrol has a much higher cruising speed (well, the later 1FZ-FE, anyway).Toyota also used the 1993 upgrade to fit the LandCruiser with four-wheel-disc brakes which was a good thing in one way; namely stopping power and the fact that disc brakes don’t suffer the same fade problems as drums when you’ve just dunked them in a creek or river crossing. But the downside was that the park-brake moved to a drum-within-disc design and was so prone to getting out of adjustment, it’s become a standing joke among the Cruiser community. It’s no coincidence that 75 Series owners never park their vehicle in neutral.

The Toyota Troopy name is one you may have heard, but questioned. Here's an explainer.

Toyota’s 70 Series of vehicles is a long-running range that makes up the workhorse end of the LandCruiser line-up. Within the series is a variety of engines, body styles and purposes, so it’s best to think of the 70 Series as a family of vehicles rather than a specific car.The 70 Series replaced Toyota’s 40 Series way back in 1984 and has been in showrooms ever since. By then, Toyota had broadened the LandCruiser’s design brief to include family-friendly station-wagons (the 55 Series and later 60 Series) with more comfort, leaving the 40 Series vehicles as the pure workhorses in the range. And that’s the role the 70 Series took over.Back in 1984 when the 70 Series first landed here, the FJ70 (petrol) and BJ70 (diesel) tags related to the short-wheelbase LandCruisers; the BJ73 and FJ73 were mid-wheelbase cars, while the 75 Series cars were the long wheelbase models. Breaking that down even further, the short and mid-wheelbase chassis was available as a two-door wagon/van with a hardtop and a version with a removable fibreglass roof section. The long-wheelbase models consisted of a single-cab pick-up, a cab-chassis and an 11-seater station-wagon called a Troop Carrier. Both the cab-chassis and Troopy are much more familiar sights in this country. There was also a coil-sprung version of the short-wheelbase with (lighter-duty) HiLux running gear called the Bundera (RJ70).The Bundera’s coil springs aside, there was still a lot of 40 Series technology in the 70. That included the body-on-chassis construction (although the 70 got a more robust, boxed chassis design) leaf springs at both ends and live axles front and rear. It also retained the part-time four-wheel-drive system with 2WD, 4WD high-range and 4WD low-range.Engine-wise, the long-wheelbase cars used a carry-over diesel engine, the 76kW, four-litre non-turbo diesel (2H) or the four-litre petrol with 110kW (3F). Four-speed gearboxes were your lot. The 3F petrol six-cylinder was available in the short and mid-wheelbase cars and the top-of-the-range Bundera (the Deluxe), but if you wanted a diesel shorty or middie or didn’t need the bigger six-cylinder, Toyota offered a range of diesel, turbo-diesel and petrol four-cylinder powerplants.It didn’t take long for the cab-chassis and Troop Carrier to become the clear preference for Aussie buyers, mainly because the LWB models had a decent payload (1000kg) were big inside, rugged and reliable and absolutely brilliant off-road. Popular factory options included snorkels, locking differentials and long-range fuel tanks to took the total fuel payload to 180 litres.By 1990, Toyota finally gave the 70 Series the diesel engine it had always deserved when the non-turbocharged 1HZ was added to the line-up. A single overhead camshaft, 96kW and a reputation for being a million-kilometre engine soon cemented the 1HZ’s place in the scheme of things.By 1993, the consumers had voted and Toyota dropped the short-wheelbase models, having dumped the Bundera and mid-wheelbase cars three years earlier. That left the long-wheelbase versions to battle on with a new option of the addition of the 158kW 1FZ-FE six-cylinder petrol engine to help their cause. By now, the standard gearbox was a five-speed manual but Toyota had still not engineered the 70 Series for an automatic transmission. It still hasn’t.The first really big engineering change arrived in 1999 when Toyota finally did something about the crude leaf suspension at either end. At the front, the 70’s still-live axle got coil springs. At the same time, Toyota also fitted longer rear springs which doesn’t sound like much but did make for a smoother ride. Combined with the coil-sprung front end, the vehicle was suddenly a much nicer thing to ride in. To mark the upgrade, the Troop Carrier now became known as the 78 Series and the cab-chassis the 79 Series. A couple of years later, Toyota tapped into the growing recreational off-roader market and offered the 78 and 79 with a modern turbo-diesel; the 4.2-litre, 122kW 1HD-FTE. This was a game-changer because it suddenly gave buyers a diesel option that didn’t need three weeks notice to overtake a road-train and was much better at towing a camper-trailer.Many carmakers would have called the upgrade of 2007 a brand-new model, but Toyota knew that the reputation and goodwill embodied in the 70 Series name was too good to throw away on a 'new' idea. So, for that year, the biggest change in 70 Series history took place.Gone were all three diesel and petrol six-cylinder diesels and in their place came a brand-spanking turbo-diesel V8, and that’s about as exotic as it gets in the bush. Measuring 4.5-litres and good for 151kW of power, the V8 was torquey and under-stressed. And with the right exhaust system it sounded fabulous. Electronic control of the V8 also made it possible for the vehicle to meet Euro 4 emissions targets.The 76 Series wagon was introduced at this point; a five-door conventional wagon without the Troopy’s high roof, plenty of glass area and the same driveline and suspension, including the live axles on which hard-core off-roaders place so much value. It’s a good looking truck and great for families who want something a bit more rugged looking than the 200 Series station-wagon Toyota also offers.These days, the 70 Series soldiers on with the same range with the addition of a dual-cab pick-up that was designed to appeal to companies involved in the recent mining boom. Safety has also been upgraded thanks to air-bags and ABS brakes (although only the single-cab scores five stars for safety) and the five-speed manual gearbox finally got a taller fifth gear for the 2017 model year.But it hasn’t all been progress. There’s no doubt the move to coil springs at the front was a good move, but the switch to five-stud wheels (from six-stud) in the late 90s suddenly meant that everybody who had specced their trailer or van or camper-trailer to use the same rims, suddenly had to double the number of spare tyres they carried for remote-area work.The shift to the V8 was not without its fraught moments early on, either. Some early examples of the V8 liked to drink oil, and owners grumbled about the placement of the alternator (low down in the engine bay – not good for water crossings) and starter motor (in the vee of the engine, below the intake and injection gear).But possibly the biggest moan over the years has been the different track front to rear on 78 and 79 Series Cruisers. The bulkier V8 engine forced Toyota to widen the engine bay and, therefore the front track. Suddenly, that meant that those bush tracks formed by a million other LandCruisers were now the wrong width for the new model. More importantly, the rear track stayed the same as before, so now the rear wheels didn’t follow in the tracks made by the fronts. In sandy country, this made for harder going as the rears couldn’t ride on the sand packed down by the front tyres.But really, these are minor gripes and shouldn’t make the fact that the 70 Series has survived so long in a relatively unchanged form any less amazing in such a tough market.Wondering what the body-type model codes are for the current LandCruiser 70 Series line-up? This should help:LC76 - Five-door wagonLC78 - Troop Carrier / TroopyLC79 - Cab-chassis

To modern Australian families, the SUV is what a Commodore or a Falcon used to be - the sensible, obvious and most common choice of family vehicle.

Everyone wants their new car to look factory-fresh for as long as possible, but this can be a challenge. Tree sap, road tar, bird poo and even industrial fallout can take their toll on your ride, which is why car paint protection is so important.New car paint protection is generally a chemical spray put on by the dealer or a qualified detailer, providing a barrier between the painted surface and the outside world. This can be a chemical layer, like a super-strong wax film, or even a ceramic layer and there are several ways to obtain the paint protection.The big question most people face is: is paint protection worth it? The cost to respray a car’s paint work or fix small imperfections is very high, running into the tens of thousands of dollars in some cases, so for a minimal outlay of up to $2000 it seems prevention is a far better option than cure.Most paint protection products will spray on as a liquid and dry clear, although some products in the past featured a clear plastic film applied to at-risk parts of the car to prevent stone chips or scratches from road grime. Companies like 3M still sell these wraps, which will do a good job of preventing light damage and are fairly cheap.Paint protection can also be applied to second-hand used cars, though often these vehicles will need to have a professional detailer to a full paint correction detail first, adding to the expense. The benefit of this is that it gets your paint locked in looking as good as possible before the protective layer is then applied, sealing the car’s duco.This doesn’t mean you can then abuse your car, or leave it filthy dirty, but it just means your car is better protected. Some paint protection products will need to be reapplied as often as once-a-year if the car is left outside in harsh conditions. Unfortunately, in Australia harsh conditions is just about anywhere the sun shines as the high levels of UV light does huge damage to modern paint products.You can purchase a paint protection kit from websites that sell professional-grade detailing equipment. For the car enthusiast used to polishing and waxing their car at home, some of these products will be easy to apply themselves, but novices should seek out professional detailers.If your car came with a pearl or candy-style paint job, like the type offered by Mazda, you should definitely seek out this service. Mazda paint protection is a good option, and adding a high-quality European ceramic aftermarket sealant on top will ensure your car looks its best for years to come.Similarly, Toyota paint protection would be a good starting point for anyone with a HiLux, LandCruiser, Kluger, HiAce, or any vehicle that is going to get dirty or be used for work.There are many options for car paint protection in Sydney with some businesses able to come to you if you have somewhere undercover and clean to apply the product. The same is true for paint protection in both Melbourne and Brisbane.When it comes to applying paint protection in Adelaide and Perth the harsh summer sun means you’re likely better off with a high-quality ceramic sealant, and booking your car in for a full detail annually to keep your paint fresh.

Just because you’re boring doesn’t mean you’re not hugely successful, just look at politicians, or Toyota. The long-time sales leader in this country, and one of the biggest car mega-giants in the world, Toyota has long been famous for making “white goods”; cars that are simply part of the furniture, that do their jobs without fuss or excitement, and sell largely on reliability and familiarity. Rare is the car enthusiast who gets into a lather over the idea of buying a Corolla or a Camry. But because they do sell so many cars, and dominate so many segments, everything they do is big news, and of obvious interest to car buyers. When Toyota decides that hybrids will be a thing, as it did with the Prius, back in 1997, it can change the world.So when the company’s CEO, Akio Toyoda, decides that Toyotas are too boring and that its cars should, instead, be “fun to drive”, as he did, repeatedly, back in 2011, it’s a big deal. The results of his pledge have been rolling out ever since, with the genuinely exhilarating to drive Toyota 86 setting the course, and the recently unveiled new Toyota Supra set to take the company’s idea of fun to a different plane.Here, then, is all the latest and greatest news about new Toyota models.New Toyota sports cars - Gazoo RacingYes, it sounds like something from Wacky Racers, but Gazoo Racing is the quirkily named sporting division of Toyota, responsible, not only for making exciting sports cars like the Supra, but for making sportier versions of nearly all Toyotas available, in the near future.The plan is to have three levels of performance and excitement above your stock Toyota - the GR Sport badge will indicate cars that have been given a cosmetic treatment, like an Audi S-Line, or the M-badged but not actually M versions of BMWs.GR-badged cars will offer a bit more performance than standard models, and the cosmetic changes, while the funny-sounding GRMN badge will apply only to the most aggressive Toyotas.This means you can expect to see GR badges of some kind on vehicles as diverse as the Yaris and even the HiLux.New Toyota SupraThe amount of excitement around the new Toyota Supra - a proper sports car that will become a head-turning halo car for the brand - should be tempered just slightly by the fact that you probably won’t be able to buy one. Or not for a while, anyway.It might sound slightly surprising for a car company as vast as Toyota - because surely they can just make as many vehicles as they like - but the brand’s most exciting vehicle in years, the Supra, is going to disappoint a lot of people who just won’t be able to get hold of one. In its first year on sale, in 2020, there will be just 300 Supras available for keen buyers in Australia, meaning that demand will well and truly outstrip supply.Indeed, you can’t even order one yet, officially, because neither pricing or specification for the Aussie models has yet been confirmed, but frankly they could charge just about anything for them and they’d all sell.The BMW Z4 M40i roadster, which shares both the platform and the engine of the Supra, but with more Germanic looks, is going to cost $124,900, and you can bet the Toyota version will be significantly cheaper than that.It’s a familiar story for Toyota, which faced similar demand for its last excitement machine, the 86, which had people on waiting lists for 18 months.“We’ve never really had a car like this before, I think probably the closest thing was the 86 – that was a very, very popular car – so when you look at that, and then look at this – the Supra – we’ve got to do a bit of work on how we allocate that and how we manage the ordering process,” a Toyota spokesman said.“This is quite a unique car, it’s coming from Europe, limited production numbers, so much hype around it, everyone’s clamouring to get their hands on one, and for us we’re just asking for patience as we work through that process.”New Toyota 86Considering how popular it has been, and the great things it has done for Toyota’s image, it’s hard to believe there won’t be a second generation of the Toyota 86.But the fact is the car is now more than seven years old, and yet there’s no sign of spy pics of a new one, and no confirmation from Toyota that it will be replaced at all.Toyota jointly developed the 86 with Subaru, which badged its version as the BRZ, but rumour has it the relationship has soured, which may well scupper this beloved car’s future. Reports from Japan suggest the replacement for the 86/BRZ has been cancelled.Toyota might decide to replace its 86 with an entry-level, four-cylinder version of the Supra, but that is only speculation. For now, Toyota says it has “no plans to discontinue the 86”.The most recent update to the 86 was back in December 2016, with a facelift styling job, returned suspension, a small power boost and a shorter-throw manual gearbox. Still on sale, currently, for under $35,000, it remains one of the great sports-car bargain buys. While we’d all love to see the 86 replaced by an all new Toyota Celica, there seem to be no plans to bring that legendary badge back to life. Yet.New Toyota Corolla hot hatchWhile the latest Corolla is more exciting to drive, and to look at, than previous generations, what is missing is a hot-hatch version, but that looks set to change with Toyota confirming that, by 2020, it will have a Corolla GMRN to take on the likes of Volkswagen’s legendary Golf GTI and Hyundai’s hot i30N.Toyota’s deputy chief designer Toshio Kanei recently confirmed that “a Corolla GRMN is certainly realistic” and that “we are already working on that. “The development takes place under the supervision of Toyota GAZOO Racing. This department has included the Corolla GRMN in the future plan, but for now the project is still in the planning stage.”The hot-hatch Corolla will not be a hybrid, but may have to take on the 2.0-litre engines of competitors like the Honda Civic Type R and Renault Megane RS with a turbocharged 1.6-litre powerplant.Australia loves its hot hatches, so we would be a key market for the sportified Corolla.New Toyota YarisSpeaking of hot hatches, Toyota also looks set to take the fight to another VW hot hatch, the Polo GTI, with the introduction of a GR badged version of the next-generation Yaris small car.This car should break cover very soon, possibly at the Tokyo Motor Show in October, if not sooner, and its existence makes perfect sense, considering there is already a Europe-only Yaris GRMN, powered by a supercharged 1.8-litre engine.New Toyota HiLuxNot just one of the best-selling Toyotas, but one of the best-selling vehicles in our market, the Toyota HiLux looks certain to get the Gazoo Racing treatment as well, with a hotted up ute finally able to replace the hole in the market left by the death of the TRD brand.Toyota boss Sean Hanley recently confirmed that if the HiLux range, currently topped by the Rogue and Rugged X models, was to offer a high-performance version it would be badged as the Toyota HiLux GR.“There’s a whole mass of opportunity for GR in Australia and in the foreseeable future it will become clear to everyone what GR means for us,” Hanley said.A hotter new Toyota ute would give the brand fuel to fight the Ford Ranger with its wild Raptor offerings.New Toyota LandCruiserWhile it’s famed for its ability to go anywhere and to continue doing so for years and years, the current 200 Series LandCruiser is getting long in the tooth, after more than a decade of service. It is, of course, the first Toyota model ever sold in Australia, and remains a favourite, particularly in country areas.Sure enough, a new version is on the way, within the next couple of years, which will bring updated technology, better off-road skills and smaller and more environmental engines. Don’t hold your breath for a new V8, basically.What you are almost certain to see instead is a hybrid version, while the twin-turbo 3.5-litre V6 currently doing service with Lexus is likely to replace the naturally aspirated V8.Toyota sources have confirmed that a new 300 Series Landcruiser is already “under development” and should go on sale as soon as 2021.Expect a sleeker design on the outside, but no change to its capaciousness, nor its ability to carry eight humans. Safety systems and infotainment will obviously gain significant updates.All this should add up to at least a mild price rise as well when this new Toyota SUV arrives.New Toyota CamryNow even more ubiquitous as Uber drivers’ vehicle of choice, the Toyota Camry has been on sale here since 1983 and is not about to go anywhere.While an all-new model is some way off yet, the biggest change recently has been the arrival of the much-lauded, and awarded, new Camry Hybrid.The car has been a stunning success, with the hybridised version taking 48 percent of all new Camry sales in this country, an unprecedented figure for Toyota.The fully imported Camry replaced the Australian-built one after the closure of Toyota’s local operations, but that does not seem to have dented its popularity at all.New Toyota hybridsAs the company that basically gave birth to the hybrid craze, which is admittedly far larger in countries like Japan, Toyota is fully invested in the technology and recently reaffirmed its commitment by announcing it would add five new hybrid models to its range over the next two and a half years.Spurred on by the huge take-up of the Camry hybrid, Toyota has announced more hybrid versions to join the Corolla and Prius. The first one will be a hybrid version of the new Toyota RAV4, which will become the company’s first hybrid SUV, but certainly not its last. Toyota will not confirm what the other four hybrid models will be (C-HR anyone?), but it’s safe to say there’ll be hybrid versions of just about every car in the line-up coming on stream. Toyota has sold more than 12 million hybrids globally since first launching the Prius back in 1997.New Toyota PriusThe hybrid that started it all, the Toyota Prius, has just been refreshed, in March, for the 2019 model year, with new styling and more tech.The new look is both simpler and more aggressive than previous models, while the whole Prius has also grown 35mm longer, thanks to its new front end.There’s a new look inside as well, with a focus on improving comfort and making the centre console easier to use, and more tech friendly (think wireless charging).Prius models are also equipped with a new multimedia system with inbuilt satellite navigation with live traffic routing, DAB+ digital radio, Siri eyes-free and Miracast. Like all other Australian Toyota products, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, remains unavailable locally.The sole drivetrain for Australia remains unchanged - a 72kW/142Nm 1.8-litre Atkinson cycle four-cylinder petrol engine with a nickel metal-hydride (NiMH) battery pack and electric motor for a total power output of 90kW. Toyota claims a combined fuel consumption cycle of 3.4L/100km, and CO2 emissions of 80g/km.Prius sales were down 50 percent in the first three months of 2019, so Toyota will be hoping the facelift can turn that slump around.New Toyota RAV4With new, tougher looks that might well divide opinions, the RAV4 revealed a long-overdue update in the second quarter of 2019.The edgier, slicker design also brings more interior space, a bigger boot and updated safety systems, while the diesel engine variant is gone, replaced by a hybrid option, Toyota’s first in an SUV.The fifth generation of this mid-size SUV rides on a more sophisticated platform - Toyota’s New Generation Architecture (TNGA), which also underpins the new Camry, Corolla, Prius and C-HR and brings a revamped suspension set-up. Handling is improved and cabin noise and comfort are also better.New Toyota vanAnother Toyota that’s been seriously overdue for an update is the much-loved HiAce van, an all-new and much improved version of which will arrive in Australia in the middle of 2019.It’s the first time in 15 years that Toyota has revealed an entirely new generation of the HiAce and, as you would imagine, that means a raft of important upgrades.The new van will be longer, much safer (possibly even with a five-star crash rating) and more refined,and will feature new engines and a longer wheelbase.HiAce buyers will be excited to get more power, more fruit in the cabin and even improved ride comfort.The new design maintains the much-loved cargo space while providing a stiffer frame, greater stability and manoeuvrability and more pliant suspension.The sixth generation of Toyota’s family bus will offer a choice of two-seat vans in long wheelbase (LWB) and super-long wheelbase (SLWB) configurations, as well as five-seat LWB crew vans and the 12-seat SLWB Commuter buses.The new HiAce range will offer two new engines; a 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel and a 3.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol, both with a choice of six-speed manual or automatic transmissions.Cargo capacity has been maintained - at 6.2 cubic metres for the LWB or a whopping 9.3 cubes for the SLWB.New Toyota C-HRThe edgy, slightly weird looking and youth-focused Toyota C-HR basically is still a new car - a small hatch that thinks it’s an SUV - so we shouldn’t expect an entirely new version soon, although customers in other markets will be getting a fully electric C-HR in 2020.Toyota has confirmed the EV will be launched at the Beijing motor show in that year, in line with the Chines government's demands for a quote of any manufacturer's sales to be electric.Toyota Australia says it’s unable to confirm whether an electrified C-HR will ever come to Australia, but it’s certainly possible, if EVs ever do take off locally.New Toyota FortunerWhile the hugely popular HiLux range keeps adding variants, like the Rugged, Rugged X and Rogue, there are no such plans for the slightly less-loved Fortuner, according to Toyota Australia.The HiLux-based, seven-seater SUV has floundered somewhat against rugged competitors like the Isuzu MU-X, Ford Everest and Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, and Toyota does not appear to think that more modest in the line-up would help its sales.To be fair, one vehicle that the Fortuner loses some sales to is an in-house competitor anyway, in the shape of the Toyota Prado.New Toyota Highlander/Toyota KlugerThe fourth-generation Toyota Highlander, known around these parts as the Kluger, is set to arrive in 2020 and speculation suggests the mid-sized SUV will be growing slightly in terms of its proportions.It will also wear a new more rugged design, similar to what we’ve seen on the new RAV4, with a more aggressive grille and sleeker headlights.The new Kluger has been caught in the US in benchmarking tests with the Mazda CX-9, which tells you just how focused Toyota must be on making it more dynamically adept, and family friendly.You can also bet your house on there being a hybrid version of the Kluger in the mix when it arrives next year. Expect to see the new car breaking cover later this year.

There are too many gears in the world today.