Are you ready to admit you paid too much for your LC200? New LC300 prices show how overpriced the LandCruiser 200 Series really was | Opinion

Australia is Toyota country. LandCruiser country. A land of harsh terrain and endless deserts, where the only thing tougher than the vehicles required are the sun-battered people behind the wheel.

Or something like that.

It's also, apparently, a country where there is genuinely no ceiling as to how much we're willing to pay for a 4WD.

We knew that the LandCruiser 300 Series was going to forge new ground when it comes to SUV pricing in Australia, but even the most rusted-on fan must have been a little bit surprised when we learned that the most expensive model, the Sahara ZX, would list at $138,790, or just north of $150,000 once you're on the road.

To quickly recap, official pricing for the LC300 starts at $89,990 for the GX, $101,790 for the GXL, $113,990 for the VX, $131,190 for the Sahara, $137,790 for the GR Sport and $138,790 for the Sahara ZX.

And that's before on-road costs, of course, which see those numbers climb to $97,500 (GX), $111,900 (GXL), $124,665 (VX), $142,811 (Sahara), $149,775 (GR Sport) and $150,830 (Sahara ZX).

And yes, they're big numbers. But you know the thing that really jumped out at me? How close they are to the prices attached to the LC200 as the days ticked down to its demise.

I know people were paying silly money in that model's dying days, but the purpose of comparison, let's focus on the list price of the top-spec model, the Sahara Horizon, which carried an MSRP of $131,773.

The LC300 equivalent, the Sahara ZX, is $138,790, or just over $7k more expensive than its predecessor.

And yes, that's a lot of money. But the LC300 has plenty to justify its new price tag. The LC200? Not so much.

Remember, the LC200 launched way back in 2008, some 13 long years ago. And to be honest, it didn't change all that much over the years.

So how is it possible that Toyota can launch an LC300 that significantly improves the technology, the safety, the power, the engineering – and essentially develop an entirely new engine family – and only charge $7k more? Simple answer? The LC200 was simply too expensive for what it was.

Think about it, the LC300's 3.3-litre turbo-diesel engine is newly developed, and makes more power (227kW vs 200kW) and more torque (700Nm vs 650Nm) than the LC200's 4.5-litre V8.

There's an entirely new platform, a new 10-speed gearbox, advanced engineering like Toyota’s Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System, a Multi-Terrain Monitor that shows the driver what's happening outside, and beneath, the vehicle, and a Multi-Terrain Select function that automatically reads the road surface and responds accordingly, too.

There's a ton of new safety stuff, including day/night AEB with pedestrian and cyclist protection, as well crossing detection, crash-avoidance tech and lane keeping assist, not to mention the massive 12.3-inch touchscreen equipped with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, six USB points, keyless entry, push-button start, and more.

You want more? Fine, how about the four-zone climate control, eight cupholders, and a power-adjustable steering wheel and heated and ventilated seats in the front, and heated pews in the back?

Or the head-up display, the 14-speaker JBL stereo, the power-folding third-row seats? Or the 20-inch alloy wheels and illuminated side steps?

Now I don't list all of this to suggest the LC300 is sharply priced. More than $150k is a lot of money to put any vehicle on the road.

But how anyone can argue the LC300 is overpriced, without labelling the same accusation – only times 1000 – at the LC200 is beyond me. Because you know what that model got?

A 13-year-old car with all the technology of an abacus (save the actual DVD players), that earned its five-star safety rating in 2011, and that felt very much like an analogue clock in a digital world.

The LC300 isn't cheap, but LC200 pricing makes it seem a bargain.