Toyota Land Cruiser diesel ute 2007 review

Step into the cabin of Toyota's latest LandCruiser and it's like opening the door to a time machine: the latest 70 series is a serious workhorse and its maker doesn't apologise for its utilitarian design.

There's plenty of 1980s-looking plastic, old-fashioned dials and controls and painted metal, and although there are some comforts (a CD player with MP3 capability and air conditioning), there aren't air bags or anti-lock brakes.

Its mechanicals are from the “tried and trusted school of engineering” rigid live axles, manual hubs to engage the front wheels, manual mirrors, high-rise snorkel for deep creek crossings and leaf springs for the rear suspension — terrific for loads but body jarring when unladen. In short, it feels bullet-proof.

The new old-looking Cruiser was launched in Australia in March and so far has won widespread acclaim from testers. That has flowed on to strong customer interest, with Hobart dealer CoOp Motors reporting about 20 outstanding orders, which won't be filled until August because of demand. Most of those orders are from farmers and tradies for the ute-chassis version, although this latest Cruiser comes in three variants with a choice of two specification grades (Workmate and GLX).

The cab-chassis and stretched 11-seat Troop Carrier carry over but Toyota has added a five-seat wagon to fill the gap left by the discontinued entry-level 100 series wagon; it's ideal for farming families or logging contractors who need to get a crew of three or four to bush sites.

The difference between the no-nonsense Workmate and the plusher GLX is the latter gets cloth instead of vinyl trim, more chrome, front door armrests, bigger wheel flares, power-operated radio aerial, alloy wheels, carpet, power windows, fog lamps and central locking.

The built-like-a-block styling (Toyota says it expresses strength) looks unchanged but everything is new from the A-pillar forward. The Cruiser's footprint is wider than before to improve handling and ride.

Prices start at $53,990 for the Workmate cab-chassis and wagon, which is up 2.8 per cent on the old six-cylinder models. Troopy prices start at $59,990, while the dearest model is the GLX version of the Troop Carrier at $61,490.

If you want air conditioning it's $2640 more for all models; dif locks, worth considering, add $2735. If you don't need the rear seats in the Troopy Workmate, the price drops by $1100 and you can choose not to have the secondary fuel tank on the Workmate to save again.

The new 4.5-litre clean-burning, common-rail V8 diesel with turbocharging and intercooler is used across the range. It has 430Nm of torque available from 1200rpm to 3200rpm, making it wonderfully flexible. Power is a modest 151kW at 3400rpm. This engine, with even more grunt, will be used in the coming 200 series Cruiser.

On the road

You'd think a big boxy, diesel-powered off-roader with big-tread tyres would be a pig of a thing on the highway but it's far from it, although the 'Cruiser would be even better if it had an overdrive sixth gear instead of the five-speed manual box for more relaxed cruising.

As it is, it pulls 2200rpm at 110km/h, with bucketloads of torque in reserve when needed. Expect some understeer and body roll, which come with the design. The recirculating ball and nut steering is well weighted and makes the wagon easy to drive, although there is occasional kickback through the wheel at crawling speeds when it comes to tackling the rough stuff.

Point it up steep hills and it takes it all in its stride without a whimper, its ability limited by the tyre's tread pattern. Steep downhill runs can be a bit tricky if you don't have dif locks engaged.

The cabin is surprisingly comfortable but the sometimes odd, scattergun approach to the layout of controls takes time to get familiar with, and the audio system sounds awful.

The big surprise was fuel consumption. You'd expect a big, heavy wagon to cost an arm and a leg (perhaps both legs) to keep on the road but Toyota claims an average of 11.5 to 11.9L/100km, depending on the model. That gives it a theoretical range of about 1500km on dual tanks. I couldn't match that but certainly a fuel return of under 13L/100km is easily achievable for normal city and highway use. Off-road, however, is another story.