Toyota Land Cruiser 2011 News

Buying a used car is difficult enough in normal times.

Toyota has listened to the demands of miners, farmers and other customers by launching the turbodiesel GX with features much-loved by owners who tend to torture, not just drive, their LandCruisers. They include vinyl floors, twin barn doors at the rear (vertically hinged), 17-inch steel wheels, a snorkel, 93-litre main and 45-litre auxiliary fuel tanks, five seats, under-body protection plates and a standard car key. Based on the GXL variant, the new GX is the spiritual successor to the 100 Series Standard Grade. Priced from $77,990, the GX is not without creature comforts, but they are designed to complement the tough work life of the vehicle and its owner. They include a single CD player, manual air-conditioning, power windows with driver's auto up/down and power-operated exterior mirrors. There is no skimping on protection because the new variant keeps all the GXL safety equipment, which is important for drivers and for the OH&S requirements of companies running fleets. It includes driver and front-passenger airbags, curtain-shield airbags, vehicle stability control, active traction control, hill-start assist, multi-terrain anti-skid brakes and Toyota CRAWL  effectively an off-road cruise-control system. The GX has a 195kW/650Nm 4.5-litre V8 twin-turbo diesel engine, six-speed automatic transmission, full-time 4WD with Torsen limited-slip centre differential and two-speed transfer case.

For the LandCruiser it means 18-inch alloy wheels, leather-accented interior, power-operated driver and front passenger seats opklus satellite navigation, over and above the gear found on GXL wagons. The LandCruiser Altitudes are available with either the V8 petrol or twin-turbo diesel V8 engine, both with auto transmissions; prices start from $80,190 for the V8-petrol.The RAV4 Altitude is available as a two-wheel drive with manual or automatic transmission or all-wheel drive wagon with auto. Extras beyond the CV model grade include 17-inch alloy wheels, front fog lamps, silver roof rails abnd rear privacy glass.

The prototype, the BJ, appeared in early 1951 and promptly crawled up Japan's Mount Fuji to demonstrate it's abilties. And in June 1954 this short wheelbase machine was renamed the LandCruiser.But it was the FJ40 from the 1960s through the 1980s which wrote the legend; more than one million were sold around the world, 121,000 to Australian farmers, miners and adventurers.Early LandCruisers arrived here from 1958 and among first customers was construction magnate Sir Leslie Thiess who used the rugged, go-anywhere machines during construction of the Snowy Mountains Scheme. These FJ25 and long wheelbase FJ28 modelshad a cnavas hood, 3.6 litre engine, four-speed transmission and part-time four-wheel drive.The FJ40 series arrived in 1962 but the first LandCruiser designed for civilian use didn't arrive until the FJ55 wagon in 1969. A HJ45 ute arrived in 1975.  And so it went until the LandCruiser range now spreads from this FJ Cruiser, through utes and troop carriers and Prados to the LandCruiser 200 series.Toyota's range, and reputation, of four-wheel drives has long been popular here. To date some 765,000 LandCruisers have been sold in Australia, the world's largest single market for the Cruiser and taking 12 per cent of production.