Toyota Landcruiser 70 Series vs Rolls-Royce Ghost

What's the difference?

It looks like a house brick, it drives like a busted truck, it has less safety gear than a go-kart and fewer standard features than a shopping cart, yet there’s still so much to like about the 2026 Toyota LandCruiser 76 Series.

It’s fun to drive (if you know what to expect), it’s highly functional (for the job-site or camp-site) and one of the best 4WDs straight out of the showroom. And in GXL guise it makes a lot of sense as a work wagon or a touring vehicle.

Sure, Toyota pushes the boundaries of brand loyalty – consistently doing the bare minimum to keep buyers coming back for more – but in the case of the 76, I don’t mind that because this is one of the old-school 4WDs that should always be available.

In a disruptive era when the coachbuilder has pivoted to SUVs like the Cullinan, a sort of London black cab that’s been dipped in opulence, and succeeds despite itself, and the brand’s grand, million-dollar EV, the Spectre, the Ghost is a safe and familiar space. 

A beautiful, long, broad, immaculate land boat. It’s a space Rolls inhabits with relish. 

The Ghost Series II feels nothing like a track-day option when you’re behind the wheel. But it might do if you were stepping out of a Phantom. Or a Cullinan. Or a Wraith. Especially if you’re stepping out of the back doors. 

It’s the perfect driver’s car. As long as all your other cars are also Rolls-Royces. 

The 76 Series is boxy and blocky at 4910mm long (with a 2730mm wheelbase), 1870mm wide and 1940mm high. It has a listed kerb weight of 2300kg.

This is a straight-up-and-down 4WD wagon whose hard edges have been somewhat softened through the most recent significant upgrade.

The cabin retains its spacious but spartan look and feel. Function wins out over form here.

The five seats sport a hard-wearing grey cloth trim which fits in nicely with the 76 Series’ spirit of utility.

Yes, its exterior is more monolithic than before. The previous iteration was hardly fiddly, but the (apparently client driven) evolution here edges ever so gracefully towards what Rolls-Royce might secretly think of as brutalism.

The Ghost Series II’s generous 2148mm width is further emphasised up front, stretched across its upright prow, with slimline headlights adding definition and — surprisingly — a touch of villainy.

New, Spectre-inspired tail lamps and a discreetly inscribed double ‘R’ monogram add a reserved flourish from behind, and buyers can choose from two new 22-inch, nine-spoke wheel designs.

It’s subtle, no doubt. But it’s also impeccable.

The 76 cabin is practicality maximus, albeit with a basic interior that feels like it was delivered here from the 1970s by a disco-ball-equipped time machine.

It is unashamedly purpose-built for work and in GXL guise this five-seat wagon is well-suited to job-site duties and/or touring life.

The cabin layout has a nice familiarity about it and it’s an easy space in which to quickly become comfortable.

All controls are easy to locate and operate – dials or buttons as per most Toyota cabins – and the 76 Series has a new multimedia screen. But it’s nothing to get excited about. It’s too small, too dark and it’s difficult to operate. So, that’s a fail.

The cabin is roomy, however, even if storage spaces are few and far between and some of them are small or awkwardly shaped or both.

There are two outboard cupholders, a narrow centre console bin, a cupholder and narrow smartphone spot to the left of the gear stick and door pockets. There is also a shallow shelf for something below the front passenger's outboard air vent.

It's a spartan interior, but as plain as it all is, it fits in with the 70 Series ethos of being functional.

Cloth seat and door trim retain that rough-and-ready feel the model is renowned for and there are expanses of hard plastic surfaces everywhere to endure whatever work and life can throw at them.

The carpet floor in our test vehicle was topped with rubber mats.

Storage spaces up front include a glove box, centre console with lid, dual cupholders between the driver and front passenger, pop-out outboard cupholders and door pockets big enough for a water bottle.

Rear-seat passengers each get a seatback map pocket… and that’s about it.

Front seats are as comfortable as you’d expect in a 76 Series, offering adequate rather than exceptional levels of support and comfort, and the rear seats are squeezy for adults, so better left to children.

Payload is listed as 1210kg and the expansive squared-off rear cargo area could probably cop most of that weighty burden. That space can be expanded to fit even more work or camping equipment if you tumble-fold the 60/40 split second-row forward.

Access to the rear is via the 60/40-split barn-type tailgate.

As a reference, the Ineos Grenadier Trialmaster offers very comfortable Recaro seats at the front, as well as slightly more space and comfort in its second row and more amenities throughout its cabin (as well as quirky touches, such as aircraft-style switchgear and the like).

Inside, yes, there are bonkers touches in this most refined of automotive spaces, such as upholstery pinpricked by 107,000 'Placed Perforations' of 1.2mm in diameter, each individually examined, that replicate the shape of some clouds spotted over Rolls-Royce's Goodwood HQ. 

Beside those flourishes of lunatic opulence, the more practical features feel pedestrian, but they’re comprehensive. The wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, the seamless 'Central Information Display' and the 18-speaker 1400-watt audio, the upgraded Wi-Fi hotspot and the unobtrusive USB-C ports. The rear-seats flush with giant, streaming-optimised screens and heated and ventilated massaging seats.

Rolls acknowledges the generational movement of its clientele from back seat to front, with over 90 per cent of buyers now opting to — gasp! — steer themselves in a Ghost. But with back-seat savoir faire in its DNA, Rolls simply extends its hospitality to every seat.

The Ghost Series II is yours for an indicative price of just $680,000 (or $800K for the Black Badge) plus substantial on-road costs. The Ghost Series II extended (which we didn’t drive at the international launch in Provence) will slip in at around $20K less than the Black Badge before additional charges. 

If they seem like big numbers, you’re probably the sort of person who looks at price tags, or who shops in shops that put price tags on things. These are not common traits of Rolls-Royce buyers, who may only be vaguely aware of the actual price of their vehicle, and whose historical impression of guillotines is generally unfavourable.

So, high six-hundreds is table stakes.

But you might also think the ‘standard’ Ghost, like all Rolls-Royces, is considered by most buyers to be a mere starting point, from which they’ll typically up-spec their ride from a sumptuous and expensive options list.

Spending another 10 percent of the purchase price on customisation is a bare-bones outlay for most owners, but even so, the evolved Ghost’s out-of-the-box features are so comprehensive as to be almost overwhelming. 

First, because the Ghost has been Rolls-Royce’s driver’s car since the first (modern) generation arrived in 2010, specifically to cater to a weird (for Rolls clientele) new generation of buyers who wanted to drive their Rolls themselves. 

So that price gets you, above all, that proven but superb 6.75-litre twin-turbo V12 engine, massaged via an eight-speed transmission and an AWD system that’s as rich and viscous as Crassus’s last libation.

There’s its subtly tinkered 'flight on land' 'Planar Suspension System' (note the unspoken dissonance between the terms ‘flight on land’ and ‘driver-focused'), with an ingenious 'Satellite Aided Transmission' system that uses GPS to pick the ideal gear with which to launch out of turns.

It works hand-in-velvet-glove with Goodwood's 'Flagbearer' camera system, which tracks the road ahead to chide potholes into submission in advance.

Because it’s a Rolls, though, that’s barely even the start of the story. 

The coachwork is extraordinary, with new trim options including natural open-pore 'Grey Stained Ash' design elements, a sumptuous new bamboo rayon textile called 'Duality Twill'.

There a night-sky inspired illuminated fascia that apes elements of time-lapse celestial photography, part of the central glass panel that stretches the length of the dash. 

Sure, you might expect that level of detail for the outlay. But for the outlay it’s far from missing anything you’d expect.

This 76 Series GXL has a 2.8-litre, four-cylinder, turbo-diesel engine producing 150kW from 3200–3400rpm and 450Nm from 2400–3000rpm and a five-speed manual gearbox.

It has part-time four-wheel drive and auto-locking hubs, and this GXL variant has locking front and rear diffs as standard.

Rolls doesn’t like acceleration figures — too gauche, darling — but armed with that proven 420kW and 850Nm V12, the Ghost Series II has serious heft. Delivering max torque from 1600rpm — just 600rpm above idle — the effect is genuinely of one endless surge, a wafting cloud of momentum that subtly slips between gears as it exudes itself across the countryside.

The Black Badge edition, like all of its, er, ‘disruptive’ ilk offers a ‘Low’ button (‘Low’ means ‘Sport’ in Rollspeak), which bumps gearshift speeds by 50 percent when you plant your foot, and delivers a distinctly non-Rolls-like pop and burble on overrun. It also provides an extra 21kW and 50Nm, because Black Badge is mean and tough.

Official combined cycle (urban/extra-urban) fuel consumption is listed as 9.6L/100km.

Fuel consumption on my test was 11.4L/100km and that was recorded after a variety of driving (suburbs, highway, back roads and bush tracks) with a full day of 4WDing thrown into the mix.

The 76 Series uses diesel and has a 130-litre fuel tank. Driving range is 1354km (based on the official fuel-use figure) and 1140km (based on my fuel-use figure on test).

Provence is not entirely a driver’s paradise, with every stretch of slightly twisty tarmac only a counterpoint to a motorway lined with Marseille lorries, Depardieu-esque men in tractors who refuse to move to the verge, and small villages where each kerbside corners sit millimetres from the foot of an adjacent boulangerie.

Which is to say it’s neither a place for economy runs, nor a location at which to run up the consumption numbers with a madcap series of impromptu hill climbs.

Our Ghost II drive returned around 16L/100km, which feels about right with that gorilla-in-a-tuxedo 6.75L V12, and is only slightly above the official figures of 15.8L/100km. Not great, could be worse.

It’s a lot of fun, but be prepared to drop any expectations of comfort and safety and simply enjoy the all-in experience of driving a vehicle that steers around like an old school mini-bus and exhibits the ride and handling characteristics of a sugar-cane harvester.

From the massive throw of the big gear stick and old-armchair-like cloth seats to the low-key rumble of the turbo-diesel engine and commanding driving position, spending any drive time in the LC76 is a shedload of fun.

This is not an insubstantial wagon and it’s unwieldy on suburban back streets and parked-in city lanes, especially if you're used to driving zippy urban-friendly SUVs.

When you drive it, the 76 feels tall and narrow, but it still somehow feels well planted on the road, unless you're driving over-energetically, and you soon get used to its lumbering attitude.

Visibility is impressive all-around and that turbo-diesel offers ample responsiveness when you need it to, Unfortunately, it doesn’t have the deep rumble of the ol’ V8 but it’s pleasing, nonetheless.

Steering is truck-vague, there is body-roll when you pitch it into sharper corners and the brake-pedal action is spongy, rather than direct.

The five-speed manual gearbox is well matched to this four-cylinder engine and with the taller fifth gear sorted out a few years back the LC76 overtakes with ease and is an easy drive on open roads. Though Toyota has fine-tuned the gearbox to better suit this engine, I wouldn't mind another gear in this thing.

The 76 is noisy because it's a tall, boxy wagon that monsters its way through the air as opposed to slipping smoothly through it like a 4WD ninja. And there's wind-rush around this 76's big wing mirrors and its chunky snorkel (mounted on the driver-side A-pillar in our test vehicle).

It always feels like a window's open or a door's not shut properly in the 76 because this wagon is as draughty as an old house. But those quirks are part of this wagon’s charm and I don’t mind them, at all.

Anyway, to the off-road bit.

This is a purpose-built 4WD wagon and it remains as brutally effective off-road as it's ever been.

As standard, the 76 has part-time four-wheel drive and auto-locking hubs. And in GXL guise it has locking front and rear diffs as standard.

Off-road angles are 33 degrees approach and 23 degrees departure, as well as 290mm of listed ground clearance and a 700mm wading depth, which all check out.

Its suspension set-up – coil springs at the front, leaf springs at the rear – yields a comfortable ride over poorly maintained back roads and corrugated gravel tracks.

Low-range gearing is great and there's plenty of torque available at low revs and the 76’s 4WD set-up offers impressive flexibility when you're in low-range 4WD.

The 76 also has front and rear diff locks (dial-operated from the driver seat and standard on the GXL), as well as driver-assist tech, such as hill-start assist, to call upon.

The 76 has live axles front and rear and wheel travel is decent, so you're generally able to stretch a tyre to the dirt for more traction.

It’s worth noting the 76's wheel tracks are still set at different widths from front to rear – 1555mm wide at the front (because of the line-up's now discontinued V8 engine and large radiator) and 1460mm wide at the rear – but that’s of little consequence in general daily driving or even 4WDing.

This 4WD rides on bush-friendly 16-inch alloys, shod with light-truck construction Dunlop Grandtrek AT1 (265/70R16 115R). Good size rubber and there’s a full-size spare as back-up.

Unbraked towing capacity is listed as 750kg while braked trailer capacity is 3500kg. The 76 Series has a gross vehicle mass (GVM) of 3510kg and a gross combined mass (GCM) of 7010kg.

For reference, the Ineos Grenadier offers a GVM of 3550kg and a GCM of 7000kg, so it’s a close weight race with the 76.

The Ghost Series II drives like a magic carpet, serene and untroubled; in almost any stable other than that of Rolls, calling it a ‘driver’s car’ would have you throttled by their skunkworks. Everything is relative.

Still, it hides its considerable dimensions well. There’s never any doubt that you’re in a large saloon, as you white-knuckle the Ghost’s impeccably appointed steering wheel, but there’s always enough power to deliver creamily instant throttle response, even in the case of initially misjudged cambers. 

Nor can the Black Badge hide the shimmy of that characteristic ‘flight on land’ body drift. The upside is that its manners are impeccable, even through the worst possible pieces of corrugation Provence can deliver. 

If anything, the Ghost Series II’s big-hearted bulk adds to the fun factor, especially in some of Rolls-Royce’s more garish colour options, when gasping South of France MAMILs stare in amazement as a bright yellow, five-and-a-half metre Rolls passes them on the outside, scattering their various baguettes and garlands of onions.

You get airbags, ESC, adaptive cruise, parking sensors and auto parking, and a rear camera. But don’t expect Rolls-Royce to allow the blighters at ANCAP to wreck one.

The 2026 76 Series is covered by a five-year/unlimited km warranty.

Service intervals are scheduled for every six months/10,000km (whichever occurs soonest) and it has to be said that those intervals are short compared to other vehicles.

Cost per service for the LC70 is $545 for five years or 100,000km (up to the first 10 services) for a total cost of $5450.

For reference, Ineos offers a five-year/unlimited km warranty for the Grenadier, with servicing scheduled at 12-month/15,000km intervals at a total approximate cost of $4626.

Expect just a four-year servicing and warranty offer for Australian customers of this vehicle. So that means an unlimited-mileage warranty, including all services, for the first four years.