What's the difference?
Toyota Australia has made a raft of changes to the current LandCruiser 300 Series line-up as part of the latest round of upgrades, but even though the third-from-top Sahara gets a $1119 price rise, it doesn’t receive any updates.
In an increasingly competitive 4WD wagon market – where some car-makers are offering more standard features and tech at lower prices – has the venerable LandCruiser lost its lustre?
Read on.
As a child, my parents - who aren't car people - would see a Jaguar and point. It didn't matter if it was an XJ, Daimler Double Six or a Mark II, there was a great deal of mystique around these bastions of Britishness. It also didn't matter that these weren't necessarily good cars. The Seventies and Eighties saw the brand slide into a funk while being passed between owners like hot potatoes.
Somehow, the brand survived its brush with Ford's useless Premier Automotive Group strategy which only came good towards the end as Jaguar's management woke up and put in place a change in direction that produced the Ian Callum-designed XF. Riding high on that design, Jaguar then promptly introduced the very pretty Jaguar XJ.
It has been on sale for ages, but with the addition of a few bits and bobs to stay competitive, it's as compelling as ever. Most importantly, the performance-focused R has kept its unique supercharged V8.
The Sahara version of the LandCruiser 300 is an impressive large 4WD wagon: refined and comfortable on-road, and it adequately retains that renowned ’Cruiser capability off-road.
It's supremely comfortable seven-seater and has heaps of potential as a touring vehicle, but while there's plenty to like about the Sahara spec, the updated seven-seat GXL (up $2029, to $110,820 excluding on-road costs) offers a more appealing compromise between price and features, especially now that it has a cool box in the centre console, four-zone climate control (previously two), and eight-way power-adjustable driver’s seat (with lumbar support), among other additions.
It might be old and facing German competition bursting with advanced technology, but the XJR is still a car you can buy with heart and head. But mostly your heart. It goes like stink, has a much better interior than the Quattroporte and is more interesting than just about anything this big or this grand.
It's also a better car than the Maserati Quattroporte if you want to get on with the driving yourself and is far prettier than the Porsche Panamera. It's a wonderful thing and even more wonderful that Jaguar continues to build it. Long live that supercharged V8 and the XJ is a great home for it.