We Indians are known for carrying our traditions over centuries,one such tradition is the Toyota Land Cruiser.Almost every single politician in India has atleast 1 Land Cruiser.Actors,including Salman Khan,Aamir Khan,Amitabh Bachhan,Navjot Singh Sidhu and Chiranjeevi,all are chauffered around in Land Cruisers.The “proper” Land Cruiser comes in India with a naturally aspirated V8 engine that puts out 381 BHP and a monsterous 650 NM of torque.Toyota have temporarily pulled the plug on the Land Cruiser in India.Toyota will make a comeback with the new Land Cruiser 300 series in 2021,details have not been revealed as of yet.On the front the Land Cruiser is as wide as an aircraft carrier with the big chrome grill with the Toyota badge which is as big as someone’s head.On both sides of the grill are twin LED headlamps with daytime running LED lights.On the side the Land Cruiser’s silhouette has been the same iconic shape since 2005.The ride quality is a comfy one because the Land Cruiser sits on 18 inch alloy wheels,you can’t get anything bigger or smaller,the car will end up with a lot of tire,thus increasing the surface area.At the rear it has LED break and taillights with the same massive presence as the front.The overall visibility while driving is very good as it has a lot of windows an large door mirrors,making the Land Cruiser an easy car to drive considering it’s massive size.It is a proper offroader’s car with a ladder frame chassis,low range gearbox and a lockable centre differential.The Land Cruiser also has a unique feature called the CRAWL Control,it is like a cruise control for offroading.The Land Cruiser has an offroad heritage of 70 years first starting out as an army vehicle in 1951.The Land Cruiser’s starting price in India is 1.47 Crores but if you want your Land Cruiser to look better,you have to spend nearly 10-20 lakhs for it.It is so reliable that the UN have declared the Land Cruiser as their official vehicle.In Australia when Toyota introduced the Land Cruiser for the first time,Land Rover had 90% of the market share,5 years later,that was down to just 2%.This showed how durable the Land Cruiser really is.There is also a saying in Australia that goes,”If you want to go anywhere,get a Land Rover,but if you want to come back,get a Land Cruiser”.Australia being the largest market of Land Cruisers has about 4 million Land Cruisers.The interior of the Land Cruiser is one of the best full size suvs,with having every creature comfort possible like heated and cooled front and rear seats,12 speaker JBL synthesis sound system,radar cruise control.But no car is perfect,one of the biggest drawbacks of owning the Land Cruiser is the mileage which is just 3-4 kmpl which is just rubbish to be honest.And that’s not the end in any way,the infotainment system looks aftermarket and has very limited functionality,there is no way I will sit in the last row of seats for more than 15-20 kilometers and also because I would not have a charging port to charge my phone which is unacceptable from a car at this price point.The last row of seats in a Mercedes GLS is much much better and it also has 2 charging ports for the passengers in the 3rd row of seats.The boot space is also the worst with either all of the seats up or down.The Land Cruiser is built to last more than it’s owners can last.If a Land Cruiser is maintained well,it can easily last 2-3 generations in the same family which is simply incredible.The most annoying thing at last is the lack of features in the infotainment system which is the main factor that promotes the sale of cars these days.The Mercedes GLS,the BMW X7,Land Rover Discovery,all have very good infotainment systems.My final verdict would be;If you want a reliable car that can go anywhere you want,is cheap to run and is still worth more than its rivals when you want to sell it,buy the Land Cruiser.But these days with the all new Mercedes GLS and the BMW X7,offroading doesn’t seem a big deal.The Land Cruiser is not in any way a modern luxury car.For those who go offroading in like twice or thrice a month,buy the Mercedes GLS,it’s an amazing car and it also costs about Rs40 lakhs less than the Land Cruiser,is much more economical than the Land Cruiser and also much much much better equipped than the Land Cruiser
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