The 2021 Land Cruiser Heritage Edition is Toyota’s Final Send Off to the Series 200 LC

Have you guys ever been curious to know what the second oldest running nameplate here is in america? I'Ll give you a hint it's, actually not american, this week, i'm testing, that exact vehicle and, as you can see as i walk right by it, this is the 2021 toyota land cruiser. More specifically, this is the land cruiser heritage edition because, as you guys probably have guessed, this vehicle has been in the toyota nameplate here in the states for over 60 years it's. One of the reasons why toyota came out with this heritage model and, as you guys know this current generation 200 series land cruiser has been around since 2008. It definitely has the same kind of military heritage, lineage that we have basically in jeeps. This is toyota's version of a jeep that came out back in the 1940s and this week, we're going to go over the land cruiser heritage model, we're going to go over some of the differences and we're going to find out what exactly makes the heritage version of The land cruiser basically a rolling history lesson on wheels Music. Now, unlike the american branded competition, toyota is very guilty for selling a lot of old trucks here in the states. However, the land cruiser is designed to be the flagship of all of those old trucks. This generation, as i said, has been out since 2008. Now that may be a long time in car years, however, the land cruiser itself has been around for the last 60 years, 60 plus years, it's been through nine generations, and this land cruiser here is basically very different versus the land cruisers that we saw back in The 1950s, when this generation, or when this name plate first came out, remember that was an entirely different vehicle today's modern land cruiser is very much a much more luxurious safety, oriented tech, oriented and family oriented vehicle.

This is one of the bigger suvs truck based suvs that you can buy today and, as you can see, looking at the design of the heritage model, you're going to probably notice right away a couple of things. It'S got this really cool, yakima, roof, rack or yakima basket at the top of that thing, it's, usually like 400 bucks, if you guys want to buy those in the aftermarket. In addition to these beautiful looking gold bbs 18 inch wheels. I actually really like the wheels and this white color combination, but the coolest thing about the land cruiser heritage edition. Is this badge right here? This is very much a throwback to the 1950 series, fj40 land cruisers and i think that's, probably the coolest thing. Everybody really looks at this truck, even though it's super old it's been on the market for some time right now, it still gets a lot of attention. You can see the land cruiser is definitely not the small vehicle that it was back in the 1940s. This thing is 195 inches long, it's, 878, inches 78 inches wide and at around 78 inches tall plus another six and a half inches for that yakima uh, roof or basket on the top. This is a pretty big vehicle and it's going to feel that way when you're going down the road now let's look at the front fascia of the latest land cruiser, because toyota has actually given this thing. Two refreshes, since it came out in 2008, 2016, was the most recent refresh that's when they gave it these this new front fascia with these full led headlights.

Although you have an led, low and high beam, you also have an led daytime running light. The turn signals, however, are incandescent. I actually like the way this refresh looks uh when it first came out back in 2016. You also have these led fog lights down here, which definitely modernize the appearance of the land cruiser the heritage model does include some dark chrome pieces at the front, as opposed to the regular land cruiser, which has the bright chrome work. This one has been kind of blacked out. The side mirrors have also been blacked out, and you can see down here at the lower fog light housing. It also has some black chrome too, which definitely makes it look a little bit more aggressive. The wheels on this vehicle are 18 inches in diameter. As i said, they're wrapped in two 85 60 series tires now, of course, these tires have a lot of sidewall protection, because this vehicle obviously can go off. Roading it's, one of the you know, defining characteristics of a land cruiser. In fact, toyota says uh, with the fixed suspension with the adaptive variables you get around just under nine inches of ground clearance, which is actually a lot. It seems like it has much more than that. However, some of the competitors, like the new gmc yukon with the at4 package, have an adjustable air suspension that can raise it up to over 10 inches. So toyota, obviously is starting to fall behind a little bit in that.

However, you still have all of your skid plates a locking center differential, then that's, going to give this truck, of course, that tough off road ready character now above here, you can see no panel roof is available on a land cruiser. Instead, you just have a standard sunroof and, as i mentioned earlier, that yakima basket on top definitely you know adds to the cool factor, although it is going to affect the noise levels when we're out on the highway. I'Ll talk about that later on during the driving scene. Now, looking at the rear you can see, these are the refreshed tail lights that they introduced back in 2016., you have led brake lights and led tail lights, but the turn signal and the reverse light is just an incandescent uh. The tag lights are surprisingly led. There'S, a big old v8 badge at the back of this thing to remind everyone. This thing is a gas thirsty pig out on the road and overall it's got that traditional boxy shape to it, which a lot of people like now remember, land cruisers come with a split opening. Tailgate and toyota did add a power function a couple years ago. This is very similar to what you find in a range rover. However, the tailgate itself is a little bit on the slow side as it opens up, but at least they finally added a power opening tailgate. The split part down here is actually just a manual opening and closing, but it's nice how they do this because look at the opening of this vehicle when you do have the rear, tailgate open toyota says the heritage model actually comes standard with only five c uh.

Five passenger configuration they removed the third row uh for 2020. for 2021. You can actually option back in the third row for another hundred dollars, which would make this thing a seven passenger seating configuration. Although without the third row, you can see plenty of cargo space, you get around 42 cubic feet of space. If you fold down the second row, toyota says that expands it to around 82 cubic feet, which is actually not very much considering the size of this vehicle. It'S a little bit more than once, you get a toyota highlander. If you need more space, make sure you look at the toyota sequoia that's about a foot longer versus the land cruiser, so the exterior of the 2021 land cruiser heritage still looks good. A lot of people may disagree with that, but i think it's actually still a good looking vehicle, but what about the interior? This is where again, toyota has made improvements over the years. However, when you get into this vehicle it's going to again throw you back to back in 2010 a decade ago, because toyota, just hasn't, been able to keep up with all the latest updates that they've been showing us in all their newer models. Now my tester here with the white exterior just has the black interior. You can see. Toyota did improve this interior back in 2016, where they added that nine inch touchscreen over there. The door panel you can see has this very large handle here to open and close the door.

There'S these nice aluminum look grab handles there's some nice wood grain look trim, you have three person memory seats. The seats themselves are a 10 way power adjustment and they are heated and cooled which is nice. When i shut the door, the door actually still has a very nice solid, sounding thunk now it's, obviously not mercedes g wagon, solid sounding where it sounds like a gun. Caulking itself, but it's still a very nice sound to it. Now you can see the land cruiser does get its own unique key fob. This is toyota's intelligent access key. This is actually the same key that toyota decided to use on the rav4 prime, which is a nice key. I wish toyota would use this key in all their models. It'S just much better, looking more substantial feeling than everything else. The button to fire up the engine is over here and you can see: it's got a power tilt and telescoping steering wheel, which is also heated and the gauges they are very classic looking. I actually think they look great, but they're, also very dated you have a very small three inch screen there with traditional analog dials. Some of you will again prefer the analog look because it's just kind of easy to get in this vehicle and know exactly what you're. Looking at, i also like the way the steering will look. Surprisingly, it's got this nice. You know fake stitching over the leather cover. You have this wood grain trim.

I like how the wheel is also heated. The leather feels high quality on the actual wheel, which is nice. You have turn signal stocks and switches which are older and for some reason, the land cruiser does not have the three blink function. If you guys are changing lanes so again, constant reminder that this is an old vehicle. I think toyota should have just added that they could have easily done that um in you know all the refreshes that they decided to give this vehicle now. Looking at the rest of this interior here you can see for a vehicle that costs. You know 80 plus thousand dollars. The interior is nice, but i wouldn't say it's probably worth that money see. The dashboard here you can see is a soft touch. Injection molded plastic same thing over on this side. However, if you guys are looking for like real stitching and real leather on the dash it's, just not on this vehicle, you do have some nice leather stitching over here, where your knees could potentially hit that area, and it also is nice and padded, which is nice. The nine inch touchscreen is a good size, although it's lacking android, auto and apple carplay, which is really really disappointing. That'S, what the home screen looks looks like you can see it's the older toyota system. I guess they don't even call it entune anymore um. If you go to setup here, you can see everything is just very, very old at least it's a touch screen, though, because remember the lexus version of this vehicle has their lexus remote touch pad interface without android, auto and carplay again, but you have a 12 inch Display, as opposed to this nine inch display, when i put the vehicle into reverse, you can see it does have a nice 360 camera and it looks like they've actually sort of tried to improve the graphics, but it still doesn't look great, especially on their flagship suv.

I think toyota again needs to continue to work on that you have dual zone climate control, quad zone, climate control, which is of course nice. You have this really old display here for your clock, your outside temp. You have two knobs here for volume and tuning, which is nice there's, an area here where you could potentially put your phone, but as you can see, here's my iphone 12 pro max and it barely fits in there. Actually it doesn't fit in there because i can't close it, but at least it's almost deep enough to fit something like that over here. You can see you have your heated and cooled seat controls your heated steering wheel, controls there's an automatic setting there's your full time. Four wheel drive setting and then, of course, because this is a real off road vehicle. You have um low high or a low range transfer case. Four high, which is this vehicle, is always in four high. You also have a power mode here. You have an ability to make the transmission start in second there's. Your locking center differential and this vehicle has crawl control, where you can select all different kinds of terrain that you're driving on, and you also have off road turn, assists where this vehicle will kind of lock the inside rear wheel and help the vehicle drag to cut The turning radius in half, which is handy, considering how big it is when you're taking it off roading over here, you have traditional handbrake over here, which is nice, and then you have these two cupholders here.

With this aluminum look trim. The heritage model does delete the cool box that's in here, so instead of the cool box. Instead of that, you have a lot more storage, which is still a little bit on the shallow side. Considering how big this center console storage is, i do like the seats. I think they're plush they're very comfortable and supportive they're very, very cushy, especially the leather. It feels really high quality and then above me, you can see just a standard. Sunroof toyota doesn't even offer a panel roof on this vehicle. And then, if you open up this, you can see the glove box is bigger, it's damp, but not lined with felt but overall storage. Considering how big this vehicle is is lacking a tad. But you do have this beautiful commanding view of the road which is a land cruiser hallmark and you also have toyota safety sense. Uh plus, however, it's not their 2.0 system, so it's not their latest, but you do have adaptive cruise control uh with pedestrian detection, and you have lane departure alert but not active lane keep assist and you also have blind spot monitoring with rear cross traffic alert. Now the land cruiser is a fairly large vehicle on the outside. However, you'd be surprised to hear that it's not very space efficient on the interior that's, because this thing has a body on frame uh design. It still has a live axle in the back, so that does intrude on the space, especially when you look at the second row this vehicle now remember.

My tester here does not have the third row seat option so it's only a five seater, and when i get back here, you can see it's, also a very high step because there's no running boards with that nine inches of ground clearance. But you know, even though toyota says you only get around 35 or 34.5 inches of legroom back here at five foot seven, i actually find it to be pretty spacious, as you can see getting back here, the legroom, while it is only 34.5 inches, actually is pretty Good, although there's not very much foot space underneath the front seats here when i shut the door, the door itself still sounds pretty solid in terms of the materials toyota did carry over the soft touch, plastic materials and the leather stitching, and these big you know, grab Handles back here now i'm surprised to see that the floor is flat back here in the set in the center, which is nice for three people across remember this vehicle is 78 inches wide, so you can easily fit three people across toyota also gives you your set Of rear seat, air vents, uh, dual zone climate back here, actually it's got four zone: climate uh heated seats back here as well, which is always nice and then down here, there's a power outlet, but no usb ports. But you do get two map pockets there and then there's a nice armrest here that folds down, which is a pretty substantial, armrest uh, some nice storage, and then you can see your cup holders are actually these pop out cup holders over here the seats themselves.

They fold down, obviously they also recline, and i also like the soft leather. This is one of the softer leather that toyota uses, which doesn't surprise me considering the price tag of this vehicle. You even have led lighting back here, but if you're looking for that rear seat, entertainment system that's in the regular land cruiser it's not found on the heritage model, which is kind of okay. For me now, underneath the hood of the 2021 land cruiser toyota hasn't made any changes once again. This is the same powertrain, which is essentially a bulletproof powertrain as the toyota tundra toyota's been building this v8 for quite some time now, probably almost two decades now it's a 5.7 liter, naturally aspirated v8, with their port injection, it doesn't it doesn't even have direct injection, But it does have variable valve timing technology. It still makes 381 horsepower and 401 pound feet of torque the power output of this trails. The lexus version of this vehicle by two horsepower remember the lexus lx 570 offers a total of 383 horsepower now, of course, back in 2016, toyota actually replaced the old six speed automatic and put in an 8 speed automatic. So this is what makes this powertrain different versus the one you find in the tundra. You have two more gears and fuel economy is pretty abysmal even by big suv standards. Uh. This thing is rated to get 13 in the city and 17 on the highway.

Thankfully, it's not hit with a gas guzzler attacks because it's a truck and if you guys are looking to tow the land cruiser, will tow a maximum of 8 100 pounds. Now, as this one sits, it's also a pretty heavy vehicle, it contributes to again the poor fuel economy it weighs in at around 5715 pounds. The heritage model is actually a little bit lighter than the regular land cruiser because they removed that third row. But if you add that third row back in it's going to make it pretty heavy zero to 60 times should be in the seven second range, which makes it pretty competitive. But, as you guys know, this vehicle is definitely considered a gas hog in today's modern world. I'Ll be curious to see what toyota does with the next generation model if they even decide to bring one back uh for the 2023 or 2024 model year, so i'm, pretty familiar with this generation. Land cruiser toyota has practically loaned me one almost every year over the last couple of years, so um. Obviously this is no. You know modern suv when it drives. It feels big and heavy. I like the fact that, however, it gives you all this ground clearance. You also have a standard full time. Four wheel drive system with a low range transfer case. This car still drives very nice. It just constantly feels like. I can basically use this vehicle if there's ever an apocalypse. You know i could run over things with this vehicle.

Potholes rocks whatever it just has a ton of ground clearance. It'S got these big mini tires. It has this amazing commanding view of the road which really helps with the visibility visibility. Out of this truck is really excellent, and you also have these big windows. Big side mirrors, you have the toyota safety sense, which is standard but it's, not their latest generation, and i also like the power. This remember continues to use the 5.7 liter v8 with. However, the 8 speed auto, which does make this vehicle, feel like it, accelerates better versus the last tundra that i drove it's, just a nice driving smooth driving suv. But if you're looking for something that's, obviously going to attack corners, this is not the vehicle for you. It does constantly feel heavy and big and wallowy the suspension it's like marshmallow soft. This vehicle will kind of glide over bumps and whatnot, which is good if you guys are trying to have a really comfortable ride quality, but i did notice at times uh. You know if you are on road surfaces that are, you know very smooth. It can feel a little bit. You know cushy to the point where it makes me feel like almost motion sickness. Now there is a power mode here in the transmission which i haven't seen. One of those in so long the fact that this vehicle still uses that, when you do that it puts the transmission into kind of like a sport setting there's, also a dedicated sport setting in the gear lever.

When i flop this over to manual mode we'll. Just floor and we'll see how it accelerates nice. The suspension is so soft on this vehicle that it literally like shoves, you back in the seat, and you can feel the whole back end squat down because that's how soft it is. It feels like it gets to 60 in around 6.9 6.8 seconds, it's, pretty quick. Honestly, but obviously you're going to find you know those ecoboost expeditions or lincoln navigator to be faster range rovers with their supercharged v8s are going to be faster, but you have to admire toyota for continuing to use this powertrain it's going to be dead, reliable, which is Pretty important, especially when you guys are looking to buy a land cruiser, a lot of people consider reliability. They want that to be a huge factor. When i put my foot down to the floor there, you can feel the transmission is a little bit more responsive than the six speed, auto that's in the tundra, of course, but it also is still a little bit slow to shift it's very smooth you're, not going To really notice the transmission, in the background you're just going to notice that the engine is smooth, it makes a nice sound, it's willing, you know, it's a good match for this vehicle, which is impressive, considering it's been out for so long now. It shows that toyota, when they put this powertrain this vehicle, really over engineered it to kind of be ahead of its time, because today, it's still pretty adequate, so i'm curious to know, obviously where the next generation is going to go now in terms of the steering Feel the lane cruiser has a very light steering that also is very slow, slow ratio which is important for off roading, not great for driving out on the road, because the vehicle just kind of wallows about it doesn't respond very well to my steering inputs, which is About to be expected, basically with a truck based suv like this, and then the brakes on this vehicle also require some getting used to when you first hit the brakes.

It almost feels like you're stepping on a wet sponge, because they're spongy, it doesn't, grab very hard. You hit them a little bit harder and it kind of grabs the whole vehicle it's very difficult to drive this vehicle smoothly or break smoothly. Now getting up to highway speeds, you can hear that yakima roof basket, which is creating wind noise at around 60 miles an hour even with the sunroof closed or the the sunshade closed. You'Re still going to hear that noise. So so, some of you who don't, who want the quietest, land cruiser interior you're, going to want to not get this heritage model or have the dealer remove that yakima basket on the roof, because it's, obviously adding height. It also adds wind noise, drag it's, going to lower your fuel economy, but it looks cool, so that's kind of the reason why one of the reasons why toyota decided to to do that now in terms of fuel economy, it's pretty poor, pretty piss poor. Actually, this truck in my weeks where the testing is averaging around 10 miles to the gallon, which is abysmal and it's, got a 25 gallon fuel tank and a full tank it's only showing around 275 miles of range 275 miles of range is awful, pitiful, atrocious. I remember i had a tundra a couple weeks ago and that had a 38 gallon gas tank and was showing 550 miles of range, so again more range, but very expensive gas bill toyota.

You really need to do something about this, so we'll have to wait and see what they do for the next generation model. In terms of the drive resistance, i actually turn off the lane departure alert, because all it does is just beep like that and not steer whenever you're driving this thing on. You know roads anytime, you get you get close to the lane markers and, with this very slow steering you're going to be constantly making steering corrections which is just annoying but it's part of driving a truck like this, but overall the land cruiser is still a nice Driving truck, but it really shows its age when you start pushing it. When you start, you know coming out of modern suvs because suvs just don't drive like this anymore. They drive a lot like cars, even the truck based one, and this one is a constant reminder that you're driving a truck, although it still continues to feel like a tank. So, despite the age of the current generation, 200 series land cruiser driving around this vehicle for the last few days, it's a constant reminder of toyota's military lineage. Remember the land cruiser was built to take on the american jeep in the war when toyota or when the japanese needed a vehicle during the korean war. I have to say, even though the land cruiser is very very old. The heritage model still has a lot of p appeal, especially to enthusiasts especially if you guys are a land cruiser enthusiast.

This thing you can tell when you drive it feels like a tank. It feels like it's going to last for hundreds of thousands of miles. It'S still very comfortable it's, still very spacious, it's still very capable, especially off road and really where it suffers, is in the technology department, the handling department and, of course, the fuel economy department. And it makes me wonder what, in the heck, is toyota going to do with the next generation land cruiser there's rumors that toyota's going to discontinue this vehicle all entirely or bring it back as an entirely different beast designed to go head to head with something like A jeep wrangler, i'm kind of hoping they decide to bring it back as a jeep wrangler competitor, make it smaller, make it a more off road oriented make it less luxury focused, make it a lot more affordable because, as you guys know, the lexus version of this Vehicle actually actually outsells the land cruiser toyota does roughly around 3000 units of these every year in the states. Lexus does double that they do five to six thousand units and it doesn't surprise me when you consider the price this car starts at five thousand dollars for a base version at about eighteen hundred dollars for the heritage model, as you guys see here, plus the color That my tester is with the blizzard pearl and the destination charge and you're looking at just under ninety thousand dollars, ninety grand for this old relic – and that makes it very hard to justify, especially considering the fact that you can get something a lot more modern.

A lot more or similarly capable a lot more comfortable and a lot more fuel efficient for the money. Now, of course, some of you will argue well, they won't last as long as the land cruiser, and you are very true because this thing is so old. It'S built to last easily 300 000 miles 15, 20 plus years with very little problems. Now with all that said, would i consider buying one of these vehicles? If i was, if i actually had the money, probably not, i would consider looking at one of these used. However, if you guys are looking to buy the heritage model, this is one that probably will end up. Turning into a collector's version, toyota said they were only building about 1200 of these for the 2020 model year i'm, actually surprised to see it back for the 2021 model year, where they added the third row seat, option i'd estimate again they're going to limit production to Around 50 of what the actual sales are in america. So if you guys want a land, cruiser you're, an enthusiast, you want something that could eventually potentially become a collector's item in the future. Be sure to put this on your list, but just also be sure there's plenty of other choices out there for the similar money or less money that's just a far easier vehicle to live with on a daily basis. But with all that said, i hope you guys have enjoyed my full overview on this 2021 toyota land cruiser heritage edition.

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