2021 Toyota Land Cruiser Review: Last Stand For The World’s Best SUV

Is the Toyota Land Cruiser really the world’s best SUV?

Well...not if you’re looking for the best touchscreen user interface. Everything from the menu terms to the font to the screen resolution feels about 12 years out-of-date. And not if you’re looking for the best navigation system. It’s still DVD based, and pretty slow to respond.

And then there’s the “driver’s assistance tech”, a term I feel uncomfortable even typing in this Land Cruiser review. The smart cruise control stops working below 20 mph, casually telling you to “apply brakes” as it shuts off when freeway traffic slows to a crawl, sending the Land Cruiser careening toward a see a brake lights. Same with the lane-departure warning, which stops working below 32 mph, or the lane keeping assist, that never works (it doesn’t have any).

The Land Cruiser’s switchgear and ergonomics are similarly old school, offering power mirror controls impossible to see without craning your neck around the steering wheel. The shifter is purely mechanical — which used to feel natural but now feels archaic — even though I prefer its chunky precision to the slow, sloppy nature of today’s electric shifters.

Speaking of slow, the heavy, hydraulic-assisted steering uses a ratio from the 2000s, requiring a lot of hand/arm movement when parking this three-row, 16-foot SUV. And the 381-horsepower, 5.7-liter V8 engine is more than a tad loud and unrefined, especially when the 8-speed transmission has trouble picking a gear, creating the occasional 5,000-plus rpm spike between shifts. Not the behavior you expect from a $90,000 SUV.

But doesn’t the title of this Land Cruiser review claim its the best SUV in the world? Not sounding very “best” so far, right?

Well, the weirdest part of the Land Cruiser is how all its quirks are more endearing than off-putting. For instance, seeing the “V8” script on the engine cover among its most retro styling aspects, and not something you’ll see on today’s SUVs. The engine itself looks large and imposing under that hood — providing a visual stimulus I haven’t experienced for years when looking at the overly-homogenized engine compartments of modern SUVs.

And while you can pick on the Land Cruiser’s aging design elements all you want, they don’t change the reality that iSeeCars.com’s data proves this SUV’s dominant durability. The Land Cruiser is, far and away, the most likely U.S. vehicle to hit 200,000-plus miles. With 16.3 percent of Toyota Land Cruisers hitting the 200K mark it’s got a roughly 30% advantage over Toyota’s own Sequoia, in spot number two (11.2 percent), and more than a three times advantage over the Chevrolet Suburban in slot 3 (5.1 percent).

It’s ultra durable, ultra capable off-road, and ultra flexible in its ability to carry up to 7 people in comfort over long distances on pavement. So even as Toyota prepares the Land Cruiser for the production chopping block I still want one. And as usual, now that I know I can’t buy a new one after 2021, I want one even more.

This is one of the last vehicles you can purchase new that still reflects the straightforward, robust mechanical engineering of the late 2000s. Unlike the new Land Rover Defender...which is easy to love but hard to imagine driving 200,000 miles...the Toyota Land Cruiser is a marvel of vintage form, enduring fun and flexible functionality. Sure, an out-of-date marvel by 2021 standards, but a marvel nonetheless. We shan’t see its like again.

Or shan't we? This is the era of re-born Broncos, Defenders and Hummers. Is Toyota really going to kill the Land Cruiser, or are they going to create just enough gap in production to get everyone really excited when it comes back?

Like Marvel superheroes and horrible politicians, truly iconic vehicles never truly die. And it doesn’t get more iconic than a Toyota Land Cruiser.