Auto tested more than 80 cars in 2024. As is tradition, we re-publish our twelve favourite tests of the year as our Best Tests daily through December. Then we present three Auto Special Awards in Best EV, Best Bakkie and Performance car of the year 2024. And then we choose the Top 3 Best Tests, before we announce Best Test 2024 on 1 January 2025. So come back for your daily Auto entertainment everyday through your holidays!
Auto Best Tests 2024 #10: Toyota Land Cruiser 76 2.8 GD-6 Wagon
2.8-litre Land Cruiser Wagon demolishes the V8 on test
Want to start an argument? It’s pretty easy. Just walk into the pub and tell the manne that the new Toyota Land Cruiser 76 2.8 GD-6 Wagon is better than the V8. Well, we’re now telling you that it is. No matter how emotional you get, the numbers simply don’t lie.
The stalwarts will insist that the 4.5 litre turbodiesel V8 will always be the best Cruiser. Ever. But after a way too short week with the new 2.8, we now definitely beg to differ. We drove a hearing aid beige version in Jo’burg a few months back, but reserved judgement until we’d had the car on home ground. And the chance to test it on our regular run, in the rivers, on the mountains we know best.
I’d already gotten into deep trouble with the guys after that first impression. How can the 2.8 be better than the V8? The discussion went on until they went and sulked in their corner. It took two rounds to get them to smile again. So when this big, blue Cruiser finally arrived for the big test, there was anxiety in the pub.
2.8 crushes V8 Cruiser 70 on test
For the record, our satellite VBox test kit reported that the Land Cruiser V8 turbodiesel with its 5-speed manual gearbox took 13.37 seconds to get to 100 km/h, and covered 400 metres in 19.1 seconds, where it achieved a terminal speed of 121 km/h. The V8 also chugged from 80 to 120 km/h in 9.57 seconds in our road test ten years ago. And sips a claimed average of 11.9 litres of derv per hundred kilometres.
Roll on a decade, and lo and behold, we were quite correct in our first assumptions of this new 2.8 litre Land Cruiser. If you’re in the V8 camp, I’d suggest you sit down now. This is gonna be hard to swallow. Why? Well, the new Cruiser ran to 100 km/h in, wait for it, 9.67 seconds. In other words, a full four and a half second quicker than the V8, using the same test kit on the same road with the same driver.
But that’s not all. The four pot did the quarter mile 2.3 seconds quicker, at 16.8 seconds, and it was travelling a full ten kilometres an hour faster at that point, at131 km/h. The 2.8 is also over two seconds more tractive than the V8 between 80 and 120 km/h. Never mind a full two litres per 100 better on diesel. You save 26 litres, or about R500 a tank of fuel to drive a quicker, better and far more efficient car, for less money than the V8 too.
Lighter, easier, more fun on the road too
Never mind, its lighter, and easier on the road. So I really feared heading back to the pub to face up to Viv, Werner and the lads. We were not friends for a while later. Well two, maybe three rounds later. But in our humble opinion, there is simply no comparison. The new 2.8 is by far the better Cruiser. Sorry lads, no matter how cool the V8 sounds, or how much character it has.
Remember too, you can still tune this 2.8 to 200 kW and over 600 Nm. So don’t even try that argument that the V8 has more potential. All a full tune on the V8 will achieve, is to match a stock 2.8.
For the rest, in quick summary, Toyota took the tried and tested Hilux 150 kW 500 Nm 2.8-litre four cylinder and its six-speed box and slipped it under this this latest Cruiser’s fatter, and quite contentious bonnet. It’s now available as an option across all three single and double cab, and this station wagon ‘Cruiser 70 body shapes. Alongside the V8. For now.
Spec? What spec? There is none!
The 70 Series also returns to round headlamps, a fresh grille and that fatter bonnet. All models retain that good old tough as Africa part-time 4×4 with low-range continues with front and rear locking differentials, and now in the 2.8 – block your ears if you are old school – Downhill Assist. The 2.8 also has a 3,500 kilogram braked towing capacity.
This nine-hundred and ninety-nine grand base LX basically has no spec. You may as well be sitting in a ’71 Corona. But this wagon does get new 60:40 split-folding-second-row seats to maximise cargo space. And wow! Upgraded multimedia brings a new screen and systems without taking away any of those good old knobs and buttons.
Don’t expect power mirrors, a reverse camera or any of that. And consider yourself lucky that there’s an auto-down window on the driver’s side. Complete with a complementary squeak! Still, there’s something so special about that simplicity. There is however a new centre console, storage box, cupholder and multiple small item compartments.
Africa has a New King!
But getting back to our argument. How good is the new 2.8-litre 70 Series Land Cruiser Wagon? In short, the numbers do not lie. The New King of Africa is so much better than the rest, that it’s frightening. Even more frightening is that I need to go back to the pub and tell the lads. So, sorry manne, that’s how it is. But the next dop’s on me. Cheers! – Michele Lupini
ROAD TESTED: Toyota Land Cruiser
76 2.8 GD-6 Wagon
Engine: 150 Kw 500 Nm 2.8-litre turbodiesel
Drive: 6 speed automatic 4x4
Load Capacity: 800 l
Braked Trailer: 3,500 kg
TESTED:
0-60 km/h: 4.03 sec
0-100 km/h: 9.67 sec
0-120 km/h: 13.89 sec
0-400m: 16.8 sec @ 131 km/h
80-120 km/h: 7.35 sec
CLAIMED:
VMax: 155 km/h
Fuel: 9.8 l/100 km
CO2: 258 g/km
Range: 1325 km
Warranty/Service: 3y 100K/Optional
LIST PRICE: R999K
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