Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series four-cylinder 2024 Review

It might be referred to as a workhorse, but there is nothing working class about the Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series price tag for the 2024 model year.

Entry into the 17-model line-up now starts $4600 dearer than before, at $75,600 plus on-road costs for the 76 Series Wagon. Entry into the 79 Series Ute line-up starts at $76,800 for the Single Cab Chassis WorkMate and $79,300 for the Double Cab Chassis WorkMate (all plus ORCs). The 78 Series Troop Carrier opens at $79,200 plus on-roads.

What’s more, if you want the unchanged V8, you’ll have to pony up an additional $4100 for the privilege.

While first deliveries of the new four-cylinder diesel models are now taking place, the facelifted V8 variants will be even more expensive and remain unavailable to order while Toyota Australia continues to clear its long back-order list.

Toyota Australia believes the four-cylinder will conservatively comprise 30 per cent of sales initially, but with the V8 stop-sale enforced for the foreseeable future, expect that make-up to change quite quickly.

Along with the new four-cylinder diesel engine, a variety of running changes have been made to the Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series blueprint for 2024, which the car-maker believes justifies the latest price increases.

Cosmetically, the 70 Series scores a redesigned front-end that recalls the iconic LandCruiser 40 Series of the 1960s, bringing bold circular LED headlights with outboard turning lamps, a new bonnet, revised front wheel-arches, bumper and a grille that returns to ‘TOYOTA’ lettering as standard.

Otherwise, the changes are quite insignificant – aside from the infotainment updates we’ll update in the next section below.

Standard equipment extends to things like air-conditioning, cruise control and remote locking. Yep, we’re serious.

All 70 Series models get a snorkel and full-size spare wheel.

GXL variants score two new USB-C ports in place of the old 12V socket, plus front and rear locking differentials as standard, and only the 76 Series Wagon offers a reversing camera.

Buyers of lower grades can option front and rear differential locks for $1500, while premium paint costs $675.

The 70 Series is backed by a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty in Australia, while scheduled servicing is set at outdated six-month/10,000km intervals – which flies in the face of being the remote vehicle of choice for many Aussies.

Servicing is on the expensive side too, at $525 per visit to the workshop. Over five years, you’d be looking at $5250 – roughly double the price of a Land Rover Defender’s servicing over the same period.

It’s better than before, though hardly at the forefront of safety.

Building on the introduction of AEB across the 70 Series range for 2023, the new 2024 Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series also gets lane departure alert, road sign assist (speed sign recognition only) and automatic high beam.

In reality, the lane departure alert is more of a hindrance than a help, sounding overzealously on country roads. One consolation is that you can turn it off quite easily by holding down a button on the steering wheel – though it has to be done each time you start the vehicle.

And the overall safety package is still poor. The 79 Series Single Cab Chassis is the only LC70 variant that gets more than two airbags. As well as a driver’s knee airbag, it also picks up side airbags, however all other models go without.

A five-star ANCAP safety rating awarded to the 70 Series in 2016 expires on December 31, 2023.

There have been some incremental improvements made to the Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series’ infotainment suite, which for 2024 now comprises a new 6.7-inch centre touch-screen display with wired Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto connectivity across all grades.

The touch-screen is matched by a separate 4.2-inch digital display in the instrument cluster, which is otherwise fittingly analogue.

The screen brings a much-needed trip computer display, and more driving data than before.

There are two diesel powertrains on offer with the 2024 Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series.

Firstly, the carryover V8. It is unchanged from before, a 4.5-litre twin-turbo unit that cranks out 151kW and 430Nm, mated solely to a five-speed automatic transmission.

New for 2024 is the 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel. It has been seen here in various forms before – most notably HiLux, Prado and Fortuner – and develops 150kW and 500Nm in this application, matched solely to a six-speed automatic transmission.

Unlike some of those donor models, which gain a mild-hybrid system for 2024, the LandCruiser misses out; Toyota says it was too far along the LandCruiser development process (which began seven years ago) to incorporate it.

Elsewhere, Toyota says it’s fitted the new powerplant and transmission with a series of upgrades over and above HiLux and Prado models to enhance their cooling and reliability in high-load situations – specifically, a bigger cooling fan, isolation crank pulley, redesigned oil pan, strainer and oil level sensor, reoriented oil filter and a balance shaft.

Like the V8, you can have the 2.8-litre with front and rear diff locks.

The engine bay of the four-cylinder 70 Series misses out on space for a spare battery, and Toyota has decided to leave its off-roader with a ‘mullet’ on-road footprint first necessitated by the installation of the V8 in 2007 – with the front wheel track wider than the rear wheel track.

Engineers say the investment required to rework these kinds of long-running quirks (which is seemingly as easy as lengthening the rear diff) simply isn’t tenable.

The 70 Series continues with a rigid live axles front and rear, with coil springs and a stabiliser bar for the former and semi-elliptic leaf springs for the latter.

Ventilated disc brakes are located at the front and the rear.

Here’s the rub: across two full days of testing the new four-cylinder 2024 Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series – that is, the 79 Series Double Cab Chassis GXL – averaged 11.9L/100km, while the equivalent V8 averaged 12.7L/100km. Hardly night and day.

For the record, Toyota officially claims the four-cylinder offers 10 per cent better fuel efficiency, with an official sticker figure of 9.6L/100km versus 10.7L/100km for the V8.

With a 3.1-tonne caravan in tow, figures swing the other direction. We averaged 19.5L/100km for the V8 and 20.7L/100km for the four-cylinder on an admittedly short 15km test loop.

The four-cylinder 2024 Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series marks a new ease in driving that unfamiliar types will appreciate, but devoted enthusiasts will find completely foreign.

No clutch pedal and no manual gearbox are both absent cues. But the most obvious missing ingredient is the lack of theatre, sound and engagement that can probably only ever be wrought by a V8-manual gearbox pairing.

Dyed-in-the-wool LC70 enthusiasts will know that driving a traditional V8 LandCruiser – or even the six-cylinder diesel before it – is an experience. It alone is worth the price of entry, some including your correspondent will argue.

Put simply, that experience simply cannot be emulated in a four-cylinder on an emotional scale. But what cannot be denied is the effectiveness of the four-pot, and its ease of use.

The four-cylinder effectively streamlines the driving experience without the need for a clutch pedal, and the additional 70Nm worth of torque brings greater engine response much better suited to overtaking and building speed.

Instead of the relatively narrow torque bandwidth of the V8, which owners will tell you is easily broadened by aftermarket tuning, the four-cylinder offers much more response and flexibility across the dial.

It means getting up to speed, overtaking manoeuvres and grunt out of corners is much more accessible, even if the clattery soundtrack doesn’t make it as aurally appealing.

The four-cylinder pulls quite willingly to redline, but it needs to work harder than the V8 when more muster is required.

With that said, the gearing of the six-speed automatic is a notable improvement on the five-speed manual, with a greater range of ratios for different scenarios including highway driving, whereupon the tacho needle rests at 2000rpm on test.

Elsewhere, the 70 Series sings to the same dynamic songsheet as before, with approximate steering, a huge 15-metre turning circle for the double-cab, a bluff ride, persistent road noise and wind noise and a cabin that feels quite exposed to the elements.

But as we also soon rediscovered, those are small prices to pay for what the 70 Series is capable of under tow and off-road.

Additionally, those new headlights offer a significantly broader blanket of light on the road ahead at night than their halogen predecessors, which proved particularly handy for keeping an eye on the local wildlife outside of Broken Hill.

For the national launch of the 2024 Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series, Toyota Australia provided access to one of the major development locations for the LC70 and other models including the 300 Series and new Prado.

It’s a harsh, barren environment about 50km from the centre of Broken Hill, with huge rocky climbs, erosional bumps which create instant moguls and dry sandy riverbeds perfect for testing traction and grip.

In short, no LandCruiser model gets signed off until it has gone through full validation.

On test, the 70 Series is nothing short of impressive. The four-cylinder is able to match every attribute of the V8, while also streamlining low-speed obstacles without the need of a clutch pedal, and benefiting from the introduction of hill descent control for big off-road descents.

The throttle is perfectly modulated, allowing optimum control over the pedal, and there is ample immediacy from the 2.8-litre required to quickly scale obstacles as desired.

Despite its more compact proportions, the four-cylinder is left with the same wide front-narrow rear wheel tracks that Toyota had to implement for the V8 70 Series back in 2007. The unconventional layout can occasionally pose issues in thick sand driving, but didn’t stop us doing anything on test.

Here’s a fact: the four-cylinder 2024 Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series carries more weight than the V8.

Officially, payload for utility variants ranges between 1115kg and 1380kg depending on the variant, which is roughly 80kg more than the V8 equivalent.

What’s more, the four-cylinder matches the V8’s 3.5-tonne braked towing capacity.

Just like the V8, the four-cylinder 70 Series models share a GVM of 3510kg.

We towed a 3.1-tonne caravan with a down-ball weight approaching 300kg with both variants on test.

The four-cylinder’s more linear torque curve (and additional 70Nm) means it pulls away with less effort, and feels as stable as surefooted during braking and acceleration scenarios alike.

The accompanying automatic gearbox isn’t quite as intuitive in kicking down gears as we’d hoped, only dropping ratios during harder stopping moments. With that said, the dedicated manual mode on the gearbox is a handy fallback.

All told, the V8 definitely feels less stressed under load, and makes less racket to build speed. If it were our money we’d put up with the narrower torque curve of the V8 and take consolation of the engine feeling less stress under load.

We didn’t get an opportunity to test payload on test, so stay tuned for more extensive reviews down the track.

In modern terms, it’s very basic. Toyota hasn’t messed much with the 2024 Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series layout – wind-down windows still occupy all but GXL models, the seats are perched high with limited adjustment and there’s a Spartan theme to the entire cabin.

However, it has implemented some meaningful changes that help the workhorse keep pace with modern expectations without diluting the vehicle’s core simplicity.

The infotainment is a prime example, thanks to the easier-to-navigate 6.7-inch touch-screen and the installation of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

We still hold a couple of gripes with the system: CarPlay proved really difficult to operate on test, and the touch-screen is devoid of a volume knob.

Elsewhere, the updated instrument cluster is clean and legible with its layout, while a new 4.2-inch digital screen component offers better navigation and much more information than before.

Otherwise, the front seat area of all 70 Series cabins is very stingy when it comes to storage, materials and creature comforts – all kind of justifiable for its workhorse positioning and the people who buy them.

The automatic grades gain a new centre console with a lidded storage box, cup holder and some small compartments for odds and ends – all handy inclusions for everyday driving.

For 76 Series models – namely the double cab ute – it gets worse. Even as we approach 2024, there are no rear airbags, no rear air vents, no top tether strap points for child seats.

It’s basic to the extreme, and pretty poor even for a vehicle so strictly dictated by its workhorse role. The rear seat area is pretty tight for what it’s worth, too.

With all that said, there is something still charming about jumping into a new car with wind-down windows and quarter-window sections on each door.

It really depends on who you are and why you’re buying a 2024 Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series.

For budget-conscious fleets and business buyers, the new four-cylinder 70 Series mounts a strong case, opening it up to an entirely different segment – and, importantly, to those who can only drive automatic transmissions.

Unlike the V8, it’s also available now. In fact, Toyota says it has orders placed for 1000 vehicles and is due to take 4000 examples of the four-cylinder LandCruiser 70 Series from the factory over the next 12 months.

That said, the four-pot’s fuel savings are negligible, and the long-term reliability of the engine is obviously still to be proven.

The drive experience isn’t exactly what LandCruiser aficionados know and love either.

That brings us to the V8, which is much more engaging, offers considerably more character and is still the more enjoyable drivetrain of the two.

Old habits certainly die hard.

2024 Toyota LandCruiser 79 Series Double Cab Chassis GXL at a glance:
Price: $83,500 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 150kW/500Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel: 9.6L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 253g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Unrated