First time behind the wheel of the modernized off-road Land Cruiser 70

The view is priceless! The wide yellow fields and green forests contrast with the azure blue sky, on which fluffy clouds float lazily, simply an idyllic scene painted by the beginning of spring. Only one thing worries me a little – the thirty-meter parachute down, which I now have to descend. It’s exactly the kind of steep slope that’s hard to stay on unless you were born a mountain goat. I muster up the courage and let go of the brake pedal…

And it turns out that the worries were completely unnecessary. The Land Cruiser slowly descends the slope and, even on the rocky and dusty surface, descends with complete control while I hang on to the belts and hold the steering wheel with a sense of false confidence. I’m not really in control of the situation, but the car itself – the all-terrain tires provide traction and the automatic transmission, along with the hill descent system, maintain downhill speed.

It’s not a Land Cruiser like a Land Cruiser

It is the automatic together with the hill-descent that are the biggest novelties of the relatively moderate modernization. Toyota has maintained the 70 series for almost four decades and does not spoil it with any technical modernity – this car is intended for the most demanding conditions and the most remote regions, where a service technician would have to fly to you by helicopter. The construction is so simple that you can repair everything yourself even in the wilderness, and it is so reliable for years of use that you don’t even have to.

Nevertheless, some progress has been made here – the front lights may (or may not) have LED technology and the rear lights have moved from the sides to the bumper, the cabin has a new instrument panel with a 4.2-inch information display and a 6.7-inch infotainment capable of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay by wire, you also have a lane departure warning system, sign reading or automatic high beams, adaptive cruise control may also be available. But all that can certainly be easily turned off forever and the LC70 will not bully you with anything else.

The important thing is that the 4.0 V6 producing 228 hp and 360 Nm with a charismatic humming soundtrack has remained practically unchanged under the hood and has been proven by years of hard work. The new thing is the four-cylinder turbodiesel 2.8 hp with 204 hp and 500 Nm, but it is not certain , whether it will be possible to homologate it for the Czech market. And the good news is the already mentioned alternative to the five-speed manual in the form of a six-speed automatic from Aisin, which does not change the concept in any way with a driven rear axle and a connectable front, a reduction gearbox and the option of axle differential locks are a matter of course.

Thanks to this, the Land Cruiser still plows through demanding off-road with a hard-earned self-assuredness – it overcomes steep ascents and descents, overcomes terrain breaks and troughs, is not bothered by steep inclines and bumps, and moves with absolute ease. Behind the wheel, you still feel full control and connection with the car and the terrain under the wheels, the technology makes it easier for you to drive and overcome obstacles, but it doesn’t try to mask anything, so you estimate the limits more easily.

So the modernized Land Cruiser 70 certainly did not become a “mom express”, as is the custom with some off-roaders. If you already take the children to school with it, you will probably take a longer route through the forest and a quarry, you will arrive at school with a muddy car and the children will have something to tell their classmates. It’s still the same unstoppable badass that you can rely on in any situation, just a tiny bit more civilized to make it easier for you to live with even outside the uncharted wilderness.

You can get a modernized Land Cruiser 70 series in the Czech Republic, but don’t go to a Toyota dealer for it. It is imported by the Pilsen company Dajbych 4×4, specialists in off-roads and conversions. Prices range from 1.5 to 1.7 million crowns without VAT, depending on equipment, individualization, foreign currency exchange rates, etc.