Toyota Landcruiser gone
The Death of the Full-Size Land Cruiser in America: Why We Got Screwed
It’s official—if you want a real Land Cruiser in the United States, you better hold onto the one you’ve got. Toyota decided to neuter the nameplate for the American market, giving us the 2024 "Land Cruiser" with a four-cylinder hybrid powertrain instead of the legendary V8s and diesel powerhouses the rest of the world still enjoys. Meanwhile, I’m sitting on a 2013 Land Cruiser with 186,000 miles that has needed nothing but gas, oil, and some routine maintenance.
It’s bulletproof. It’s comfortable. It will outlive me. And Toyota thinks I should trade it in for a four-banger with a hybrid system that will probably need a new battery pack before it even gets close to my current mileage. No thanks.
What Happened?
Toyota claims the downsizing was all about efficiency, emissions, and making the Land Cruiser more "accessible." But let's be honest—they gutted an icon. The new Land Cruiser in the U.S. is a rebadged Prado, a vehicle that was never meant to replace the full-size LC200 or the current LC300 that other countries still get with powerful twin-turbo V6s and diesel options.
It’s a bait-and-switch. Toyota is selling us a shadow of what the Land Cruiser used to be and expecting us to be grateful.
Why I’ll Never Get Rid of My 2013 Land Cruiser
The 200 Series was the last of the full-size Land Cruisers we got in America, and it was built to last. The 5.7L V8 (3UR-FE) is proven, unlike the turbocharged, battery-assisted nonsense they’re pushing now. I don’t have to worry about battery degradation, turbo failures, or complex hybrid components. I turn the key, and it just works.
Toyota should have let us have the LC300 with the twin-turbo V6, but instead, we get an underpowered, four-cylinder crossover pretending to be a Land Cruiser.
The End of an Era
It’s clear now—if you want a real Land Cruiser in the United States, you either hold onto your old one or start looking at the used market before prices get even crazier. Because the real ones? They aren’t coming back.
