Toyota Land Cruiser Suspension Deep Dive and RTI Test | Car and Driver

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Toyota infamously discontinued the Land Cruiser in 2021—in North America, at least. Other markets got the 300-series Cruiser when the 200 went out of production in the course of a normal model change cycle, but we did not. That's not entirely true, because the folks over at Lexus agreed to sell the 300-series, and they brought it over as the LX600.

Only one of the five LX grades costs less than $100,000. To save the Land Cruiser, Toyota decided to kill it first; otherwise, the prospect of a $90,000-plus 300-series Land Cruiser might do it in for them.

Why skip two model years? Disregard any "We heard you, so we're bringing it back" PR spin, because it's hogwash. They planned to switch to the 250-series Land Cruiser Prado chassis all along, but it was on a different development timetable. This year was the soonest they could get it back in circulation.

The result is a 2024 Land Cruiser that starts at just $57,345 for the base model, called the 1958, and rises to $63,345 for the well-equipped Land Cruiser grade. The First Edition, a $76,345 limited-time-only kitchen-sink model loaded with accessories, is what we're looking at here. It's identical to the others underneath, except the 1958 has 32-inch tires instead of 33s and lacks the stabilizer bar disconnect the others have. All of this is a huge step forward, because the volume-selling Land Cruiser grade comes in nearly $24,000 less than the deceased Cruiser's final base price of $87,030, while the base 1958 is almost $30,000 less expensive.

Is it a real Land Cruiser? Purists have long dissed the Prado, but that dates back to the '90s when the Prado switched to 4Runner-based independent front suspension while the 80-series still had a solid front axle. The Prado name got a spiteful bit of tarnish in the eyes of some at that moment. But a funny thing happened when the 100-series Land Cruiser came out: it had independent front suspension too. The 200-series went that way, and IFS is here to stay.

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00:00 Intro
00:33 Tire sizing
01:29 Front suspension
02:12 Upper control arm
02:36 Bump stop
02:59 Shocks
03:31 Ball joint. shock motion ratio, steering stop
05:21 single shear and double shear explained
06:19 Disconnecting anti-roll bar
07:20 Brakes
07:54 Front suspension wrap-up
08:16 Rear suspension
09:05 Rear shocks
09:35 Bump stop
09:56 Rear links
10:43 Anti-roll bar
11:11 Panhard rod
12:32 Brakes
13:24 Wheel and tire size, weight
14:23 Rear suspension wrap-up
14:40 RTI test intro
17:52 Calculating results, anti-roll bar connected
19:10 Disconnecting anti-roll bar
22:11 Calculating results, anti-roll bar disconnected
24:11 The results