Some vehicles are made to fulfil a single purpose. If you want to drive as fast as possible, you buy a sportscar. If you want to cruise to the bay in Cape Town on a beautiful day, you get a convertible. If you want to trek where nobody has gone before while towing a trailer and carrying enough equipment to build a small house, you buy a Toyota Land Cruiser.
South Africans love the Toyota brand, with its passenger and commercial vehicles regularly topping the NAAMSA vehicle sales charts. The Land Cruiser might not be a top seller like some of Toyota's other models, but for many people who are in the farming and construction industries, it's the only option.
Let's look at why the Toyota Land Cruiser is such a popular vehicle in its class and what makes it so unique.
Rumour has it that the Japanese army discovered an abandoned American Willys Jeep in the Philippines during 1941 and sent it back to Japan for analysis. Their government at the time, clearly seeing the opportunities of this dynamic vehicle, ordered Toyota to produce its own version.
This led to the creation of the Toyota Land Cruiser, which officially got its name in 1954 following a trademark battle with Willys regarding the name. During this time, Toyota sought to produce the vehicle for commercial use and created the Toyota BJ and FJ series.
While the name 'Land Cruiser' is so iconic in South Africa, it's not the name used in every market. In Japan, it was known as the J Series, introduced as the Land Cruiser only to international markets. The current Toyota Land Cruiser, which initially debuted in 2011, is known as the J200 in Japan and other Asia-specific markets.
Toyota has continued to refine the Land Cruiser for use both on- and off-road. Like with the original BJ and FJ models, the Land Cruiser currently has two variants: the family-focused Land Cruiser, and the working Land Cruiser 70 Series model. The latter boasts the bare minimum in features and instead focuses on maximum versatility and productivity, although Toyota was still kind enough to make a comfortable cruiser out of the beast.
Looking at the workhorse Toyota Land Cruiser 70 Series, it's easy to see why the model is loved by so many. Toyota says it was 'built to work as hard as you do', with the emphasis clearly placed on productivity rather than style.
Inspired by the Namib desert, the Toyota Land Cruiser 70 Series resembles wind-swept dunes with its smooth and rounded exterior.
The enormous front bar, raised ride height, and filter sticking out the side like a chimney are all completely functional. This vehicle was made to cruise in depths of one metre or more, so the air coming into the engine is not reliant on the front intake alone.
The interior has what any workhorse needs to function, with few comforts around the dashboard. The all-black hard plastic ensures a washable interior when mud and dust are the norm, and buttons are large for easy pressing when the road gets bumpy.
An infotainment system is available and makes the interior a little more comfortable. If you are interested in this feature, along with various others, connect with a Toyota dealer near you and discuss the options available on the model you want.
To emphasise the sheer brute force of this vehicle, Toyota fitted the Land Cruiser 79 with a 4.2 L inline six-cylinder engine, which produces 94 kW and 280 Nm of torque at 2,220 revolutions per minute. All the power is managed through a five-speed manual gearbox.
The Land Cruiser 70 Series is available at any Toyota Dealership in South Africa.
Toyota offers in-house finance assistance in the form of their Toyota Financial Services. You can build, spec, and price a Toyota Land Cruiser and see what your deposit, balloon payment, and instalment will be on the exact model you want.
The base model Toyota Land Cruiser 79 4.2 Diesel Single Cab retails from R618,900.
Toyota offers a three-year/100,000 km warranty with its base model Land Cruiser 79 4.2 Diesel Single Cab series. Service plans are optional with service intervals every 12 months/5,000 km.
Toyota does not offer its own in-house car insurance for the Land Cruiser but does have its Toyota Genuine Parts guarantee for all services done by Toyota and Toyota-accredited service agents.
According to the vehicle theft risk report by Ctrack, a leading car tracking and recovery agency, Toyota is one of the highest vehicle theft risks in South Africa. This will be taken into account by insurers when you're shopping around for Toyota Land Cruiser insurance.
One of the best ways to ensure you get a good deal on your car cover is to compare various Toyota Land Cruiser car insurance quotes online using our hippo.co.za car insurance comparison tool. All you need to do is input your personal details and those of the vehicle model you're looking at, and within minutes you can compare a range of car insurance quotes.
Prices quoted are correct at the time of publishing this article. The information in this article is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal, or medical advice.
