The Toyota Land Cruiser, the first real response to the Jeep, and the first ride out there that showed that someone besides Americans could make decent off road trucks. That was back in the dark ages though, before SUVs were everywhere and soccer moms and flat screens for the kids in back were even a consideration.
And now, here we are, it’s nearly 2010, and Toyota has just released the info on the latest iteration of its venerable Land Cruiser. Premiering at the Frankfurt Motor Show, the all-new 2010 Toyota Land Cruiser, will go on sale in Europe and other international markets before the end of fall 2009. The sixth-generation Land Cruiser, which will also have a Lexus-badged version in North American, gets all new sheetmetal and a completely overhauled interior.
The new Land Cruiser will be available in three- and five-door body styles, and features a more spacious cabin. The five-door model seats seven, with a third row of seats. Toyota says that the Land Cruiser is still a proper off-road model and it sticks with tried-and-true body-on-frame construction. Old style chassis notwithstanding, rigidity has been increased by 11 per cent while insulating frame-to-body mounts have been added to absorb engine, drivetrain and road noise, and to improve ride comfort.
Suspension-wise, up front there’s front independent double wishbone and out back there’s a four-link lateral rod set up. Toyota says the new suspension provides extra comfort and better steering feel. Top of the line models will get a new electronic Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System (KDSS), which adjusts the anti-roll bars for optimized on and off-road performance. The top of line will also get an electronically controlled rear air suspension system that works with Toyota’s Adaptive Variable Suspension (AVS) system. The AVS system allows the driver to tune the ride characteristics with a choice of three damper settings.
There’s also another gizmo called Multi-terrain Select. Multi-terrain Select automatically controls power and braking over different types of off-road surfaces, and it also combines a monitor that shows real time images from around the vehicle via a network of four cameras.
Source: CarScoop
Leave a Reply