While details of the new Land Cruiser will remain under wraps until it’s formally revealed, we know quite a bit about it already thanks to its upscale platform twin, the Lexus GX, and the other trucks and SUVs with which the new Land Cruiser is expected to share fundamental components — Toyota Tacoma, Toyota Tundra and Lexus LX. Of them, the GX will be the closest analog. The new GX measures just under 200 inches long and its chassis features a double-wishbone suspension up front and a multilink setup in the rear. Two- and three-row layouts are available, and the former can be had with second-row captain’s chairs.
As was the case previously, we expect most of the Toyota’s hardware to match up. However there’s a bit of a twist — and we mean “twist” somewhat deliberately, as torque and horsepower are two things we expect to be radically different between the Lexus and Toyota variants this time around. Unlike the upscale GX, which is powered by Toyota’s new turbocharged inline-six, the mainstream Land Cruiser may look to its less-expensive pickup cousin, the Tacoma, for powertrain inspiration. That would mean propulsion would come exclusively from turbocharged (and potentially hybridized) four-cylinder engines.
But fret not, as there’s potentially more good news here than bad. With the smaller engines, we’d expect the Land Cruiser to be a bit lighter than the Lexus, which would make it less of a handful both on- and off-road. The GX is also launching with a new off-road trim called “Overtrail” and we expect many of its features to trickle down to the inevitable TRD-branded permutations of the Land Cruiser. On the GX, the bundle includes 33-inch all-terrain tires on unique 18-inch wheels, an electronic locking differential, black fender accents, a 6mm aluminum skid plate, off-road specific drive modes and a 3D terrain monitor.
The Overtrail can also be optioned with Toyota’s Electronic-Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System (E-KDSS) — the fully mechanical off-road suspension featured on previous Land Cruiser and GX models that utilizes hydraulic pressure to engage and disengage the platform’s stabilizer bars when the need for more articulation is detected. Sounds just right for a TRD Pro, if you ask us. We’ll know for sure tonight. Stay tuned!
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