2008 Toyota Land Cruiser

2008 Toyota Land Cruiser 2008 Toyota Land Cruiser
First Drive Review

Do you remember how it felt the very first time you engaged cruise control? That momentary sense of no longer being in control, that the car had assumed command? That's how Toyota's new crawl mode in the 2008 Land Cruiser feels at first. You select the function, take your foot off the brake, and the car proceeds under its own management.

Of course, in crawl mode (which functions only in low range) the new Cruiser moves forward very slowly-there are three speed choices on a rotary switch in the dash, and none of them is faster than a walking pace. The cool trick is that the vehicle will maintain that pace through thick and thin, adding power to get the truck over big moguls and using the traction control and downhill assist to negotiate holes and grades. All you need to do is steer.

See, there is still a job for the driver in this vehicle. The job is mainly to enjoy the huge ability this truck reveals in everything it does. The '08 Land Cruiser somehow manages to combine peerless refinement with effortless highway prowess and extraordinary off-road potential. To help deliver this amazing versatility, it boasts a new engine and transmission.

All U.S. Land Cruisers are powered by a 5.7-liter V-8 (known as the 3UR-FE, and also used in the Tundra full-sized pickup truck) that produces 381 horsepower at 5600 rpm and 401 pound-feet at 3600 rpm on regular gas. This big V-8-available in the U.S. market only-pedals through a six-speed automatic that features a low, 3.33:1 first gear and overdriven fifth and sixth gears for optimal economy. (Toyota's preliminary fuel-consumption estimates are 13 mpg in the city and 18 on the highway.)

This all-aluminum V-8 features the usual array of Toyota tech bits-variable valve timing, a variable-volume intake system, and an electronic fly-by-wire throttle. But what the specs don't tell you is how silky smooth and quiet this engine is on the highway. Only when you dig in for more power do you hear a muted yet mellifluous snarl from the engine bay.

And the Cruiser is undeniably strong, with throttle response that contradicts its fairly substantial mass of about 5700 pounds. That's the torque talking. There's enough of it that the new Cruiser has a revised towing capacity of 8500 pounds, up 2000 pounds over the outgoing model, with an 850-pound tongue weight. As you can imagine, the Cruiser roves the highways with plenty in reserve when unladen.

Helping the big SUV feel taut and responsive is a stout new frame with fully boxed sections and no fewer than eight crossmembers, reportedly improving torsional rigidity by 40 percent over the model it replaces. Flexural improvement is said to be 20 percent.