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Owning a LandCruiser 79 reinforces that you don’t buy one of these for their features and standard equipment, but for their durability and go-anywhere dependability.
The coolest 4x4 in our shed at the moment is our VDJ79 LandCruiser. Cool because it’s ours and we’re fitting great products to it to turn it into a great off-road tourer.
We can’t comment as to how this particular vehicle drove in standard form as we had the suspension, GVM and rear track correction/diff replacement all done pre-registration under the Second Stage Manufacturer (SSM) scheme. We had all this work done before the Cruiser was first registered so that it’s covered by SSM approvals and certified nationwide. By the time we got to drive it, it was already on the way to becoming a better-than-standard vehicle.
There’s no denying that the 70 Series LandCruiser is a basic workhorse. Even in this GXL trim, the interior is spartan and it’s hard to believe that a vehicle costing the best part of $100k on the road still doesn’t have any sort of phone mirroring or satellite navigation. Even basic HiLux models get better infotainment for a lot less money.
The interior is certainly liveable as the seats are good, visibility is great and the driving position suits me, but the infotainment and lack of storage or useable drink bottle holders is unbelievable at this price point. At least these are things that are easy to fix and there’s a swag of aftermarket gear available to remedy the problems.
We’ve had the Cruiser for six months now and it’s just clicked over 600km and will be ready for its first service soon. Usage has been getting the vehicle between workshops and out for a couple of photo shoots to show what’s been happening with it and these little adventures have reinforced our belief that the 79 is the best platform on which to build an off-road touring vehicle. It might be basic but there’s nothing else built as tough and dependable as the 70 Series.
Our drive in a 2.8-litre manual gearbox LC76 gave us a feeling of how the two engines available in the 70 compare. Yes, the 79 is bigger and heavier than the 76, and our 79 has performance-draining bigger tyres on it, but drive the two Toyotas one day after the other and it becomes obvious that the four-cylinder engine will outgun the old V8 to 100km/h.
While the oversize tyres might rob the LC79 of some acceleration, the light truck construction Maxxis muddies provide the confidence to drive over rocks and logs without worrying too much about tyre damage. Quality off-road tyres need to be the first part of every tourer build and we’ve always been more than happy with the Maxxis RAZRs.
Combined with the Terrain Tamer suspension upgrades the set-up we have now gives the confidence to tackle any terrain but the 79 has its limitations there too; thankfully the GXL comes with factory diff locks because it needs them. The heavy duty chassis that makes the 70 so tough and dependable doesn’t flex much and the leaf springs don’t provide a heap of travel either.
The Cruiser does have electronic traction control but that is disabled when you go into low range so when the rear axle picks up a wheel over regular erosion mounds, it’s left spinning wheels until you engage one or both of the diff locks. Even with just the rear diff locked, the Cruiser feels unstoppable.
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