2018 Toyota Land Cruiser vs. Lexus LX 570 TFL Expert Buyer’s Guide: Which One Should You Buy? (Video)

Model details: 2018 Toyota Land Cruiser

If you’re looking for a wide range of options for your new SUV, you might want to keep searching. However, if you’re just looking for a “what you see is what you get” rig, this may be the perfect choice. There’s just one trim level with the Land Cruiser, and one engine. You get that 5.7-liter V8, eight-speed transmission, and all the same features no matter which Land Cruiser you buy. Toyota only sells around 3,000 of these annually, so there’s not much justification in variety at this price point.

Pricing starts at $84,315, plus a $1,295 destination charge. Add that in, and you’re paying $85,610, all in. That was easy, wasn’t it? If you can afford to buy and run this mammoth of an SUV, of course.

Exterior features

Now, for that $85,000 and change, you do get a fair amount of standard equipment. On the outside, you get LED lighting all round – including headlights, running lights, fog lights, accent lights and tail lights. Toyota also includes heated power-folding mirrors, a power tilt/slide moonroof, a power split-folding tailgate and 18-inch alloy wheels. There’s also rain-sensing windshield wipers, aluminum running boards, heavy-duty mudguards and skid plates protecting the front suspension, radiator, fuel tank and transfer case when you do decide you want to go off-road.

The Land Cruiser comes in five available colors. Blue Onyx Pearl, Midnight Black Metallic and Magnetic Gray Metallic are no-cost colors. However, Blizzard Pearl (white) is a $395 option. To get Brandywine Mica – a sort of maroon color – you have to add the $2,220 rear seat entertainment system detailed below.

While there are no options for exterior equipment, you can spend $499 to have your Land Cruiser fitted with a remote engine starter. That’s Toyota’s price for the feature, at least, plus the labor to fit the system to your car.

Interior features

For $85,610, you’d expect comfort features, and you get them. Toyota includes four-zone automatic climate control, a 360-degree camera system, Qi wireless charging, as well as heated and ventilated seats, for a start. The Toyota also includes third row seating, so there’s accommodation for eight passengers. There’s four-zone automatic climate control, Qi wireless charging, and a heated, leather-trimmed, power adjustable steering wheel. Two interior colors are available: a black semi-aniline perforated leather, or a “Terra” (brown) semi-aniline perforated leather interior. However, to get the latter, you have to spec the rear seat entertainment system.

The Land Cruiser does come with a 14-speaker JBL premium audio system in the price, while the Lexus LX 570 comes with a 9-speaker system as standard. You get Toyota’s Entune infotainment system with a 9.0-inch screen, AM/FM/SiriusXM/CD and Bluetooth connectivity with Siri Eyes Free. Sadly, even though Toyota is starting to include Apple CarPlay support on other models, you don’t get that here. Nor do you get Android Auto. There’s also a cooled center console box – not quite a refrigerator, but still nice to keep your chocolate from melting.

The 2018 Toyota Land Cruiser comes with one standalone option: A Rear Seat Entertainment System package for $2,220. With that, Toyota includes two 11.6-inch displays with RCA jacks, an HDMI input, remote, and two wireless headphones. Since most parents likely buy tablets for their kids, we wouldn’t recommend speccing this option. Instead, you can BYOT (Bring Your Own Tablet) and spend $99 for Toyota’s tablet holder instead (or you can buy an aftermarket one elsewhere).

Safety

The 2018 Toyota Land Cruiser comes standard with Toyota Safety Sense-P, where the “P” adds Pedestrian Detection. On top of that, Toyota includes a Pre-Collision System, Lane Departure Alert, automatic high beams and Radar Cruise Control. The 2018 Toyota Land Cruiser includes 10 airbags, as well as stability control, ABS, Brake Assist and Electronic Brake Force Distribution.