You asked, we listened! Here is a review of the 2022 Toyota LandCruiser GR Sport (the 300 Series) - it was the one model you all desperately wanted to see a video of in the LandCruiser series.
This is a detailed review, so we also shot a separate off-road only review (link for that is below) that takes you through ALL of the four-wheel drive modes available in the new 300 Series.
Let us know what you think in the comments section below!
Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series off road review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls55_rMYFzM
Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
More Toyota content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/toyota
More Toyota LandCruiser content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/toyota/landcruiser
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior 01:03
Interior 04:25
Infotainment 05:54
Safety Tech 07:23
Practicality 08:46
On the Road 13:35
0-100 km/h 15:20
Verdict 21:05
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
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You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.
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#toyota #landcruiser #review #grsport #300series
This is a detailed review, so we also shot a separate off-road only review (link for that is below) that takes you through ALL of the four-wheel drive modes available in the new 300 Series.
Let us know what you think in the comments section below!
Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series off road review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls55_rMYFzM
Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
More Toyota content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/toyota
More Toyota LandCruiser content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/toyota/landcruiser
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior 01:03
Interior 04:25
Infotainment 05:54
Safety Tech 07:23
Practicality 08:46
On the Road 13:35
0-100 km/h 15:20
Verdict 21:05
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1
You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.
Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!
Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!
CarExpert:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au
Paul Maric:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric
#toyota #landcruiser #review #grsport #300series
Category
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MotorTranscript
00:00 G'day, I'm Paul.
00:01 So the Toyota Land Cruiser 300 Series has finally lobbed.
00:03 We reviewed the VX a little while back,
00:05 but it's time to review the one that I think
00:08 a lot of you guys have been asking about,
00:10 and it is the GR Sport.
00:11 It's probably the one that I'm most excited
00:13 about driving as well,
00:14 'cause it's got all of the off-road equipment
00:15 and it kind of looks pretty cool.
00:16 The GR Sport sits one down from the top specification
00:20 in Australia, and it's priced from just under $140,000.
00:23 That's too expensive.
00:24 The whole range kicks off at just under $90,000.
00:28 Now this competes with things like the Nissan Patrol,
00:30 that's one of its biggest arch nemesis,
00:32 nemesis, nemesis, nemesi,
00:35 the new Range Rover, and also the Land Rover Defender.
00:38 So there's a few of those meaty off-roaders
00:40 in this segment.
00:41 This one, of course, being just five seat only,
00:43 unlike the others, which are available in seven seats.
00:46 Today we're gonna do a detailed review of this car,
00:48 so if you do wanna skip ahead to other parts of the review,
00:50 you can use the time codes up on the screen there,
00:52 or if you're on YouTube,
00:53 scroll down and use the chapters below.
00:55 And if you haven't done so already,
00:56 subscribe to our channel, press the bell icon.
00:58 That'll tell you every single time
00:59 we drive a car with white lettering.
01:00 Now, before we get stuck into design,
01:04 we've done this video a little bit differently.
01:05 We've broken out the off-road section.
01:07 We have a full off-road review of this.
01:09 So the link is in the description below.
01:11 Don't click on it just yet.
01:12 Wait till you watch the rest of this,
01:13 and then you can watch the off-road review.
01:14 So you can pick seven exterior colors with the GR Sport,
01:18 all but black and white, almost $700 extra.
01:22 Now the GR Sport looks very different
01:24 to the rest of the Land Cruiser range,
01:25 because you've got sportiness to it.
01:27 So they've gone with white lettering along the front here,
01:30 and then you have unpainted bumpers on the front and rear.
01:33 I did notice though,
01:34 I don't know if this build quality is amazing.
01:36 This bumper's kind of hanging off up the top here.
01:39 The paint's coming off it as well.
01:40 I don't know if that's just
01:41 'cause this is one of the media cars
01:42 that's been doing a lot of off-roading,
01:44 but it's only got like 2000 Ks on it.
01:46 But anyway, so in terms of the rest of the design,
01:48 outside of your white lettering,
01:49 you've got that piano black grill there,
01:51 radar just underneath the Toyota lettering
01:53 with a camera there for the 360 camera.
01:56 And then right down the bottom,
01:57 you've got this silver garnish highlight.
01:59 Up here, you've got a GR badge, Gazoo Racing.
02:02 This is what they've fitted to the Supra
02:03 and also the GR Yaris as well.
02:05 So you'll see that featured
02:06 on a whole lot more Toyotas moving forward.
02:08 They might even do a sportier version of this
02:10 with more power and torque,
02:11 but as it stands,
02:12 this has the same engine configuration
02:14 as the rest of the range.
02:15 Up here, you've got a set of LED headlights.
02:18 So it's a bi-LED headlight setup,
02:20 LED daytime running lights,
02:22 and also progressive indicators.
02:23 This is also kind of different here with the GR Sport.
02:26 You can see they've got these openings
02:27 down the bottom for cooling,
02:28 but then they're closed up at the top there.
02:30 Headlight washers, I've mentioned in our other off-road
02:32 videos that these are really useful
02:34 if you're doing a whole lot of off-roading,
02:35 especially in muddy and wet terrain.
02:37 You can get water come up above the headlight here
02:40 and cover that.
02:41 Once it dries, the headlights become ineffective.
02:43 So this blasts it all away
02:44 so you can actually see what you're doing.
02:45 One of the downsides to these unpainted bumpers
02:48 is you can see the scratch marks along here.
02:51 They're gonna be pretty obvious when you do off-roading
02:53 and you have any trees or brush
02:54 scrubbing up against the car.
02:56 That stuff is a little hard to get off
02:58 once it does scratch and mark.
03:00 Around the side here,
03:01 you've got a set of 18-inch alloy wheels
03:04 with all-terrain tires.
03:05 I do like the alloy wheel design.
03:06 The dark theme really suits
03:08 all of these black sections with GR Sport.
03:11 And then you've got these plastic wheel arch guards
03:13 along the top there.
03:14 So pretty nice setup and a whole lot of profile there as well
03:17 if you're gonna be doing some off-road driving.
03:19 Sidesteps, I think these could be perhaps a little better.
03:22 They're kind of a little bit cheap looking.
03:24 And I think that if you were to attack those with some rocks,
03:27 that's probably gonna bend pretty easy.
03:29 Love to see something like the Ford Ranger Raptor here
03:31 where it's got those sort of full metal sidesteps
03:33 that stick out and you can actually attack with rocks.
03:36 Piano black on that wing mirror, LED indicator,
03:39 and then beneath there, you've got a little camera as well.
03:41 Another GR logo.
03:42 Got these black roof rails, privacy glass,
03:45 black door handles, and then whip around to the rear.
03:48 You have a shark fin aerial hiding along the top there.
03:51 LED taillights, so this is all LED,
03:54 also progressive indicator there.
03:56 Another GR Sport badge.
03:58 Black Land Cruiser lettering,
04:00 more of that black garnish down the bottom there.
04:02 Some of you pointed out in our last video,
04:04 'cause I read through all of the comments
04:05 and found it interesting that a lot of people were upset
04:08 about the split tailgate disappearing.
04:09 So they've kind of made it look like it's still here
04:12 with that crease line,
04:13 but it's definitely just a single piece tailgate,
04:15 unfortunately.
04:16 Let me know what you reckon in the comment section below
04:17 about the GR specifically.
04:19 Do you think that this is the Land Cruiser to get,
04:22 or are you gonna go for the Sahara
04:23 because you wanna kick back in style?
04:26 So around the Land Cruiser, let's start off with the key.
04:28 So you've got lock, unlock, boot.
04:31 You've got a panic button, Toyota logo down the bottom,
04:34 little bit of garnish there as well.
04:36 Then on the back, you have a GR symbol.
04:38 Proximity sensing, so leave that in your pocket.
04:40 Once you're inside, you have this giant GR stop/start button
04:44 up the top there.
04:45 In terms of the design, I think it looks pretty good.
04:48 Like it's, I don't know,
04:49 it's a big departure from the old Land Cruiser,
04:51 and I guess that's probably not saying much
04:53 given it was like 11 years old or even older
04:56 in terms of that sort of fascia down the center there.
04:58 But I think this really modernizes Land Cruiser,
05:01 and it's a pretty good sort of setup there
05:02 with the big screen up the top there.
05:03 And you can see with the materials,
05:05 they've actually gone to a lot of effort here
05:06 to make this look and feel quite premium.
05:09 You've got this nice looking open-pore wood grain
05:11 along the center and the doors too.
05:13 And then over on the driver's side,
05:15 this is all nice and soft.
05:16 So when you're driving,
05:16 you can just relax your knee on there
05:18 without it getting fatigued.
05:19 GR Sport comes with pretty cool design elements on the seat.
05:22 So you've got GR stitched into the top there,
05:25 and then you have the red and black theme as well
05:27 with the red along the center there.
05:28 What about your touch points?
05:30 So kind of okay there,
05:31 a little firm and pretty soft on the door there.
05:34 How soft are they?
05:35 Well, we've got our durometer.
05:36 We've tested the main surfaces in this cabin.
05:38 If you want to see how this car compares to others
05:40 that we've tested before,
05:41 have a look at the link in the description.
05:43 Build quality.
05:44 Well, aside from the bumper bar
05:45 that was hanging off out the front there,
05:47 rest of this actually feels nice and solid.
05:50 And the door test.
05:51 (door clunking)
05:54 Sounds good to me.
05:56 Now let's talk about infotainment.
05:59 So it's all controlled on this screen up the top here.
06:01 There's also some shortcut buttons down the bottom.
06:04 They're nice and metallic, cold to the touch.
06:06 Up the top here, it is all a touch screens.
06:09 It's split into these two sections.
06:11 So you've got the left-hand side
06:12 and then the right-hand side,
06:13 and you can move them to the opposite sides if you want to.
06:17 It built into here, you have AM, FM, DAB plus digital radio.
06:22 And that's all powered through a 14 speaker
06:24 JBL branded sound system.
06:26 It's actually pretty decent sound system.
06:28 I'm quite impressed by it.
06:29 You do also have smartphone mirroring
06:31 in the form of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
06:33 I'll show you what Apple CarPlay looks like.
06:35 So you can see here, it doesn't take up the full screen.
06:37 It's sort of just relegated to this area.
06:40 It seems like a tiny bit laggy there,
06:42 but for the most part, it's okay.
06:44 I just wish you could option,
06:46 the ability to make that bigger if you wanted to,
06:48 because I think this stuff is more important
06:50 and it's better to be displayed larger.
06:52 And this is what Android Auto looks like.
06:55 Same story again, not full screen
06:56 and ever so slightly laggy there as well.
07:00 Ahead of the driver is another digital display.
07:03 Over here, you've got just some basic stuff about the car,
07:06 but it's really useful when it comes to switching
07:09 between some of the safety features.
07:10 So you've got digital speedo,
07:12 you've got a lot of the safety systems, audio, navigation,
07:15 but then with the safety systems,
07:16 you can easily switch between those
07:18 and turn them off as required.
07:19 So good little screen, and it's also good for off-roading,
07:21 which you'll be able to see in our off-road review.
07:23 Now, safety, you have autonomous emergency braking
07:26 that works forwards and reverse
07:28 and detects pedestrians and cyclists.
07:30 You've got an auto-dimming rear vision mirror,
07:32 rear cross traffic alert.
07:34 You've also got a radar cruise control,
07:37 lane departure warning and a lane keeping assistant
07:39 in the form of a brake pulsing setup.
07:42 Blind spot monitoring built into that wing mirror.
07:44 And then in terms of parking,
07:45 you have both front and rear parking sensors
07:47 and a 360 camera.
07:49 Show you what that looks like.
07:50 It beeps if I put it into reverse.
07:51 I'm gonna start the car quickly.
07:54 So you've got a couple of different modes here
07:56 for the camera.
07:56 So I'll hit this button, that will bring up our first one.
07:59 So it's kind of like a showcase
08:01 of what's going on around the car,
08:03 particularly handy if you are off-road
08:04 or if you're parking near other objects.
08:06 You then have this top-down view of the car as well.
08:10 And then when you do pop it into reverse,
08:13 you get your full 360.
08:14 So the quality is actually not too bad.
08:16 So you can see Igor's car there.
08:18 And then as I move the steering wheel,
08:20 it adjusts all of those lines,
08:21 including the forward moving lines.
08:24 And you can also adjust those views as well.
08:26 There is also a multi-terrain monitor
08:28 for off-road driving as well.
08:30 Okay, quick question.
08:31 So if you're looking at buying one of these or a Patrol,
08:35 could you justify spending about $40,000 or more extra
08:39 for one of these over a Patrol?
08:41 I'm keen for your feedback.
08:42 Let me know down there.
08:43 If the sort of white times weren't an issue, let me know.
08:46 So let's talk about practicality
08:48 and we'll start with your connectivity.
08:50 So you have a 12-volt outlet down here.
08:52 You have a USB-C port, a USB-A port,
08:55 and that's all hidden behind this little sort of door there.
08:58 So when they're not in use, you can tuck that away.
09:00 You have a wireless phone charger.
09:02 Terms of storing your phone,
09:03 well, you can whack it down there on the wireless phone
09:05 charger, it fits a big phone inside its case,
09:08 which is good news, or you can pop your phone down here.
09:10 There's sort of no dramas there at all.
09:11 And in terms of your coffee,
09:13 they have catered for everyone here
09:14 because if you pop it in the left one,
09:15 it kind of disappears and it's a little hard to grab.
09:18 But in the right one,
09:19 you've actually got this adjustable height.
09:21 So you can pop that in.
09:22 And then once that's inside,
09:24 your coffee can sit in there and it is super easy to reach
09:27 out even if you have a small one, which is pretty cool.
09:29 Bottles, same story,
09:31 fits into both of these without any dramas.
09:33 You've got teeth on the side there.
09:35 Fits into the door too.
09:37 Let's try our big bottle.
09:39 Look at that, that fits in there.
09:42 Let's see if it fits inside the door.
09:44 No, that's a shame.
09:46 I would have thought that it'd fit in there nicely.
09:48 Anyway, on other storage, you have this center console.
09:52 Watch this.
09:53 So it opens that way and it opens that way as well.
09:55 Inside the center console, you have a fridge,
09:59 but when the fridge isn't in use,
10:01 it's like the most random, awkward little space
10:03 because it's quite sort of thin and then quite deep.
10:06 So, you know, it works okay, but yeah,
10:08 not the best sort of setup there in the world.
10:11 You have a glove box over here.
10:13 Not too bad.
10:14 It's dual tiered there,
10:15 but a lot of the space is taken up by the manual
10:17 once it's in there.
10:18 And finally, you have a sunglasses holder at the top.
10:21 Now, what about comfort?
10:22 So you have dual zone automatic climate control
10:24 up the front here.
10:25 You have heated and cooled seats.
10:27 You've got a heated steering wheel.
10:29 In addition to that, you've got your sunroof
10:31 up the top there.
10:32 The seats, so they are pretty comfy.
10:35 There's plenty of room on either side.
10:37 So if you like KFC as much as I do,
10:40 you're gonna find the seats pretty good.
10:42 Seats have electric adjustment for both the driver
10:44 and front passenger.
10:45 So you can go forwards, backwards,
10:47 backrest, forwards, backwards.
10:49 Put the seat up and down.
10:51 And then you also have bolster support as well.
10:54 So plenty of adjustments there.
10:55 Steering wheel is electrically adjustable
10:57 up, down, in and out.
10:59 And then on the reach test, all of this is fine,
11:01 but I did find this morning when I was driving here,
11:04 I was trying to change radio stations
11:05 and they just counterintuitively appear
11:08 in this giant list that you have to scroll through.
11:10 So it is just a little bit tedious having it up there
11:13 and having no controls down here to drive it.
11:15 Second row, the Land Cruiser.
11:17 So you've got a grab handle to climb on in or to hold on.
11:20 My wife's driving.
11:22 Knee room is reasonable.
11:24 Toe room is not great.
11:26 My sort of toes are wedged under there for some reason.
11:29 Headroom is pretty decent.
11:31 You have your air vents wedged in up the top here
11:34 with another grab handle up there if you need it.
11:36 Down at the bottom here,
11:37 you've got your third and fourth zone of climate
11:39 for the second row.
11:41 There's also heated and cooled seats
11:42 for the two outboard seats, which is pretty cool.
11:45 You have USB-C ports hidden under these little hidey holes,
11:49 a 12 volt outlet,
11:50 two map pockets in the back of the seats.
11:52 You've got a center armrest here that drops down
11:54 and under here you've got two cup holders.
11:56 They hold the bottle in pretty easily.
11:59 And then this also fits inside the door.
12:02 You've also got two ISOFIX points on the outboard seats
12:05 with three top tether points.
12:06 It is a little bit disappointing
12:08 that this second row doesn't slide forwards or backwards,
12:10 given this is only a five seater.
12:12 So it would be nice to have a little bit of extra room there.
12:14 You can recline this, but I don't know.
12:16 I just think they could have used this space
12:18 and engineered it just a little bit better.
12:20 Let's talk cargo space.
12:21 So because the GR Sport is just five seats,
12:24 means you get slightly more cargo space
12:26 than the seven seat models.
12:28 That means a little over 1100 litres available just here.
12:31 You get a little bit of underfloor storage.
12:34 Yeah, it's kind of weird.
12:34 I would have thought they'd be more
12:36 sort of underfloor storage,
12:37 given that you don't have the seven seats
12:39 in the way of things.
12:40 So yeah, I don't really know
12:41 where they make up for that room.
12:42 Beneath the car is where your spare tyre is,
12:44 but it is worth pointing out something
12:46 that one of our commenters actually mentioned.
12:47 The fuel filter is right next to the spare tyre.
12:50 So if you do want to fit a bigger spare tyre in there,
12:53 I don't know that it will actually fit
12:55 with the fuel filter in that position.
12:57 You've got hooks down the side here.
12:58 You have a power outlet, but 100 watt.
13:01 I mean, it's not really a great deal.
13:03 You can power with 100 watts.
13:04 So I think it's just as a novelty item.
13:07 And then you still have hangovers
13:08 from the seven seats set up
13:10 with like air vents and cup holders on the side.
13:12 So yeah, it's kind of odd
13:13 that they don't even give you the option
13:14 of putting seven seats in here.
13:16 But let's see what it looks like with our bags in.
13:18 So there's one in there.
13:20 Pop this one in as well.
13:21 So as you can see, stacks of room in there.
13:24 Then what you can also do to expand the space
13:26 is drop that second row.
13:28 So I'll just fold that out of the way
13:29 so you can see what it looks like.
13:31 Once that's out of the way,
13:32 you have about 2000 litres of cargo space available.
13:35 So we've hit the road in the Land Cruiser GR Sport.
13:40 Now, if you have seen our VX review,
13:43 it's all going to be very familiar,
13:45 but I'll run you through the engine specs anyway.
13:47 It's a 3.3 litre turbocharged V6 diesel now.
13:50 So they've dropped the V8, that's gone.
13:52 It is now a V6 across the range
13:54 and it produces 227 kilowatts of power
13:57 and 700 newton metres of torque.
14:00 So it's a nice and meaty, hearty engine,
14:03 reduces more power and torque
14:04 than the outgoing V8 as well.
14:06 So kind of just shows you how far we've come
14:08 in terms of engine technology.
14:10 That's all made it to a 10 speed automatic transmission.
14:13 I've got to tell you,
14:14 this engine and transmission combo is fantastic.
14:17 If you're worried about the V8 going
14:20 and not having enough punch to do stuff,
14:22 nothing to worry about.
14:23 Like if I just give this a little kick here,
14:26 it gives you a nice push in the back and gets you moving.
14:29 It is just a good package and it really suits this chassis.
14:32 And then in terms of the transmission itself,
14:34 it's actually nice and sharp and crisp.
14:36 Being a 10 speed auto,
14:38 I was a bit concerned about this
14:39 wanting to hunt a lot of the time,
14:40 but when you get stuck into it,
14:42 it drops back into the right gear.
14:43 There isn't a great deal of lag.
14:45 There is a little bit of lag,
14:45 but it's nothing sort of astronomical.
14:48 And then it can also push onto that torque band
14:50 to get it moving without having to dive back
14:52 through the gears as well.
14:53 So it's a really good setup.
14:54 No paddle shifters though.
14:55 You have to use just your gear lever
14:57 if you want to rifle back through the gears.
14:59 Toyota claims that the Land Cruiser
15:01 will consume 8.9 litres of fuel per 100 Ks.
15:04 We are currently sitting on 12.1.
15:08 So fairway off that.
15:09 And I remember when we drove the other car,
15:10 despite it being brand new,
15:12 it was still higher than the average claim as well.
15:14 And this car has been doing predominantly
15:16 highway driving as well.
15:18 So a little disappointing there in terms of fuel use.
15:20 Now, Toyota doesn't give us a zero to 100 time,
15:22 but we've put it up against our stopwatch
15:24 and this is how it went.
15:25 Let's talk about some of the specs.
15:36 Now, normally we would do an off-road review in this review,
15:40 but what we've decided to do is break out
15:42 the off-road review so you can get a far more detailed look
15:45 at each of the off-road features in this car,
15:46 because there are a lot of them.
15:47 So if you want to watch that, click up here,
15:49 but I'll give you just the basic overrun now.
15:51 So you have high and low range four-wheel drive.
15:54 This is a permanent four-wheel drive system.
15:56 So you don't have the ability to go into two-wheel drive mode.
15:58 You have a centre, front and rear differential lock.
16:01 In addition to that, you have crawl control
16:03 and also turn assist.
16:05 So they use variations of those diff locks
16:08 and braking inner wheels to actually tighten
16:11 the turning circle as you're going
16:12 through your off-road tracks.
16:14 Now, when it comes to ground clearance,
16:15 you have 235 mil, which is 10 mil more
16:17 than the previous generation Land Cruiser.
16:19 You've got a 32 degree approach angle,
16:21 which is the angle of the face you can approach
16:23 before you hit the front of the car,
16:24 a 25 degree departure angle,
16:27 and a 700 millimetre waiting depth.
16:29 And that's all in addition to a three and a half tonne
16:31 brake to towing capacity.
16:32 So it is pretty well featured there
16:34 in terms of off-road equipment.
16:36 And when we did test it off-road,
16:37 it was actually quite impressive how far it could go.
16:39 So if you are serious about your off-roading,
16:41 the GR Sport is the one that you wanna go for.
16:43 Let's talk about drive modes.
16:44 The key difference here with the GR Sport
16:47 to the VX that we drove is that this has a stack
16:50 of different suspension technology beneath the skin.
16:52 So this uses adaptive damping.
16:54 We've seen something similar in Prado,
16:56 the top spec of Prado, but the adaptive damping system
16:59 is certainly new to me in Land Cruiser.
17:01 And I think that what they've done here
17:03 is actually given this another character altogether.
17:06 So you've got your drive mode selector up the top here.
17:08 You can flick between Eco, Comfort, Normal, Sport, Sport Plus.
17:12 Hold on, we've got Sport S, and then Sport S Plus,
17:16 and then Custom.
17:17 So there's a whole bunch of drive modes there.
17:19 Eco is obviously the mode where they sort of
17:21 dull everything down to reduce the amount of fuel
17:24 that you're using.
17:24 Comfort really softens up the ride to the point
17:27 where this feels completely different
17:29 to the VX that we drove.
17:30 I'm genuinely surprised how they've been able
17:32 to make it feel so comfortable in comparison.
17:35 The VX wasn't terrible,
17:36 but this really smooths it out beautifully.
17:38 And even on these country sections of road
17:40 where we've got big potholes and then wash aways
17:43 on the side of the road,
17:44 it is just soaking everything up really nicely.
17:47 And then as you move through Normal, Sport, and Sport S Plus
17:52 it just gets a lot firmer.
17:53 And that's also linked to e-KDSS,
17:56 which is fitted standard to the GR Sport.
17:59 Instead of the old KDSS system,
18:01 this uses an entirely electric system,
18:03 and it has the front and rear sway bars
18:06 operate through that system.
18:07 And when you start entering a corner
18:09 and getting a bit of body roll,
18:10 it's able to firm up those sway bars to level out the body.
18:13 And it means that this in theory
18:14 should feel a whole lot sportier
18:16 when we go punt it through a couple of corners.
18:18 And then when you do drive off-road,
18:19 it disconnects those sway bars effectively
18:21 to give you a further wheel articulation,
18:24 because that's often the limitation of a sway bar
18:26 on these four-wheel drives.
18:27 Now let's talk steering.
18:29 So I'm a little bit disappointed
18:32 that Toyota's gone down the path of hydraulic steering.
18:34 It is very old technology,
18:36 and we've seen in many four-wheel drives now
18:38 that they have proven that E-PASS,
18:40 the electrically assisted steering systems,
18:42 work perfectly fine.
18:43 Toyota does something a little different here though.
18:45 So this is a hydraulic rack with an electric assistant.
18:49 I don't really know what that means.
18:50 It feels very hydraulic to me.
18:52 There's no real sort of electric assistance feeling to it,
18:56 but it allows them to run things
18:57 like the trace assistant for lane departure.
18:59 But it's one of those systems that just pulses the brakes.
19:01 It doesn't really sort of guide the car back into the lane,
19:04 and it can get really intrusive
19:05 while you're out on the open road.
19:06 Okay, so let's go into Sport S+.
19:10 We'll pop it through the corner here.
19:11 I'm keen to see how it feels with the KDSS system working.
19:16 Yeah, look, it's interesting.
19:18 I don't really notice that much of a difference.
19:21 There is still a fair bit of body roll
19:22 as you go through the corner.
19:23 I'm sure it is working in the background there,
19:25 but it's not quite as quick or sharp
19:27 as some of the vehicles we've seen
19:28 with 48-volt mild hybrid systems,
19:30 where they can actuate that lift far quicker,
19:33 and it means that it does level out the corner
19:36 a whole lot easier.
19:36 This probably takes a little longer
19:37 to respond to that input.
19:39 Hey, everyone, sorry to interrupt the video.
19:41 We just realized when we were reviewing the footage
19:43 that the GR Sport actually had quite a lot of body roll.
19:46 So what we did was we pulled footage from our VX review
19:49 and overlaid it, and realized that the GR Sport
19:52 is actually kind of worse than the VX
19:54 in terms of the way that it performs through a corner.
19:56 So the VX doesn't have any adaptive damping
19:59 or any of that KDSS technology.
20:02 So it does seem like the KDSS in the GR Sport
20:04 was perhaps faulty, or if it's meant to work that way,
20:07 I don't really understand what the purpose of it is,
20:09 because it seems to increase body roll
20:11 as opposed to decrease it.
20:13 So yeah, apologies for the interruption,
20:14 but we just thought we'd point that out.
20:16 In terms of road noise, pretty quiet place to be seated.
20:19 Even out on course-chip country roads, it's fairly quiet.
20:23 There is a little bit of wind noise,
20:24 but you don't get a huge amount of tire noise
20:26 intruding into the cabin.
20:27 Let's talk visibility.
20:28 So this is a big old rig,
20:30 but it's actually not too bad to see out of.
20:32 The bonnet has these giant divots in it
20:34 that I remember from the 200 Series,
20:36 like water would collect in the center there
20:38 if you had a parked on a slight incline
20:40 and it was frosty overnight.
20:41 But it does mean that you can see down the fronts of the car.
20:44 The wing mirrors are huge,
20:45 so you can clearly see down the side.
20:47 You've got a blind spot monitor built into those.
20:49 Visibility out the back is pretty good as well.
20:51 And in terms of your low-speed stuff,
20:53 you've got front and rear parking sensors,
20:55 and the steering is light enough for low-speed parking.
20:57 And then in addition to that,
20:58 you have an 11.8 meter turning circle.
21:01 So pretty big, but to be expected for a vehicle like this
21:03 that is a full-time four-wheel drive.
21:05 So the Toyota Land Cruiser.
21:08 Now, if you haven't seen our off-road review of this,
21:10 click up here to watch it now.
21:12 It's a pretty beastie thing with front and rear diff locks.
21:14 It'll virtually go anywhere.
21:16 And I think in essence,
21:17 that's what the GR Sport does above and beyond
21:20 other vehicles in the Land Cruiser range.
21:22 And I don't really understand why you can't option
21:24 some of the off-road equipment that this has
21:25 in other Land Cruiser models.
21:27 So from that point of view, this is incredibly capable.
21:30 One thing we did pick up though,
21:31 and we did notice this with the first Land Cruiser we drove,
21:34 we didn't really mention anything
21:35 'cause I assumed it was limited to the car that we drove.
21:37 It was brand new, still had only just been pre-delivered
21:40 and that kind of thing,
21:41 but it is a suspension or steering knock.
21:43 And this is what it sounds like.
21:44 (car engine roaring)
21:55 So I think it is something that is going to be common
21:58 across Land Cruisers.
21:59 We have sent it across to Toyota
22:00 and asked them to investigate.
22:01 When I do hear back from them,
22:03 I will update and pin a comment down below
22:05 so you can get a better idea of what it is.
22:06 But it is pretty disappointing
22:07 that in what is effectively a brand new car,
22:09 we're hearing this knocking sound across several vehicles.
22:12 If you put that stuff to one side,
22:14 the engine is sensational.
22:15 This is really nice to drive
22:17 with the adaptive suspension as well.
22:18 So as a cruiser, it does a really impressive job.
22:21 It is expensive though.
22:22 So I don't know whether you would pay,
22:24 what, $40,000 above a Nissan Patrol to get this.
22:27 But if you've got some money to burn,
22:28 it's definitely gonna put a smile on your face.
22:30 Now, let me know in the comment section below,
22:32 have you ordered a Land Cruiser?
22:34 I also wanna know which other Land Cruiser variants
22:36 you want us to review.
22:37 Do you want us to do a Sahara
22:38 or do you want us to go down to the bottom end of the range?
22:40 Let me know down there in the comment section.
22:42 If you did enjoy this video,
22:43 please make sure you share it with your mates.
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22:47 But until next time, take it easy.