2008 4x4 Of The Year Contestants

The Toyota Land Cruiser was one of the first vehicles Toyota brought to the United States 50 years ago and has always been the Japanese carmaker's preeminent off-road vehicle. The 2008 model (referred to as the URJ200 or 200-Series by Cruiser-heads) has pushed electronic technology in an off-road vehicle to the nth-degree with the off-road Crawl mode that uses a mixture of brake-biasing traction control and forced sway-bar articulation, resulting in a low-speed cruiser control. Not since the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Land Rover LR3, or Volkswagen Touareg have we seen such an amazing use of computer controls for maximum off-road performance, but this makes us wonder if a vehicle that works great off road but barely requires any driver input is a better vehicle than one that has gears and lockers but still needs a driver with some skill.

Toyota, please stand to hear your offenses. First of all, this is your premier off-road vehicle, so how about a return of the selectable lockers? You offered them 10 years ago, so why not now? Yes, your off-road traction control is impressive and the Crawl mode is unique, but we wonder how all those gizmos will work after being buried in the thick mud of the Amazon or after 80,000 miles in an African desert. We know most U.S. buyers won't spend $70,000 for an SUV to be driven into the mud and muck of the woods on purpose, but some of them will. For them, how about a mode where the driver decides which axle is locked up? Also the styling is a little boring. The lines your luxury ute in with all the soccer mom mobiles on the market.

The Land Cruiser we tested came with decent underbelly skidplates and awesome steel tubular rock sliders (we were told these would be optional), a powerful 5.7L V-8 (same engine as the Tundra), and an awesome center-console fridge that actually kept beverages cold while out in the desert. Though the Land Cruiser could have used a bit more ground clearance, and we would kill for the solid-front-axle diesel version they offer in the Middle East, it was still frighteningly capable. We even had testers who engaged one of the multiple crawl modes and, with both feet planted on the carpeted floor were able to cruise up the loose rocky hillclimb that left other 4x4s scrambling and destroying tires. Did this technology take it to the top of the test or did the judges revolt, demanding that they still get to drive? Check the winner's page.

Likes
* Cool pushbutton start
* Luxury interior
* Off-road crawl mode nearly drives itself

Dislikes
* $70,000-ouch!
* Looks like a mall cruiser
* Off-road crawl mode nearly drives itself

Verdict
* We appreciate the technology, but hate that it makes driver skills obsolete