2025 Toyota Land Cruiser Long-Term Verdict: Yes, It’s a Real Land Cruiser
Save the semantics, it’s a “real” Land Cruiser in every way that counts.
Despite having been around since the 1970s, there’s still some tomfool argument going around certain Toyota circles as to whether the smaller Prado model is a “real” Land Cruiser. This matters because the yearlong review 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser I’ve been chaperoning the past 12 months is actually the global Land Cruiser Prado in all but name and not actually the full-size Land Cruiser we used to get, which lives on elsewhere. I’ve said all along Prados are real Land Cruisers, and 12 months and the better part of 27,000 miles have proved me right.
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In All the Ways That Count
Let’s examine, shall we? After all, what makes a Land Cruiser? The “golden ratio” of wheelbase and overall length to maximize comfort and off-road abilities? It has that. Exceptional off-road capability? Has that, too. The ability to go on extended safaris deep into the wilderness? Check. Reliability, especially given the preceding? Ours was dead-nuts reliable.
There’s the less bragworthy stuff, too. Land Cruisers have long had outdated consumer-facing technology, and this one is no exception. In just the year we’ve had it, we’ve experienced three new generations of Toyota and Lexus infotainment software and user interfaces, all of which are more powerful and easier to use than what was on our truck.
Partially mitigating that complaint is the Toyota App experience. I was genuinely impressed with how functional the app is and the tidiness of the interface. I’d like to move a few things around (like putting the status of the door locks on the same page as the lock/unlock buttons), and I’d like to speed up the turnaround time on executing a vehicle command from the phone, but it’s among the better app experience I’ve had from a legacy automaker.
Awful fuel economy has been a Land Cruiser staple for generations, too, and ours averaged 18.4 mpg month in and month out. That’s 4.6 mpg under its EPA-rated combined fuel economy. Driving as much as we did saw us spend $7,632.30 on fuel over 26,829 miles, an average of $636 per month, $147 per week, and $294 per paycheck, because it takes premium.
We must be careful not to take too much from those numbers, though. Eight months into our loan, gas prices went through the roof thanks to yet another ill-conceived and seemingly endless war in the Middle East, which is no fault of the Land Cruiser’s (though we’re sure at least one will appear on the battlefield, somewhere). Should prices ever come back down to where they started, those dollar amounts would drop considerably. Also, we’d have spent less if we hadn’t put the better part of 30,000 miles on it in a year, far more than the average American. Still, 18.4 mpg from a hybrid.
But hey, that’s still better than our 2019 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, which was also a hybrid with a turbocharged inline-four (though it’s a mild hybrid, not a full hybrid like our Toyota). That thing only managed 17.3 mpg, though it was more capable off-road, and some of the reasons why definitely impact fuel economy. The Land Cruiser also outperformed our 2021 Land Rover Defender 110, which employed a 3.0-liter turbocharged and mildly hybridized inline-six that made more power and less torque than the Toyota. It did 15.2 mpg, but it, too, was more capable off-road thanks to its air suspension, which increases the ride height on demand. Judged against these competitors, the Land Cruiser’s 18.4 mpg looks less bad, even if it’s still way off EPA ratings.
