Toyota Land Cruiser review - Practicality & boot space
“Toyota is famed for its reliability, which is incredibly important for a dependable off-roader”
The Toyota Land Cruiser is an undeniably big car, and is longer than a Land Rover Defender 110. The Toyota Land Cruiser is also not offered in a smaller three-door size like the Defender 90 for those that want the off-road capability and don’t need so much passenger space. The Land Cruiser is available with a five-seat and seven-seat configuration, so there’s some flexibility if you need to transport big groups of people over rough terrain, although the Defender is offered with five, seven or even eight-seater layouts.
The Land Cruiser is a spacious car inside, and Toyota designed the front seats to have thinner seatbacks to further improve rear-passenger legroom. The car’s tall, boxy shape means headroom is also very plentiful.
| Size comparison | |||
| Model | Length | Width | Height |
| Toyota Land Cruiser | 4,925mm | 1,980mm | 1,935mm |
| Land Rover Defender 110 | 4,758mm | 1,996mm | 1,967mm |
| Ineos Grenadier | 4,683mm | 1,930mm | 2,036mm |
| Mercedes G-Class | 4,606mm | 1,984mm | 1,969mm |
Does the Toyota Land Cruiser have a big boot?
The Toyota Land Cruiser has a vast 620-litre boot if you go for the five-seater configuration, but even if you specify the optional extra third row, the two seats can be folded flat to free up space. As standard this rearmost row can be folded manually, or power control can be optioned.
The second row can be folded in a 60:40 split, should you need to transport very large items, freeing up a lot of space. Unfortunately it’s difficult to accurately compare Land Rover’s boot capacity for the Defender, as the brand measures its space in a different way. With all seven seats in use in the Land Cruiser there’s just 120 litres of boot space, though, so you may need a roof rack. With all the rear seats folded down, space increases to 1,063 litres. Some owners may rue the fact the Land Cruiser has a conventional hatchback rather than a split tailgate, so there’s nowhere to sit during a picnic.
| Boot space comparison | |
| Model | Boot space |
| Toyota Land Cruiser | 620 litres |
| Mercedes G-Class | 667 litres |
Is the Toyota Land Cruiser a good tow car?
The Toyota Land Cruiser should be a very capable tow car as it’s able to haul a massive braked weight of up to 3,500kg – that’s the benefit of such a large diesel engine with plenty of grunt. Depending on the model, the Defender can tow from 3,000kg to 3,500kg.
