Model tested: Land Cruiser 3.0 D-4D Auto (LC4 and LC5)
Price as tested: £40,395, £44,795
Date tested: November 2009
Road tester: Andy Goodwin

Believe it or not, this is the small version of the Toyota Land Cruiser, which sits below the full-fat Land Cruiser V8. Can this go-anywhere brute out-muscle the Land Rover Discovery 4 and Audi Q7?

The Land Cruiser is a proper off-roader; where the Discovery squats on its air suspension for road driving and while parked, the Land Cruiser stays at maximum attack ground clearance all the time.

The interior is well-built and there are comfortable seats for front occupants. It's more utilitarian inside than a Discovery 4 though, and less stylish than the Audi Q7's understated cabin.

Base LC3 models have five seats, while the LC4 and LC5 carry seven. The rear-most chairs fold with an electric motor, and once in place they're suitable for kids, or adults on short trips.

The 3-litre four-cylinder diesel engine has just enough grunt, with 171bhp and 302lb/ft of pulling power. It's fairly smooth and quiet, with 0-62mph taking 11.7 seconds, but at motorway speeds performance quickly tails off, with the top speed just 109mph. While Toyota's claimed 34.9mpg average seems optimistic, 30mpg should be achievable; emissions have been cut to 214g/km.

Off-road there's a host of tech to turn any driver into a hill-climb expert. The full-time four-wheel drive can adjust front-to-rear torque from 50:50 to 30:70 and there's a centre diff lock on the LC3 and LC4 and a rear diff lock on LC5.

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The LC5 also gets air suspension which can be set for the conditions. Cameras are included which display exterior views to the front and sides of the car on the dashboard.

There's also a hill descent control, and on the LC5 there's Crawl Control, which takes you over ground with five driver-selected crawl speeds available.

On the road the suspension impresses, but not as much as it does climbing boulders. Body lean is well suppressed and the ride doesn't get too choppy over poor surfaces.

It still has a noticeable off-road bias though, and the steering is less accurate and reassuring than the Discovery 4 and Audi Q7's, while the brakes feel oversensitive.

Toyota claims almost a quarter of Land Cruiser owners take their vehicles off-road, but it's also much improved on-road, although it still lacks the dynamics of the Discovery and Q7 as well as their elegant interiors.

In this way the Land Cruiser is a bit more of an old-school off-roader, which will appeal to those who really need to go anywhere.