Looking to purchase a new Land Cruiser. Here is everything you need to know about the 2018 Land Cruiser specs and our honest review.
Disclosure: I am partnering with Toyota, all opinions are my own.
2018 Land Cruiser Overview
I spent most of my Thanksgiving break cruising around in the 2018 Land Cruiser by Toyota. My husband is in love, my kids want it back and I was pretty smitten too. Safe to say that next up on our purchasing list is likely this Land Cruiser. I mean just look at this little beauty…err big beauty.
The 2018 Land Cruiser is a full size SUV with optional 3rd row seating. With a 5.7 L V8 engine and amazing four-wheeling capabilities (Toyota’s Kinetic Dynamic Suspension, Crawl Control, and the Multi-Terrain Select System), this vehicle will get you nearly anywhere. It was smooth on the roads, smoother over bumps and hills and was a dream to drive.
Favorite Exterior Features
The exterior of the Land Cruiser is beautiful, the body shape is sleek and impressive, but there are 3 features that I absolutely LOVED about this car. First was the headlights. They are full LED headlights and they are incredibly bright. We drive on a lot of dark country roads and I never had to turn on my brights in this car. They illuminated the road unlike any car I have ever driven (and I have driven a ton in the last year).
One of the features that my husband and brother stumbled on were these awesome headlight washers! That is the small black rectangle that you see on the body. These little guys are powerful and keep those headlights clean and shiny. I love them.
My final favorite feature is the auto-fold side view mirrors. This is the one feature that I desperately want on my SUV. The parking spots at my job are not made for full size SUVs and often I cannot get between my car and another if our mirrors align. I can fold my mirrors in on my car, but they do not fold in automatically and I often forget. It was awesome to get out of the Land Cruiser, have the mirrors automatically fold and then stroll right between the cars.
Awesome Interior Features Too!
Let’s face it, people purchase cars for the features inside the car…ok well I do anyway, because luxury. I was a bit hesitant when I opened the doors and saw the interior color inside the 2018 Land Cruiser. Honestly, I LOVE leather in vehicles. With kids and dogs and the fact that we spend more time in our vehicle during the school year than we do at home, leather is a must and it is so easy to care for. However, this leather color was out of my comfort zone…until it wasn’t.
The color is not near as orange as it looks, but honestly the contrast is really awesome and it grew on me. After driving the car for a week, I realized that the interior color was perfectly designed to stand out and be functional. The leather was still easy to clean and it was still light enough that even on hot days it wasn’t scalding to touch, but it wasn’t so light that everything stuck out on it.
The 3rd row seating options was pretty awesome. First of all, the back gate opens in 2 ways. The main hatch with the window raises and lowers automatically and gives just a small lip of a back gate to drop if you need full access to the cargo area. I love the way the 3rd row folds up and down and it is super accessible and easy to move. Definitely a bonus when you are transitioning between needing those seats and needing that space.
My husband and I thought the center console was just another storage space…until we found out it is basically and on the go refrigerator! My kids drink a ton of water, so I typically keep a case of water in the car. Well, that water stayed cool the entire week that we had the Land Cruiser. It fit 5 waters pretty easily and with the touch of a button, cold air was circulated around them and they were refreshing and amazing!
A final interior feature that was awesome, was the wireless charging station that is built into the Land Cruiser. It is a door that opens and you can place your wireless charging devices in there and they definitely charge with NO CABLES! I didn’t even realise that this space was made for that until, I put my dead phone in the cubbie and pulled it out after a 40 minute drive with almost 1/2 a battery!
Entertainment System & Safety
Toyota has hit it out of the part with their Entune infotainment system with navigation and a 9.0-inch touchscreen. The cameras are clear, they surround the car and make moving a larger vehicle easy. The JBL sound system is crisp, bluetooth connectivity is simple and the turn by turn navigation never failed us. You can also get the rear entertainment option which ours did not have, but is a must for any family vehicle we purchase.
The Land Cruiser is equipped with a ton of safety features and comes standard with the Toyota Safety Sense-P package. This package includes features like adaptive cruise control (slows you down when you are too close to another vehicle), automatic high beam lights, lane departure warnings, pedestrian detection, cameras around the entire vehicle to make you more aware of your surroundings and a blind spot warning.
Anything you Disliked?
I honestly believe that there is not a single car on the market that would check all the boxes for me. The 2018 Land Cruiser comes close, but of course there are just a couple things that I was not a huge fan of. First of all, the breaks were REALLY touchy. You need very little pressure to get this car to stop on a dime and that took some time to get used to. I think once it becomes an everyday driver, it wouldn’t be an issue, but it is something to be aware of. Second, with between 13-18 MPG, it is not very fuel efficient compared to other SUVs on the market even with it tuned for fuel economy…but you know this going in, because SUVs are not super eco friendly anyway.
Overall, I really enjoyed our week in the 2018 Land Cruiser and we have definitely added this to our list of potential vehicles. It is going to be hard to beat right now and even though I really loved the Toyota Highlander, I think I can safely say that I prefer the room, ride and and look of the Land Cruiser.
