Motor Trend - USA (2020-02)

WORDS SCOTT EVANS

G

ilbert Ryle derisively called it “the

ghost in the machine,” critiquing

René Descartes’ theory of substance

dualism, which posits that the mind

and body are separate entities and

presupposes the existence of the soul.

At a loss to articulate the way a car

makes us feel, we often fall back on this

philosophy.

Ryle’s argument that the mind and body

are one and the same falls mostly on the

side of behaviorism. But the less rigidly

defined Japanese concept of kokoro no

shinka, which considers heart, mind,

emotion, and soul as one indivisible entity,

best explains how the soul of a vehicle like

the Toyota Land Cruiser can be preserved

across generations of machine.

KOKORO

NO SHINKA

Land Cruisers, of course, cannot repro-

duce and are not self-aware. If artificial

intelligence ever comes to cars, the Land

Cruiser will be among the last to accept

it, if it ever does. Yet the spirit of the Land

Cruiser perseveres across decades of

mechanical rewrites, variants for different

markets, and countless engineers and

designers and salesmen. Mechanically, a

2020 Land Cruiser has little in common

with one from 1960, but from behind the

wheel, their collective soul couldn’t be

more obvious.

This FJ40 bouncing down a two-track

south of Salt Lake City, Utah, is a 1977

model with front disc brakes and barn

doors on the back. On the street, the 40

series will just top 75 mph down a big

enough hill. But on the dirt, the skinny tires

and short wheelbase conspire to threaten

grievous bodily harm above 45 mph.

The 4.2-liter I-6 makes all of 135 hp and

210 lb-ft of torque, and I can only imagine

how much more dreadfully lethargic the

earlier 3.9-liter I-6 with a three-speed

manual must’ve been. Maintaining speed

uphill at freeway speeds is a lost cause, as

the four-speed manual’s ratios are widely

spaced and the engine redlines at 4,000

rpm. There’s no tachometer to go by; just

wait for the shifter to start shaking like the

gearbox is about to explode, then shift up.

It’s clearly a civilized military vehicle (a

reverse-engineered Jeep, at its core), but

for a truck with leaf springs at every corner

and power nothing, it’s not that punishing

to drive. Maybe it’s because they’re 42

years old, but these springs aren’t espe-

cially stiff, and the dampers are keeping

me from being thrown around as much as

I’d expected.

There’s 90 degrees of play in the wheel

before steering happens, but the effort is

62 MOTORTREND.COM FEBRUARY 2020

HISTORY I Toyota Land Cruiser