traffic. It’s far from new, but this 1991
model year FJ80 almost feels modern.
That capability, that familiarity, makes
you want to do things with it you wouldn’t
dare in the older trucks. Where I’d been
content to trundle down dirt roads and
climb steep, rocky hillsides in the 40, 55,
and 60, the 80 wants to tear things up.
Dirt bikes may have carved a slithering
path down this wash, but I’m dashing up
and down the banks like Shaun White in
an SUV that’s old enough to fill out rental
car documents, and I don’t feel the least
bit bad about it. The FJ80 loves it. Then I
drive it an hour back to town for dinner, no
worse for wear.
The seal on mechanical updates finally
broken, they came fast, at least on a Land
Cruiser time line. The 100 series cut the
80 short in 1998, and for the first time, you
have to look for the Land Cruiser heritage.
It looks big and heavy, because it is. It’s
grown longer and wider and packed on
600 pounds of luxury. Heretically, the I-6
is gone, replaced by a 4.7-liter V-8 and a
five-speed automatic. Saints preserve us,
the front suspension has gone indepen-
dent (for the U.S. and Canada; the African,
Australian, Russian, and South American
markets kept the live front axle). Inside,the luxury is complete, with all manner
of electronic doodads, leather seats, and
design better befitting a contemporary
Lexus than a military truck.
Its kokoro, though, remains intact. It
looks different, it sounds different, and
it feels like a modern car, yet it still has
the essence of a Land Cruiser. Its ground
clearance is actually greater than any
previous Land Cruiser’s, its wheelbase
hasn’t changed, and it’s only 4 inches
longer, so its clearance angles are all about
the same. Something about all that leather
makes it feel wrong to go bashing around
off-road, but when you do, you realize it’s
at home. Some will argue the merits of
live-axle articulation, but from behind the
wheel there’s little doubt a stock 100 will
go as far or farther off-road than a stock 80
will. You’ll just feel worse about denting
and scratching it.
Take the 100 home for the night, and
you’ll find it drives like a modern car.
With its plush ride and truly quiet cabin,
it makes the 80 feel as old as the 60. The
steering is precise and responsive, the
body movements measured and controlled
like an SUV, not a truck with a perma-
nent camper shell. The 235-hp V-8 still
isn’t quick, but its 320 lb-ft get this thingmoving with far more authority than
the 80’s I-6. Freeway driving is no longer
notably different than it is in any other
SUV. Only the primitive navigation system,
with maps that look hand-drawn, betrays
this 2004’s age.
If you feared for the Land Cruiser’s
kokoro at the birth of the 100 series, you
might greet 2008’s 200 series with a
sigh of relief. Even more electronic bells
and whistles aside, the 100’s formula is
essentially unchanged. The V-8 displaces
5.7 liters now and makes 381 hp and 401
lb-ft, but the 200 has gained another 250
pounds. It looks it in the bodywork, but at
the same time it carries its weight better.
This special Heritage Edition, shorn ofThe FJ80 didn’t just look like a completely
new vehicle, it ditched the traditional leaf
springs for coils and a softer ride.FJ80
66 MOTORTREND.COM FEBRUARY 2020