New Land Cruiser gets V-8 - Toyota Land Cruiser - includes related article on the Lexus LX450

Automotive Industries, Feb, 1998 by Lindsay Brooke, Mark Phelan

Plus, a tougher chassis and independent front suspension boost off-road prowess and improve road manners in this Toyota sport-ute. But mass is up by 500 pounds.

When I approached him, the Ford executive was leaning against his company's recent source of pride and profits, the mammoth Expedition sport-utility. We were attending a media test drive at the company's Dearborn proving grounds, and I wanted to ask the honcho his views on Expedition's competitors.

How about Toyota's fabled Land Cruiser, I asked? The Ford man laughed, hurling a spread of saliva buckshot at my left shoulder "Hell, we drop more Expeditions off the truck in a month than Toyota sells those things in a year!" he snorted And what of the new Cruiser on its way, rumored to be packing a Lexus 4-cam V-8, an even more rugged chassis and greater refinement? "We're not really concerned," he scoffed. "They can't compete with us on price or volume -- and nobody really goes off road anyway."

Such classic Detroit blather attempts to mask the significance of the 1998 Land Cruiser. Now entering its fifth generation and 44th year of production, it stays true to its roots with full-time 4wd, a low-range transfer case, center and rear locking differentials, and a whopping 9.8 inches of ground clearance. The Cruiser's global status as a genuine 4x4 icon is rivaled only by Jeep and Land Rover Annual world wide Cruiser sales, in 130 countries, totaled 85,000 units last year. Roughly 20,000 of them were in the U.S. market, including 8,000 super-luxo Lexus LX450s.

With the new Cruiser and its LX470 sibling (see LEXUS LX470 FEATURES VARIABLE SUSPENSION, HEIGHT CONTROL) Toyota division boss Dave Ilingworth predicts sales will limb to over 14,000 Cruisers and 9,000 LXs by the '99 model year. He notes that Land Cruiser's customer base is heavily repeat buyers, and most own another Toyota product.

Design/Engineering: Chassis

Design of UZJ100, as the '98 Cruiser program is coded, was frozen in mid-1994, says veteran chief engineer Takeo Kondo. At that point, the previous FJ80 model was three years old. And as on every previous Cruiser, UZJ100 has body-on-frame construction.

"There was never any consideration of unibody design," Kondo tells AI. "Long-term durability has always been the number one goal of the Land Cruiser program," he explains, "and we expect these vehicles to be on the road for at least 25 years." Range Rover was the program's primary benchmark, particularly for suspension articulation, chassis stiffness and interior appointments.

Kondo's team completely re-engineered the FJ80's ladder frame, adding three extra crossmembers (now nine) and beefing up the side rail structure. Each crossmember is set into the rails using new bracketry, which Toyota calls a flared-flange-type joint (see Illustration). Frame rail wall thickness has been increased to 3.2mm, and the boxed rails include internal stiffening plates welded within their front 48 inches. Kondo claims this helps maintain frame integrity during a frontal impact, keeping the front end from "folding up" into the passenger compartment.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Kondo says none of the Cruiser's frame components is hydroformed nor does any Toyota program currently use this increasingly popular method of metalforming (see June '97 AI, p. 57 and Dec. '97, p. 40). The new frame surpassed the benchmark Range Rover frame in bending and torsional rigidity, claims Kondo (he did not reveal actual frequencies), while boosting overall rigidity by 5096 versus the old FJ80's frame. The stiffer frame allows more compliant suspension bushings and body mounts, helping to improve the new Cruiser's ride comfort. Two types of body mounts are used: compression and lateral-restriction.

The '98 Cruiser switches to an independent front suspension (IFS), based on upper and lower control arms and longitudinal torsion bars. The latter mount to a frame crossmember via a floating member designed to control fore/aft stability of the EFS and limit road-induced NVH. For the vehicle to match its go-anywhere image, all critical running gear, including suspension lower control arms, mounts high. The rack-and-pinion steering gear mounts above the front crossmember, which also protects the engine oil pan and radiator. Both torsion bars are protected by a large skid plate. Minimum ground clearance is nearly 10 inches, and the Cruiser's suspension stroke is among the industry's longest: 200mm front, 240mm rear.

The new Cruiser's Aisin-supplied ABS operates even in 4-wheel low while the center diff is locked. The system is able to "read" road conditions and vehicle dynamics, decreasing the amount of anti-lock applied according to suspension travel, road gradient and abrupt changes in vehicle speed. Foundation brakes feature 4-piston calipers and 12.2-inch ventilated rotors in front, and huge 12.9-inch rear rotors.

Design/Engineering: Body

Also improving the overall structure, and the body's dimensional accuracy, are new one-piece bodysides, claimed by Toyota to be the largest on any light vehicle. The large panels replace the FJ80's two-piece welded bodysides. High-strength steel reinforces all pillars and door sills. Door and rear liftgate jambs are wider for improved ingress/egress and cargo loading.