Toyota gets even bigger

Toyota’s return to rock-crawling was sung in by a big country star, but the huge new LandCruiser and massive neon stage threatened to dwarf him in lights and sounds.

Lee Kernahan crooning to a hip rural beat as the new 200 Series LandCruiser took the spotlight; all of it. The ‘Cruiser is even more of a bruiser than before, bulked up, with a greater kerb weight, 60mm longer, 30mm wider, 15mm higher…

While a monocoque chassis will have to wait ‘til a ‘300 Series’, the new powertrains, chassis, suspension and components are rather futuristic.

In a claimed ‘World first,’ Toyota has introduced its Crawl Control technology, which enables the driver to toggle between low speeds over the rocky offroad rubble like a fancy hill descent or assist. The suspension is also reworked and is hydraulically-assisted, while active rollbar technology works to keep the wheels planted on terra-firma.

Toyota also took a plunge into the oil pool with two new V8 engine choices; a large 5.7-litre petrol V8 matched to a five-speed automatic, and a 4.5-litre twin-turbo diesel with a six-speed auto.

The latter boasts 190kW and an enormous 600Nm, and is a welcome return to the world of large-capacity diesels for the Japanese automaker (since the new emissions laws came in, Toyota has been without a big oil-burner).

While we will see the 200 Series in showrooms by mid-November, the tricked-up tray backed TRD Hilux will be postponed until at least March.

The supercharged dual-cab has been delayed due to a recent issue with the new supercharged TRD Aurion performance sedan. It is believed that the incident several weeks ago was caused by the combination of a wide open throttle and a slip of the gears (apparently, it was accidentally put into neutral from drive by a Toyota staffer).

Toyota immediately halted the Hilux to investigate the problem, and it has backed up the production line.

Next for TRD, once they pass this hurdle, may be a TRD Corolla in the spirit of the current ARC rally cars and possibly even a TRD 4X4 of some sort…

See this car at the Australian International Motor Show