The 2024 Land Cruiser is in a very different direction from the last few generations of Toyota's most celebrated SUV to grace American shores. After two decades of luxury trucks with burly V-8s, the newest car comes with cloth seats and a standard four-cylinder hybrid powertrain. That comes with a few benefits, like a major leap in fuel efficiency.
Leap may be an understatement. According to an estimate on Toyota's American website, the hybrid Land Cruiser's combined efficiency rating sits at 27 MPG. That makes the car nearly twice as efficient as the last V-8 Land Cruiser sold in America, rated by the EPA at just 14 MPG.
Those numbers get even more impressive when you compare the Land Cruiser with the trail-ready cars buyers will cross-compare it against. The base four-cylinder Ford Bronco is listed by the EPA at a combined 20 MPG, while a four-cylinder Wrangler comes in at 22 combined. That number is actually lower for a Jeep Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrid once the battery depletes, returning just a combined 20 MPG on gas power. Even the modern Chevrolet Blazer, a car that has long rejected its former trail aspirations to be revived as a crossover that is far from capable off-road, lags behind at a combined 25 MPG.
Of course, this is just Toyota's estimate. An official fuel economy rating will have to wait on EPA testing, so it is entirely possible that number comes down before it reaches any window stickers. With an estimate that high, Toyota could give up some serious ground and still lead the segment in efficiency.
Via Motor1.
