For anyone shopping for a Land Cruiser etc, here are my issues after 1 year. I will say that overall, I like the Toyota, and would likely buy it again. There are some shortcomings & some quirks related to Toyota that I have had to adjust to. The Land Cruiser was purchased mainly for towing our 3,500lb camper and & my daily driver to drop my daughter off at school. My wife has an EV which is used for most evening & weekend trips.
- Brakes – The issue has been less prevalent in recent months, but when backing out of the garage (only) in the morning there is a loud squeal. Toyota is aware of the issue and “working” on a fix (for the past year). This brake noise IMO is unacceptable in any new vehicle, let alone one that pushes $70k. Toyota & the dealer support has not been great, but not any worse than other car brands I have dealt with.
- Automatic Door Locks – For the last 10+ years I have owned Chevrolet, Honda, & Subaru which have ALL locked the doors for me when I exit the vehicle. Not Toyota!? The key fob is limited in the range, so being able to confirm after you pass a few vehicles is impossible. Sure, the app allows you to remotely lock the vehicle, but after a year Toyota wants more $$$.
- Fuel - With some almost 15000 miles put on the Land Cruiser over the past year, I am reporting 17mpg overall. I built my own app to manage the fuel economy & account for towing. In the last year over 1/3 of the miles were driven while towing our 3500lb camper which returned ~12mpg. In comparison while not towing the camper the fuel economy stands at ~21mpg (we have factory 18" all season tires). While these numbers are slightly better than the previous Honda Ridgeline, the Toyota's drivetrain makes towing effortless. Besides wanting a few more mpg, the Toyota "requires" premium fuel (we knew up front) & adds a couple dollars a month more to operate (compared to the Honda). The small fuel tank is really my biggest complaint, but not directly due to the lack of range towing. We get about 200+ miles towing which is about the limit to stay in the seat for our daughter before a stop to use the potty, or get a snack, or stretch is required. The complaint I have is that a larger fuel tank would make some trips a little less stressful. Even if we could hold 100 gallons of fuel, we would be stopping every 200-ish miles. The small fuel tank leaves little room for a reserve on many trips. Charlotte to the Smoky Mountains is +/- 200 miles which means we roll into the camp on fumes. But gas stations (especially larger ones that are convenient when towing) start to become few & far between after leaving Asheville, so we are filling after only 130 miles. When you start to leave the interstate and/or are in the middle of nowhere, we must confirm we won’t end up on the side of the road.
- Toyota App / Remote Connect / Digital Key – Over the past year the app has been less flaky and slightly more reliable. The idea of not having to carry keys around (especially for short trips) sounds nice, but the app doesn’t always work & you need to unlock your phone to start the car. A couple of instances I shut the Toyota off while in the carpool line only to struggle to restart it. One time (while pouring down rain) the app did not want to unlock the doors. Then after a year Toyota wants $$$. IF it worked reliably, I would consider it, but it doesn’t.
- Sunroof Controls – I have had a few vehicles with a sunroof that slides and tilts. They ALL had a single button to control it; the same button was used to slide and tilt the sunroof. The Toyota has separate buttons and once you slide the sunroof you can not tilt the sunroof until you close it. This has just irked me for the past year on the rare occasion I opened the sunroof.
- Cheap Doors – In an effort to save weight (MPG & $$$) the doors do NOT shut with a solid thud. Compared to previous vehicles that were $30k less expensive I find this a little disappointing.
- Towing Mode / MTS / Driving Modes - I really like the rotary knob to change between the 3 modes. My complaint is that there are too many extra buttons that could have just been additional modes. The MTS, Crawl & Towing should just be all integrated into the rotary dial. Then there is the towing button (which is used a lot). I hate the location & have no idea why it is not also in the rotary mode switch?! What I really hate is that EVERY time I start the Toyota up while towing, I need to remember to click the towing button. After every gas stop (which is frequent), I will drive off and a few miles down the highway notice how poor the Toyota is towing, only to then realize I did not re-enable the tow mode.
- Storage - From the outside the Land Cruiser appears to be a decent size. The seats are all fine with sufficient space, but storage is limited. Having the cool box does not help as it takes up the center console, but I can't remember the last time I had a car that did not have a sunglass holder in an overhead bin. The glove box is accurate to the name, with enough space to barely fit a pair of gloves. It is also shocking how little cargo space there is. The Subaru had 43 cubic feet behind the 2nd row. The Toyota is only 35. This does not impact us frequently but a couple times of a year we need to bring 2 X freezer chests that barely fit in the Toyota for summer camping with family. When camping without power we have a small generator. This all fits (easily) in a Subaru Ascent, impossible in the Toyota.
- Sway Bar Disconnect / 4WD – We purchased the Toyota for Towing. The Land Cruiser is an iconic SUV to go offroad. There are plenty of other lifestyle SUVs out there & many / most are all for show. The only time many people will ever use the sway bar disconnect will be when they accidentally press it. Many Land Cruisers will not go off the pavement unless the driver cuts the turn into Home Depot too tight. For most drivers, I think a locking center differential is sufficient. Keep the limited slip rear and add a limited slip in the front. The locking rear, low range & sway bar disconnect can all be removed or added to an off-road focused trim.
