How is it for long, fast road trips?
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I drive back and forth from the Bay Area to Reno and couple times a month. I have a lead foot and drive at 80 mph. I think my 58 runs great at that speed, it’s pretty easy to go over 90 if you’re not paying attention!
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How bad is your mpg at those speeds?
Combined up and back 22.3mpg, I just got back today. I find, that driving Highway 5 is better than Highway 80. 80 is a few miles shorter but 5 has less issues, and I set the cruise at 80…
My CHP buddy says 84 mph is the magic number to get pulled over.
My CHP buddy says 84 mph is the magic number to get pulled over.
It just really kind of comes down to if you are ok with running a four cylinder turbo/hybrid. People on this forum have sold theirs because they are not.
Personally, I don’t care. Plenty of power and plenty of pull on both road trips and in the mountains, actually especially in the mountains with turbos vs. NA having the upper hand at higher altitudes.
BUT! You will be reminded it is a 4 cyl. turbo every time you give it the gas. I think of it as a gazoo kazoo when I hear it.
I don’t think after-market exhausts can fix that (maybe I am wrong?).
Heck. Head down to the local Toyota dealership and tell them you want to take one for a 10-20 mile test drive so you can get a good idea. Those little 1-2 mile text drive loops the dealer tries to keep you on probably won’t be enough to give you a real impression of an LC and if it is what you are looking for.
Good luck!
Personally, I don’t care. Plenty of power and plenty of pull on both road trips and in the mountains, actually especially in the mountains with turbos vs. NA having the upper hand at higher altitudes.
BUT! You will be reminded it is a 4 cyl. turbo every time you give it the gas. I think of it as a gazoo kazoo when I hear it.
I don’t think after-market exhausts can fix that (maybe I am wrong?).
Heck. Head down to the local Toyota dealership and tell them you want to take one for a 10-20 mile test drive so you can get a good idea. Those little 1-2 mile text drive loops the dealer tries to keep you on probably won’t be enough to give you a real impression of an LC and if it is what you are looking for.
Good luck!
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Two words: Approach angle. Also, everything is a compromise, but for me the LC is just what I need since it is very capable off-road yet very comfortable for long highway trips. The auto-steer and adaptive cruise control make these much less tiring at the end of the day. And I like how it easily and accurately stays within 1mph of the set speed up or down steep hills.
Sitting in passenger seat of my wife’s LC FE as she barrels down I-91 from Northern Vermont to the Connecticut coast. I think it drives great at highway speeds (for a boxy SUV) but we keep it around 75MPH.
I like my GX550 Overtrail better but it’s not based on anything very objective, it’s just my car! Have to say that if I did a ton of highway miles I’d have kept my Macan.
Good luck in your choice.
Took a trip out to Colorado, Nevada, and Utah from Missouri with two largish men and two e-bikes and equipment. Plenty of power never felt like it was struggling up the mountains. I drive 75-80 ish. Overtook a car on a two lane road at 106 mph, felt pretty normal. Seats are super comfortable to me. Averaged 16-22 mpg depending on grades.
I had a 1986 and 1993 Camry, both four cylinder, and this is definitely not those four bangers. I barely had 100 hp in the 86 Camry.
I’m in Dallas where people drive crazy fast and I’ve had no issues with getting on the freeways quickly. And I’ll take the measly 19 mpg I’m getting now over the 13 of the GX (mostly city driving). I don’t exactly drive to conserve fuel anyway.All the praise/complaints are all relative. For my reference my last two vehicles were a 2008 Toyota Tacoma with V6 (bought new) and a 2014 Subaru Outback (i4 w/ CVT).
I just finished a 1000 mile road trip in my stock LC 1958 from Maryland to Indiana and back fully packed for camping. Hands down the nicest, most quiet and powerful ride I’ve been in. I got about 20mpg there and 24mpg back traveling at 80-85. It felt very at home at that speed. Here some good and bad points I can think of.
Good:
Bad:
I just finished a 1000 mile road trip in my stock LC 1958 from Maryland to Indiana and back fully packed for camping. Hands down the nicest, most quiet and powerful ride I’ve been in. I got about 20mpg there and 24mpg back traveling at 80-85. It felt very at home at that speed. Here some good and bad points I can think of.
Good:
- extremely smooth, comfortable, quiet ride. I drove 8 hours with no soreness or back pain (could also be bad because I almost fell asleep once and had to take a break, haha)
- plenty of power in all bands
- drive assist functions make driving a breeze
Bad:
- Hybrid Battery takes up valuable height space in the rear
- A lot of roll/ a little sketchy in the twists and turns (not a sports car)
- Smaller gas tank = low range
- premium fuel needed for best performance
- Have to actively try to drive 65-75mph or must set cruise control
- people gawking and Ford Broncos trying to race
Not to beat a dead horse, but I'd recommend a Rav4 or Higlander with your use case. Above 70 MPH the GX and LC both suck fuel because of the aerodynamics. With the LC, my experience is the efficiency really suffers in the cold, more than any other vehicle I've had. As in going from 23 MPG to 19 MPG in my typical driving. And hilly highways over 80 MPH, I've seen around 18 MPG in summer and 16 MPG in winter. While you might not care about the MPG, you're looking at frequent fuel stops with both vehicles. Also, as others have said, it is not a quite vehicle on the highway, if it is calm it isn't too bad even at high speeds, but if there is wind, it is really loud inside because of the mirrors and poor aerodynamics. The LC has plenty of power, so that's not an issue. But my take is that neither are really built to excel in high-speed driveing, they are off-road vehicles, they can do it, but not really the intended use.
Came from a 2021 trd rav4 that was fine for everyday driving but was pretty uncomfortable on long trips. We took it a few times from TX to MT and ended up taking my husbands tundra on longer trips because he hated the rav. We just did a huge road trip from TX to IL to AR then back to TX with our 25 LC Premium. It was FANTASTIC. Super comfortable, no issues maintaining speed or acceleration to pass when needed. We have been thoroughly impressed with the Land Cruiser after this. I loved it already but it was a dream on this trip. Handled everything from interstates to washed out gravel back roads to downtown city driving. The inverter came in super handy for running an air compressor for tubes when we went to the river. It’s easy to clean up. I looked at the Gx as well but I think the LC is a better option. The hybrid has plenty of power and really just was great for our long trip. We bought the LC to replace my rav4 as my daily driver and to use on road trips. It’s doing a beautiful job with both those things.
doing the speed limit for about 400+ miles on 285/70r17's, got 23 mpg even with adaptive cruise. if i hypermile'd, mildly, i got over 24. and still under 1,000 miles. supposed to get better after break-in.
super comfortable compared to the 2-door rubicon i had before this. my kids also agree.
super comfortable compared to the 2-door rubicon i had before this. my kids also agree.
We did our first trip to Tahoe and back from the Bay area (echo pass ~7500 ft) had zero issues, the cruise control with lane assist and adaptive throttle was great for the highway just set it at 74 mph and then adjust down to 55 when the speed limit changed and it pretty much drove itself right up the mountain. Way more than adequate passing power to get up and around cars going uphill.
It's a bit noisy I wish the premium came with the gx550 acoustic glass. No issues talking at highway speeds just noticably louder than our sedan which shouldn't surprise anybody. Definitely not as noisy as say a jeep wrangler.
If Toyota ever sells a three row LC with acoustic glass we would sell ours today to upgrade, it's a real shame those are limited to the gx550 which have a really long wait list
It's a bit noisy I wish the premium came with the gx550 acoustic glass. No issues talking at highway speeds just noticably louder than our sedan which shouldn't surprise anybody. Definitely not as noisy as say a jeep wrangler.
If Toyota ever sells a three row LC with acoustic glass we would sell ours today to upgrade, it's a real shame those are limited to the gx550 which have a really long wait list
If range is more important that off-road capability, and the RAV4 isn't as comfortable on long road trips, maybe the Lexus version of the RAV4 Prime?
Or the SUV version of our Volvo. Our Volvo is a little more comfortable than the LC, but a lot less roomy. The XC60 is roomier. And 455HP. But I don't expect anything close to Toyota reliability.
Both probably have a >500 mile range and will do great going up to Tahoe, including in the winter if you put snow tires on them.
Or the SUV version of our Volvo. Our Volvo is a little more comfortable than the LC, but a lot less roomy. The XC60 is roomier. And 455HP. But I don't expect anything close to Toyota reliability.
Both probably have a >500 mile range and will do great going up to Tahoe, including in the winter if you put snow tires on them.
I spent the last 6 months making weekly drives from Annapolis to Philadelphia, most of them on I-95 at 80mph or above. It did great and was very comfortable but the difference between 80 and 60 is significant for gas mileage. As for the noise, if you have cross bars and can live without them it makes a huge difference in wind noise.
Oh yeah and we had to stop for gas on the way back from Tahoe. For the first time ever. lol.
As soon as the warranty runs out on this thing, new/more/bigger gas tanks are the very first (and probably only) thing we're upgrading. What a miserably small gas tank.
Despite the sticker telling me not to do it, I almost always "overfill" the tank by about 1-1.5 gal because I'm gonna burn it off in the next 15 minutes anyways
As soon as the warranty runs out on this thing, new/more/bigger gas tanks are the very first (and probably only) thing we're upgrading. What a miserably small gas tank.
Despite the sticker telling me not to do it, I almost always "overfill" the tank by about 1-1.5 gal because I'm gonna burn it off in the next 15 minutes anyways
I don’t think you could choose a vehicle less suited “for long distance road trips at 80 mph or higher”. IMO that is the one area the LC pretty much sucks at. It’s not as bad as a Wrangler and is better than the old 4 runners but still has the aerodynamic efficiency of a brick. The drivetrain is great, it’s just trying to push a brick through the air. It’s not what it’s designed for. Last week I drove the LC from Denver to Tucson, then returned in my hybrid F-150 (King Ranch) 1 day later from Tucson to Denver. I thought the LC was OK on the first leg, but in the F-150 I did 550 miles before lunch and arrived no big deal. There was no comparison back to back. Quieter, more comfortable, more range, higher mileage in the F-150. And you can take lots of stuff.
If you want an SUV, seems X5, Cayenne, Mercedes or other German luxury would be good as long as you have a spare tire setup. Or maybe GMC Yukon. And a domestic full-size 1/2 ton pickup, they just eat up the highway miles.
Don’t get me wrong I love my LC, it’s a toy for snowboarding, camping, mountain biking and it’s both a Toyota and great looking. I’ll never sell mine. It just pretty much sucks on the highway if you want to cover a lot of ground.
Last weekend, the wife and I drove from Wyoming to Santa Clara. Stayed the night in Truckee. On the way home, we drove straight. I relied heavily on all of the driving aids. (I normally have everything off.) Really made it a less tiring drive. The wind was howling in Nevada on the way home so I had to keep a strong hand on the wheel. It was a comfortable cruiser but there were many times during the trip when I was wishing we were in the wife's Macan S. The Macan is a much better highway cruiser (not surprisingly). Also, I can't tell how annoying the fuel situation is. It is crazy how often we had to stop to refuel. I'm not completely sold on this rig; however, there are some things that I really like, especially that I can roll into any town in America and I'm driving a Toyota. I like the low-key part of it. (It goes without saying that the off-road features are great and which is why I bought it.)
Edit: I forgot to answer your question about power. Around Truckee, it had ample power. It doesn't struggle on mountain passes in California or here in Wyoming. The sound is awful though.
Edit: I forgot to answer your question about power. Around Truckee, it had ample power. It doesn't struggle on mountain passes in California or here in Wyoming. The sound is awful though.
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The comically undersized gas tank for a thirsty vehicle is easily the worst thing about it. I have some other niggles (as I do with every vehicle), and other than the massive annoyance of needing to stop about every 225 miles I am a big fan. Still hoping someone can engineer a tank with 4-5 more gallons of capacity.
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