2008 Toyota Land Cruiser
Toyota’s Land Cruiser is reborn for 2008, it’s equipped with 10 airbags, including side curtains for three rows of passengers, not to mention acres of interior leather. Like the Tahoe, the Cruiser is a step-way-up sort of SUV in which you sit high, well above the cowl and window sills.
Layers of insulation and isolation cloak the machinery, in no small part to justify a $6985 jump in its base price to $63,885. CRAWL is a computer program that manages off-road throttle and brake modulation according to your choice of ooze, creep, or slink settings. Of course, the all-wheel-drive system has traction control, and the transfer case shifts into low range at the click of a rotary knob on the dash.
The 5.7-liter V-8 and the six-speed automatic are shared with the Tundra pickup, where they serve as the top option. Output is a velvety 381 horsepower, giving the 5900-pound Cruiser an active lifestyle—read “0 to 60 in 6.5 seconds. Read the rest of this entry »