Another off-road SUV joins the TFL fleet — and I’ll bet you can guess which one.
If you’re shopping an off-road SUV right now, your available range of options has not only increased, but gotten far more exciting over the past five or six years. The new Ford Bronco launched as the Blue Oval’s challenge to the Jeep Wrangler‘s dominance in the market. For the 2025 model year, we finally, finally saw a new Toyota 4Runner. We even now have a brand-new Toyota Land Cruiser 250 Series, though its arrival presents a dilemma for would-be owners wanting to hit the dirt: Should you buy the LC over the 4Runner (or, by extension, the Bronco or Wrangler)?
Last year, we ended up going with the new 4Runner TRD Off-Road as a long-term purchase. Now, though, we’re checking out the flip side of that coin, where we just picked up a 2025 Land Cruiser after testing out the Ford Bronco Everglades for the past eight months.
Roman followed up on the purchase of our old-school, 100 Series Land Cruiser with a surprise, and this is it. The initial plan was to purchase a rig like this sooner, but the then-new 4Runner was a bit more timely, and we wanted to snap up another opportunity to get a Land Cruiser in a more desirable spec: Heritage Blue with the two-tone roof and brown (Java) interior.
After purchasing this vehicle out of Toyota’s pool of press vehicles — if you’re thinking “I’ve seen that Land Cruiser before”, you’re not going crazy — we’ve already made one crucial modification. Instead of sticking with the standard Yokohama Geolandar G057 all-season tires, we’re going in the proper direction for some more meaningful off-roading: BFGoodrich KO3s, to the tune of just over $1,400.
Now, the 2025-6 Toyota Land Cruiser models do come with a range of off-road-worthy equipment, as you’d expect. On top of the 326-horsepower hybrid powertrain, you also get a full-time four-wheel drive system with low range as well as locking rear and center differentials. Our particular 2025 Land Cruiser does not have the electronic sway bar disconnect, though it does come standard on the upper Land Cruiser trim (not the 1958 though, sadly) for 2026.
Check out more in the video below, including initial off-roading, and expect to see many more videos with the new and old Land Cruiser coming up soon:
