Toyota Land Cruiser Commercial Review & Prices

The Toyota Land Cruiser Commercial is a large commercial 4x4 based on the passenger-carrying Toyota Land Cruiser. As with most of its kin, it’s essentially a big SUV that’s had a flat load floor installed in place of the rear seats, and gained blanking plates on the rear windows and a bulkhead behind the driver.

The Land Cruiser Commercial is aimed at people who want the hardiness and experience that you get from Toyota’s Hilux pickup, but want a bit more in the way of comfort and a fully enclosed load area. It’s like putting a pergola up in your garden so you can barbecue in the rain.

Two clear alternatives to the Land Cruiser Commercial exist - the Land Rover Defender Hard Top (particularly the five-door 110 model) and the Ineos Grenadier Commercial. You might also consider the cheaper KGM Rexton Commercial or smaller Dacia Duster Cargo - and bear in mind that, if you don’t need their off-road capabilities, any of these vehicles are outshone in carrying capacity by one of the best small vans.

The Land Cruiser gets off to an outstanding start with the styling. It’s not that it doesn’t look like a van - none of its commercial 4x4 alternatives really do - it’s just that it looks incredibly cool. The latest Land Cruiser has a retro-futuristic vibe that just looks awesome out on the road - it’s boxy, rugged, yet stylish enough that you won’t immediately be marked out as a working vehicle.

There’s only one body size available, based on the same body as the regular passenger-carrying Land Cruiser. It’s comparable in size to the Defender 110 Hard Top, but there’s no Defender 90-rivalling short-wheelbase model as you got in the previous Land Cruiser Commercial range.

Overall carrying capacity is pretty good, though, with more than 800 kilos of payload a decent figure for a vehicle like this. You also retain the Land Cruiser’s electric tailgate and even the separately opening rear window, so access is easy - even if the loading height is very high compared to a proper panel van.

There’s also only one well-specified trim level, which comes with 18-inch alloys, a powered tailgate, climate control and a 9.0-inch infotainment touchscreen with wireless smartphone connectivity. It certainly feels plusher inside than in previous Land Cruisers, though the Land Rover Defender has the edge for comfort with comfier seats and a posher touchscreen.

There’s a single engine option - a 2.8-litre diesel paired to an eight-speed automatic gearbox and all of the off-road features you could want. Like the Defender or the Ineos Grenadier, a Land Cruiser’s ability to go off-road is limited mainly by the grip the tyres have - the car itself will conquer anything the British countryside can throw at it.

Verdict

The Toyota Land Cruiser Commercial is an incredible off-roader and all the strengths that the SUV has shine through in this 'van' version. It should prove endlessly dependable, carries a reasonable amount and is pretty good to drive. But the Land Rover Defender Hard Top is better value overall and much nicer on the road, even if it doesn't share the Toyota's enviable reputation for reliability.

You can get a great deal on a new or a used van by buying it through Carwow. Remember that we can even help you to sell your old van when the time comes.

The Land Cruiser’s sole trim level and engine combo means it comes in at a single price of £52,000 ex. VAT. That’s a little pricier than the basic Defender 110 Hard Top, though the Defender 90 Hard Top is significantly cheaper albeit much less practical. It’s right on par with the Ineos Grenadier Commercial, and all three are undercut by the equally capable but much less pleasant KGM Rexton Commercial.

The trim is pitched close to the equivalent SUV’s ‘Invincible’ specification, which means you get loads of standard kit. The synthetic leather front seats are heated and ventilated, there’s dual-zone climate control, an electric tailgate with separately opening rear glass, and a digital dashboard. One concession is that you get the smaller 9.0-inch infotainment screen, rather than the huge 12.3-inch one you get in the SUV.

As capable off-road as any alternative, but the Land Cruiser Commercial isn’t as comfortable as a Defender on Tarmac

There’s just one engine available for the Land Cruiser Commercial. It’s a 2.8-litre, four-cylinder mild hybrid diesel that puts out 204hp and 500Nm of torque. It’s certainly a capable engine - it has lots of low-down power, perfect for off-roading, and is more than suited to getting the Land Cruiser’s bulk up to speed.

It strikes a nice middle ground between the powerful - but poorly soundproofed - engines in the Ineos Grenadier, and the buttery-smooth six-cylinders available in the Land Rover Defender Hard Top. The Defender definitely has the edge when it comes to refinement and drivability, though, as the Toyota’s four-cylinder sounds very coarse when revved.

The Defender also has the nicer automatic gearbox - the Land Cruiser’s eight-speed unit is a big improvement on the old six-speed automatic in the previous model, but it still holds gears a little too long under acceleration and can lurch through changes occasionally.

The Land Cruiser is more settled on the road than an equivalent pickup thanks to its more sophisticated suspension, but it still can skip over broken tarmac and has a bouncier ride when it’s unladen. The steering is much more responsive than the old model, and it no longer feels vague or wayward on the motorway. It’s hugely better than the Ineos Grenadier in this regard, though once again the Defender feels more car-like.

Off-roading is a great experience. It’s a more manual affair than in a Defender - all the features are there such as differential locks, a low-range gearbox and adjustable suspension, but they don’t operate quite as autonomously. For people who prefer to have as much control as possible, that’s a good thing.

Regardless, you’re more likely to be limited by your skillset and the grip levels of your chosen tyres rather than any limitation of the car itself. An Ineos Grenadier or Defender 90 Hard Top will be better in really extreme conditions, but there’s very little the British countryside could throw at a Land Cruiser Commercial that’ll outfox it.

Carrying capacity is on par with alternatives, but a small van is still a more practical option for load-lugging

As with its commercial 4x4 alternatives, the Land Cruiser Commercial’s transformation into a van isn’t a particularly elegant affair. It’s actually undertaken in the UK - where models are shipped from Japan to be converted - by blanking out the rear windows, installing a flat, rubber-coated load floor and a full-height bulkhead behind the driver.

It even retains the electric tailgate and opening rear glass of the standard Land Cruiser, a much easier solution than the side-hinged doors on the Defender or Ineos Grenadier especially for loading in tight spaces. The mesh bulkhead ensures a good view out of the rear window, though the seatbacks press rather unattractively into it like someone in a too-tight string vest.

In terms of size and payloads, it’s right on par with the alternatives. The Defender 110 Hard Top is a little shorter, but wider, and all three vehicles can carry about 800kg in the rear.

Toyota Land Cruiser Commercial internal and external measurements

Exterior dimensions

Length: 4,925mm
Width: 1,980mm
Height: 1,925mm

Interior dimensions

Maximum load length: 1,685mm
Maximum load width: 1,286mm
Maximum load height: 1,090mm

Towing capacity

The Land Cruiser Commercial can tow the maximum 3,500kg amount allowed by law - matching the Defender Hard Top and Ineos Grenadier. With permanent four-wheel drive and ample low-down torque from the engine, plus a standard reversing camera, hitching up is easy and there’s plenty of grunt and traction to make for effortless towing.

Payload

The Land Cruiser’s 810kg payload is within 20kg of both the Land Rover Defender Hard Top and the Ineos Grenadier Commercial. All three are some way short of the one-tonne you can carry in a pickup or even some of the best small vans, but it’s still a useful figure and more than you’re likely to cram into their somewhat truncated load areas anyway.

Most functions are easy to use, but the touchscreen and driver display are needlessly complex

The Land Cruiser Commercial’s cab is very similar to the passenger car variant, and that’s great news. Not only does it get a cool, chunky design - the squared-off steering wheel centre and ample buttons feel like an old computer game - but you get lots of physical controls for climate as well as the key off-road functions. And a big, chunky gear selector is still a reassuring thing to find.

There’s plenty of room for a six-foot driver and front passenger, with the bulkhead set sufficiently far back to ensure a good driving position is available. Visibility is compromised by the blanked-out windows, but that’s common to all commercial 4x4s - and there are big rear-view mirrors, parking sensors and a reversing camera to aid you.

Build quality is impeccable, and you’ll really struggle to find any shakes or rattles in the Land Cruiser’s interior - the materials used aren’t particularly plush or exciting, but they feel like they’ve been screwed together with enough care to survive an apocalypse.

The touchscreen is one concession to the car’s commercial intentions - it’s a 9.0-inch display, rather than the 12.3-inch one you get in the passenger car. You do still get a digital gauge cluster, though. However, neither is very easy to use.

Wireless smartphone connectivity means you can bypass the infotainment screen with ease, but all the mandatory safety equipment - which you’ll want to turn off as it’s very annoying - has to be done through the driver’s display. It’s awkward, takes a long time, and thanks to its insistence on using acronyms and initialisms rather than just writing things out means that you might need the manual to figure out what everything does.

Toyota claims just 26.4mpg from the Land Cruiser Commercial’s 2.8-litre diesel, but we think that’s pretty pessimistic. During a week with the vehicle, driving it on a mixture of roads round Peterborough and Cambridgeshire as well as a commute into London, we saw over 30mpg and approaching 35mpg on a long, unladen run.

Lots of short trips around town or hardcore off-roading will of course mean the economy drops, but never to the sub-20mpg levels of an Ineos Grenadier. The 80-litre fuel tank ensures a 400-plus mile range too.

Other costs are fine - the Land Cruiser Commercial qualifies for the flat commercial vehicle benefit-in-kind tax rate, so as a company car it’s much cheaper to run than a pickup truck.

The Commercial gets the same level of driver assistance equipment as the SUV, so there’s lots of features included. That means adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping aids, a driver monitoring system, a (very useful) blind-spot monitor and some nice extras like trailer sway control are all standard. So is a remote alarm and immobiliser.

The active safety aids are all frightfully sensitive and noisy, though, so you’ll want to turn most of them - particularly the frustrating driver attention monitor - off at the start of every drive.

*the basic three-year warranty is extended by a year with each approved service

The Land Cruiser is known the world over for being one of the most reliable vehicles from one of the most reliable manufacturers. It has a long-earned reputation for longevity and hardiness that has led to Land Cruisers being used in some of the most taxing environments on the planet. So a few muddy fields in Lincolnshire shouldn’t be much trouble.

The Land Cruiser uses a similar engine to the biblically dependable previous-gen car, and the construction feels every bit as solid. We therefore have very few concerns over this car’s reliability, especially compared to the Land Rover Defender or Ineos Grenadier Commercial.

Service intervals are set at every 12 months or 10,000 miles, and while the standard warranty is just three years/60,000 miles, you unlock an extra year every time you service at an approved dealership. This goes up to a maximum of ten years and 100,000 miles, the longest warranty period in the business.