2025 Toyota Land Cruiser Long-Term VerdictWilliam Walker - MotorTrendDespite having been around since the 1970s, there's still some tomfool argument going around certain Toyota circles as to whether the smaller Prado model is a "real" Land Cruiser. This matters because the yearlong review 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser I've been chaperoning the past 12 months is actually the global Land Cruiser Prado in all but name and not actually the full-size Land Cruiser we used to get, which lives on elsewhere. I've said all along Prados are real Land Cruisers, and 12 months and the better part of 27,000 miles have proved me right.In All the Ways That CountLet's examine, shall we? After all, what makes a Land Cruiser? The "golden ratio" of wheelbase and overall length to maximize comfort and off-road abilities? It has that. Exceptional off-road capability? Has that, too. The ability to go on extended safaris deep into the wilderness? Check. Reliability, especially given the preceding? Ours was dead-nuts reliable.There's the less bragworthy stuff, too. Land Cruisers have long had outdated consumer-facing technology, and this one is no exception. In just the year we've had it, we've experienced three new generations of Toyota and Lexus infotainment software and user interfaces, all of which are more powerful and easier to use than what was on our truck.AdvertisementAdvertisementPartially mitigating that complaint is the Toyota App experience. I was genuinely impressed with how functional the app is and the tidiness of the interface. I'd like to move a few things around (like putting the status of the door locks on the same page as the lock/unlock buttons), and I'd like to speed up the turnaround time on executing a vehicle command from the phone, but it's among the better app experience I've had from a legacy automaker.willia walker - MotorTrendAwful fuel economy has been a Land Cruiser staple for generations, too, and ours averaged 18.4 mpg month in and month out. That's 4.6 mpg under its EPA-rated combined fuel economy. Driving as much as we did saw us spend $7,632.30 on fuel over 26,829 miles, an average of $636 per month, $147 per week, and $294 per paycheck, because it takes premium.We must be careful not to take too much from those numbers, though. Eight months into our loan, gas prices went through the roof thanks to yet another ill-conceived and seemingly endless war in the Middle East, which is no fault of the Land Cruiser's (though we're sure at least one will appear on the battlefield, somewhere). Should prices ever come back down to where they started, those dollar amounts would drop considerably. Also, we'd have spent less if we hadn't put the better part of 30,000 miles on it in a year, far more than the average American. Still, 18.4 mpg from a hybrid.But hey, that's still better than our 2019 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, which was also a hybrid with a turbocharged inline-four (though it's a mild hybrid, not a full hybrid like our Toyota). That thing only managed 17.3 mpg, though it was more capable off-road, and some of the reasons why definitely impact fuel economy. The Land Cruiser also outperformed our 2021 Land Rover Defender 110, which employed a 3.0-liter turbocharged and mildly hybridized inline-six that made more power and less torque than the Toyota. It did 15.2 mpg, but it, too, was more capable off-road thanks to its air suspension, which increases the ride height on demand. Judged against these competitors, the Land Cruiser's 18.4 mpg looks less bad, even if it's still way off EPA ratings.willia walker - MotorTrendOh, the Places We WentMany of these aspects we tested simultaneously by road-tripping the thing all over the western seaboard of the continental U.S. and Canada and the interior of Alaska. A nearly 9,000-mile round-trip drive to Prudhoe Bay and back to Los Angeles in the summer tested its reliability, durability, and comfort on more than 1,000 miles of dirt roads.AdvertisementAdvertisementIt performed flawlessly, at the cost of its first windshield. We'd replace it a second time after more misadventures in the wilds of Los Angeles area freeways. In all, we spent $4,140.30 on windshield repairs and replacements in less than a year. A check of Land Cruiser hangouts online suggests we're not outliers, either, so budget for that if you plan on buying one.Windshields aside, we spent a total of $515 on maintenance over three service appointments, plus $22.61 to replace a piece of trim that went missing. It's far from the most we've spent on service, but hardly the best deal, either. The hybrid Jeep cost us all of $83.55 for its one service (our service appointments for the Toyota averaged $172) and the Defender included a year of free service, costing us nothing.MotorTrendFor a taste of winter, we took it to Lake Tahoe for a long weekend. Its all-season, all-terrain, mud-and-snow-rated tires surprised me with the amount of grip they were able to find on snow and ice, taking most of the worry out of the weekend. Still, if I lived in the snow belt, I'd invest in proper winter tires and probably feel invincible in the dark months. Full-time four-wheel drive and good traction are excellent allies.To really test its traction, though, we needed to get fully off-road. Due to a supplier issue, our truck was built without the once standard, now optional disconnecting front stabilizer bar, reducing its off-road capability in the most extreme situations. As I found, though, you have to take the truck to the limits of its clearances before the missing feature might come into play.AdvertisementAdvertisementIt still went up some of the hardest trails Southern California has to offer a bone-stock off-roader, so you need to have some major wheeling planned—as well as some aftermarket upgrades—to really take advantage of the stabilizer disconnect. For most people driving a brand-new $70,000 SUV, it'll go much farther off-road than an owner actually wants to. I still recommend getting the optional skidplates and rock sliders if you're planning to go off-road, because you'll use them.MotorTrend - MotorTrendThe Things We LearnedOn one of those trips, we took it camping only to discover it's not so easy to just sleep in the back. Folding or tumbling the second-row seats doesn't create a flat floor, so you need to bring a tent either on the roof or in a bag. Or as a resourceful reader suggested, get a cot, leave the legs on one end collapsed, and lay that end on the folded seats with the legs on the other end extending down to the cargo floor. Brilliant.Despite all the road trips, we struggled to remember the presence of the refrigerated Cool Box under the center console armrest. When we did, it was handy keeping a couple drinks cold for later in the drive, but more often than not, it was treated like a storage cubby. Having sunglasses cases, extra napkins, and more living in there made it easy to forget the chilling feature and hard to use it without emptying all that stuff out and distributing it into the glove box, which was the only other covered storage in the Land Cruiser.MotorTrend - MotorTrendThrough all that, plus road trips to visit friends and family in-state and out, I discovered there are some tricks to driving the Land Cruiser's hybrid powertrain correctly. Mostly, it consists of being very gentle with the pedals, as both the gas and brake are unusually sensitive for an off-roader. There's also no sense in trying to drive it in EV mode, as the electric motor and battery are too small to allow you to do any more than creep around a parking lot. That 18.4 mpg is here to stay, and the Eco driving mode doesn't help, either.AdvertisementAdvertisementMore than anything, I learned this new, smaller Land Cruiser is just as much of a charming anachronism as its predecessors. It still drives like a truck, but a more comfortable one. The fuel economy is still painful, but less so. The tech is still outdated, but at least it's new enough to get you CarPlay and a 360-degree camera, and those will get you a long way. And as we proved with our Alaska excursion, getting you a long way is what the Land Cruiser is (still) all about.willia walker - MotorTrendMore On Our Long-Term 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser:Our New Land Cruiser Has A Lot To Live Up ToThe New Toyota Land Cruiser's Screens Make Us ScreamHow We Decked Out Our Toyota Land Cruiser for a Trip to the Top of the WorldI Drove Our 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser 8,000 Miles to the End of the RoadThe Cold Never Bothered Our 2025 Land Cruiser,AnywayHow to Drive The Toyota Land Cruiser (Correctly)Our 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser Needs A Windshield BudgetDoes the 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser Need the Optional Stabilizer Bar Disconnect Off-Road?Our Land Cruiser is Technically a Hybrid (but it doesn't act like it)