2025 Land Cruiser Hybrid Misses MPG MarkWilliam Walker - MotorTrendIn case you didn't know, all new Toyota Land Cruisers are hybrids. It's cool if you didn't know, though, because it seems like Toyota tried really hard to downplay it, and the fuel economy of our long-term Land Cruiser certainly doesn't scream "save money on gas," either.We've had our yearlong review 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser a full year now, and in that time we've put 26,829 miles on it. We're a long way past the engine break-in period, and we have more than enough data to say, confidently, that the fuel economy really isn't great. After nearly 27,000 miles of driving, we're averaging 18.4 mpg despite EPA ratings of 22/25/23 mpg city/highway/combined.willia walker - MotorTrendAre Ya Sure About That?At least, it's consistent. When it was brand new, we managed just over 19 mpg, but since then it's always been 18-point-something. A dozen staff members have driven it over the past dozen months, so it's not just a case of one lead-footed driver, either. In fact, 9,818 of those miles were added on an epic road trip to the top of Alaska and back, nearly all of which was highway mileage where the Land Cruiser should be at its most efficient, according to the EPA. Yet it averaged 18 mpg.AdvertisementAdvertisementBut wait! Right before it left for Alaska, we installed a Prinsu roof rack and an iKamper rooftop tent. Surely, that must be ruining the average, no? Not really. While both were installed, fuel economy dropped to 17.7 mpg. Before the rack was installed, it was doing 19.2 mpg and after we took the tent off in Seattle on the way home from Prudhoe Bay (but left the rack on) it was doing 18.4, and it's been doing about that ever since. Losing less than 1 mpg because of the roof rack still isn't great, but even without it we never came anywhere near the EPA ratings.MotorTrend - MotorTrendThe simple fact of the matter is, the Land Cruiser is a box on wheels with an upright windshield, off-road tires, and full-time four-wheel drive. All of these things are bad for fuel economy and worse when added together. That's not great, especially considering it requires premium fuel, and that stuff ain't cheap, especially right now.As a result, the Land Cruiser struggles to go 300 miles on a tank of fuel. In all our driving, we only ever managed to break 300 miles twice, and both times we intentionally pushed it to empty knowing we were near a local fuel station, not out on the highway somewhere. Were it able to return its EPA-rated fuel economy, it would be able to do up to 412 miles on a tank. And people complain about EVs not getting their advertised range.Part of the issue is the fuel gauge and distance to empty meter keep secrets. The Land Cruiser has a 17.9-gallon fuel tank, but we've never been able to put more than 15.5 gallons in it even when the gauges say it's bone dry and range is zero miles. This means there's a roughly 2.5-gallon reserve even when the gauges say you're out of gas. Helpful if you know that, but it took us the entire year to figure it out. At 18.4 mpg average, that could mean another 46 miles of range, which sure would've been helpful to know in northern Alaska.MotorTrend - MotorTrendBut I'm a HybridAll that despite being a hybrid. The Land Cruiser comes with a 2.4-liter turbocharged I-4 hooked to a small electric motor powered by a small nickel-metal-hydride battery under the cargo floor. With less than 2 kWh on tap and just 48 hp and 184 lb-ft of torque to work with, the hybrid system is really just a helper.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe electric motor can only move the Land Cruiser by itself at parking lot speeds, and only with a very light foot. Technically, the system can shut down the gas engine while cruising at highway speeds and maintain speed with just the electric motor, but it requires a perfectly flat road, extremely light throttle inputs, and preferably a little help from gravity.Rather than a big Prius, think Ferrari Enzo. The electric motor is there to make up for the lack of torque caused by going from a V-8 to a turbo-four. Toyota engineers have been very clear they've designed their truck and SUV hybrid systems to act as performance enhancers and displacement replacements rather than planet-saving super-sippers. As a result, being a hybrid doesn't mean what you think it means. To be fair, though, the old full-size V-8 Land Cruiser got an EPA-rated 13/18/15 mpg city/highway/combined, so this is still an improvement.MotorTrend - MotorTrendWe Don't Need No Stinkin' BadgesWhile you can certainly tell it's a hybrid behind the wheel, the driving experience is about the only cue. Toyota, the company that popularized the hybrid gasoline-electric drivetrain and has sold more hybrids than any other car company, seemingly went out of its way to hide the fact the Land Cruiser has one.The only tell, really, is the "iForce-MAX" badge on the tailgate, and you have to be a Toyota nerd to even know what that means. (It means "hybrid.") No blue logos, no badges that actually say hybrid, no aerodynamic wheel options, and no special aerodynamic tricks. Same thing inside. No badges, no indications on the instrument cluster, no battery state of charge meter or efficient driving coach. Not even the power flow meter that's been on every Toyota hybrid for decades that shows where the power is coming from and going to. Oh, those things exist on other Toyota products with this exact same powertrain, but not the Land Cruiser. They've been deliberately deleted from the digital instrument cluster.AdvertisementAdvertisementWe can only assume Toyota was concerned the hybrid powertrain would somehow tarnish the Land Cruiser's reputation as an unstoppable off-roader, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Even off-road drivers like getting up to 10 mpg better than the old model, and the reliability of Toyota's hybrid technology is well established at this point. As we've shown, it's still extremely capable off-road for a bone stock rig, so it's hard to see a downside beyond some reflexive machismo nonsense.MotorTrend - 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 BudgetDo You Really Need That Front Stabilizer Bar Disconnect?