July 2006

• Rating:

Off-roaders don’t come much tougher than Toy­ota’s Land Cruiser. While the Land Rover Defender might be a long-standing UK favourite, in harsher climates, the Japanese machine’s impressive combination of luxury and unburstable reliability make it the 4x4 of choice.

	With its standard-fit automatic trans-mission, the Invincible covers 0-62mph in 10.8 seconds

And to celebrate how hardy the Land Cruiser really is, Toyota has launched a new special edition: the Invincible. Fol­lowing in the tracks of a similarly named special version of the Hi-Lux, the new model will be built in a limited-run of only 500 vehicles. But there’s more to the Invincible than meets the eye.

The major modification comes under the bonnet. The power output from the existing 3.0-litre D-4D oil-burner rises from 164bhp to 201bhp – although the results are hardly spectacular.

With its standard-fit automatic transmission, the Invincible covers 0-62mph in 10.8 seconds, which is only 0.4 seconds quicker than the standard model. The top speed remains the same, as do fuel economy and emissions.

On the road, we struggled to feel the benefit of the extra horsepower, but our test car had less than 100 miles on the clock. When run in, the Land Cruiser’s extra grunt will pay dividends; even now, it’s refined and reasonably punchy.

Offering space for up to eight occupants, the interior is colossal. However, the third row of chairs doesn’t fold flat, and eats into the load space – the packaging of Land Rover’s much more advanced Discovery is far better. As well as the power boost, the Invincible features dark-tinted rear windows and unique badging.

At £34,565, the newcomer is £650 more than the mid-spec LC4 Land Cruiser. That’s a similar price to a Discovery, but much more expensive than the Nissan Pathfinder. However, if you demand a truly indestructible off-roader, put your name down now to get hold of one of Toy­ota’s toughest Tonka toys.

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