Toyota Land Cruiser (2009-2023) - Practicality, comfort and boot space

Just so you know, this is an older review of the 2009-2023 Land Cruiser. If you are interested in information about the latest Toyota Land Cruiser, or news about the latest Toyota models, please follow the links provided.

Inside, the Land Cruiser isn’t quite as roomy as you might hope, as its old-school proportions and hefty 4x4 engineering restrict interior space a little.

Still, it’s easy to find a comfortable driving position, as there’s plenty of adjustment in the seat and steering wheel, plus visibility is good and you get lots of storage space for odds and ends around the cabin.

The Toyota is available as a three or five-door, and naturally the three-door is less family friendly; it’s more aimed at business users who need to carry equipment to locations off the beaten track and is only available in entry-level Active specification.

Active trim adds useful practical touches like Downhill and Hill Start Assist, all-round parking sensors and rain-sensing windscreen wipers, while the top-spec Invincible model is equipped with Crawl Control and Multi-Terrain driving modes, as well as blind spot monitoring.

Size

The five-door the Land Cruiser measures in at 4,970mm long and 2,000mm wide. For comparison, the Land Rover Discovery is 4,971mm long and 1,945mm, so there’s not a lot in it. However, the smaller three-door is just 4,395mm long and 1,885mm wide. In the UK, the five-door gets a spare wheel under the boot floor (it's not hanging on the back door like it does in some markets), while the three-door has a tyre repair kit to save space inside.

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Leg room, head room & passenger space

The Land Cruiser comes with five or seven seats, and in higher-spec models, there’s an electric folding mechanism on the rearmost row. This means unfolding the seats for extra passengers or folding them away for additional boot space takes seconds and can be done at the press of a button, which is a nice touch. There is plenty of space in the middle row of seats thanks to a large footwell, impressive legroom and a high roof.

You can slide the middle row forward to free up extra space for passengers sitting behind. In fact, the two rearmost seats provide sufficient room for adults, for short journeys at least.

Boot

Boot capacity stands at 620 litres when the Land Cruiser is in five-seat mode, but with the rear seats in place the capacity is reduced to around that of a Fiat 500 – so while the big Toyota can carry seven people, it won’t be able to transport much of their luggage at the same time.

With all the rear seats folded down, the load space increases to a mighty maximum of 1,943 litres.

You need lots of space to swing open the side-hinged tailgate, which makes loading in tight car parks awkward, although the separate-opening glass can prove handy here. The rear suspension can be lowered to boost access, but there’s only a 5cm difference between its highest and lowest settings, meaning only a 2.5cm drop from normal.

Towing

The Toyota Land Cruiser has strong, but not class leading, towing capabilities. Across the board, all Land Cruisers can pull 3,000kg, irrespective of whether you opt for a five-seater or seven-seater, or auto or manual transmissions.