Toyota Land Cruiser Heritage Edition brings posh overlanding to Chicago
The biggest, most expensive Toyota you can buy celebrates 60 years of trail work.
Barring some mild refreshes, the current generation of Toyota Land Cruiser is a decade old. Yet, Toyota is determined to keep the thing alive for at least another year, and it'll do so with a flashy new Heritage Edition celebrating one big milestone.
Toyota on Wednesday unveiled the 2020 Land Cruiser Heritage Edition, meant to celebrate the SUV's 60th anniversary. While it was unveiled digitally this week, it'll be shown to the public for the first time at the 2019 Chicago Auto Show in early February.
The Heritage Edition is only available as a two-row SUV, ditching the Land Cruiser's optional third row in favor of cargo capacity. The exterior can be had in either black or white, and it's adorned with a new grille, vintage Land Cruiser exterior badging and a set of 18-inch BBS alloy wheels in bronze. The headlights, fog lights and side mirrors all have darker elements than usual. The running boards and lower chrome moldings have been removed in favor of improved off-road performance.
The Land Cruiser is impressively capable when the going gets rocky.
Toyota gussied up the interior with a whole bunch of black leather-trimmed upholstery, borrowing the wheels' bronze color for the contrast stitching that reaches to the wheel, door trim and seats. There's also a set of all-weather floor mats and a cargo liner thrown in for good measure. Otherwise... that's about it, save for the deletion of the refrigerated "cool box." There are also loads of features tucked away in here, including ventilated front seats, four-zone climate control and a 9-inch touchscreen infotainment system.
In terms of powertrain, the story is the same as always. It rocks a 5.7-liter V8 good for 381 horsepower and 401 pound-feet of torque. All four wheels receive that motive force through an eight-speed automatic transmission and a Torsen limited-slip locking center differential. Low range is along for the ride, too.
The 2020 Toyota Land Cruiser Heritage Edition will go on sale this summer, following its debut in Chicago, and it will be limited to just 1,200 units. Pricing will be announced closer to its on-sale date, but for context's sake, a 2019 Land Cruiser will set you back $84,765.
Detroit Auto Show: While Chicago builds up, check out our recap from Detroit.
Lexus LX: In case you're wondering what a Lexus-branded Land Cruiser would be like.