The writing was on the wall, but Toyota has officially announced the end of the 4.5-litre turbo-diesel V8 LandCruiser 70 Series. The brand has pulled the plug on this powertrain, citing “changing regulations and community expectations” as the reason behind this decision.
Orders for the V8 LandCruiser 70 Series were stopped two years ago. However, production will continue until September of this year for the 4-door Wagon and the 2-door Troopy. Meanwhile, the 79 Series GXL single—and double-cab Ute will soldier on until early 2025. Toyota is looking to fulfil the large order bank and will work towards securing as many examples as possible from Japan, but it is not clear whether all orders will be fulfilled.
That said, if the wait times are too long, buyers can consider switching to the 1GD 2.8-litre turbo-diesel 4-cylinder, which now has an additional manual gearbox option.
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Production for the manual 4-cylinder 70 Series will start around October and will be available with 50Nm less torque than the automatic version at 450 Nm. This new manual gearbox will also be offered across all the versions and gets shorter gearing for the first few gears while a long 5th gear is tuned towards extracting the maximum fuel efficiency. Questions remain about how hard this will work the 4-cylinder at the 110km/h national speed limit. However, the automatic has proved itself as the logical choice in our testing.
With V8 production winding down, demand would be expected to shift to the 4-cylinder, and despite lacking in outright size, the 2.8-litre unit has more torque than the V8.
Despite its age, the 70 Series Land Cruiser still has huge demand in Australia, and its no-nonsense charm, along with its rugged personality, is one reason why buyers still gravitate towards it. Plus, not just Australia, as Japan and the United Arab Emirates also get this workhorse, albeit with different powertrains.
Putting away the V8 version for good also leaves behind a legacy where more than 171,000 units have been sold in Down Under with this powertrain (since 2007), and it has accounted for half of the total 70 Series sales since it was launched in 1985. Hence, while the V8 is no more, the Land Cruiser 70 Series still goes about its business nonchalantly as it enters its fifth decade in production. Toyota Australia has been clear in its intention to continue selling this model here.
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