|
|
|
|
25/11/2011
REVIEW by MURRAY HUBBARD
|
|
|
Already seen as one of the toughest 4WDs in Australia, Toyota’s LandCruiser 200 has just been made even more robust to cater for those who really mean business. This Toyota is not for those who want to drop kids at school or swan around the cafe strips, this new version is aimed at the harsh needs of the mining and farming communities, as well as those doing serious off-road driving to experience what this great land down under offers.
Toyota’s new turbo-diesel LandCruiser GX is based on the current Cruiser GXL wagon and is a worthy successor to the much trusted LandCruiser 100 Series Standard Grade.
Toyota’s decision to produce a torture-proof LandCruiser 200 was prompted by the mining boom in Western Australia and Queensland. Built for demanding, dusty work, the GX Toyota LandCruiser 200 has vinyl floor covering, vertically hinged twin ‘barn’ doors at the back, 17-inch steel wheels, snorkel, 93-litre main fuel tank, 45-litre auxiliary tank, five seats, under-body protection plates and uses a standard key, rather than a fancy electronic one.
While Toyota has built the GX LandCruiser for the working environment not all modern luxuries have been deleted. There’s still a CD player (but with a capacity of just one disc), manual air-conditioning, power windows with auto up-and-down for the driver, and power-operated exterior rear view mirrors.
With occupational health and safety a major issue at mining sites the Toyota LandCruiser GX keeps all the GXL safety equipment including driver and front-passenger airbags, curtain-shield airbags, stability control, active traction control, hill-start assist, multi-terrain anti-skid brakes and Toyota Crawl, the latter being an off road version of cruise control aimed at very slow speeds on difficult terrain. The spare wheel is mounted under the cargo floor.
Handy features include a 60/40 split fold rear seat with adjustable back recline and adjustable head restraints and tilt and telescopic steering column adjustment. Audio controls are included on the four-spoke steering wheel for the four speaker CD tuner. Toyota has included a fascia-mounted audio head unit with AUX/USB input, MP3/WMA compatibility and Bluetooth hands-free plus audio streaming capability.
Powered by a twin-turbo 4.5-litre V8 diesel engine the GX has 195 kW of power and 650 Nm of torque running through a six-speed automatic transmission. It uses full time 4WD with a Torsen limited-slip differential plus a two-speed transfer case.
The recommended retail price for the Toyota LandCruiser GX is $77,900, this does not include dealer or government charges. |
|
|
|
|
|
Print Article
Submit Feedback
Email This Article
