Toyota L. Cruiser Amazon Sw 1998-2006

The Toyota Land Cruiser Amazon is more like a limousine inside than a 4x4, being able to seat seven adults in comfort and style. It offers a relatively competent and smooth ride on the road, but doesn’t quite match up with newer 4x4s for road-handling. It is off-road where it excels with its high ground clearance, low-range gearbox as well as centre and rear diff lock, enabling it to tackle almost everything with ease and confidence.

Pros and Cons:

• Fitted with plenty of luxuries
  It can easily fit seven adults at a time
  Superb off-road ability

• Repairs can prove costly
  Parking can prove to be a struggle
  Expensive to run

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Exterior and Interior

The Amazon comes with the Land Cruiser’s recognised looks, but now with a more rounded and accomplished style to it. From the inside the Amazon feels like a limousine, being able to seat seven people comfortably thanks to two removable seats that fit into the large boot. The seats are all comfortable and spacious and all the back seat passengers receive plenty of head and legroom. The boot is spacious when the two spare seats are folded away. When the middle row of seats is folded flat it starts resembling a panel-van. The dashboard is neat, but with buttons and switches on the left and right of the driver as well as on the centre console you sometimes have to hunt around for the right switch.

There is only the one trim level in both models but it comes with everything you are likely to need such as air-con, sat-nav, rear view camera for reversing and parking, heated front seats, automatic climate control and leather upholstery.

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Engines

There are only two engines available: a 235bhp 4.7-litre V8 petrol and a 201bhp 4.2-litre turbo diesel. The V8 petrol is an automatic-only option, whilst the diesel comes with a manual as standard and the automatic as an option.

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Performance and Economy

The 4.7-litre V8 petrol is the quicker of the two, going from 0-60mph in 10.8 seconds compared to the diesel’s 13.2 seconds. The petrol is the less economical of the two, achieving only 17mpg - and that’s the official results. You are more likely to get around 13 or 14mpg in real world driving. The large petrol powerplant is an extremely smooth unit, though, and the automatic gearbox that accompanies it is equally smooth. The diesel achieves a much more respectable 25mpg and as such is the best choice of the two engines because it also offers much more torque which is better for towing and any serious off-roading.

As for insuring the Land Cruiser Amazon, it is no more expensive than most of its rivals. The large Toyota is classified group 15, just like the Range Rover.

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What it's like to Drive

Compared to newer 4x4s, the Amazon doesn’t handle nearly as well on the road as, for example, the Range Rover and BMW X5. The ride is smooth, but the steering feels light on the road and there is plenty of body roll in the corners. The suspension can be stiffened at the flick of a switch which helps to counteract the body roll, but then you get a bumpier ride instead. Its huge size is another problem as it has a huge turning circle. The large wing mirrors that help to reduce blind spots and the rear view camera go some way to making it easier to manoeuvre and park. The brakes come with plenty of feel and they performing superbly, bringing the Amazon to a stop in remarkably short distance.

It’s off-road where the Amazon excels with the low-range gearbox along with rear and centre diff lock helping to prevent the wheels from slipping on loose or muddy surfaces, making it a superb off-road machine. The air suspension can also be raised to manoeuvre higher obstacles. The car has very short front and rear overhangs so the entry and departure angles are enough to tackle most slopes and ditches.

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Faults and Repairs

The Toyota Land Cruiser Amazon is an extremely reliable car as you would expect from Toyota. No recalls have been carried out through its lifetime and there are no major problems to report. There were a few glitches when it was first released, but most of these were sorted out the following years and the only thing you should be aware of is that the cylinder heads on the diesels are prone to cracking which can prove costly to fix.

The servicing costs are not cheap, but they are no more expensive than their rivals. Any repairs can be fairly expensive with Toyota’s average repair costs coming in higher than most.

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