Ok jumping in on this one having owned over 10+ LC’s over years from a ‘91 triple locked 80 Series to an ‘00 Heritage Edition, with 3 still in the garage (‘01 was sold to a friend last week with 225k on the clock and shipped to Montana). I will also preface this with I do all of my own maintenance, lift installs and basically all repair work short of dropping the transmission or pulling the engine, at least today.
The new Land Cruiser or GX in the states is NOT a 300 Series. It is what is known everywhere else in the world as a Prado. The Prado has and is a “light duty” vehicle were the LC 300, 200, 100, 80, 60, 55 and 40 Series were all Heavy Duty and built to a VERY different design standard as well as a different life expectancy. That is not to say the Prado, GX, etc is not a great vehicle and will last most people a very long time, but they are NOT the same vehicle and the new GX is NOT a 300 series LC - the LX600 however is.
The Grenadier is NOT a GX and was not designed to be, but the GX is also not a Grenadier and wasn’t designed to be either. They are VERY different vehicles. The closet thing you will find to a Grenadier is a 70 series LC and again, we don’t get those in the states. Many countries have the based model 4wd designs from Toyota that we simply don’t get in the US and we also don’t get the diesel engines.
All of that said - the Grenadier is far superior in terms of “out of the box” utility, thoughtfulness for true 4wd adventures and longevity in terms of planning and design. Toyota has decades of proving that, INOES does not, but they did hire the 2nd best in the business, MAGNA Steyr, to build a vehicle that would compete in the longevity and deliver what others were not, even Toyota. I think they did that VERY well.
Take the new LC or GX and you will spend $10k getting the vehicle to the same place as a Trialmaster and you will have wires all over the place, holes everywhere, nothing under warranty, etc.
I love my LC’s and I love Toyota, so much so I am picking up my sons ‘24 TRD Off-road Tacoma next week, but none of them are Grenadiers and vice versa.
We can’t get the 300 or 70 Series in the states today so when you look at the options for a true 4wd utility vehicles, NOT A JEEP, then you have very few options and I think the Grenadier sits at the top of the list for the people that actually understand and appreciate the design, engineering and effort that has gone into a vehicle that is designed for the people that have not had a vehicle designed for them in decades - and it has CarPlay.
All of that said, I am likely going to get a new GX and I think they will be an amazing success, but they are NOT a 300 or 70 series. The new LC will also likely be a great vehicle, but I am not sold on the hybrid as the only option.
PS - I don’t really think the new Defender, Bronco or Jeep should even be in the same discussion, but I know that comment will garner a couple responses.
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