Like everyone else who couldn’t really afford one, I lamented that the new Land Cruiser was, in fact, not going to make it to US shores. Everyone that actually would’ve bought one simply shrugged and walked 15 steps to the Lexus area of the dealership. However, based on what we saw earlier this week, it probably was because the Land Cruiser suddenly looked redundant.
Unsurprisingly for anyone else that is a car enthusiast, I never did warm up to the last-generation Toyota Sequoia. When it came out all the way back in 2007, especially compared to its positively lithe predecessor, it looked like the fattest of all of the fat SUV’s of the time. A huge slab of metal with tiny windows to be driven by overmedicated housewifes that will merge on you and claim they didn’t see you. Which is fair, they were shouting at the kids, fixing their makeup, drinking coffee and taking an online course at the same time.
But times, they are a-changing. And Toyota is desperately trying to save money by basing all of their body-on-frame vehicles off of a single platforms, a strategy that seems to be working out quite well for Nissan. The first vehicle to come out of the GA-F platform was the new Tundra. And just this past week, the suburban sister decided was unveiled to the public.
The best thing that I can say about the design is that I was skeptical about it when it was released. The publicity shot that I saw looked like a Photoshop job. Someone had clearly taken a Toyota Highlander and then blended in the handsome new mug of the Tundra TRD pro on it. They swapped the wheels in and then made sure to size it to 125% so that it looked disproportionately large. But it’s real, and quite good looking. A huge improvement over the one that came before it and with more than a little hint of the new Land Cruiser if one just looks for it.
Like its sister, The Sequoia is eschewing V8s, another nail in the coffin of that particular engine configuration on mainstream vehicles, even the large American ones. In its place, they’ll be a 3.4-liter twin-turbo V6. Unlike with the Tundra, however, there is no provision to not have a Hybrid system of it. Your options are Hybrid, or Hybrid but it looks badass.
The Interior is like everything else that has come recently and will continue to come as long as we can buy cars. Screens upon screens upon screens. Between these and smartphones, you need not look away from a screen ever again. I’m sure at some point auto manufacturers will discover e-ink, or microLED with dimming zones will be cheap enough that you can at least avoid the telltale dark grey glow of a lit LCD staring at you as you drive.
Small wonder than the Land Cruiser went away. Toyota no longer has to make a division between their suburban grocery getter for Annie from procurement (4 kids, etsy shop, own at least one item with “Live, Laugh, Love” on it) and the one normally seen plowing through the Jungle or used as a prestige vehicle by people who think the Lexus badge is too “flashy”. The Sequoia can now act as a veritable option for anyone that wasn’t already scooped up by Lexus on that segment.
And in any case, if they buy the Lexus they’re buying the same platform anyway.
