Hi all

Has anyone on the forum run a Land Cruiser Amazon?

If so how did you find it compared to a Range Rover?

Jim

Have had two with the 4.7 v8.

Great vehicles, not the same as a Range Rover, but very nice.

Need far less parts than running a LR, however they are dearer to buy when you need parts.

Suspension is expensive to repair if it goes wrong. It hydraulic not air and the spheres which fail eventually are the dear parts.

Lovely traditional old buses.

Tailgate rots from inside out.

Believe the diesel goes for ever when maintained well.

Less modern in feel and dated interior. I like them though and would have another, hopefully.

Have had 5 x land cruiser over the years, all 4.2 diesel Amazons.
Still have last one of the 5 x which I bought new in 2007.
Would happily have bought another but they were discontinued 2015 and the later engines were only Euro 5.
I bought my RR (2017 MY 4.4 SDV8 AB) as a land cruiser replacement as it has the Euro 6 engine.
I still drive the land cruiser as I have not got around to selling it.
The land cruiser on comfort setting is a far more comfortable car to drive.
The RR is quicker and goes around corners better.
The land cruiser is almost totally reliable although if the suspension goes wrong you have to slightly lift the body from the chassis to change the modules.
Had no rust problems on any of the land cruisers I owned.
They are a cracking tow car but if you have too much nose weight on the trailer the suspension will not pump up from its lowest setting.
Have had the RR for just over a year and after reading some of the horror stories on the forum before buying was expecting not great reliability.
So far the RR has been totally faultless.
I must admit to not initially being overly impressed with the RR and found myself heading for the land cruiser for longer journeys.
How ever the RR has grown on me and I am now very happy with it and find its many features make the land cruiser feel a bit dated.
If Toyota were to bring out an updated version of the big land cruiser I might be tempted back but until then I expect to be a RR man.

My wife had two Landcruiser Amazons (including the 50th Anniversary edition) and the most recent Landcruiser V8. All diesel.

They are, IMHO, quite agricultural. The NVH is awful compared to the Range Rover as the engines are rattly beasts. The steering is vague, the suspension and handling are poor in comparison. The Range Rover is a luxury car and the Toyota is a truck with tinsel. Fuel economy is worse than a diesel Rangie.

That said, my wife loved them. Really loved them. We'd still have one if they still sold then in the UK (she now drives a Tesla).

They were built unbelievably well - like tanks. This almost certainly saved her life and that of my son when someone sideswiped the car as she was loading him into his car seat. The other car was ripped open like a can of sardines. The Toyota was virtually unblemished. The open door that protected my wife and son closed normally. She also had a BMW run into the back of her. The Toyota literally had zero damage. The BMW was a foot shorter and had to be recovered on a low loader.

The reliability is a little over exaggerated. One of the cars we had lunched its torque converter (expensive) and the replacement was on the way out when we sold it. The V8 was often throwing warning lights. But the car never failed to proceed and always got us to our destination.

They are great offroad - a grouse moor owning mate (who could afford to drive any car he wanted) has a V8 as his personal transport on the moor, with his spaniels in the boot.

They are more practical than a Rangie - seven seats and a HUGE boot. The seats are comfy and spacious. The interiors are a bit haphazard - switches everywhere. The SatNavs/infotainment system were more advanced than the equivalent Rangie, I seem to remember (but would be archaic now).

The Amazons were always easy to sell - one of the few cars I've owned that people have offered to buy whenever I was ready to sell.

They were, as a result, a bit nickable - some friends had theirs stolen off their drive as they were unloading their shopping. They are very sought after by anyone who tows a caravan, if you know what I mean (though now they are older, they probably aren't the vehicle of choice any more).

The most recent shape (not an Amazon but the V8) is definitely a step up in sophistication but wasn't nearly as popular with the hardcore Landcruiser fans.

Bottom line, I personally wouldn't want one over a Rangie but most of those who drive them really bond deeply with them.

Last edited by Emperor Mong on 4th Aug 2019 8:34am. Edited 1 time in total

Both of mine were the petrol V8.
Super smooth and plenty of performance.
Neither were very new when purchased.
Original was eight years old, did 100k miles over three years and only major failure was the starter motor. The chimp who fitted the replacement caused issues with the haphazard reassembly.
Needed new front driveshafts at 160k, also had a new brake calliper during its time with me.
Second was twelve years old and bought with exhaust manifold blowing. Only issue it had.

Totally agree with opinions on the package, but would happily own and enjoy another.

Some very interesting and balanced sounding reviews here

I like this comment, which is applicable to so many car forums!

MJGH wrote:

Have had the RR for just over a year and after reading some of the horror stories on the forum before buying was expecting not great reliability.
So far the RR has been totally faultless.

Yes just like the Citroen systems of old.
A pressure vessel with a diaphragm which gives shock absorption, with more fluid pumped into the dampers to increase height.

Works well when in good health.

As advised above, nose weight sensitive when used to capacity.

Interesting. Out of all the cars I’ve ever owned, my Citroen XM’s were the best estate cars that I’ve ever owned - it was a superb system and when Citroen finally gave up on hydraulic suspension they lost all right to exist!

Glad to see that someone’s still using it

I had two in the 90`s good then but did not like going on the beach to recover my boat rotted all the brakes out only to be expected with seawater the last one I had was 3 years ago a one-owner car 15year old low mileage but still rusty on chassis
problem with the gearbox so got me a FF. the newer V8 is very thirsty not a patch on a FF yes the engines do go on forever but then so will a ffrr if looked after properly.