Toyota Re-Releasing 70 Series for One Year Only

Ramjet

Explorer
There was a time when a Toyota Land Cruiser was more than an anonymous-looking luxobarge made somewhat irrelevant by the existence of Lexus. It used to be a rugged, rough-and-tumble SUV built for climbin' and haulin' and kickin' asses. Now, because the off-road gods love us, Toyota is re-releasing their mid-1980s Land Cruiser 70 as a brand new car.

If you're an American, you can be forgiven for not being familiar with the 70-Series Land Cruiser; we didn't get it. But other markets did, and it was a hardcore 4x4 that came in SUV or truck form. Heck, it's even still around in several places, including Australia.


Now it's back for one year only, Toyota says. The re-released Land Cruiser 70 will sport a newer V6 engine, a five-speed manual, "30 years of improvements" to make its frame more rigid, and a revised interior that helps it meet all the modern safety requirements.

As you read this, you're probably all like "This sounds great and I want one! But what's the catch?" The catch is that it's going to be available only in Japan, where it will cost about 3.6 million yen, or roughly $35,000 U.S.

Shame it's not coming here, but I hope it spurs other automakers to do more limited re-releases of their classic truck and car models. That would make a lot of old-school enthusiasts happy, and save us from hours of trawling Craiglist to find a beater we can hopefully fix up.

Original article can be found here

http://truckyeah.jalopnik.com/toyot...0-in-all-its-1-1626594547/1626595550/+pgeorge
 

plainjaneFJC

Deplorable
I would pay 36k for the blue 4 door truck with steel wheels. There is a reason they don't sell here. 36k they are charging would get you a 4-door 3/4 ton base model that arguably more capable than the 70.
 

CYK

Adventurer
There was a time when a Toyota Land Cruiser was more than an anonymous-looking luxobarge made somewhat irrelevant by the existence of Lexus. It used to be a rugged, rough-and-tumble SUV built for climbin' and haulin' and kickin' asses. [\quote]

Huh?
 

CYK

Adventurer
"There was a time when a Toyota Land Cruiser was more than an anonymous-looking luxobarge made somewhat irrelevant by the existence of Lexus. It used to be a rugged, rough-and-tumble SUV built for climbin' and haulin' and kickin' asses."

What?
 

Flagster

Expedition Leader
Hmmm...
Travel to Japan...
Buy a new one...
Find secure storage for 25 years...
Import when I am 62...
Right on schedule for retirement...
 

ChuckB

Expedition Leader
I was just thinking the same thing, except in 25 years I'll only be 59 :ylsmoke:

In all seriousness, I'm in Japan right now. Yesterday passed a used car dealer and all they had on the lot were Land Cruisers. I wish I could have stopped for a few hours just to drool.
 

zimm

Expedition Leader
There was a time when a Toyota Land Cruiser was more than an anonymous-looking luxobarge made somewhat irrelevant by the existence of Lexus. It used to be a rugged, rough-and-tumble SUV built for climbin' and haulin' and kickin' asses. ]


much to learn, young jedi.
 

zimm

Expedition Leader
I would pay 36k for the blue 4 door truck with steel wheels. There is a reason they don't sell here. 36k they are charging would get you a 4-door 3/4 ton base model that arguably more capable than the 70.

not much argument. you should see what 42,5 will get you at a commercial fleet dealer.

only in Japan? theres more offroading on long lsland. kinda odd.
 

Mrknowitall

Adventurer
Um- what kind of nonsense is this??? The 70 series has always been available- to those not in the US. Currently it comes as a HZJ (NA Diesel), VDJ (4.5l V8 diesel) and GRJ (same 4l V6 used in the Tacoma here). There also might be some more obscure ones using a 5L (3liter NA diesel). It comes in 2 door, wagon, Troopie, regular and crew cab versions.
 

Staggrlee

Observer
What a stupid article. I'm curious how it can be "back" when it has never been "here" (USA) in the first place and hasn't ceased production in many of their markets. It's back for one model year in Japan?

They paint with a pretty broad brush using US-market LC/LX models, trying (and failing), to come up with a catchy opener. Land Cruisers remain unpleasant brutal joyless rides in many markets. Seems that's what they're nostalgic for. Can we get a kickstarter to get them a HZJ105 base model with manual tranny and find a way to make it an editor's DD?

I don't want an '80s 70-series reboot with an I6, I want a 2007+ with the 1VD-FTV 4.5L V8 turbo diesel. Somebody should link to the J70 NHTSA petition on the article comments but I'm not signing up for anything related to Gawker.

To paraphrase:

"There was a time when Jalopnik was more than an anonymous-looking bloatbarge sham of a site posing as a motor enthusiast site made completely irrelevant by the existence of Gawker Media."
 

reldred

Observer
Yeah, they never 'left' Australia, South Africa, etc. Japan are just getting the facelifted 70's a few years late.

Rumour has it with all the mining companies demanding 5 star ANCAPP/euro equivalent safety ratings they'll either have to redo the 70 series lineup altogether very shortly or abandon it. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they're selling surplus cruisers that haven't sold down here to the Japanese market before doing just this.

Editto: Seriously, we've had these things forever, same as South Africa and the Arabs. Jalopnik need to put down the crack pipe: http://www.toyota.com.au/landcruiser-70-series#range
 
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Nomad_K

Adventurer
After a hiatus from ExPo I thought it was time to login when I saw this article. I am glad to see that it generated a little discussion! Yes, much of the rest of the world has been blessed with 70-series goodness for the last few decades. I hadn't realized that mining co's were pushing for their vehicles to earn a five star ANCAP rating though. Maybe a future 70-series would be available in North America after the redesign...
 

reldred

Observer
After a hiatus from ExPo I thought it was time to login when I saw this article. I am glad to see that it generated a little discussion! Yes, much of the rest of the world has been blessed with 70-series goodness for the last few decades. I hadn't realized that mining co's were pushing for their vehicles to earn a five star ANCAP rating though. Maybe a future 70-series would be available in North America after the redesign...

Mining companies (in australia at least) are massive on occupational health & safety, the sheer risks of litigation in event of injury/death scare the hell out of them. Plus there are so many folks in the OH&S industry desperately trying to protect their job's ;-)
 

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