Toyota Land Cruiser GR-S Review: King of Off-Road, Tamed in the City

This is the Toyota Land Cruiser 300 GR Sport. It’s designed to cross the Thar desert, climb Himalayan passes, and survive in warzones. But can it survive the urban jungle? That’s a question that needs answering. 

Toyota Land Cruiser GR Sport Review: Dimensions

The LC 300 is nearly 5 metres long, towering almost 2 metres and almost wide enough to not fit in a parking space. And that’s true. It’s really a BIG task to fit the LC in a parking lot. Thankfully, it gets 360-degree cameras and parking sensors to help ease it out a bit. Once you slot it in, another task comes up in front of you – how do you get out? Spoiler alert: You can’t.

But what you get with that humongous is massive road presence. I mean, have you looked at it? There’s no way puny hatchbacks, autos and electric rickshaws won’t get out of your way once they see that massive TOYOTA lettering on the grille in their rearview mirror. This is the GR Sport variant, so you get this blacked-out grille with a thick chrome slat, while the standard LC300 gets a thick chrome grille and a Toyota logo. 

Toyota Land Cruiser GR Sport Review: Design

What the GR-S also gives it is a different set of alloy wheels and, more importantly, a much better approach angle, which will help it in off-roading or sometimes even water wading. And if that happens, it's got such good ground clearance that water wading would be easy, but what's not easy is getting into the car. 

Toyota Land Cruiser GR Sport Review: Interior

Once you're in, you have a nice commanding seating position, giving you the king of the road feeling. It’s nice. It’s like the Fortuner upped its game by 100 per cent nice. Then there’s this large touchscreen, but that’s placed a bit too far away for my liking. And thankfully, there’s a buttload of buttons on the dashboard. This cabin will age well, like all Land Cruisers. 

What about the rear seats? Well, rear seat passengers will feel a bit shortchanged as this ₹2 crore-plus car feels cramped here. Where did that 2850 mm wheelbase go exactly? I guess it disappeared into the boot because that’s massive. While Toyota scooped out the seat backs to make up more space here but these screens rob some of that sense of space, unfortunately. A panoramic sunroof would have made the dark cabin feel more spacious.

Toyota Land Cruiser GR Sport Review: Performance

So how does that king of the road feeling translate to on the road? Well, in heavy traffic, there’s just that looming sense that someone will come and hit my car or I will hit someone trying to navigate bumper-to-bumper traffic. 

So this engine isn’t really new. A 3.3-litre V6 diesel with 304 bhp and 700 Nm has good grunt to move mountains, pull buildings off their foundations, and carry heavy loads, but in city traffic, it feels more than enough, honestly. 

Toyota Land Cruiser GR Sport Review: Ride and Handling

Well, speed breakers are nothing but wrinkles on the road, and small bumps feel non-existent. But because this is a ladder-on-frame construction, there’s quite a lot of lateral movement, and you can feel the weight being transferred as you turn. But it’s supple enough that passengers in the rear seat can watch what they want without feeling too much, if you don’t drive like a hooligan that is! 

Toyota Land Cruiser GR Sport Review: Safety

Toyota is known for over-engineering its cars, and of course, that includes safety also. 10 airbags, child restraint systems, brake assist, stability control and ADAS. Australian NCAP gave the LC300 a commendable 5-star rating. 

Toyota Land Cruiser GR Sport Review: Verdict

So who is this car for apart from heads of state, politicians, peace workers and off-road enthusiasts? Well, primarily for people who can spend ₹2.41 crore (ex-showroom, India) on a car but want something slightly inconspicuous compared to a Range Rover and a car that’s not heavy on the wallet when servicing and one that won’t break down randomly. It is quite literally a no-nonsense car. 

Photography by: Apoorv Choudhary