2023 Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series Sahara Review

The Toyota LandCruiser has had a bit of a love affair with Australia. Ever since the first LandCruiser arrived on our shores back in 1958 to help build the Snowy Hydro Scheme in a post WW2 Australia, Aussies have long relied on Toyota’s large off-roader to cover the vast distances of our continent. With buyers keener than ever to travel around Australia, the LandCruiser 300 series has been a sell-out success since its launch in Australia in late 2021. The up-spec 2023 Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series Sahara we tested here certainly has a lot of history, and hype to live up to.

And for good reason – this generation of LandCruiser is new from the ground up, with Toyota promising that this is the ultimate large off-road SUV, with go anywhere ruggedness, along with some newfound sophistication and comfort. We hopped behind the wheel of the up-spec 2023 Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series Sahara to find out whether the LandCruiser is still king of the road.

Price & Equipment: 8/10

Toyota priced the 2022 LandCruiser 300 series range at quite a lot more than the outgoing 200 series. $89,990 plus on-road costs is what the entry-level GX will set you back, but the Sahara we have here will set you back $131,190. Expect a drive-away price of $143,900 drive-away with standard paint if you live in Melbourne, for example.

2023 Toyota LandCruiser 300 range pricing:

• Toyota LandCruiser 300 GX: $89,990
• Toyota LandCruiser 300 GXL: $101,790
• Toyota LandCruiser 300 VX: $113,990
• Toyota LandCruiser 300 Sahara: $131,190
• Toyota LandCruiser 300 GR Sport: $137,790
• Toyota LandCruiser 300 Sahara ZX: $138,790

Options include premium paint coming in at $675. Our car featured the premium ‘Graphite’ grey colour. 

The LandCruiser Sahara is fairly well equipped, as you’d for an almost $150,000 price tag. Features exclusive to the Sahara on the outside include chrome exterior mirrors and door handles, dynamic indicators front and rear. On the inside you’ll find black, or cream leather seat upholstery, a 14-speaker JBL premium audio system, a heads-up display, two car entertainment screens, a called centre console, a heated steering wheel, power folding rear sears which are also heated and ventilated, a power tailgate as well as a 3 position memory driver’s seat.

The Sahara is also fitted with equipment found on lower grades with 18 inch alloy wheels, Bi-LED headlights, LED fog lights, exterior puddle lights, chrome window trim, rear tinted windows, alluminium sidesteps all rounding off the Sahara’s exterior package. Inside you’ll find a woodgrain themed interior with LED lighting, 4 zone climate control, an 8-way adjustable powered passenger seat, power adjustable steering wheel, heated and ventilated front seats, a sunroof, rain sensing wipers, auto dimming and heated exterior mirrors and an auto-dimming rear-view mirror.

A 12.3-inch touchscreen system featuring wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, digital radio, satellite navigation and (oddly for 2023) a CD player, plus a wireless charger and four USB ports.

The LandCruiser Sahara also comes with plenty of safety features, including 10 airbags, downhill assist control, trailer sway controller and an alarm. In addition, Toyota’s Safety sense suite is also included, which features autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with both pedestrian and daytime cyclist detection, adaptive cruise control with stop and go functionality, adaptive high beam, road sign assist for speed signs, lane departure warning with steering wheel feedback and active braking, blind sport monitoring with and rear cross-traffic alert with auto rear braking. Missing from the list are lane keep assist with active steering and intersection assistance, which should both be featured in a car of this size.

Comparable competitors the LandCruiser 300 Sahara are far and few between. The closest competitor is the top of the range Nissan Patrol Ti-L, which costs $95,115 +ORC (or around $105,000 drive away depending on location). The Patrol is much cheaper than the LandCruiser Sagar and still comes with plenty of standard equipment. It might be brisk in a straight line and capable off road, but it is ultimately not a match for the much newer LandCruiser 300 Series, with its aging interior and yesteryear feel to the way it drives and behaves on the road.

Cars from luxury marques such as the Land Rover Defender D300 X-Dynamic HSE at $120,310 and the Land Rover Discovery D300 R-Dynamic HSE: $126,570 (all plus on-road costs) might match the LandCruiser’s off road ability off-road and have some posher badge red to their advantage, but neither is able to offer the all-round ability of the LandCruiser Sahara.

Performance & Economy: 9/10

All models in the Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series lineup locally are powered by the brand’s all-new 3.3-litre V6 twin-turbo diesel pumping out 227kW (4000rpm) and a meaty 700Nm of torque (1600-2600rpm). Power is sent to all four wheels, all the time, through an all new 10-speed automatic transmission with low-range and a locking centre differential.

Put simply, this engine is an absolute cracker, with seemingly endless torque no matter the situation and very little noise. To those moaning about Toyota’s decision to adopt a smaller engine compared to the previous generation’s V8: the new engine is lightyears away in terms of refinement and pulling power, compared to the old one. Let alone fuel economy, but more on that soon.

Moving off, the LandCruiser Sahara feels silky smooth, with the 10-speed automatic torque converter gearbox doing an expert job of keeping the diesel engine happy. The gearbox is seemingly capable of always picking the right gear for the situation. The twin-turbos spool up quickly, providing a swift turn of speed. Overtaking? A doddle. Executing a gap in traffic? No worries. Gone are the days of slow revving, heavy feeling diesels – this one feels fantastic. When it comes to a large car for use on interstate trips and eating up long distances, you’ll find that the LandCruiser is peerless. Effortless and sophisticated, is the best way to put it.

The selectable drive modes allow drivers to tailor the LandCruiser Sahara’s behaviour both on and off road, and they all work well. The crawl control, downhill assist control, and hill start assist will make four-wheel driving in the bush just that little easier.

Fuel economy of a large off-roading SUV is never going to be a standout, but we were pleasantly surprised with how the big Toyota fared. We scoffed at the quoted combined fuel consumption of 8.9L/100km, but in the real world, we would often match that figure in as mix of city and highway driving. Our week with the LandCruiser Sahara left us with a combined usage figure of 9.5L/100km. With a fuel tank capacity of 110L, expect an easy real world economy of over 1000km.

Ride & Handling: 9/10 

While the Toyota LandCruiser is an imposing beast from the outside with rathe voluptuous external dimensions, it seems to shrink around you in the way it drives. Buyers don’t need to fear the supermarket run, or an inner city crawl, like they would in say a Nissan Patrol. The light and accurate steering, impeccable cameras and decent visibility make city driving a doddle, even if the sheer width can sometimes make you second guess where the opposite side of the car is exactly. If hitting a kerb, or two is your jam – don’t worry, the Sahara will barely feel a thing, with the large, chubby tyres making sure the car and its alloy rims make it through unscathed.

The ride comfort is simply serene, and the interior is a quiet and comfortable place to be, with very little road, engine and wind noise entering the cabin. The 265/65 18-inch Bridgestone tyres take the edge off even large bumps and the double-wishbone front and four-link rigid rear axle setup work expertly around town to pummel potholes and poor road surfaces into oblivion. We didn’t have a chance to take the LandCruiser Sahara off-road, but we expect it to perform admirably, in keeping with its fine lineage.

Handling for a large-SUV is rather decent too, with a light, even nimble perhaps, feel on the road at all speeds. The LandCruiser Sahara doesn’t lumber around like a large vehicle. Instead, it feels surprisingly car-like, with a healthy dose of body role thrown in to make sure you don’t take corners too enthusiastically. Grip from the tyres is really good too, even in the wet. All of this makes the LandCruiser Sahara not only an excellent tourer outside of town, but also a capable city car.

Interior & Practicality: 9/10 

Jumping inside, the 2023 Toyota LandCruiser Sahara meets you with a plush, well appointed interior with a good dash of old school suave mixed in. Everything feels more solid than in other Toyotas, and the overall vibe inside is one of quality, with a twist of modern on top of what has made previous generations of LandCruiser so durable and likeable. Think utilitarian, with a touch of class. Most surfaces, even those down low are soft to the touch and feel built to last.

Up front, the smattering of woodgrain won’t be to everyone’s liking, nor the swathes of beige in our test car. Thankfully, a black colour scheme is on offer in the Sahara. On the other hand, everyone will universally love the large, electrically powered and super plush front seats with their commanding view of the road.

The LandCruiser Sahara’s infotainment system works well and the new 12.3-inch touchscreen looks fine at first glance. Sadly, in a car costing almost $150,000, it is also probably one our biggest gripes with the LandCruiser. It might be large, but it has a basic, circa 2010 interface with blocky graphics, slow response times a general air of unsophistication. Add a sidebar for the heating and cooling which never disappears and the large screen is suddenly a third smaller. Sure, it’s miles better than the Patrol, but so is the Sahara’s price. We hope Toyota makes things a little better on this front with an update soon. On the plus side, the 14-speaker JBL premium audio system is punchy, with solid bass and a thumping sound track.

Storage up front is decent with some large door bins, a reasonably sized chillable centre cubby and some well thought out storage in the centre console. The lockable glovebox is positively cavernous. Sadly, the wireless charging pad will be too small for some larger phones on the market today.

Heading rearwards, the second row is super comfortable, even for longer trips. it might not have as much space as you’d hope however, with the seats seemingly moved forwards to make space for the third row. This limits foot room a little. Luckily, headroom is excellent.

The third row isn’t too bad as afar as third rows go. Often times manisfacitres seem to forget about third row occupants but the LandCruiser looks after these poor buggers with decent legroom and headroom, along with personal air vents.

With the third row up and the LandCruiser Sahara in 7-seat configuration, the boot is said to only hold 175L measured to the roofline. Not brilliant. Dropping the third row into the floor, unveils a much more impressive 1004L to the roofline and a truly voluminous load space. With both the third and second rows folded, the LandCruiser Sahara yields a truly cavernous 1967L.

With the third row in place, the Patrol beats the LC300 with 467 litres of cargo space, which grows to an even larger 1413-litres of cargo space with the third row folded. Fold the second row down and you’ll liberate a vast 2632-litres of cargo space, showing that the Patrol is ultimately larger inside than the LandCruiser.

Service & Warranty: 7/10

The 2022 Toyota LandCruiser Sahara has an industry average five-year/unlimited km warranty. Toyota will extend the warranty on the driveline and engine to seven years if servicing is carried out by the standards set out in the service book during the first five years of ownership. Toyota doesn’t offer any roadside assistance with the LandCruiser. 

The servicing intervals are a rather short 10,000kms/six months (whichever comes first). Toyota’s capped price servicing program covers the first ten services, which are $375 each. This adds up to $750 per year, or $3,750 over the first five years/100,000kms of ownership—assuming drivers keep under 10,000kms every six months. The Nissan Patrol features an identical five-year/unlimited km warranty, but offers five years of roadside assistance. Servicing is also cheaper and more convenient, with one-yearly/every 10,000km intervals, at $519 a service. This adds up to a lower $2,594 over the first five years/50,000kms of ownership.

The 2022 Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series Sahara DiscoverAuto Rating: 8.4/10

We’re big fans of the LandCruiser 300 Series. It offers so much, with its depth of engineering giving a breadth of ability which is seldom encountered in cars. Much like the VW Golf used to define the hatchback class with its peerless class, so does the LandCruiser in its segment of large off-roaders. The 2023 Toyota LandCruiser Sahara is comfortable, swift, refined and brilliant both in town and beyond. It truly is a car that can do it all.

Sure, it might not be perfect with a sub-par infotainment system and the annoying niggle here and there, but the LandCruiser 300 Series Sahara ticks so many boxes that it’s hard to ignore. When it comes to a car built for traversing our vast country, but also ducking to the shops on a Sunday morning rush, the Toyota LandCruiser Sahara is without rival. Better sign up to that year long waitlist, it’s that good.