LandCruiser bingo continues as a new engine rumour (about the fifteenth on our count) enters the arena.
It wouldn’t be another month without a murmur somewhere in the globe on what engine/spec/ability the new LandCruiser ‘300 Series’ has.
In fact, there should not be any rumours left, as Toyota was reportedly revealing its new LandCruiser generation last month…obviously, that didn’t happen.
Alas, without even seeing a spy car (Toyota would be already testing the car in Australia now, though one has not been seen yet), we continue to hear reports of what lurks underneath the bonnet of one of the most famous 4x4s to ever grace Aussie tracks.
This month, we see a change of tack from the previous rumours. Instead of being a four-cylinder diesel, or a petrol V6, of a petrol-hybrid twin-turbo, it’s going to have a new 3.3-litre diesel turbo V6, then joined by the widely speculated 3.5-litre twin-turbo petrol V6 and V6 hybrid powertrains.
This time the source is Japanese website CarSensor.
Such an engine would endow the LandCruiser with about 200kW and 600Nm, which is ballpark with the current diesel V8 DTT engine (200kW/650Nm) that has been confirmed by Toyota to be discontinued in the 200 Series – though it lives on in the 70 Series for now.
But the number of potential engines reported about for the new ‘300 Series’ LandCruiser is now in the teens, and while we think we’re verging on the border of a next-gen launch, it seems that coronavirus and development hold-ups will keep us guessing, at best, for a while yet.
To recap, here are some of the better engine rumours for the new LandCruiser that have flown around the internet ever since speculation fo the new-gen 4×4 began.
BMW was apparently in discussions with Toyota as the pair worked on the Supra and BMW Z4 together, so a BMW straight-six diesel turbo was going to be used, that rumour has since been dropped. Likewise, Subaru was preparing a diesel in that Japanese duo’s tie-up with a 5.0-litre boxer turbo engine, thought that whisper was quickly extinguished as a hoax. Let’s not forget the Cummins diesel, with Cummins becoming such a pivotal player in the large ute and 4×4 diesel engine supply industry, and then the possibility Yamaha was going to build a diesel version of its petrol V8 for Toyota’s biggest four-wheel drive.
Then just this year, Toyota was meddling with axing the V8 diesel turbo to use the much smaller 2.8-litre diesel turbo from the Prado, but tuned up, of course. That rumour has since been replaced with the latest 3.3-litre word on the street and is understood to join a V6 turbo and V6 turbo hybrid in the lineup. Those latter engines are the most widely reported and speculated engine options, and most probably the most solid as the LandCruiser must offer a hybrid drivetrain if Toyota is to keep its word on making every model in its lineup electrified by around 2025.
What we don’t know for certain, is will it be a diesel or petrol hybrid.
That’s not a big stretch to make, given Toyota New Zealand confirmed last month that the Hilux was going hybrid in that market soon. Such news can only continue to fill the LandCruiser rumour mill with plenty of fodder.
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