HIGH-TECH SAFETY

STRINGENT vehicle safety standards have had a massive impact on the demise of many traditional 4WDS and have influenced how modern vehicles are designed, developed, manufactured and marketed. These days, if a vehicle doesn’t achieve a five-star ANCAP (Australian New Car Assessment Program) safety rating, it quickly cops a thorough bashing by the general press and throughout motoring media.

While most modern high-tech 4WDS achieve a five-star ANCAP rating, it’s almost unheard of for a traditional 4WD with a separate chassis and live axles to meet this standard… until Toyota threw big money at its ageing 70 Series workhorse to keep its commercial customers happy.

While only the Single Cab variant, popular with mining companies et al, scores the five-star ANCAP rating, the rest of the 70 Series range (Wagon, Troopie and Double Cab) have benefitted from a raft of upgrades (ABS, vehicle stability control, active traction control, hillstart assist control, brake assist and electronic brakeforce distribution) to improve safety. This is good for bush tourers as the Land Cruiser is one of the last options available for those who want a traditional 4WD without losing the dependable offroad capability.

“I think the Land Cruiser is a good blend of old and new,” said Raudonikis. “Toyota has done the absolute bare minimum to keep it on the road, but it’s still what we need. It does all the old-school things. It has got live axles, it’s capable off-road, it’s got lockers, it’s got traction control, it’s got some safety features, but nothing you don’t really need.”