Toyota facelifts Land Cruiser

Toyota is giving its big Land Cruiser a facelift with subtle styling tweaks, an improved interior and crucially, revised handling. The new version of the renowned 4x4 will go on sale here in early 2014 and although prices and specifications haven't been announced, it's likely to cost the same as the current version which means a starting price of around £33,000.

The big design changes are at the front with an enormous chrome grille that makes it look like a shopping trolley, plus a deeper bumper and new headlight designs. Subtle it's not. The headlights now incorporate daytime running lights and have been moved higher, making them less vulnerable to off-road damage.

At the back the Land Cruiser gets new light clusters with clear lenses plus there are new 17-inch and 18-inch wheels and more paint colours including new mica finishes. Toyota has given the interior a much needed upgrade with new trims while the dashboard has been redesigned so that it's easier to use. There are now piano black and wood grain finishes while aluminium detailing has been added to the air conditioning dials, air vent surrounds, audio panel and steering wheel.

The centre console has a new panel that includes the controls for different driving modes and there's a new control dial for the Multi-Terrain system and five-step Crawl Control. Above all this is a 4.2-inch colour screen with new functions such as an angle gauge, traction control operation on each wheel and the status of the differential locks.

Access to the third row of seats has made been improved by increasing the folding angle of the second row while the seat upholstery has been upgraded with double stitching for cloth and contrast colour stitching for leather.

The one engine in the Land Cruiser range remains the 3.0-litre diesel with 190PS and 420Nm of torque alongside a a five-speed automatic gearbox. The engine has been revised to meet Euro 5+ emissions standards, but with no decrease in performance, so 0-62mph takes 11.0 seconds. CO2 is down slightly to 209g/km.

When it comes to on-road handling, Toyota has changed the suspension to give a better balance between ride and stability while models with the Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System get thicker front anti-roll bars to improve cornering ability.