• Seven seats as standard
• Good space in all three rows
• Interior storage could be better

At nearly five metres long and two metres wide, the Land Cruiser is a big car – similar to a Land Rover Discovery although a Defender 130 is even larger. The result is one large, spacious interior that has enough room for seven adults. A five-seater with a bigger boot is available elsewhere, but so far Toyota UK has only offered the seven-seater.

The high roofline, wide cabin, and broad centre armrest makes it feel like you can stretch out comfortably on a journey up front, and it’s a similar story in the middle row. You can’t slide them back and forth, but there’s ample legroom for a six-footer behind another, excellent headroom, and lots of backrest angle adjustment.

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The centre occupant does have to deal with a wide transmission tunnel, but the seat itself is more comfortable than in many rivals as it isn’t domed. You can easily swing the sprung-loaded second row of seats out of the way to reveal good access to the electrically operated third row with clear areas to step that shouldn’t be too slippery with a layer of mud.

Headroom is tighter, but still sufficient for an average height adult, and they’ll have enough legroom, too. Like other SUV rivals, the floor in the third row is much higher than the others which does force your knees up, but there is still somewhere for your feet to slide under the second row bench. Third row passengers even get a tiny bit of electric backrest recline, and an easily accessed handle to flip the second row forwards.

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Boot space and storage

You only get 130 litres of boot space with all three rows of seats in place. That’s typical for the class, with the Defender 130’s generous rump proving the exception to this rule. Fold the third row back into the floor, and this grows to a decent, if not exceptional 566 litres. A five-seater Land Cruiser would be better here, but we’re not offered that in the UK.

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Underfloor storage is minimal, and the height of the Land Cruiser can make getting items at the back of the boot, or the load cover tricky. Our shortest tester found he had a choice of muddy thighs or a jump into the boot itself. At least the rear bumper has a step on it, although it’s annoying there’s nowhere to stash the load cover in the boot if you suddenly need all seven seats.

The middle row has a conventional 60/40 split folding rear backrest and disappointingly no load-through facility. You can fold the rear backrest onto the seat base to create an almost flat floor, or tumble them forward to increase your load height. Maximum boot capacity is 2,000 litres.

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Interior cubbies aren’t as numerous or large as you might expect, with the front door pockets proving particularly mean. What looks like a giant cubby under the front armrest is much smaller than you think. That’s because it doubles up as a very effective cooler at the press of a button.

Is it easy to park?

It goes without saying that you’ll need a big space for a five meter long SUV, but it’s not at all tricky to get the Land Cruiser parked. Cameras all around the car that work so well during off-road excursions also do a fine job outside Tesco.

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Then there’s the Land Cruiser’s shape and visibility. This is a big box with large windows, so it’s easy to judge where the extremities are, and pulling out of junctions is never a problem.

Safety

• Not yet tested by Euro NCAP
• Performed well in similar testing
• Loads of standard driver assist tech

Euro NCAP hasn’t yet tested the all-new and structurally stiffer Land Cruiser, although its Australian equivalent ANCAP has awarded it five stars. That means it should be among the safest SUVs on the road in a crash, if not the outright best.

The Land Cruiser comes packed with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) to help try and avoid a collision in the first place. This includes lane keep assist, traffic sign recognition with a speed limit warning, automatic emergency braking, blind spot monitoring, emergency steering assist and cross traffic alert with braking.

Adaptive cruise control also features with ‘Active Lane Tracing’. This does a good job of taking the strain off on the motorway, although even with this off the Land Cruiser will brake automatically as you approach a slower car or bend as part of the Proactive Driving Assist system. We kept it switched on for most of the test as it was unobtrusive even in town.