My mum works as a travel agent and recently had some clients undertake a three-week roadtrip around SA, VIC, and Tassie. The six couples were each renting 2023 300 Series Toyota Landcruisers from Hertz Adelaide, however they finished their trip in Melbourne. The issue was Hertz required for the cars to be returned back to Adelaide, so multiple drivers were required to undertake the trip back (Melbourne to Adelaide). Two mates, my brother and myself volunteered and flew into Melbourne on Wednesday morning. We each had to pick up our car from the hotel the clients were staying at, which ended up being three different ones in the heart of Melbourne - a city much larger than Adelaide & somewhere I've never driven around. After getting my car, a car much larger than anything I've driven on road, let alone in a city, I spent some time trying to get my phone hooked up to the infotainment. Frustratingly, you needed the Toyota app downloaded on your phone to get maps on the screen. I did this and then when making an account, Toyota just never sent a confirmation email (they still haven't). So I was just never able to use the screen. Anyway, after discovering you had to stop for trams and experience the true meaning of traffic I eventually found my way out of Melbourne and met up with the rest of the convoy in Melton.
The next 10 hours was a fairly uneventful highway cruise to Adelaide, where we eventually washed, refuelled and dropped off the cars.
As for the car itself I had mixed opinions. It is the newest car I've driven and the only new SUV I've driven. The dynamic 'radar-controlled' cruise control was a feature I'd never used on a car. You set cruise control as usual and then the radar in the car detects traffic in front of you and slows you down if necessary to match it. In addition was lane assist, another new-to-me feature. Between both of these and the car being automatic the actual driving experience was so limited all I really did was hold the wheel to keep the car straight and floor it when passing trucks. The car is also so high and 'soft' suspension-wise you barely feel like you're driving but rather just sitting in a climate controlled bubble which floats along mostly on its own. While I'm not necessarily opposed to driving like this for boring commutes and long distances, it really dumbs down driving to the point its boring. If you've only driven new cars I strongly suggest giving a rattly, turbo-lagging, manual, older car a go.
My other main gripe was with the seats. I'm sure car seat design must have peaked in the '90s since I've never sat in anything more comfortable than the couches you get in cars of that era. Also this $100,000, not-even 2 year old car lacks power seats... I get this is probably a Toyota thing but even my 29 year old Volvo has those. The central screen as well, despite not being too obnoxious as you see on many new cars frustrated me just because I couldn't get maps on it without jumping through hoops.
The main positive of this car is the powertrain. The twin-turbo diesel V6 is super responsive and can very quickly get this tank up to speed for a fast overtake. Perhaps the most impressive aspect though was the economy. I averaged just under 10L/100 for the trip which is just absurd for a huge, 2.5 tonne car. I see why the V8 era is over for 4wds. Seats aside the interior was nice as well, spacious, great visibility, more USB ports than devices I own and the screen wasn't large to the point of being ridiculous. Toyota also stuck with an analogue dash cluster (aside from the small screen in the middle) which was a nicer touch than you'd expect. All the buttons on the dash/ centre console were also retained which is much more user friendly than going through a touch screen interface.
All this said it isn't a car I'd currently buy, the cop that pulled over my mate also seemed to think that...
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