Latest news with #TopGearGarage
Top Gear
28-07-2025
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Toyota Land Cruiser - long-term review 2025
We're living with a Toyota Land Cruiser: is *this* the best car in the Top Gear Garage? A couple of months ago, Tom Ford boldly claimed that he had the best car in the Top Gear Garage—the Skoda Superb estate. Sorry, Tom, but you're wrong. This is the best car in the Garage. Yes, even better than the DB12, in my humble opinion. Introducing TG's Toyota Land Cruiser First Edition—a top-tier, limited-run launch model (only 5,000 units worldwide) that pays tribute to the iconic Land Cruiser 40, with its round headlights and two-tone paintwork. We've gone for the sand colour rather than blue, and it looks every bit the off-road legend. Which is a pleasing return to form because the last few generations of the Land Cruiser haven't been pretty and the likes of Land Rover (Defender), Mercedes (G-wagen) and Jeep have stolen the utilitarian vehicle off this once iconic car. Advertisement - Page continues below There appears to be a trend in manufacturers (think Ford Bronco) delving into the archive to regain design credibility. Toyota has got this spot on. The other model available is the Invincible which has the squarer headlights, fewer trim options included and, frankly, just isn't as cool. And besides, TG's 2024 design of the year was this exact First Edition model. Of course we'd go for this one. This trim gets leather seats, a JBL sound system, seating for seven, 18in black alloy wheels, a head-up display, skid plates... basically everything you could ever need. Under the bonnet there's a 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbo diesel from the Hilux developing 201bhp and 369lb ft from 1,600rpm which is as agricultural and noisy as you'd expect, but the initial feeling for me is it's more than suitable, especially with the eight-speed gearbox. A petrol version is available but not for Europe. It costs a whopping £82,845, and the few extras you can spec are things like illuminated scuff plates and towbars, the latter being one option we wish we had. It remains to be seen if Toyota will bring in a cooking model to make this car more accessible to a wider audience but at £80k it's firmly set it sights on the premium end of the SUV market. We'll be learning over the course of its life if it's worthy of such a hefty price and if its gigantic size of almost 5m long and 2m high is too much for a daily. Because it's so cool, I'm expecting the keys to be wrestled off me at the first available opportunity... Advertisement - Page continues below
Top Gear
22-07-2025
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Jaecoo 7 SHS
The Jaecoo 7 has made a jaeconfident start to its life of Top Gear Garage service. Cabin quality (sorry, jaecabin jaequality) is top drawer for its price bracket, while economy (jaeconomy?) from the hybrid set-up is proving equally impressive. Despite not adding any extra electric juice to the 7's regular petrol diet, I've been regularly returning over 50mpg, which I reckon is pretty tidy from a bluff, weighty SUV. There are, however, a few Jaecoo jaequirks I'm still struggling to wrap my head around… Advertisement - Page continues below Nor an ignition barrel. To start the 7, you simply get in and flick the column-mounted gearshifter into D or R. At the end of your journey, tap it back into P and get out. We've seen this on plenty of full EVs, but it's the first time I've encountered it on something with a combustion engine. It's a genuinely strange sensation to leave the 7 with petrol motor still running, and trust it'll shut itself down when you lock it from the key fob. ADJUSTING THE WING MIRRORS IS A PAIN (THOUGH LESS OF A PAIN THAN IT WAS) There are no physical switches to adjust the 7's wing mirrors. Instead, you must navigate to a relevant page from the central touchscreen, at which point the two touchpads on the steering wheel assume control of the mirror angles. This page is tough to locate, buried deep within one of the Jaecoo's submenus. If you need to adjust your mirrors quickly, this is inconvenient. Advertisement - Page continues below However! I recently discovered you can programme the steering wheel's 'star' button to act as a shortcut to the mirror menu: just press and hold it to assign it a new function. This is handy. Though not as handy as actual buttons.
