Land, Ho! Toyota Land Cruiser Celebrates Its Heritage with Special Model

The headlights, fog lights and side mirrors all have darker elements than usual.

Toyota announced the Land Cruise Heritage Edition on Wednesday ahead of its public debut at the 2019 Chicago Auto Show. Toyota removed the third row of seats to maximize cargo capacity, giving the Land Cruiser a five-seat configuration like its Lexus sibling, the LX, which added a two-row model a year ago. It also added black accents on the grille and a special vintage Land Cruiser badge near the rear of the vehicle. Each Heritage Edition is fully loaded with the few options available for the Land Cruiser, too.

Toyota gussied up the interior with a whole bunch of black leather-trimmed upholstery, borrowing the wheels' bronze color for the contrast stitching that reaches to the wheel, door trim and seats.

As hard as it is to believe, Toyota launched the Land Cruiser six decades ago and to mark the occasion, the Japanese have come up with the 2020 Land Cruiser Heritage Edition.

While it sports no real mechanical upgrades over the already impressive standard Land Cruiser and its 381hp V8 and stout 4x4 system, it does have some nice aesthetic touches that set it apart from the crowd and earn appeal among the Land Cruiser faithful. Finally, the Land Cruiser Heritage Edition features all-weather floor mats and cargo liner, so it's ready to get out and have fun.

Standard equipment includes Downhill Assist Control, Hill Start Assist, CRAWL Control (for low-speed off-road driving in extreme conditions) and Off-Road Turn Assist. Toyota also deleted the space-robbing cooled center console box for more storage but otherwise kept the big SUV's luxuries such as heated and cooled seats and a 9.0-inch touchscreen for infotainment with JBL speakers alone. All four wheels receive that motive force through an eight-speed automatic transmission and a Torsen limited-slip locking center differential.