8.3 inches of Ground Clearance on the New Land Cruiser - A Deal Breaker?

Current 4Runner ground clearance is 9.6 inches for the 4x4 models.

With the new Land Cruiser having only 8.3 inches of ground clearance, would this be a deal breaker?

And is the ground clearance so low because of the heavy batteries for the hybrid system? Are they trying to lower the center of gravity to keep this thing from flipping over too easily?

Even the 2023 Subaru Outback and Forester have 8.7 inches of ground clearance.

Sheesh.

 

Lexus GX460 is 8.1 without any of those.

 

Correct. But the 2023 Land Cruiser Prado is 9 inches.

 

It's a move in the wrong direction for me. However, 90% of LC buyers won't care. I parked next to G-Wagon yesterday that had bull bars and cages over all its lights, but regular highway tires.

 

You clearly don't know bull bars and cages are needed for....starbucks coffee run

 

But no kewl raptor lites? Man that's a no go.... lol

 

will look nice with new suspension and some ko2 tires

 

It would be a nice daily, then I could push my current to a fun only.

 

My guess would be stability? They did mention a low beltline for comfort and stability on the Toyota website.

 

Same as every g-wagon I've ever seen. None of them have ever seen more than a soft dirt driveway on some big fancy ranch. Lolz

 

Yep. They don't want it to fail the moose test with those heavy batteries too high. Put a two inch lift on that baby and watch it flip in a light breeze. LOL

 

Maybe you’re just not looking in the right place.

 

That's cool. All my trips to DV, Mojave, NV desert, Sierras, WA, OR, never seen one on the trail. But anywhere on the coast, and I see them every day, usually parked at the hipster coffee shops and shopping areas. Never a scratch on them and usually looking freshly washed.

I did run into a Landcruiser club on my last trip to Joshua Tree. Was really cool to see them all.

 

Yes, Mercedes lost their way with the G-class. It has military roots, and was a very simple and reliable vehicle until the G500 was introduced by MBUSA. But the gray market ones above are the pinnacle of off-road vehicles, barring esoterica like the UNIMOG and Pinzgauer.

 

Where is the current 9.6" measured from, bottom of the diff pumpkin?

 

I can buy a $57k Wrangler that comes with 35's. So, yeah, for the price of a 2024 LC, the idiotic ground clearance, approach, departure and breakover angles are a deal breaker for me. Then again, I use my truck offroad. Most people don't.

 

I cannot believe they did that to probably the most iconic off-road vehicle in the world. Sorry Toyota, as loyal as I am to you, you dropped the ball big time!

 

These are somehow both accurate. I saw a ton of them in the Silicon Valley area and they're not rare in suburban NJ, either, and they were all town vehicles. On the other hand, in a few head-to-head off-road comparisons I watched on YouTube and the G-Wagons performed as well or better than everything they were up against.

FWIW, I wouldn't want one for the same reason I wouldn't want a Wrangler as an only vehicle.

 

What reason is that? Solid front axle?

 

Lol as if anyone's really going to wheel it here, and if they did they wouldn't run it on stock suspension

 

Just not a great everyday vehicle for me, especially for hauling music gear or long road trips. Apart from the cargo space, the on-road handling of most Wranglers I've driven was a bit rough.

 

5th gen = 9.6
LC = 8.3

That's 1.3" difference, and as others have suggested, if that's measured at the pumpkin a suspension lift isn't going to do anything - you'd have to increase tire size by at least double (2.6" larger tire) just to reach 5th gen, much less beat it. If it's measured from IFS low point a lift would help but unless you go LT you just lose 1.3" in down travel, again, just to match the 5th gen.

Doesn't seem like much but there are threads that talk about how sometimes that 0.5" is the difference between scraping the skid and getting hung up

 

I watched TFL's launch coverage video, and they got down underneath it. I'm thinking that number is measured from the pumpkin, the rear axle on it looked pretty beefy, beefier than the 4Runner. I'm thinking that may be part of it, plus it's on relatively small tires. I would sacrifice some ground clearance for a stronger rear axle, rock crawler guys do it all the time. And maybe there's only 8.3" under the pumpkin, which is maybe 6 in wide, but nder the rest of the axle tube there's probably closer to 12 in of clearance.

Also, I'm curious about the 9.6 inches claimed on the 4Runner. Granted, I have an RCI skid plate on mine, and I've measured about 7.5 in underneath it. And the front ground clearance on an IFS isn't constant as the suspension moves it changes. 4Runner may have 9.6 in of ground clearance under the front skid sitting in a parking lot, but come off a rock or a ledge, compress the front suspension, now your skid is crashing into a 6-in tall rock.

That's a nice thing about solid axle vehicles, if you have 9 inches under the pumpkin, you can completely bottom out the suspension and you will still have 9 in under the pumpkin.

Regarding the comparison to the Subaru, yeah the clearance under the differentials may be more, but the control arms hang down a little lower, the rockers are lower, and the approach departure and break over angles are worse.

I was always taught that a good driving technique is to put your tires ON the taller obstacle when possible, not try to straddle everything. You have a better chance of getting your tire on something in the Prado than a Subaru.

 

I've never been a rock crawler so rocks have never been the issue with ground clearance for me. My issue has always been a single lane trail with no bypass that's been rutted out for fun by rednecks with 35"+ tires (a lot of 40's and 44's on beaters). At that point, center ground clearance is the difference from passing through a trail, getting high centered and hoping you can break loose and back out, or turning around to find a different trail.

I used to drive JGC's that were reliable and had unstoppable full time 4wd but didn't have great ground clearance. Everyone's experience will vary but at the time I was young and didn't have the money to mod so ground clearance (centerline) became one of my sticking points

 

Gotcha, fair enough. There's some of that in my area too, but mainly a lot of rocks.

Just curious, what year was your Grand Cherokee? I had a 97, I loved it. It was a great size, and was surprisingly good off-road and had the makings of a great trail rig if I had wanted to take it that far.

I noticed that the last gen ones with a lift seem to have great clearance underneath with the fully independent suspension. No articulation to speak of though haha.

 

So I was a Jeep fan boy before I bought the 4runner.

1st was an '87 cherokee 2-door with 2.8 v6. It was light as a feather and could float across anything as long as you kept the tires spinning.

Next two were grand cherokees; 1st an '01 limited and then an '04 overland. The '04 came with skids and rock rails from factory which were pretty decent, along with a full-time 4wd (with low range) 4.7 high output v8, solid dana44 rear and dana35 front with LSD (loved solid axles, even if it was unibody). It was small, fast, reliable, crazy power for small size, and had quite a bit of "tech" for an '04. Traded the '04 at 13 years old and 215k miles (I'm convinced could have gone 300k easy) because was starting a family and the wife wanted a newer, safer, vehicle. Loved that one though and would have made a great trail toy with the right mods.

Enter the '14 overland with air suspension that has been nothing but trouble. The air suspension still works fine (wife still drives it) and is a convenience for her to lower for parking. Raising to OR1 and OR2 positions is a bit gimmicky - yeah, you get the centerline clearance, but it has no downtravel left so it's like driving on stilts (would work for rut situations like I used to get into, worthless for any other offroading). GPS broke and entire head unit had to be replaced - was like a 3 or 6 month backorder because they are VIN specific and control everything in the vehicle. Numerous TSBs that were only fixed because I brought them up to the dealer, including but not limited to the wrong dipstick being installed during assembly which caused the oil to be overfilled by a quart its entire life until I figured it out. Jeep knew they fucked up, and during which manufacturing time frames for the 5.7 hemi, but rather than fix it made me figure it out and tell the dealer. At 80k the coolant lines went soft and it started bleeding to death in my garage - they all had to be replaced. Numerous sensors have gone bad, once causing the auto braking system to brake when not needed and almost getting rear-ended...

Hence why I bought the 4runner in 2019. All the articles I read shredded it for being an old school BOF SUV with a severe lack of tech. And it's just my style

 

The ground clearance is a joke

 

Ha ha ha ha!! Love your balls!!

 

Thanks! Wanna touch them?

 

As do I, but I'm kinda missing Rick