I’ve always loved big 4x4s. I grew up on Exmoor in Devon, so there were always a lot of them about – mainly Land Rovers to be fair, but as offerings from further afield became more affordable and developed a reputation for reliability, the traditional khaki, greens and dark blues were joined by some much brighter offerings.

Back to the Land Cruiser. As robust 4x4s go, it’s right up there among the best. BBC documentary film crews in Africa and the support crews for most Top Gear style adventures use them because they are so solid and reliable; so what does that tell us?

They are reliable and can hold a lot of stuff while travelling over some of the most challenging terrain the world has to throw at us. But we live in the UK. Challenging terrain isn’t everywhere you look, so to be worth the almost £40k price tag, the Land Cruiser has to work as a car too.

Comfortable, spacious and supportive

I tested it both with my family, and with a work trip to London for a client meeting that meant motorways and city driving (pre-lockdown). While mod-cons aren’t all that evident, it’s comfortable enough. Good supportive seats, lots of space and a ride quality that, while robust, isn’t jarring or unfitted to motorways. Even navigating London and multi-storey car parks wasn’t that challenging.

But there are many more luxurious cars that can manage off road – the Land Rover Discovery for example. But that starts at almost £10k more than the Land Cruiser; that’s a lot for some more leather and a few gadgets. You could argue that the badge adds some value, but in reality, if you’re looking for a work horse that can handle town driving too, does the badge matter that much?

I’d suggest that it doesn’t. And even if, for you, reputation is important, the Land Cruiser is trusted by the most demanding film crews in the most challenging environments on the planet, so surely that counts for something.

On to the equipment. It’s missing a couple of things I’d like: sat nav on the Utility model for example. The next model up has it as standard, but that’s another £3k on the price tag. It has bluetooth though, so you can always use your smartphone for navigation, battery permitting.

It has all the usual bells and whistles you’d expect from a rugged off-road capable vehicle – and one or two that I’m still unsure of. There was one button in particular that stumped me. To this day I have no idea what it did, so I didn’t press it, just in case!

It works well off the beaten track

So reasonably comfortable, very spacious, easy to drive and move around, just not that luxurious. But I think if you want something that works first and foremost off the beaten track, and can handle any urban duties you throw at it, then the Land Cruiser is probably a good bet for you.

Between this version and a Discovery, I’d probably take the Land Rover. But up the spec level on this and I have a feeling my decision would be different. For a big beast of burden, the Land Cruiser’s looks are more convincing than those of the Discovery, and for that, I think I could be swayed the way of the Toyota. Perhaps.