Every decent aftermarket controller can detect when trailer brakes are connected. seems rather silly that isn't a basic function. Trailer brakes should also set the PCM to tow/haul.
Agreed. That's odd it doesn't. My 3rd Gen Tundra does. Also odd it doesn't let you set any trailer types. They gave it a controller so they intend for you to be able to tow more than a super basic trailer.
As an electrical engineer I have to say that it is quite trivial to make the vehicle able to detect whether or not the trailer you just plugged in has electric brakes wired to the connector. The vehicle should automatically detect the brakes and turn on the controller. Pretty insane that it is disabled from the factory.
You weren't too harsh. Toyota should take some notes from this review. The plug placement is odd, the need to set up the brake controller is annoying and overly complex.
@@DaleWilly insulting people as usual bot. If you want people to understand you you need to use arguments not insults. Seriously Toyota complicated things instead of making things simpler recently like no bump stoppers. Anyone who understands off-roading knows you destroy your suspension without those and can get stranded in the middle of nowhere. Toyota used to be leaders now they go down for multiple mistakes. I don't want to buy a new 1 anymore literally
The plug placement is not weird though. These don’t use a conventional bolt on hitch receiver, it’s built into the frames rearmost cross member. This blocks them from passing the wiring through the bumper and I’m sure they don’t want to hang it below. It’s the same as the 200 series cruiser
@@guentherwilke2055 except it would have to pass through a metal beam that runs across the width of the frame. The whole rear bumper is just covering up a gigantic metal crossmember.
One of the most frustrating things on modern SUVs that tow. It also looks terrible when you keep the cover off. Simplicity in design got thrown out the window.
We tow an Escape 19 camper with our LandCruiser. It weighs in about 4,000lbs. We just completed over 5,250 miles up the east coast into Canada including through some steep mountains. I’m not a huge fan of the 7-pin placement and I’d like a larger fuel tank to increase range. I also agree when you plug in your trailer the brake controller should at least pop up asking you for your trailer options. Otherwise though we loved towing with the LC. There’s a half plastic cover you can put on the hitch area that looks and functions well. I didn’t have any trouble with the tow hooks but they could be a littler easier to access. The torque and power were really nice, and stopping wasn’t an issue. The best feature is that we can use the 2,400 watt inverter to run our camping trailer when we don’t have hookups. We used it to run the AC a few times when it was a little warm. The truck was very comfortable for the trip and overall we really enjoyed it. Our mpg was anywhere from 9.9 mpg to 14mpg per tank. The LC may not be the perfect tow vehicle, but it does other things really well that make it a great vehicle to travel in, it surely doesn’t suck towing.
Thank you for commenting on how well the vehicle actually tows a trailer and what kind of mileage you got! That is really what I wanted to know about the new land cruiser. I don’t really care about all the pussy electronic crap. I just want to know if the damn thing is capable of towing a 6000 pound trailer nicely or not. 😂
Thanks for this comment! I also own an Escape trailer and am considering the Land Cruiser as our next vehicle. I currently have a 4Runner and it really struggles on the mountain climbs so thinking this powertrain would be much better.
As an owner of the new LC I must say I agree with the points in this video. Towing was clearly an afterthought on it. Thankfully I don’t really tow with mine so these issues aren’t that important to me but things like the simple-to-use software shown on the GM would been nice for them to add for the occasional times I do want to tow.
Toyota went from notoriously lacking in tech engineering in favor of reliability and ease of use to over engineered, unnecessary, and overly complicated.
I find the 3rd gen Tacoma to have the perfect amount of tech for me. Don’t want turbo’s or a hybrid, just reliability, with Apple car play is really all I want.
Please note this setup is not used in europe, we have much lighter trailers to do the same job,with mechanical brakes, different hitches and Toyota can supply them with everything ready to go
You are spot on with the critic. I personally like to have my trailer brake control on the right side and where my knee does not get taken off when getting in or out of the truck. That plug in, 7 pin, should automatically work in regard to your brake. Hum, I always walk around to make sure all the lights are working. Old habit and just an ounce of prevention.
Towing is very obviously an after thought on this. Toyota knows Land Cruiser owners seldomly tow. That said, don't offer the hardware and features if you're just going to half a$$ it.
@grisa12345 "reliability" as their new engines grenade, axles and transmissions fail. This isn't new btw. People tend to forget all the issues toyota engines used to have with timing. Toyota "reliability" is largely a myth
I would never own such a complicated tow vehicle. My 2023 Ram Power Wagon makes towing my boat trailer and utility trailer a simple process to setup. You are spot on. Too many things to do in order to hook up a simple trailer..
Look at a same year ram 5500 with 6.7 high output. Don't look at the cab and chassis model. Only the passenger stander model. The ram 5500 would make the ram power wagon look like a chevy gas engine and force it to go seat on the bench lol 😆
Tech, especially safety tech, isn’t a bad thing; being able to set custom trailer lengths to help indicate when someone is too close for you to change lanes is very convenient and helps prevent mistakes. However, the default state should be set up to act like older vehicles without any custom settings, so someone can just hook up and go like they did 10 years ago and it should behave the same as it did back then with no requirement to go into settings and fiddle with anything.
I have to say that it’s harsh. I was actually wanting to know how well the vehicle performed while towing. Is it capable, is it stable, how is the power and torque delivery under load, etc? I don’t think that a less-than-desirable electronic design qualifies it for a “sucks” review. That stuff is helpful, but it isn’t a true barometer of whether it can tow or not. Ask your father how the hell he ever managed without the electronic stuff! You know…when men were men and trucks didn’t pull double duty as yuppie grocery haulers! Hahaha!
Spot on. If they are going to put a hitch and brake controller on it, it should be easily able to get to the hitch and hook-ups. Not covered by plastic (when removed looks like crap).
Andre takes pride in towing as he is the resident expert at TFL and he understands the limitations of a vehicle and never complains about towing tech so for him to say something in a video then it must of have been bad
I agree with this statement. Honestly for a person like me that might tow seldomly it's really a non issue. it seemed to do Ike ok. I am glad that they posted the video though to help people with configuring the trailer brakes
In Australia that vehicle is known as a Prado and essentially apart from looks and the addition of a heavy useless battery it is the same as the outgoing car.
Oof. The LC has been at the top of my list, but it would be replacing my F150 and end up towing regularly as a result, these details would really make that experience suck. I suppose once you turn the TBC on it's not as bad as it appears that setting gets saved, but that hitch seems annoying and the camera placement could be problematic. Hopefully there is an aftermarket solution for the hitch trim.
Just that bumper hitch cover alone would be enough to disqualify it for me. I use my hitch often enough that I'd either have to leave all that stuff off the back making my new expensive vehicle look bad, or go through all that every time until it eventually breaks or gets lost. Looks like the 4Runner gets a conventional hitch setup in the 6th gen, so it's the better choice for people like me.
Do you want clearance or do you want ease of access. Thats the difference. My GX460 had a conventional bolt on receiver, but I hung down LOW. Even with a lift and 33’s it still sat quite a bit lower than my F150. My LX570 is setup like this and the receiver is higher up stock than my F150 was on 35’s. I actually had to buy a longer shank to get my hitch ball low enough for my trailer
My 1st edition came with the brake controller turned on so all I had to do was select the trailer brake and adjust the gain. I did go into settings on the main screen (in front of driver) just to see how to turn it on and off. I don't tow that many different trailers so not being able to recall a previous trailer isn't a problem for me. I currently tow a travel trailer with a dry weight of 3500 and a loaded weight of aprox. 4500.
Make the hitch cover like the new Tahoe or Expedition with easy to remove thumb tabs. Yes the brake controller should come on automatically. Also It should be easier to sort through menu to find the trailer control settings. Yes this is a lifestyle vehicle, more than likely you didn’t purchase it for its trailering capabilities. Oh and move the 7 and 4 pin to an easier location. Basically this vehicle is made for the occasional tow.
I sense that Andrei is making this video for towing newbies, going through the basics of hooking up the towing hardware. Effing computers. Toyota makes it a scavenger hunt to enable the trailer brakes. Have to scroll through multiple levels of menus to get to the button to even turn it on, then you're still not done. What was ever wrong with the old Kelsey-Hayes controller screwed to the bottom of the dash? It was there, and the human didn't have to spend 5 minutes searching for the ON switch.
You nailed it! I have a 200 series Landcruiser, and some of the issues you spoke of are a carrieover. The plastic cover is also on the 200 series. The wiring connector is in the same spot, but the exhaust is on the other side. I have a tow haul button near the shifter. However, the 200 series didn't come with a trailer brake controller. It's shocking that Toyota is so far behind the competition in this comparison. I tow thousands of miles a year pulling an off-road trailer. If the new Landcruiser could out perform my 200 series or possibly the competition, I would buy buy it. Sadly, it looks good but fails at almost everything else.
I agree with you -- Toyota should of known better -- for the price, they are asking it's a software update to move it to the main screen --- As for the trailer plug location -- NTSB should have it moved ASAP. (fire hazard)
I tried to use the brake controller on the pre-production GX550 and I had problems with the brake controller and I had the brake setting set correctly. I think the preproduction models had some software that wasn't complete. I would guess that it wont be a problem (minus hidden controls) in production models.
I have been observing the trend of the vehicle infotainment role in the newer vehicles; one thing great about many of the older cars is that you can always upgrade the center head unit to the modern standard. The head unit is only responsible for non-vehicle functions; when manufacturers start tying more things like customizing the vehicle characteristic to the head unit, futureproofing becomes challenging because you need to decode the signal between the head unit and the car computers. Looking at this head unit by our current standards, it feels like Toyota should have tied more things into this screen so that it is easier for the driver to make changes on the go instead of navigating from the instrument cluster. However, this design choice may have helped improve the longevity and upgradability of the vehicle's technology in the long run.
8:03 That seems convoluted; one could reasonably expect that the brake controller would automatically turn on when a trailer is connected or that it wouldn’t even have an “off” setting. In fairness: it’s nice that it remembers that seeing and keeps it.
Good episode. I've started to see some of these new land cruisers in my area and frankly, most of them are just grocery and kid haulers. I'm looking out for the new 4runners, perhaps in a few years. Right now, everything is just too expensive.
IMO, no Andre, your opinion is not too harsh. Why? Because it is your opinion. Which gives you free rein on what you think and feel about something. Cannot be wrong. Only argued pointlessly until you change your mind or you change someone else's. lol (or neither yield) You have strong/stubborn ideals that you want something the way you want them. (I won't tell you where that comes from lol) Not uncommon. At these prices on vehicles anymore, people have very high expectations on what the vehicle should include. I often agree with the advice and perspective that Tommy shares. However, he does not take his own advice. lol Not unusual either.
Excellent video! I would never have found the in the Landcruiser menu. I continue to be impressed with the Colorado. For folks new to towing or occasional tow’ers the checklist in the Chevy is great. Question for the UX folks..are they putting those on the left thinking we need the right hand on the wheel as something happens. Curious about their logic. I like a trailer brake controller to be in my peripheral vision and not block by the steering wheel. RAM wins that one. Still I am with the Chevy overall.
OK, everything you are talking about are in/conveniences with regard to towing, not actually towing. You've shown you now understand how to access the system, and admittedly the software is not the greatest. However, compared to the 4Runner, just having a brake controller and tow/haul mode is a win. You guys demonstrated that it actually performed quite well on the Ike, arguably better than the GX550 with regard to towing near each's weight limit. Here you compared it against two vehicles that are arguably tow vehicles, in comparison. Perhaps not too harsh on the conveniences/software side, but it doesn't make it a bad tow vehicle. The 5th Gen 4Runner is a poor tow vehicle, and the new LC is far, far better.
MAN I’m glad we read the writing on the wall and switched to GM when prices and rates were good. Got a 2019 Yukon XL w/ 35k miles, heated and AC leather seats, 4WD, NA V8, simple 6 speed trans, all the tech you need, room for 8 *comfortably* and still has a monster trunk and 18mpgs. Lifted it on 33s, built the trans (fully warrantied for 3 years) and deleted the dreaded DOD/AFM for under $50k all in. Not to mention since it’s a GM truck, parts are a dime a dozen and found everywhere. Compare that to a $80k sequoia or LX with a new 10 speed behind an experimental boosted hybrid V6 project and it looks like a no brainer. Toyotas reckless abandon of reliability dropped them into the basement of top vehicles. The only thing they lead in now is hype and recalled motors..
Just FYI… toyota ALWAYS puts the important settings in the screen by the driver or main screen, because they know this cars would be mod and probable the audio system would be replaced so, you dont loose access to it when you do… Prado owner here
As noted by others, Toyota went from boring but reliable to boy racer and fragile. Large touchscreens are a tragedy. To use them you must be distracted from driving so they are at once an accident waiting to happen - and a ticket waiting for you to receive. Aesthetic aside, if they would stop adding a feature until it is bulletproof, I’d be happier.
What would the advantage of turning off the brake controller be? Seems to me a setting that makes no sense. You might be a little harsh. Most of your complaints have to do with hooking up not actually towing and while its a pain it's not going to kill you like a bad tow vehicle might.
Can you do a video to explain how to set gain properly? I wanted the new Land cruiser in a bad way. I'm just disappointed with it's MPG and now the towing. I'll stick with my F-150 powerboost and it's 21.5 mpg. Although towing, 4200lbs in the White Mountains I only averaged 11.8.
Toyota engineers really half-assed the physical towing ergonomics, design, and execution. The Toyota system user interface is clumsy and not intuitive. For the money Toyota charges for their vehicles, they should be embarrassed for their lack of thought.
Chevy/GMC are awesome for towing. I don't know if the Canyon has it, but on the 1500 and up you can monitor trailer tire pressure and temperature with the onboard trailer tire TPMS. It shows up on the right side split screen on the newer trucks. There is also hitch guidance when backing up, a downward looking view as you approach the trailer hitch and the parking brake sets automatically when you put it in Park. It's the lack of things like this that cause me to automatically eliminate Toyota from consideration. Not to mention, the Tundra doesn't even have Auto 4WD 25 years after GM first came out with it. I'll leave Toyota to those who aren't serious about towing.
It looks like, the trailer controller is an afterthought. The rest of the world don't use them, so maybe that's the reason. We are used to use surge brakes, which don't need any controller at all. The same goes for Japan. For example, in Europe, electric trailer brakes are not even legal.
Surge brakes kinda suck. The trailer has to push the tow vehicle to engage them. It has to push the TV harder to engage the trailer brakes more. Also, that’s not necessarily true because one of the most popular brake controllers for Toyota’s, Redarc, is out of Australia.
Next week, Honda Accord towing sucks! C'mon, the Toyota was designed to include towing if needed, but the pickups have towing as a primary design goal. GM's system is slick, and Toyota should be taking notes.
Pearl Harbor !! Oh yeah You can finally name your trailer. After 3/hours/days of searching. You need to now have Tommy's 3rd Grandchild in the cab with you to be on top of the buried tech. Towing should be something that is easily accessed.
The trailer and tow haul mode setup is more complicated and less user friendly than it should be. Is the 4Runner set up the same way? How is the actual towing? I like the idea that it is all from the factory, if it is a pain then less functional. We have a 5th gen with an aftermarket trailer brake controller. It works well and has multiple trailer settings. You would think Toyota would know better.
The HEMI 6.4 is built for durability under hard commercial use...not like this 2.4 I4. In fact, even the 6.0 L96 Vortec is better in the durability dept...
All of the physical issues with this LC are nothing new for Toyota SUV's. I had a GX460 and now an LX570 and this is all par for the course. The GX460 5000 lb receiver is tucked up much like this and the 7 pin connector is up behind the bumper. The full size 6500 lb receiver is more conventional in that it bolts on to the frame rails like a normal hitch, and the 7 pin connector is relocated down to the receiver once you do that, but the receiver hangs insanely low and the connector becomes vulnerable offroad. I smoked the 7 pin connector in Moab and my receiver was used as a skid plate many many times because of how low it sat. In order to tow my trailer with the GX460, I had to flip my shank to turn it into a riser because of how much lower the receiver was than my F150 even with 33's and a 1.5" lift. The LX570, and this LC, have the receiver mounted up much higher and it makes for way more clearance offroad. But we have to remember these trucks only have 112" wheelbase, which is shorter than many sedans, and they are trying to stuff a lot of content into a relatively small vehicle. The depth of the receiver will be a problem. I had to cut the shank down on my hitch to allow it to fully slide into my LX570 receiver without hitting the spare tire. But, the receiver is also mounted really high and even my stock LX needed the shank setup with the hitch in the lowest setting to hook up to my trailer, unlike hte GX460. The receiver on my stock LX was higher than my F150 on 35's. Once I put 35's on my LX I had buy a longer shank because the one I had wasn't long enough to drop the ball down low enough for my trailer. So there are benefits to this setup, clearance for offroading being the main one. If you want to offroad, and tow a trailer, then the LX, GX, LC, etc make for a great all around rig but obviously you will have to sacrifice in some areas for it to be good a both.
The menu and the layout is so terrible. Why do you have to dive through hidden menus on your dash, why can't it be on the main display, the touchscreen? That, the haphazard arrangement of the actual tow mode and brake controller controls, and the cumbersome hitch design, show very clearly that this is not really meant for towing, regardless of whatever the actual performance may or may not be.
You are correct-the Land Cruiser sucks at towing. Having to remove TWO hitch covers is a needless pain and the plug placement is equally stupid. That being said, towing is probably NOT the primary reason anyone would buy a Land Cruiser so it may not be a deal breaker.
The person is probably concerned about offroading and so Having the receiver built into the rear frame crossmember for higher clearance is important. It’s setup exactly the same with the 200 series.
Thanks for this video! I was wondering if you all had figured out how the trailer brake controller worked on the LC. I am thinking of getting one soon and this video helps explain how it operates but Toyota does make it difficult to like with some of its decisions.
Not to harsh to say you are disappointed in the way Toyota set this up. I have a 2018 expedition and it has been a great tow vehicle for the boat and easy to set up. Even has a setting for trailer blind spot monitoring
Definitely could use some improvement. It does not need to be so overly complex to turn on trailer brakes. Plug it in and the vehicle should ask the necessary questions to configure the brakes. A simple single page on the center screen would have been best.
Towing was clearly far down the list of expected uses of this vehicle. That said, this trend of hiding hitches behind an obnoxious codpiece needs to stop. Then the plug wouldn’t be hidden either. Despite the covers, I’d keep those things well greased with dielectric grease. I’m looking to buy one, but my towing would likely be limited to taking a small utility trailer to the dump a few times a year, so it wouldn’t bother me. If I was an avid camper, the annoyance factor would be much higher.
The new LC250 replaces the LC150 (Prado) and the LC150 is not the greatest tow platform, in our market if your serious towing the preferred Toyota platform is the 70 Series or 200/300 series. Not only does the 150/250 series have a lower towing weight 3000kg v 3500kg. The 150 and i’ll assume the 250 looses out in available load with with only a 3000kg GVM and it’s very difficult to not remain within legal GVM/GCM with a reasonable load.
While it's almost par for the course for Toyota to quote domestic vehicles in the exterior design, I hadn't noticed until this video how on the nose the exterior shape is to the mid2010s Jeep vehicles, like a cross between the Commander and Patriot.
Your observations are accurate insofar as they go but you overreacted. The LC doesn't suck at towing, it just has less features than most competitors because it is not designed primarily to tow. All the things you mentioned make towing a little more work but overall they are minor annoyances. Once set up the LC tows without drama within its capabilities. Note that I removed the full hitch cover and added the half cover which works for me. However there is one major flaw that you completely overlooked, namely, there are no towing mirror extensions available to fit the blocky mirrors. Tow a box or travel trailer and visibility angles are unsafe on the road. I had to add a wireless rear camera to my travel trailer in order to see what's behind.
Frankly, I don’t think it was harsh enough. A lot of what’s wrong is fixable in following years, and some of the software stuff should be fixable with updates to the entire fleet. But some of it should have been caught during testing. It really should have only taken someone one time to figure out how terrible the plug location is, and the fact that no one in their design team said anything like “hey, putting this plug near the exhaust is unpleasant and we should move it” is worrying.
My RAM Rebel trailer light check has **never** worked - I have had an open ticket for nearly a year now. Does it work for you?
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It could be more user friendly which would eliminate the learning curve but it does work and the next time it will be easy. Not a big deal in my opinion.
Good lord. Life was better when you could just back your vehicle up to your trailer, hook it up and go. It’s like the Federal Government designed this Toyota towing setup.
@@doneB830 Ha! Sounds like the Australian Government is just as talented at spending truck loads of taxpayer dollars to make life infinitely more complicated for its citizens? That being said… in my next life I want to live in Perth. Loved my time there. Heaven on earth!
Just another step that is a simple fix that never need to be done in the first place! It obvious this vehicle was NOT well thought out when it comes to towing a simple trailer!
@@jeffwarnerPHOTOcom You are obviously not aware of how this hybrid operates. It never replaces the engine; it only adds to it when you accelerate hard.
Toyota should have it setup so that as soon as u plug in the connector and maybe pump the brakes, it should automatically detect a trailer then go to the setup menu for a first time but then remember it. To have to search thru 3 layers of menu to setup your trailer is ridiculous for a $60K SUV!
![[MV] A leap of faith...ความเชื่อใจครั้งสุดท้าย (From "Petrichor the series")](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/U1piZH2CNXA/mqdefault.jpg)
I don't care which manufacturer, when you plug in the 7 pin, your trailer brakes should work, just set the gain.
If you plug in a trailer, the default assumption is you want to tow. They should at a minimum set the controller to turn on.
Every decent aftermarket controller can detect when trailer brakes are connected. seems rather silly that isn't a basic function. Trailer brakes should also set the PCM to tow/haul.
Agreed. That's odd it doesn't. My 3rd Gen Tundra does. Also odd it doesn't let you set any trailer types. They gave it a controller so they intend for you to be able to tow more than a super basic trailer.
As an electrical engineer I have to say that it is quite trivial to make the vehicle able to detect whether or not the trailer you just plugged in has electric brakes wired to the connector. The vehicle should automatically detect the brakes and turn on the controller. Pretty insane that it is disabled from the factory.
You weren't too harsh. Toyota should take some notes from this review. The plug placement is odd, the need to set up the brake controller is annoying and overly complex.
Yeah it was WAY to harsh, there is NOTHING wrong with this setup, troll
@@DaleWilly insulting people as usual bot. If you want people to understand you you need to use arguments not insults. Seriously Toyota complicated things instead of making things simpler recently like no bump stoppers. Anyone who understands off-roading knows you destroy your suspension without those and can get stranded in the middle of nowhere. Toyota used to be leaders now they go down for multiple mistakes. I don't want to buy a new 1 anymore literally
The plug placement is not weird though. These don’t use a conventional bolt on hitch receiver, it’s built into the frames rearmost cross member. This blocks them from passing the wiring through the bumper and I’m sure they don’t want to hang it below.
It’s the same as the 200 series cruiser
@@Jay-me7gw It would easily fit under that bulbous hitch cover.
@@guentherwilke2055 except it would have to pass through a metal beam that runs across the width of the frame. The whole rear bumper is just covering up a gigantic metal crossmember.
I can’t wrap my head around all the plastic covers on the hitch. What the heck 😂
Welcome to the world of modern car design.
Its plastic so that if you hit it while off roading, you can easily replace it for cheap.
One of the most frustrating things on modern SUVs that tow. It also looks terrible when you keep the cover off. Simplicity in design got thrown out the window.
@@DaleWilly I’m a troll because I think it looks stupid 😂😂 more like I’m a consumer who thinks it looks stupid and is not practical
@@Mike-mi3yw Mike, @user-do9ir8lv2m is a Toyota bot. Just ignore them.
We tow an Escape 19 camper with our LandCruiser. It weighs in about 4,000lbs. We just completed over 5,250 miles up the east coast into Canada including through some steep mountains. I’m not a huge fan of the 7-pin placement and I’d like a larger fuel tank to increase range. I also agree when you plug in your trailer the brake controller should at least pop up asking you for your trailer options. Otherwise though we loved towing with the LC. There’s a half plastic cover you can put on the hitch area that looks and functions well. I didn’t have any trouble with the tow hooks but they could be a littler easier to access. The torque and power were really nice, and stopping wasn’t an issue. The best feature is that we can use the 2,400 watt inverter to run our camping trailer when we don’t have hookups. We used it to run the AC a few times when it was a little warm. The truck was very comfortable for the trip and overall we really enjoyed it. Our mpg was anywhere from 9.9 mpg to 14mpg per tank. The LC may not be the perfect tow vehicle, but it does other things really well that make it a great vehicle to travel in, it surely doesn’t suck towing.
Thank you for commenting on how well the vehicle actually tows a trailer and what kind of mileage you got! That is really what I wanted to know about the new land cruiser. I don’t really care about all the pussy electronic crap. I just want to know if the damn thing is capable of towing a 6000 pound trailer nicely or not. 😂
Thanks for this comment! I also own an Escape trailer and am considering the Land Cruiser as our next vehicle. I currently have a 4Runner and it really struggles on the mountain climbs so thinking this powertrain would be much better.
Not too harsh, but if you are consistently towing, the LC wasn't the right vehicle to begin with.
As an owner of the new LC I must say I agree with the points in this video. Towing was clearly an afterthought on it.
Thankfully I don’t really tow with mine so these issues aren’t that important to me but things like the simple-to-use software shown on the GM would been nice for them to add for the occasional times I do want to tow.
Toyota went from notoriously lacking in tech engineering in favor of reliability and ease of use to over engineered, unnecessary, and overly complicated.
Toyota took a page from the germans, over engineer everything.
Working woth BMW to make the new Supra must have been a bad influence 😂
Absolutely
Hard to argue that.
And people complained about lack of tech..damed if they do damed if they don’t ,
I find the 3rd gen Tacoma to have the perfect amount of tech for me. Don’t want turbo’s or a hybrid, just reliability, with Apple car play is really all I want.
Please note this setup is not used in europe, we have much lighter trailers to do the same job,with mechanical brakes, different hitches and Toyota can supply them with everything ready to go
Spot on, Andre! Keep having high standards and highlighting vehicles that fall short.
You are spot on with the critic. I personally like to have my trailer brake control on the right side and where my knee does not get taken off when getting in or out of the truck. That plug in, 7 pin, should automatically work in regard to your brake. Hum, I always walk around to make sure all the lights are working. Old habit and just an ounce of prevention.
Towing is very obviously an after thought on this. Toyota knows Land Cruiser owners seldomly tow. That said, don't offer the hardware and features if you're just going to half a$$ it.
Land Cruiser owners tow plenty, and this is really just classic Toyota cheaping out on features, trying to get away with reliability only.
@grisa12345 "reliability" as their new engines grenade, axles and transmissions fail.
This isn't new btw. People tend to forget all the issues toyota engines used to have with timing. Toyota "reliability" is largely a myth
@@DaleWilly nice bot accounts
@@DaleWilly They half as-ed it ! Gotta say !
The 250 series Landcruiser is a global vehicle, and as a Prado its the go-to family hauler-tow rig.
I would never own such a complicated tow vehicle. My 2023 Ram Power Wagon makes towing my boat trailer and utility trailer a simple process to setup. You are spot on. Too many things to do in order to hook up a simple trailer..
I have a 2011 Ram and it's more complicated. They all evolve over time.
Look at a same year ram 5500 with 6.7 high output. Don't look at the cab and chassis model. Only the passenger stander model. The ram 5500 would make the ram power wagon look like a chevy gas engine and force it to go seat on the bench lol 😆
Tech, especially safety tech, isn’t a bad thing; being able to set custom trailer lengths to help indicate when someone is too close for you to change lanes is very convenient and helps prevent mistakes.
However, the default state should be set up to act like older vehicles without any custom settings, so someone can just hook up and go like they did 10 years ago and it should behave the same as it did back then with no requirement to go into settings and fiddle with anything.
LC is not a tow vehicle. No one buys a LC with towing as primary. If you need towing, get a truck or fullsize SUV.
You couldn't afford this far better vehicle anyhow
SUV's and screens and homepages and all that jazz.
In a solid truck you can just plug in the trailer, then drive and it works.
I have to say that it’s harsh. I was actually wanting to know how well the vehicle performed while towing. Is it capable, is it stable, how is the power and torque delivery under load, etc? I don’t think that a less-than-desirable electronic design qualifies it for a “sucks” review. That stuff is helpful, but it isn’t a true barometer of whether it can tow or not. Ask your father how the hell he ever managed without the electronic stuff! You know…when men were men and trucks didn’t pull double duty as yuppie grocery haulers! Hahaha!
Toyota tech is always been behind.
umm no it is not troll
Only for the past 80 years. They'll get it one day.
@@DaleWillyor should I say @ToyotaFanBoy ...stop lying for a corporation, you literal troll 😂
Video is great as usual but this was eye opening,can’t believe Toyota design team did that?appharently none of them towe,ever
Spot on. If they are going to put a hitch and brake controller on it, it should be easily able to get to the hitch and hook-ups. Not covered by plastic (when removed looks like crap).
Andre takes pride in towing as he is the resident expert at TFL and he understands the limitations of a vehicle and never complains about towing tech so for him to say something in a video then it must of have been bad
Toyota finally updated their software and infotainment, so where they were about 20 years behind competition before, they are down to 10 now.
And they will update it again in 15 years.
What is the benefit of leaving the trailer brake controller off? Weird that it defaults to off unless their is a specific benefit to having it off.
I wonder as well? We just had them on all the time in our older towing beasts, didn't know newer ones would turn off
That's poorly setup compared to their competition.
Your “Title” is a little misleading. Should have been about the “Trailering Software Features”. That said, it was an interesting overview/comparison.😊
I agree with this statement. Honestly for a person like me that might tow seldomly it's really a non issue. it seemed to do Ike ok. I am glad that they posted the video though to help people with configuring the trailer brakes
In Australia that vehicle is known as a Prado and essentially apart from looks and the addition of a heavy useless battery it is the same as the outgoing car.
Let’s hope Toyota listens to you comments and updates the user interface software screens to make towing brakes easier to access and store settings.
Oof. The LC has been at the top of my list, but it would be replacing my F150 and end up towing regularly as a result, these details would really make that experience suck. I suppose once you turn the TBC on it's not as bad as it appears that setting gets saved, but that hitch seems annoying and the camera placement could be problematic.
Hopefully there is an aftermarket solution for the hitch trim.
That tow plug setup is terrible. Right by the exhaust, yikes. I worry on a hot day driving, it could melt or degrade your trailer wiring.
Not going to happen
It won't freeze in the winter! :)
Use a heat shield
Just that bumper hitch cover alone would be enough to disqualify it for me. I use my hitch often enough that I'd either have to leave all that stuff off the back making my new expensive vehicle look bad, or go through all that every time until it eventually breaks or gets lost. Looks like the 4Runner gets a conventional hitch setup in the 6th gen, so it's the better choice for people like me.
Do you want clearance or do you want ease of access. Thats the difference. My GX460 had a conventional bolt on receiver, but I hung down LOW. Even with a lift and 33’s it still sat quite a bit lower than my F150.
My LX570 is setup like this and the receiver is higher up stock than my F150 was on 35’s. I actually had to buy a longer shank to get my hitch ball low enough for my trailer
So glad I just went with a new Colorado 15 months ago and didn't bother waiting on these new Toyotas.
What’s the cost
Tow haul mode has always been its own button. Got the same button in my 2020 tundra
So many gadgets you Americans love things easy...In Africa we want less and tend to be more happy to do things manual...less to go wrong
It was spot on.
The new Toyotas aren't up to Toyota reputations!
Remember the time when you just hooked your trailer up and set the trailer brake gain and that’s all? More money for what?
Land cruiser have never been setup to tow. This is the first model that actually comes with a factory brake controller.
The Lexus gx470 however was. But it was a 120 series
Toyota hasn't included brake controllers on anything until recently. Land Cruisers tow fine for their size.
And in other countries, the 250 isn't setup to tow either.
I know some guys in Australia that say otherwise. And they tow alot.
Land Cruisers are over rated
My 1st edition came with the brake controller turned on so all I had to do was select the trailer brake and adjust the gain. I did go into settings on the main screen (in front of driver) just to see how to turn it on and off. I don't tow that many different trailers so not being able to recall a previous trailer isn't a problem for me. I currently tow a travel trailer with a dry weight of 3500 and a loaded weight of aprox. 4500.
Make the hitch cover like the new Tahoe or Expedition with easy to remove thumb tabs. Yes the brake controller should come on automatically. Also It should be easier to sort through menu to find the trailer control settings. Yes this is a lifestyle vehicle, more than likely you didn’t purchase it for its trailering capabilities. Oh and move the 7 and 4 pin to an easier location. Basically this vehicle is made for the occasional tow.
I liked the review because I am a newbie and appreciated Andre showing the basics of hooking up.
I think if you hide the hitch you are ashamed of towing hehe
What about an actual towing test? Do they pull a heavy trailer ok, is the Toyota engine power output adequate or lacking etc?
I sense that Andrei is making this video for towing newbies, going through the basics of hooking up the towing hardware.
Effing computers. Toyota makes it a scavenger hunt to enable the trailer brakes. Have to scroll through multiple levels of menus to get to the button to even turn it on, then you're still not done. What was ever wrong with the old Kelsey-Hayes controller screwed to the bottom of the dash? It was there, and the human didn't have to spend 5 minutes searching for the ON switch.
May as well buy a bag of body pins for when those ones on the hitch cover bust off instantly.
You nailed it! I have a 200 series Landcruiser, and some of the issues you spoke of are a carrieover. The plastic cover is also on the 200 series. The wiring connector is in the same spot, but the exhaust is on the other side. I have a tow haul button near the shifter. However, the 200 series didn't come with a trailer brake controller.
It's shocking that Toyota is so far behind the competition in this comparison. I tow thousands of miles a year pulling an off-road trailer. If the new Landcruiser could out perform my 200 series or possibly the competition, I would buy buy it. Sadly, it looks good but fails at almost everything else.
I agree with you -- Toyota should of known better -- for the price, they are asking it's a software update to move it to the main screen --- As for the trailer plug location -- NTSB should have it moved ASAP. (fire hazard)
I tried to use the brake controller on the pre-production GX550 and I had problems with the brake controller and I had the brake setting set correctly. I think the preproduction models had some software that wasn't complete. I would guess that it wont be a problem (minus hidden controls) in production models.
I have been observing the trend of the vehicle infotainment role in the newer vehicles; one thing great about many of the older cars is that you can always upgrade the center head unit to the modern standard. The head unit is only responsible for non-vehicle functions; when manufacturers start tying more things like customizing the vehicle characteristic to the head unit, futureproofing becomes challenging because you need to decode the signal between the head unit and the car computers.
Looking at this head unit by our current standards, it feels like Toyota should have tied more things into this screen so that it is easier for the driver to make changes on the go instead of navigating from the instrument cluster. However, this design choice may have helped improve the longevity and upgradability of the vehicle's technology in the long run.
8:03 That seems convoluted; one could reasonably expect that the brake controller would automatically turn on when a trailer is connected or that it wouldn’t even have an “off” setting. In fairness: it’s nice that it remembers that seeing and keeps it.
Good episode. I've started to see some of these new land cruisers in my area and frankly, most of them are just grocery and kid haulers. I'm looking out for the new 4runners, perhaps in a few years. Right now, everything is just too expensive.
IMO, no Andre, your opinion is not too harsh. Why? Because it is your opinion. Which gives you free rein on what you think and feel about something. Cannot be wrong. Only argued pointlessly until you change your mind or you change someone else's. lol (or neither yield) You have strong/stubborn ideals that you want something the way you want them. (I won't tell you where that comes from lol) Not uncommon. At these prices on vehicles anymore, people have very high expectations on what the vehicle should include. I often agree with the advice and perspective that Tommy shares. However, he does not take his own advice. lol Not unusual either.
Excellent video! I would never have found the in the Landcruiser menu. I continue to be impressed with the Colorado. For folks new to towing or occasional tow’ers the checklist in the Chevy is great. Question for the UX folks..are they putting those on the left thinking we need the right hand on the wheel as something happens. Curious about their logic. I like a trailer brake controller to be in my peripheral vision and not block by the steering wheel. RAM wins that one. Still I am with the Chevy overall.
OK, everything you are talking about are in/conveniences with regard to towing, not actually towing. You've shown you now understand how to access the system, and admittedly the software is not the greatest. However, compared to the 4Runner, just having a brake controller and tow/haul mode is a win. You guys demonstrated that it actually performed quite well on the Ike, arguably better than the GX550 with regard to towing near each's weight limit. Here you compared it against two vehicles that are arguably tow vehicles, in comparison. Perhaps not too harsh on the conveniences/software side, but it doesn't make it a bad tow vehicle. The 5th Gen 4Runner is a poor tow vehicle, and the new LC is far, far better.
MAN I’m glad we read the writing on the wall and switched to GM when prices and rates were good. Got a 2019 Yukon XL w/ 35k miles, heated and AC leather seats, 4WD, NA V8, simple 6 speed trans, all the tech you need, room for 8 *comfortably* and still has a monster trunk and 18mpgs. Lifted it on 33s, built the trans (fully warrantied for 3 years) and deleted the dreaded DOD/AFM for under $50k all in. Not to mention since it’s a GM truck, parts are a dime a dozen and found everywhere. Compare that to a $80k sequoia or LX with a new 10 speed behind an experimental boosted hybrid V6 project and it looks like a no brainer. Toyotas reckless abandon of reliability dropped them into the basement of top vehicles. The only thing they lead in now is hype and recalled motors..
This was my dream vehicle... looks like a 4runner it is....
Seems like they made it intentionally hard to tow anything with that vehicle
Just FYI… toyota ALWAYS puts the important settings in the screen by the driver or main screen, because they know this cars would be mod and probable the audio system would be replaced so, you dont loose access to it when you do… Prado owner here
Nobody replaces center console electronics these days. It’s not a head unit.
As noted by others, Toyota went from boring but reliable to boy racer and fragile. Large touchscreens are a tragedy. To use them you must be distracted from driving so they are at once an accident waiting to happen - and a ticket waiting for you to receive.
Aesthetic aside, if they would stop adding a feature until it is bulletproof, I’d be happier.
The setup should be much easier and user friendly. But if you tow a lot maybe a LC should not be your first choice
What would the advantage of turning off the brake controller be? Seems to me a setting that makes no sense. You might be a little harsh. Most of your complaints have to do with hooking up not actually towing and while its a pain it's not going to kill you like a bad tow vehicle might.
It's all part of the towing process.
So many manufacturers are failing on basic settings
Not too harsh considering the price point of these things. Its a midsize suv that dealerships are selling for around 80k after you factor in mark ups.
Can you do a video to explain how to set gain properly?
I wanted the new Land cruiser in a bad way. I'm just disappointed with it's MPG and now the towing. I'll stick with my F-150 powerboost and it's 21.5 mpg. Although towing, 4200lbs in the White Mountains I only averaged 11.8.
Toyota engineers really half-assed the physical towing ergonomics, design, and execution.
The Toyota system user interface is clumsy and not intuitive.
For the money Toyota charges for their vehicles, they should be embarrassed for their lack of thought.
They should be but they sell so many vehicles worldwide that they don't care. They are no. 1 and customers just gotta suck it up
Chevy/GMC are awesome for towing. I don't know if the Canyon has it, but on the 1500 and up you can monitor trailer tire pressure and temperature with the onboard trailer tire TPMS. It shows up on the right side split screen on the newer trucks. There is also hitch guidance when backing up, a downward looking view as you approach the trailer hitch and the parking brake sets automatically when you put it in Park. It's the lack of things like this that cause me to automatically eliminate Toyota from consideration. Not to mention, the Tundra doesn't even have Auto 4WD 25 years after GM first came out with it. I'll leave Toyota to those who aren't serious about towing.
Whats the point of a massive plastic tab blocking the trailer hitch? That seems like a pain and will easily break over time
It looks like, the trailer controller is an afterthought. The rest of the world don't use them, so maybe that's the reason. We are used to use surge brakes, which don't need any controller at all. The same goes for Japan. For example, in Europe, electric trailer brakes are not even legal.
electric brakes is best thing ever for those trailers. Sorry, but surge brakes are crap
Surge brakes kinda suck. The trailer has to push the tow vehicle to engage them. It has to push the TV harder to engage the trailer brakes more.
Also, that’s not necessarily true because one of the most popular brake controllers for Toyota’s, Redarc, is out of Australia.
Next week, Honda Accord towing sucks! C'mon, the Toyota was designed to include towing if needed, but the pickups have towing as a primary design goal. GM's system is slick, and Toyota should be taking notes.
yup you nailed it - Toyota muffed it
Pearl Harbor !! Oh yeah You can finally name your trailer. After 3/hours/days of searching. You need to now have Tommy's 3rd Grandchild in the cab with you to be on top of the buried tech. Towing should be something that is easily accessed.
The trailer and tow haul mode setup is more complicated and less user friendly than it should be. Is the 4Runner set up the same way? How is the actual towing? I like the idea that it is all from the factory, if it is a pain then less functional. We have a 5th gen with an aftermarket trailer brake controller. It works well and has multiple trailer settings. You would think Toyota would know better.
This LandCruiser has more Torque than the Ram 3500 6.4 Hemi but the LandCruiser are not build for towing heavy duty flatbed
The HEMI 6.4 is built for durability under hard commercial use...not like this 2.4 I4. In fact, even the 6.0 L96 Vortec is better in the durability dept...
All of the physical issues with this LC are nothing new for Toyota SUV's. I had a GX460 and now an LX570 and this is all par for the course. The GX460 5000 lb receiver is tucked up much like this and the 7 pin connector is up behind the bumper. The full size 6500 lb receiver is more conventional in that it bolts on to the frame rails like a normal hitch, and the 7 pin connector is relocated down to the receiver once you do that, but the receiver hangs insanely low and the connector becomes vulnerable offroad. I smoked the 7 pin connector in Moab and my receiver was used as a skid plate many many times because of how low it sat. In order to tow my trailer with the GX460, I had to flip my shank to turn it into a riser because of how much lower the receiver was than my F150 even with 33's and a 1.5" lift.
The LX570, and this LC, have the receiver mounted up much higher and it makes for way more clearance offroad. But we have to remember these trucks only have 112" wheelbase, which is shorter than many sedans, and they are trying to stuff a lot of content into a relatively small vehicle. The depth of the receiver will be a problem. I had to cut the shank down on my hitch to allow it to fully slide into my LX570 receiver without hitting the spare tire. But, the receiver is also mounted really high and even my stock LX needed the shank setup with the hitch in the lowest setting to hook up to my trailer, unlike hte GX460. The receiver on my stock LX was higher than my F150 on 35's. Once I put 35's on my LX I had buy a longer shank because the one I had wasn't long enough to drop the ball down low enough for my trailer.
So there are benefits to this setup, clearance for offroading being the main one. If you want to offroad, and tow a trailer, then the LX, GX, LC, etc make for a great all around rig but obviously you will have to sacrifice in some areas for it to be good a both.
Toyota is now unreliable, overcomplicated and overpriced. The Toyota fanboys are going to make excuses. 😂
You are clueless troll
i am a Toyota "fanboy", but I definitely admit Toyota is seriously struggling these days!
Part of why I’m keeping my 20yo Toyota truck with 300K miles. Runs GREAT, tows well, stone reliable, and zero car payments ;)
As a toyota fan boy, I hope this brand fails so we can go back to the days of NA engines and reliability and quality.
Toyota fan boy here, under new leadership Toyota and Lexus have lost their way very sad.
The menu and the layout is so terrible. Why do you have to dive through hidden menus on your dash, why can't it be on the main display, the touchscreen?
That, the haphazard arrangement of the actual tow mode and brake controller controls, and the cumbersome hitch design, show very clearly that this is not really meant for towing, regardless of whatever the actual performance may or may not be.
Toyota has never been known for getting any real work done
I don’t tow much so not a problem. If was going to tow I would just use a pickup truck.
You are correct-the Land Cruiser sucks at towing. Having to remove TWO hitch covers is a needless pain and the plug placement is equally stupid. That being said, towing is probably NOT the primary reason anyone would buy a Land Cruiser so it may not be a deal breaker.
I would guess anyone who regularly tows would toss those plastic pieces. Nothing like hiding an "ugly" tow hitch, with ugly plastic. Lol
I have a boat I use 1-2x per month, but this is still a pita
The person is probably concerned about offroading and so Having the receiver built into the rear frame crossmember for higher clearance is important. It’s setup exactly the same with the 200 series.
The placement of the 7 pin plug is so wrong. Activating the brake controller is too complicated...
That Land Cruiser is not worth the money.
Thanks for this video! I was wondering if you all had figured out how the trailer brake controller worked on the LC. I am thinking of getting one soon and this video helps explain how it operates but Toyota does make it difficult to like with some of its decisions.
Not to harsh to say you are disappointed in the way Toyota set this up. I have a 2018 expedition and it has been a great tow vehicle for the boat and easy to set up. Even has a setting for trailer blind spot monitoring
Toyota seems to be cutting corners in quality with trailer towing as the most recent example. Come on, Toyota Motor Company!
The US manufacturers are still the best regarding towing.
By far. Nobody is towing on a daily basis with Toyotas. They get terrible MPGs unloaded, pulling a trailer with one costs a fortune.
Crazy how much towing tech has changed. A few years ago you were excited if the vehicle had a brake controller from the factory. 😂😂😂
thoughts on the Land Cruiser's ~1,100 of payload? Seems a bit thin especially if you tow.
Definitely could use some improvement. It does not need to be so overly complex to turn on trailer brakes. Plug it in and the vehicle should ask the necessary questions to configure the brakes. A simple single page on the center screen would have been best.
Towing was clearly far down the list of expected uses of this vehicle. That said, this trend of hiding hitches behind an obnoxious codpiece needs to stop. Then the plug wouldn’t be hidden either. Despite the covers, I’d keep those things well greased with dielectric grease. I’m looking to buy one, but my towing would likely be limited to taking a small utility trailer to the dump a few times a year, so it wouldn’t bother me. If I was an avid camper, the annoyance factor would be much higher.
You were spot on Andre. Toyota needs to get their collective heads out of their tears and fix this.
What keeps being amazing at Toyota is that complicated, non-invasive user interface AND bad quality cameras. Why in the word is that so?
The new LC250 replaces the LC150 (Prado) and the LC150 is not the greatest tow platform, in our market if your serious towing the preferred Toyota platform is the 70 Series or 200/300 series. Not only does the 150/250 series have a lower towing weight 3000kg v 3500kg. The 150 and i’ll assume the 250 looses out in available load with with only a 3000kg GVM and it’s very difficult to not remain within legal GVM/GCM with a reasonable load.
While it's almost par for the course for Toyota to quote domestic vehicles in the exterior design, I hadn't noticed until this video how on the nose the exterior shape is to the mid2010s Jeep vehicles, like a cross between the Commander and Patriot.
Toyota has copied many designs over the years.
Spot on. Thanks for the information, Andre.
Your observations are accurate insofar as they go but you overreacted. The LC doesn't suck at towing, it just has less features than most competitors because it is not designed primarily to tow. All the things you mentioned make towing a little more work but overall they are minor annoyances. Once set up the LC tows without drama within its capabilities. Note that I removed the full hitch cover and added the half cover which works for me. However there is one major flaw that you completely overlooked, namely, there are no towing mirror extensions available to fit the blocky mirrors. Tow a box or travel trailer and visibility angles are unsafe on the road. I had to add a wireless rear camera to my travel trailer in order to see what's behind.
Spot on. No reason for Toyota to make it that complicated.
Frankly, I don’t think it was harsh enough. A lot of what’s wrong is fixable in following years, and some of the software stuff should be fixable with updates to the entire fleet. But some of it should have been caught during testing. It really should have only taken someone one time to figure out how terrible the plug location is, and the fact that no one in their design team said anything like “hey, putting this plug near the exhaust is unpleasant and we should move it” is worrying.
My RAM Rebel trailer light check has **never** worked - I have had an open ticket for nearly a year now. Does it work for you?
It could be more user friendly which would eliminate the learning curve but it does work and the next time it will be easy. Not a big deal in my opinion.
It’s not. My LX570 is setup almost exactly the same and it’s really not a big deal.
So glad I got the last year GX460 with the V8. The new stuff looks great, but hard pass on the 4-cylinder and the odd placement of things.
Good lord. Life was better when you could just back your vehicle up to your trailer, hook it up and go. It’s like the Federal Government designed this Toyota towing setup.
No even worse it’s like the Australian government was involved.
@@doneB830 Ha! Sounds like the Australian Government is just as talented at spending truck loads of taxpayer dollars to make life infinitely more complicated for its citizens? That being said… in my next life I want to live in Perth. Loved my time there. Heaven on earth!
Inhaling exhaust? Did you consider turning off the engine, instead of making it a negative point about the LC?
Just another step that is a simple fix that never need to be done in the first place! It obvious this vehicle was NOT well thought out when it comes to towing a simple trailer!
Shouldn’t have to turn off a vehicle to make an electrical connection to it
You must be a Toyota design engineer and don't tow very much.
And, it's a hybrid, it probably shuts the ICE down as soon as it goes into Park. Making an issue of something that probably isn't.
@@jeffwarnerPHOTOcom You are obviously not aware of how this hybrid operates. It never replaces the engine; it only adds to it when you accelerate hard.
Toyota should have it setup so that as soon as u plug in the connector and maybe pump the brakes, it should automatically detect a trailer then go to the setup menu for a first time but then remember it. To have to search thru 3 layers of menu to setup your trailer is ridiculous for a $60K SUV!