I wanted to start out by saying, I am sorry for the flack I have given the LC 250 in my previous posts. I did not give the Toyota the benefit of the doubt with this rig, and I should have.
We just picked up a First Edition LC 250 in heritage blue yesterday (it’s nickname is Smurf) to replace my wife’s 4runner, and I have to say I am very impressed. I have owned my 200 for the past 4 years, and I am quite familiar with it at this point so I wanted to shed some light on the differences I have noticed so far.
Exterior:
The pictures do not do this thing justice. In person, it’s significantly better looking.
The 250’s front end in person looks incredible and the wide fender flares makes it have a wide presence on the road. I was shocked at how well it looked it in person, and it is near the same size as the 200 series. The paint appears to be fairly high quality, but there is some more orange peel compared to my 2016 200 series paint job. I still wish Toyota would have painted the rear bumper on the 250, but in person, it doesn’t look nearly as out of place as in the pictures.
I am very fond of the round front headlamps and that’s hands down my choice for the front end. It makes the front end look like a (much) better Ford Bronco, but with a 60 series inspired twist, and they just knocked it out of the park on the front end when you’re looking at the rig with the round halo lights. Most of you will start seeing this in your rear view mirror when more 250's are driving around and know what I mean.
On the road, I do see some slight hood flutter on the 250 near the windshield whereas the 200 series was rock solid. I noticed it at first over some bumpy roads, but after driving it for a few hours, it doesn’t really bother me anymore since I’m not looking at that part of the hood while driving anyway. I understand they had to cut weight somewhere and this is one of those pieces.
Also, this was great news to me. The car came with a revised smaller tow hitch cover that was sitting in the back of the car, so I immediately took off the hitch cover that sticks out damn near half a mile, and threw the smaller cover on. I have no idea what Toyota was thinking when they threw that ugly full cover piece on the rig in the first place.
Interior:
I was surprised to see how well built and put together the interior of the 250 is. It is a land cruiser after all, and is built as drum tight as the 200 series for the interior components. This is truly what separates the Land Cruiser from the American/Mexican made Tundra/Sequoia/Tacoma counterparts. You will feel it immediately when you get in and start touching the interior bits.
The 250 is silent for squeaks and rattles, even more than my 200 series. Granted, the 200 series does have 81k miles and 9 years of age on it so I’ll give the 200 a break.
One immediate difference between the rigs that you’ll notice is the lack of leather/pleather wrapped interior surfaces on the 250 compared to the 200, the big one being where the knee pads are. But that doesn’t mean it feels cheap either. Pretty much every component has either very soft touch plastic (feels like there’s actually some foam on it), or a modern-day plastic with a very “grippy” texture. It’s hard to describe, but it doesn’t feel cheap. Also, the top dash material almost feels like a mixture of rubber and plastic as well, very odd material indeed…
If I had to say one piece of the interior that was improved over the 200 was the front seats. The adjustable front seat extender on the premium/FE 250 (I don’t believe it’s available for the base 1958 model) is mandatory for taller people. It makes the 250 seats more comfortable than the 200 series by a long shot. You actually get some thigh support for once in a land cruiser… Also, the back support conforms to your back much better than the 200 series. The foam itself while sitting in the seat also feels softer.
One odd thing I noticed on the 250 is it doesn’t feel super cramped in your shoulder/chest area because they molded the upper arm rest area (on the top of the door) to not be as wide. This gives you interior space, but it took the ability to easily hold your arm up on the higher portion of the door while cruising, and you are kind of forced to keep your arm at the regular arm rest area (which on the premium/FE model still feels great since you get a pleather/padded arm rest). If you have your windows down though, this is not a problem and it’s almost a perfect height for me to keep my arm rested with some of my arm sitting on the window seal area (if that makes any sense). This was the compromise Toyota made to give you some more interior room, but also gave you the wide fender flares on the outside of the rig which gives the land cruiser that wide stance on the exterior.
The foot area for where your left foot sits has been compromised a bit (I’m sure due to some safety crumple zone design), and you don’t have nearly as much room for your left foot to lay flat on the ground and it’s kind of forced to lay on the angled foot rest. Not a terrible issue, but something you will notice.
The center console arm rest is an improvement from a seating position perspective over the 200. The height feels very natural and you kind of a get a “cockpit” vibe where your arm lays exactly where you would naturally have your hands on the steering wheel. The 200 series was slightly lower and I always felt like it needed to be 2-3 inches higher. Yes, it appears they wrapped it with what appears to be pleather, instead of real leather on the 200, but it still feels okay (it’s not like your elbow will notice this on a daily basis haha). I would take the higher position over the leather any day of the week. Another note to add is the center arm rest 250 feels tighter than even the 200 in this department. The 200-arm rest had just a bit of give, but the 250 has no play at all. Toyota killed it on the center arm rest design.
The 200 series has better button feel on the steering wheel controls than the 250 - where the 200 has more weight and substantial feeling buttons, but the 250 has lighter buttons but still has some tactile "click" to it. You can tell this is where they cut some costs on the new platform.
The interior leather is not as silky smooth and soft as the semi-aniline leather on the 2016-2021 land cruiser (that is obviously the best feeling due to being Lexus grade), and it’s not as good as the 2008-2015 (iron) leather). If I had to grade it, it would be one step down from the 2008-2015 land cruiser leather texture, but WAY better than any of the crap Toyota throws in their lower tier products.
Driving Dynamics:
Holy crap does the 250 haul ass. It almost feels unwieldy in traffic because you move way faster off the line than the 200 series with little throttle. You will not be disappointed in the power department. I bet the 200 series is faster, but you do need to wrap the V8 engine up to get this level of acceleration. The big difference is the 250 moves you quickly in a low rpm range due to the hybrid battery torque off the line.
The 4 banger sounds like a fart cannon compared to the 200 V8. Obviously, this is a win for the 200 and one of the hallmarks of any great V8 engine. If engine sound is important to you, the 250 is not the rig for you.
One thing that will drive you nuts is at a stop light, the 250 will auto shut off the engine (I am not aware of any way to turn this off – no auto shut off button in the cabin…), and taking off from a red light, you will feel an ever so slight shutter (almost like a transmission slip) while the engine is turning back on. If I had to give one deal breaker for the driving dynamics, this will be something you will need to test drive and see if you can live with it. What makes the situation even worse, is on occasion, when you are slowing down to a near (California) stop and wanting to accelerate, the engine will shut off, and you will be dead in the water for a blip of time while the engine turns back on. Toyota dropped the ball in this department and I hope they can fix it in a future TSB... I will note, once the engine is on and running, it takes off like a rocket ship and I have no complaints beyond that. It’s fast and the transmission appears to always be in the right gear when you give it power. Compared to the 200 series that has the 8-speed transmission, the 200 series is a dog and is hesitant to want to up-shift to give you power while going up a hill. The 250 is quick and snappy (and wants to actually up-shift) which is nice to see.
Edit - this previous post is not applicable if you put the 250 in tow haul mode. It makes it so the engine does not shut off and you have no shudder off the line.
One other complaint I have with the 250 is the constant beeping from all the safety systems they threw in the rig. Thank the lord you can turn most of this crap off, but there is one system that turns itself back on every time you start the rig. The FTCA (Front Traffic Cross Alert system)… If you are stopped at a T-intersection and if there is a car coming by, and you are anticipating your chance for an opening, if you take your foot off the brake to give yourself time to move it over to the accelerator pedal while the car is coming by (in anticipation to take off and get into traffic), it will beep at you. Pretty frustrating…
Wind noise and NVH is higher on the 250 compared to the 200. I think most of it is due to more of a boxy design on the 250 and I bet this is where Toyota cut some of the sound proofing weight over the 200. It’s not terrible and way better than most unibody rigs since it doesn’t sound “hollow”, but it does not sound like a bank vault in the interior like the 200. (The rattily 4 cylinder does not help either)
One perk of the 250 is how light the steering is. It’s buttery smooth and effortless in low speed situations (a pinky can turn the wheel), but it firms up while on the road depending on your speed. Plus the leather wrapped steering wheel is entirely heated (not just the sides anymore). Plus when you click the heated steering button, it stays on the next time you startup the rig (no need to hit that button every time you get in the car in the winter)
The land cruiser magic is still present on the 250 with how planted it feels on the road. It’s lighter and more nimble while turning corners compared to the 200, but it did lose some of the “weight” feeling that’s well loved on the 200.
Gas mileage so far in the city:
21 MPG in Sport mode
22 MPG in Normal mode
23 MPG in Eco mode
I have not driven it much on the highway yet to get a good number for this.
Final Thoughts
The 250 series is a great addition to the land cruiser line up. It is far better than the outgoing 4runner, but it does have some deficiencies compared to the 200 (while also having some improvements). For me, if I were to daily a car for commuting, the 250 is the clear winner over the 200, but it is not a replacement for the 200 for all situations. Getting near double the city gas mileage does have the savings add up over 100-200k miles, and with my daily commute being more than an hour of driving each day in the city, I am having a hard time with this. I am probably going to keep the 200 in the stable because it is something special and use it for off roading trips, but down the road, I will probably add the 250 as my daily driver as well (that’s how good it is for daily driving). I don’t want to drive a small econobox everyday since I like the safety of a big heavy vehicle and presence on the road, and the 250 kept a lot of that “safe sense” while also keeping the gas bill down every week at the pump.
P.S. since this was a brand-new platform, we did opt for the 7 year 100k mile bumper to bumper factory warranty which was $3,500. Dealer cost was a little over $3,300 so I didn’t get too hosed on their markup.
Anyways, I hope this comparison throws some light on the subject and moving forward, I won’t be so negative on this rig. (unless this rig turns out to be unreliable which the jury is still out on that
) It serves a purpose, but not necessarily the same purpose as the 200 series.
We just picked up a First Edition LC 250 in heritage blue yesterday (it’s nickname is Smurf) to replace my wife’s 4runner, and I have to say I am very impressed. I have owned my 200 for the past 4 years, and I am quite familiar with it at this point so I wanted to shed some light on the differences I have noticed so far.
Exterior:
The pictures do not do this thing justice. In person, it’s significantly better looking.
The 250’s front end in person looks incredible and the wide fender flares makes it have a wide presence on the road. I was shocked at how well it looked it in person, and it is near the same size as the 200 series. The paint appears to be fairly high quality, but there is some more orange peel compared to my 2016 200 series paint job. I still wish Toyota would have painted the rear bumper on the 250, but in person, it doesn’t look nearly as out of place as in the pictures.
I am very fond of the round front headlamps and that’s hands down my choice for the front end. It makes the front end look like a (much) better Ford Bronco, but with a 60 series inspired twist, and they just knocked it out of the park on the front end when you’re looking at the rig with the round halo lights. Most of you will start seeing this in your rear view mirror when more 250's are driving around and know what I mean.
On the road, I do see some slight hood flutter on the 250 near the windshield whereas the 200 series was rock solid. I noticed it at first over some bumpy roads, but after driving it for a few hours, it doesn’t really bother me anymore since I’m not looking at that part of the hood while driving anyway. I understand they had to cut weight somewhere and this is one of those pieces.
Also, this was great news to me. The car came with a revised smaller tow hitch cover that was sitting in the back of the car, so I immediately took off the hitch cover that sticks out damn near half a mile, and threw the smaller cover on. I have no idea what Toyota was thinking when they threw that ugly full cover piece on the rig in the first place.
Interior:
I was surprised to see how well built and put together the interior of the 250 is. It is a land cruiser after all, and is built as drum tight as the 200 series for the interior components. This is truly what separates the Land Cruiser from the American/Mexican made Tundra/Sequoia/Tacoma counterparts. You will feel it immediately when you get in and start touching the interior bits.
The 250 is silent for squeaks and rattles, even more than my 200 series. Granted, the 200 series does have 81k miles and 9 years of age on it so I’ll give the 200 a break.
One immediate difference between the rigs that you’ll notice is the lack of leather/pleather wrapped interior surfaces on the 250 compared to the 200, the big one being where the knee pads are. But that doesn’t mean it feels cheap either. Pretty much every component has either very soft touch plastic (feels like there’s actually some foam on it), or a modern-day plastic with a very “grippy” texture. It’s hard to describe, but it doesn’t feel cheap. Also, the top dash material almost feels like a mixture of rubber and plastic as well, very odd material indeed…
If I had to say one piece of the interior that was improved over the 200 was the front seats. The adjustable front seat extender on the premium/FE 250 (I don’t believe it’s available for the base 1958 model) is mandatory for taller people. It makes the 250 seats more comfortable than the 200 series by a long shot. You actually get some thigh support for once in a land cruiser… Also, the back support conforms to your back much better than the 200 series. The foam itself while sitting in the seat also feels softer.
One odd thing I noticed on the 250 is it doesn’t feel super cramped in your shoulder/chest area because they molded the upper arm rest area (on the top of the door) to not be as wide. This gives you interior space, but it took the ability to easily hold your arm up on the higher portion of the door while cruising, and you are kind of forced to keep your arm at the regular arm rest area (which on the premium/FE model still feels great since you get a pleather/padded arm rest). If you have your windows down though, this is not a problem and it’s almost a perfect height for me to keep my arm rested with some of my arm sitting on the window seal area (if that makes any sense). This was the compromise Toyota made to give you some more interior room, but also gave you the wide fender flares on the outside of the rig which gives the land cruiser that wide stance on the exterior.
The foot area for where your left foot sits has been compromised a bit (I’m sure due to some safety crumple zone design), and you don’t have nearly as much room for your left foot to lay flat on the ground and it’s kind of forced to lay on the angled foot rest. Not a terrible issue, but something you will notice.
The center console arm rest is an improvement from a seating position perspective over the 200. The height feels very natural and you kind of a get a “cockpit” vibe where your arm lays exactly where you would naturally have your hands on the steering wheel. The 200 series was slightly lower and I always felt like it needed to be 2-3 inches higher. Yes, it appears they wrapped it with what appears to be pleather, instead of real leather on the 200, but it still feels okay (it’s not like your elbow will notice this on a daily basis haha). I would take the higher position over the leather any day of the week. Another note to add is the center arm rest 250 feels tighter than even the 200 in this department. The 200-arm rest had just a bit of give, but the 250 has no play at all. Toyota killed it on the center arm rest design.
The 200 series has better button feel on the steering wheel controls than the 250 - where the 200 has more weight and substantial feeling buttons, but the 250 has lighter buttons but still has some tactile "click" to it. You can tell this is where they cut some costs on the new platform.
The interior leather is not as silky smooth and soft as the semi-aniline leather on the 2016-2021 land cruiser (that is obviously the best feeling due to being Lexus grade), and it’s not as good as the 2008-2015 (iron) leather). If I had to grade it, it would be one step down from the 2008-2015 land cruiser leather texture, but WAY better than any of the crap Toyota throws in their lower tier products.
Driving Dynamics:
Holy crap does the 250 haul ass. It almost feels unwieldy in traffic because you move way faster off the line than the 200 series with little throttle. You will not be disappointed in the power department. I bet the 200 series is faster, but you do need to wrap the V8 engine up to get this level of acceleration. The big difference is the 250 moves you quickly in a low rpm range due to the hybrid battery torque off the line.
The 4 banger sounds like a fart cannon compared to the 200 V8. Obviously, this is a win for the 200 and one of the hallmarks of any great V8 engine. If engine sound is important to you, the 250 is not the rig for you.
One thing that will drive you nuts is at a stop light, the 250 will auto shut off the engine (I am not aware of any way to turn this off – no auto shut off button in the cabin…), and taking off from a red light, you will feel an ever so slight shutter (almost like a transmission slip) while the engine is turning back on. If I had to give one deal breaker for the driving dynamics, this will be something you will need to test drive and see if you can live with it. What makes the situation even worse, is on occasion, when you are slowing down to a near (California) stop and wanting to accelerate, the engine will shut off, and you will be dead in the water for a blip of time while the engine turns back on. Toyota dropped the ball in this department and I hope they can fix it in a future TSB... I will note, once the engine is on and running, it takes off like a rocket ship and I have no complaints beyond that. It’s fast and the transmission appears to always be in the right gear when you give it power. Compared to the 200 series that has the 8-speed transmission, the 200 series is a dog and is hesitant to want to up-shift to give you power while going up a hill. The 250 is quick and snappy (and wants to actually up-shift) which is nice to see.
Edit - this previous post is not applicable if you put the 250 in tow haul mode. It makes it so the engine does not shut off and you have no shudder off the line.
One other complaint I have with the 250 is the constant beeping from all the safety systems they threw in the rig. Thank the lord you can turn most of this crap off, but there is one system that turns itself back on every time you start the rig. The FTCA (Front Traffic Cross Alert system)… If you are stopped at a T-intersection and if there is a car coming by, and you are anticipating your chance for an opening, if you take your foot off the brake to give yourself time to move it over to the accelerator pedal while the car is coming by (in anticipation to take off and get into traffic), it will beep at you. Pretty frustrating…
Wind noise and NVH is higher on the 250 compared to the 200. I think most of it is due to more of a boxy design on the 250 and I bet this is where Toyota cut some of the sound proofing weight over the 200. It’s not terrible and way better than most unibody rigs since it doesn’t sound “hollow”, but it does not sound like a bank vault in the interior like the 200. (The rattily 4 cylinder does not help either)
One perk of the 250 is how light the steering is. It’s buttery smooth and effortless in low speed situations (a pinky can turn the wheel), but it firms up while on the road depending on your speed. Plus the leather wrapped steering wheel is entirely heated (not just the sides anymore). Plus when you click the heated steering button, it stays on the next time you startup the rig (no need to hit that button every time you get in the car in the winter)
The land cruiser magic is still present on the 250 with how planted it feels on the road. It’s lighter and more nimble while turning corners compared to the 200, but it did lose some of the “weight” feeling that’s well loved on the 200.
Gas mileage so far in the city:
21 MPG in Sport mode
22 MPG in Normal mode
23 MPG in Eco mode
I have not driven it much on the highway yet to get a good number for this.
Final Thoughts
The 250 series is a great addition to the land cruiser line up. It is far better than the outgoing 4runner, but it does have some deficiencies compared to the 200 (while also having some improvements). For me, if I were to daily a car for commuting, the 250 is the clear winner over the 200, but it is not a replacement for the 200 for all situations. Getting near double the city gas mileage does have the savings add up over 100-200k miles, and with my daily commute being more than an hour of driving each day in the city, I am having a hard time with this. I am probably going to keep the 200 in the stable because it is something special and use it for off roading trips, but down the road, I will probably add the 250 as my daily driver as well (that’s how good it is for daily driving). I don’t want to drive a small econobox everyday since I like the safety of a big heavy vehicle and presence on the road, and the 250 kept a lot of that “safe sense” while also keeping the gas bill down every week at the pump.
P.S. since this was a brand-new platform, we did opt for the 7 year 100k mile bumper to bumper factory warranty which was $3,500. Dealer cost was a little over $3,300 so I didn’t get too hosed on their markup.
Anyways, I hope this comparison throws some light on the subject and moving forward, I won’t be so negative on this rig. (unless this rig turns out to be unreliable which the jury is still out on that
) It serves a purpose, but not necessarily the same purpose as the 200 series.
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