Cruiser has a hard time with OD on inclines (1 Viewer)

[dace voit]

Perhaps what I’m experiencing is normal. Just seemed odd to me that the vehicle would work itself so hard just to maintain its speed. Then again I’ve never owned a heavy, underpowered vehicle to know how it would behave under the stress of an incline at interstate speed.

I hear you on this. Butters has a lot more power than my 80 did but is still a bit lacking. The motor actually isn't working that hard. The 2UZ likes to rev a bit. It's not designed to be a 1200rpm torque monster like a diesel. The 5.7l really made the big jump in power to where the Land Cruiser has needed to be since inception. This is my third Cruiser. The first two(60 and 80 series) were slugs here in the mountains. Then again, they weren't designed to be fast, just capable.

 

[Colairic]

At 10k ft, you'll be down 30% power. Use your shifter to control gear selection, that's what it is primarily for (and braking).

Yeah, I understand all of that. I just haven’t had a vehicle that can’t take a hill without my manual input on the gear selector and since I had already put all this time and money into the LC paranoia was getting the best of me.

Nearing if not slamming redline just to maintain highway speed seemed wrong and I was afraid there was something wrong with the ECUs ability to react properly or something and I wanted to see if this was normal operation.
Again, please excuse my arrogance on the matter. Coming from driving mostly modernized sedans and “sports cars”, the fifteen year old land cruiser does things in ways I’m not used to and sometimes seem wrong to me when in reality it’s normal. Still working on adapting my driving habits accordingly.

I hear you on this. Butters has a lot more power than my 80 did but is still a bit lacking. The motor actually isn't working that hard. The 2UZ likes to rev a bit. It's not designed to be a 1200rpm torque monster like a diesel. The 5.7l really made the big jump in power to where the Land Cruiser has needed to be since inception. This is my third Cruiser. The first two(60 and 80 series) were slugs here in the mountains. Then again, they weren't designed to be fast, just capable.

Yeah I gotcha. I was actually shooting for a 200 originally but the condition and price of this 100 convinced me I didn’t need the newer creature comforts

 

[NoTempoLimit]

...My 100 will hang out in the lower gear until a certain amount of time passes when the engine isn't sensing increased load from, say, climbing a hill, despite having shifted up.

I have an '06 LC as well (VVTi). Glad to know this is normal vehicle operation. I just made the 3000+ mile trip from L.A. to Southern Maine, carrying a full load. Thanks @dace voit
DEFINITELY avoid cruise control on climbs, especially in hot weather using AC!
Use 4th gear in a 5-speed AT. The owner's manual even recommends that.
I was able to climb at around 3200 - 3400 rpm in 4th (max torque rpm). I kept an eye on coolant temps (ScanGage II). On flats, temps were 88-90ºC, when climbing they would rise to 92-93ºC, which required turning off the AC.
To get over the continental divide at nearly 11,000 ft with that full load (just before the Eisenhower tunnel), I had to drop into 3rd and was about 3/4 throttle to maintain about 50 mph.
At that 10k ft + altitude you've lost 1/3 power on a naturally aspirated engine. So it was like climbing a 7000 lb vehicle with a 184 HP engine.
I love the 2UZ-FE and its durability but imagine the LC 100 with a 450 HP 4.5L straight-6 with parallel twin turbos... My E92 BMW 335i (3.0L I-6 twin turbo) would climb in 6th gear at 100+ and could still accelerate. All this at light part throttle.