2005 LC is the best year.
Because of the 5 speed tranny and how it drives compared to the 98-02, I automatically go to 03+, but for the sake of discussion.....
98-99, some had rear lockers, but they also had weak front diffs so thats a wash.
2000-2002s are kind of the dogs of the bunch.
03+ has the 5 speed tranny.
04+ got the rear view cam and went away from that factory gold tint and went to a normal gray tint which looks better and is easy to match.
2005 got the factory Bluetooth for phone, which works fine.
2006-07, most of which have the AHC, (which is why I rule out all the LX470s, because they all had it); they also went to VVT, which boosts horsepower, but decreases reliability because if a timing belt breaks, your engine is toast. (There have been reports of TB failures on 05 and earlier vehicles that resulted in no engine damage, not so on 06+ 100s. Im not 100% sure about this, but this is what I've gathered, and the addition of the VVT certainly doesn't make the engine more reliable, and that is my main concern, and why I choose Land Cruiser.)
Very little difference between 03-05 except what I mentioned, so any of those are good, which is why I deem the 05 LC to be the best 100, with 04 next, then 03....
In my opinion, all the LXs are ugly and they have that weak AHC crap that I just won't have.
Just some facts mixed with a little bit of opinion!