The Toyota Land Cruiser 300 in 3.5T V6 ZX trim.
Two-thousand-and-twenty-one was an interesting year for the South African motoring landscape.
Some things changed, like an acceleration towards greener cars, while others stayed the same like Toyota topping the monthly sales charts.
In this series of 2021 Motoring Newsmakers, The Citizen looks back at the top 20 most popular online stories of the year. The series is dominated by South Africa’s most popular body style, bakkies, while the Toyota Land Cruiser 300 was by far the most viewed single model on our website. Other local favourites in the form of hot hatches, fuel efficient hatchbacks, big, mean SUVs, compact SUVs, Mercedes-AMGs and BMW M cars also drew their fair share of attention.
Replacing the Land Cruiser 200, which was powered by a 4.5-litre V8 diesel engine, there is a choice of two powertrains in the LC300. A 3.3-litre V6 turbo diesel option and a 3.5-litre V6 turbocharged petrol mill. The petrol engine produces 305kW/650Nm and the oil-burner 225kW/700Nm.
We know that those numbers mean the Land Cruiser can climb a mountain with three caravans in tow on the way up, but what does it translate to in daily city life? How fast can a 2.5-ton monstrosity be off the line and how big is its thirst?
Road Test Editor Mark Jones took both to run some tests at Gerotek. Click on the link below to read what he had to say.
2021 MOTORING NEWSMAKER NO 11: Toyota Land Cruiser 300: which is better, petrol or diesel?
To see the rest of our 2021 Motoring Newsmakers, click on the links below.
No 13: Mercedes A35 Sedan the thinking man’s AMG
No 14: Toyota Corolla Cross outsells Polo pair
No 15: BMW X5 M Competition pips Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 S
No 17: Never be late in a Merc GLS 580
No 18: Toyota HiAce 54 years young
No 19: New Ford Ranger revealed
No 20: Toyota Land Cruiser gets stuck the mud
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