Over the years, especially in the last decade, the Land Cruiser has morphed from what we would consider a Jeep-like vehicle with a soft top and very rugged appearance to a luxury four-wheel drive that will tackle any situation. With all of the extra features included we would expect to be able to take this rugged SUV anywhere. In fact back in its history it made it further up Mt. Fuji in Japan than any other had at the time!

That being said when we found out a Land Cruiser was on its way we planned for a little day trip down to Nine Mile Canyon in Carbon County, Utah. We had heard nothing but rave reviews on seeing the many petroglyphs that exist in the canyon and figured it would be a great test in the Land Cruiser as we included a trip up over the mountain to the north that would put us in Myton, UT; close to Duchesne.

So on Saturday morning we packed up a few things along with treats and a lunch for the day, but realized we couldn’t find our small cooler to keep things refrigerated. Not a problem in the Land Cruiser as the center console between the seats has a cooling option that turned out to be a lifesaver for the day.

We were able to get various dips, cheeses and some water loaded up in the console and everything stayed cool for the entire trip of over 300 miles and 9 hours!

The Land Cruiser comes complete with the new Toyota Safety Sense P that included radar cruise control and lane departure warning that helped us to navigate the canyons and stay the proper distance behind the vehicle in front of us for the long canyon drive from Springville to Price on Highway 6.

The drive up through Nine Mile Canyon was way different than we had expected. In early spring there was green grass starting to poke up through the soil and leaves starting to appear on the cottonwood trees along the Nine Mile Creek.

The beautiful red rock cliffs reminded us of being in southern Utah as they rose into the crystal blue skies. We were equally impressed with the literally hundreds of different locations to see ancient Indian rock art along the road. Some of these places were visible without even getting out of the Land Cruiser.

We had to keep a sharp eye out to see some of them as they are not well marked in the canyon with others having easy hiking trails to view them. The Land Cruiser was the perfect vehicle to have for the long ride as it was as comfortable as we could have imagined inside and took all the imperfections in the road with ease.

After exploring the canyon as far as the pavement went and the rock art ended we back tracked for a few miles in order to get to the split that headed over the mountains to Myton. This road quickly turned into a good dirt path that made having the Land Cruiser even more advantageous.

In fact, as we approached the summit we saw a small sign that pointed east saying the Green River was only 24 miles away at Sand Wash. We had no idea we had gone that far to the east and were that close to the river, we had a Land Cruiser that should go anywhere, so off we went to see the Green River!

This drive was even better than the road up Nine Mile canyon featuring twists and turns and scenery that was so amazing. Riding in the Land Cruiser we hardly even noticed we drove all the way on dirt.

Getting down the river was indeed accomplished through a sand wash which was an easy to maneuver with the awesome 4-wheel driver capabilities of the Cruiser. We would not recommend this drive without a 4-wheel drive but would recommend getting out to see some of the most amazing views in the state that most folks will never see.

Inside the Land Cruiser was loaded with all kinds of extras, there was leather all around the cabin, on the seats, doors and steering wheel with beautiful real wood and chrome accents. The front seats were both heated and cooled along with a heated steering wheel and even the second row came with adjustable heated seats.

On the climate control side, there is an included four-zone control that allows not only the front passengers to choose their cruising temperature but both occupants of the rear seats can also pick the perfect temperature through the use of 28 individual vents located throughout the cabin.

Standard in the Land Cruiser is a 14 speaker JBL sound system that is in a class all its own. With the cabin so quiet, it was awesome to have a great sound system to go along with it, made the long drive over dirt roads even more enjoyable.

The nine-inch touch screen located in the center console of the dashboard made for easy access to all the controls we could have ever needed. Navigation is standard along with satellite radio and Bluetooth connectivity the navigation even knew where we were throughout the day trip, even in the back country.

Luxury and four wheel drive prowess combine in the perfect match of the Toyota Land Cruiser as the large V8 engine proved to be all the power we would even need. We had an awesome week and even more important Saturday with the 2020 version of Toyota’s oldest child.

Base price: $85,315

Price as driven: $89,129