China Sent A LandCruiser Killer…Can It Win?

Well, we've got a battle on our hands today, let me tell you. We've got a newcomer facing up against the king. This is China versus Japan. This is hybrid versus diesel. This is the best of BYD coming from Denza up against Toyota Australia's favourite son, the Land Cruiser. They say if you come at the king, you best not miss. Well, the question I've got, does this Denza have what it takes to fire a few shots into Toyota? Let's get into it. The big elephant in the room here for this comparison is the fact that the Toyota Land Cruiser 300 series is significantly more expensive than the Denza. While a base 300 series Land Cruiser can be had for a little bit under $100,000 plus on roads, what we have here is significantly more expensive. We've got GR Sport, which is the flagship off-road focus model, and it's got an asking price of $147,090 before on-road costs. Now, compare that to the top-spec Denza B8 six-seat model, and that's got an asking price of $98,661 plus on roads. So there's a massive divide in terms of price between these two cars. The Land Cruiser 300 series has a relatively simple 3.3-litre twin-turbocharged diesel V6 engine, which pushes impressive numbers, 227 kilowatts and 700 newton-metres through a 10-speed automatic gearbox, low-range transfer case, and full-time four-wheel drive system. We've got a locking centre diff here, and the GR Sport gets locking diffs front and rear as well. So you can tell all your mates at the barbecue, you've got a triple-locked rig. In comparison, though, the Denza B8 uses a plug-in hybrid powertrain, which comprises of a two-litre turbo petrol engine, two electric motors, and a big 36.8 kilowatt-hour battery. The Denza is more powerful on paper. You've got a stonking 425 kilowatts and 760 newton-metres as the claimed combined outputs here. The petrol engine can drive the front wheels directly at highway speeds, but drive is mostly electric in most situations. There is no mechanical connection between the front and rear wheels here, but we do get diff locks front and rear, and a low-range transfer case for the rear wheels only. The Denza B8 has a claimed electric-only driving range of 115km, which is impressive, but there is a price you are paying here for all of that technology. And that price is, unfortunately, weight. What you are looking at here with the Denza B8 is an incredibly heavy vehicle. 3,290 kilos is the listed curb weight, and for reference, that's heavier than some cars at their full maximum allowable weight. It's a lot, to be frank, and it's because we've got things like a battery here, a two-litre turbo petrol engine, a fuel tank, two locking differentials, a low-range transfer case, not to mention all of the equipment on the inside, and, of course, a ladder chassis holding it all together. Now, it's worth pointing out here that the payload actually isn't too bad. Just over 700 kilos, that's pretty good, actually, and better than the Land Cruiser, and we've got a 3.5-tonne brake-to-towing capacity. But the big question, of course, is, all of that weight, is it going to hold this Denza back when it counts? Now, there's not many cars out there that can make this Toyota Land Cruiser look like a lightweight, but that's exactly what we've got here with the Denza. Now, for reference, the GVM of this Toyota Land Cruiser, the maximum allowable weight overall, is actually 10 kilos lighter than the curb mass of that Denza. That absolutely blows my mind. We've got a car here that is 600 kilos lighter in terms of curb mass, but it's worth pointing out that the payload is a little bit lower here. Toyota seems to be relatively conservative with their payloads on these cars, which means a lot of people do look at aftermarket GVM upgrades and that sort of thing. Now, we do have 3.5-tonne brake-towing capacity here, of course, but that weight difference, 600 kilos, it's absolutely massive. Let's see if it makes a difference. Both vehicles have loads of standard equipment on the inside. There's things like leather-trimmed seats with electric adjustment, heating and ventilation up front. There's also upgraded materials throughout the cabin, a heated steering wheel, interior ambient lighting, and a sunroof. But despite being significantly cheaper, the Denza B8 really goes up a notch or two in terms of standard kit. The screen is bigger at a whopping 17.3 inches, and we've also got a bigger digital instrument cluster here as well, in comparison to the Land Cruiser. There's more speakers and power in the sound system. There's massaging in the front and second row seats, and a centre console that cools as well as heats. If you're looking for bang for buck, then it's Denza by an absolute country mile. If you're looking to fit more humans inside, that tick goes to the Denza as well. While both models can be available as a seven-seater in different trim levels, the GR Sport is a five-seater only, with a deleted third row. The Denza is a three-row vehicle, but it's got a six-seat setup with two captain's chairs in the middle. You can also get the lesser-equipped 7S, which goes for a bench and three in the middle. When you compare the interiors of these two big four-wheel drives, I don't think I've seen two options with such starkly different philosophies. On one hand, that Denza, we'll get to it a bit later. It's got all this technology. Where this Land Cruiser, it's a bit old-fashioned in a way. Personally, I kind of like this setup. We've got a huge array of physical buttons in here. Lots of controls. It's all chunky. You know where your fingers are going to go. Separate climate controls, driving modes, all of that sort of thing. A relatively small screen as well, especially in comparison to the massive screen you have in the Denza. So there is a philosophical difference there. Some will prefer one. Others will prefer the other one, I think. But in terms of the experience in this Land Cruiser, I do think it's quite nice. I mean, we've got decent storage. Not as good as the Denza overall. Build quality is fantastic though. When you start to pull and prod and pull things around, this thing does feel like it's made from stone, absolutely. A little storage nook there is handy for things like keys and wallets. And then your power outlets are hiding in there, which is an interesting little setup. And of course, because we are in a high-spec Land Cruiser, we've got a cool box in the middle here. I mean, that is a nice thing to have. But let me tell you, Denza said, hold my refrigerator beverage when they saw this because they've really gone one level up over this. We'll show you that in a minute. But otherwise, we've got seats that are broad and comfortable. They are heated. They are vented. They've got electric adjustment with memory. That's all pretty good. A lot of buttons on the steering wheel once again. And it works. Let's just put it that way, I suppose. It's quality. It feels nice. But I suppose in comparison to that Denza, there's a risk that for some buyers, this is just woefully out of date. One interesting tidbit of information about this 300 Series Land Cruiser is that when they went from the 200 to the 300, they actively decided to not make it a larger vehicle in terms of length or wheelbase. And you can kind of feel that in the second row here because even though this is a massive car on the outside, the amount of space you have in the second row is probably not as big as you would expect. That's my driving position up front there. I'm around 1.8 meters tall. I've got legroom. I've got headroom as well. I'm comfortable, right? But it's not hugely spacious. It's worth pointing out. Now, I do have a nice amount of tilt in this backrest at the moment. The seat is flat and broad. That's all pretty good. But I feel like the other Denza here might have a little bit more space overall. We've got a lot of physical controls here, though. This second row of the Land Cruiser probably has more buttons in it than the Denza overall, to be honest with you. We've got climate control. We've got heating and venting for the seats and all of that sort of thing. This works well for a family. I think this is good enough, but I don't think I would be calling it excellent at the same time. Now, we don't have a third row in this Land Cruiser that we have here at the moment, GR Sport, but you can get seven-seat Land Cruisers in other trim levels in the run. Now, that's worth pointing out here. But otherwise, this is good, I think, without being great. Well, we get a lot of comments on our YouTube channel about Toyota offering yesterday's products at tomorrow's prices. I think what Denza has really done here is flip that. We've got pretty much tomorrow's vehicles at yesterday's prices. This is a car that is tens of thousands of dollars cheaper than the Land Cruiser. But in terms of standard kit, it absolutely blows it away. Now, firstly, this screen. Yes, we can talk about inches and all that sort of thing, but just look at the size of it. It is absolutely massive. It dominates this dashboard here, and it actually absorbs a lot of the functionality as well. So that philosophical difference here of would you prefer to have lots of buttons like you have in a Land Cruiser, or do you want the big screen? And then the fact that you need to actually go through this screen to find things like climate controls, fan speed. You can pull down from the top. There are some shortcuts. Some people will like it. If you're tech-savvy, you like that sort of thing, you're going to go for this Denza. But if you're a little bit more old-fashioned, you're probably going to really appreciate that simplicity of the Land Cruiser and the operation of it. Now, the screens don't slow down either. We've got a big digital cluster in front of us here. We've got a head-up display as well. And we've got some buttons. I'll give this Denza some credit here. We've got some buttons here. This is all similar to the BYD Shark in terms of the start, stop, and some of the operations of the car. And there are some controls here on the steering wheel, but maybe they don't feel as nice as the Land Cruiser overall in terms of some of the little touch points around the place. But in terms of storage, I think this Denza has the Land Cruiser beat. We've got nice storage here with wireless charging pads. We've also got this small underslung space here, which is quite handy. That's where you find your power outlets. Two cup holders with this really tricky little function to actually increase and decrease the height of them. But you know how that Land Cruiser's got the cool box? Well, the Denza. It's got a cool box with adjustable temperature all the way down to minus six, and you can crank this thing up to plus 50 if you actually want to make it a hot box. That's really cool. But perhaps the best thing about it, I'll show you from the second row, the access that you can get from this because it's actually quite a showstopper. Now the hits keep rolling with this fridge and hot box because check it out. Do you want to wow your passengers in the second row with a snack on the road? That is pretty special. That slides out electrically. That's the same fridge effectively that you're accessing from the center console there at the front. But you've got this little control here along with the control panel for all the functions that you have in this Denza B8. And of course, there is more here than what you have in that Land Cruiser 300. Heating, venting and massage for the four front seats. So the Land Cruiser might be the king off road, but I certainly feel like a king sitting in the second row of this Denza B8. Now this is the six seat model. You can get the Denza B8 at a lower price with a few less features and with a more regular three seat second row. But the Chinese market does love these captain's chairs arrangements here for a little bit more luxury and a few fancy features. Now, does this work for the family buyer? I don't think it probably does. But in terms of being a wowing, surprise and delight kind of car, this does do really well. Now in terms of legroom and headroom overall, I've got a lot more adjustment available here in the second row of this Denza so I can slide back a long way. I've got a bit more adjustment, all electrical by the way as well. I've got plenty of legroom, plenty of headroom on offer as well. And I don't have a transmission tunnel in the second row here like you do have in the Land Cruiser. And there's some nice attention to detail in this second row as well. So a cup holder that pops out here of the armrest, somewhere to store your phone that keeps it nice and secure and even a USB-C power outlet there. So you're really not left wanting in the second row of this B8. In fact, it really is quite special. Alright, now I'm in the cheap seats of the B8 up the back but they don't feel too cheap to be honest with you. Materials are still nice and I've still got some amenity in the back here. Cup holder, power outlet, air vents, I'm not missing out too much really. And in terms of space, it's not too bad I suppose. I've got myself in a position here in front where I'm plenty comfortable. This seat could of course slide forward a little bit more depending on the size of the occupants in each row. So listen, it's not as good as a people mover but as a six seat SUV, this is pretty good from the third row. Because we're missing a third row in the case of this Land Cruiser GR, we do have a good amount of boost space without anything getting in the way. There is over a thousand litres here with the second row still in place. Unfairly, the Denza has as little as 147 litres with all seats in place and that third row in particular. But when you fold that down, that number grows to just over 900 litres which is a solid number. Well, it's not a cheap car by any stretch of the imagination, this Land Cruiser. But I've got to say, behind the wheel at the moment, there is a lot of quality in the driving experience that we have here. Firstly, turbo diesel power, this 3.3 litre twin turbo setup. It is materially different of course to what you get in that Denza. It's diesel, it's not hybrid, there's no electric range here at all. But this is a really, really impressive powertrain because Toyota have gone to a hot V setup with these two turbochargers, there's no real discernible lag here. And even though that Denza has the advantage of electric torque, this feels more responsive. This feels peppier as well. It's got less torque, it's got less power, but this is a significantly lighter vehicle as well. So it feels crazy to say this, but this is the smaller and nimbler feeling vehicle out of the two by some margin. And I think that's good in areas where you're driving through corners, on rough roads, over pockmarks and that sort of thing. This GR Sport trim level in particular is helped by a couple of things. We've got 18 inch alloy wheels here with a fair amount of rubber in the sidewall, that is a good thing. And we've also got e-KDSS. So the Denza isn't the only vehicle here with some fancy technology in the suspension. We've got effectively active sway bars in this Land Cruiser. And what that allows for is a bit of suspension movement, a little bit of absorption there as well, but also some pretty good body control. And this does balance everything really quite nicely overall. I'm sure there's a lot of people who probably prefer the way the old 200 Series Land Cruiser drove because that was a really soft and cushy car. Of course, it had that V8 diesel as well, but this is more tied down. It feels more direct through the steering. It really goes where you point it and it matches so beautifully altogether. So even though that Denza has so much technological advancement underneath all of that sheet metal, I've got to say this Toyota Land Cruiser, it just feels really special in terms of the engineering that's gone into this car and just the way that it feels to drive. It feels so dialed and enjoyable. Now, it's really interesting to be driving this Denza in comparison to the Land Cruiser 300 Series because let's face it, even though we've given the Land Rover Defender a lot of awards in this category, for many Australians, the 300 Series is the benchmark, large, off-road, luxury, four-wheel drive. And there are some things that you notice straight away. Now, it's no small feat for a vehicle to make the Land Cruiser feel small and lightweight, but that is exactly what this Denza does. Now, first thing I'm going to talk about there is what just interrupted me there. Now, granted, I am talking to you over at the camera over there, so I'm not having my eyes militantly on the road at all times, but the driver monitoring system in this car is overbearing. We've seen this in a lot of cars recently, but I think when this is a luxury brand that is asking for $100,000 of your money for this car, I think we need to be a little bit more critical of this sort of thing because the car is refined, it's quiet, it's comfortable, it's spacious. It does all these things that are really good, but then you get these constant interruptions from the driver monitoring system, which for mine, it's just too much. It's overbearing and it is a bit annoying. There it goes again. My experience with this outside of doing this piece to camera right now is that it goes off too often and I can't seem to turn it off anywhere, so I'd be getting a little bit of blue tack, whacking it in that little screen there, and the problem does go away. That's just me personally. But otherwise, more broadly speaking, let's talk about the driving experience of this Denza. It is actually quite fascinating, to be honest with you. This twin electric motor powertrain, it's got huge amounts of power. It's got really good torque as well, obviously, but we've also got a lot of weight here. This is an incredibly heavy vehicle, so it never actually feels that fast, to be honest with you. Even it feels slightly laggy in comparison to the 300 Series Land Cruiser. Once you bury the foot and really ask it to get moving, progress is actually quite good. This car goes faster than, to be honest with you, it has any right to do. And rolling acceleration is good, and you can adjust that through the driving modes and that sort of thing as well. But around town, in normal mode, there is a little bit of tidiness that you need to put up with. Sorry about that interruption once again. And even though we do have some pretty fancy suspension here, hydraulic controls, height adjustment, you can probably hear that thud that we went through there. The sheer weight of this car means that even though we've got fancy independent suspension all around, there's a lot of weight to manage here. We've got big 20-inch wheels. The ride quality can feel a little bit harsh and jarring at times. This isn't as good a ride quality as you would get from other established luxury brands. Even that Land Cruiser 300 Series, well, it's priced like a luxury car. It has a better ride quality than what we have here. But this plug-in hybrid powertrain does bring a huge amount of advantages otherwise. Around town, it's smooth, it's quiet. It's potentially really cheap to run as well. If you're putting cheap electricity into this car, that's all really good stuff. Overall, this Denza B8, it's impressive, especially for the price. This is a car that is tens of thousands of dollars cheaper than that 300 Series Land Cruiser in direct comparison. That is really cool. And overall, the driving experience is impressive. Perhaps not as polished overall as what you get with that Land Cruiser. And the weight of this car is a problem that is really hard to hide. But credit where credit's due, because this is mostly a very impressive car. Now it's time for the off-road part of this comparison to see which of these is more capable in low speed, technical and challenging driving. GR Sport is an interesting thing for Toyota to add to the 300 Series Land Cruiser. It's something that's more focused, generally speaking, at track performance, on-road performance, not necessarily off-road performance, historically for Toyota. But this is a slightly different feeling, I suppose. But importantly, we do have some important things here. So this GR Sport does get front and rear diff locks as standard fit. That is really cool. But we also have eKDSS, so adjustable sway bars for, theoretically, better off-road performance. And also we've got 18 inch wheels wrapped in tyres that are not overly aggressive, but we do at least have a bit of sidewall. So coming up to our hill now, let's see how this car goes. I don't have the diff locks engaged right now. The centre diff is locked in, but I've got it in multi-terrain select in rock mode, which does seem to be a pretty good fit. Now let's see if we can crawl up this hill as slowly as we possibly can. The torque from this engine, it's beautiful, it's easy, really nice and slow to control as well, which is exactly what you want. Now as we start to run out of articulation here and traction, this car is just crawling. Jeez, it's actually really good. It's not even raising a sweat. There we go. A little bit of slide there, but still going forward, up and over the rocks. A little bit of mud flap there, scraping along. Oh, I tell you what, that is actually really impressive. I haven't turned on the diff locks. I'm just in the rock crawl mode. I didn't hear the traction control go off from the driver's seat. The car wasn't actually scrabbling. Oh, there it goes ever so slightly. A little bit of traction control there, but actually up through the ruts there, this thing is really good. We've got to take our hats off, I think, to this 300 Series Land Cruiser. It is a very effective off-road vehicle and the way it does it is through traditional means. We don't have a live axle, of course, but we've got a full-time four-wheel drive system with mechanical locking center diff. We've got those locking front and rear diffs as well if we want them, but it's time-honored. You can ask, why hasn't Toyota updated and changed the Land Cruiser? Well, because what we've got here, it works. Another impressive feature of this 300 Series Land Cruiser is what they call DAC, D-A-C, Downhill Assistance. It's pretty much their hill descent control, but it's also a crawl control, which takes over pretty much all of your speed and throttle. But the one good thing that I like about it is that it's smooth and it operates at a really, really low speed, which is exactly what you want. So I'm currently going down this hill completely foot off the pedals and even when this car is lifting wheels, coming down, it's very fast to actually slow progress. It's very smart. It's very smooth. There's a lot of time and effort that goes into tuning these systems. And Toyota, it's been one of their strengths for many years now and it continues to be the case in this Land Cruiser. It's a really good system and you can actually control it via this big mode select dial here. So it's really, really user-friendly and that speed is, I've got to say, impressively low, really nicely controlled. So for someone who's not maybe as confident behind the wheel in off-road situations like this, the car kind of takes over for you. It's pretty impressive. Well, in news that would surprise exactly zero people, this Land Cruiser is an excellent off-roader. Really, really good. Top marks, especially in this GR Sport trim level. It's got all the tricks and it does it in an old school way that just works. Now it's time. Let's see what this Denza can do in comparison to the Land Cruiser. There's a chance that the Denza will make it up this hill. This is a fairly capable four-wheel drive. It's got things like low range on the rear axle only. It's got locking diffs. It's got crawl modes and that sort of thing. So where something like a BYD Shark really struggles, I expect this will do better. But the interesting thing for me is how much different is it in comparison to the Land Cruiser? This car is obviously much heavier and it's got a different suspension setup. Independent suspension all around that generally speaking doesn't lend itself well to things like articulation and stability. Definitely going to lift some wheels here. Let's see how we go. This is quite easily the heaviest vehicle I've taken up this hill over the years. Good camera system here. We've got electric first drive as well. And it's worth pointing out actually, I'm in rock mode at the moment. Now that automatically turns on the locking rear differential. I've turned that off, not because it's bad, but just because I want that apples to apples comparison with the Land Cruiser 300 series to see how it goes. The Cruiser didn't need it and it really didn't break a sweat getting up the hill. Let's see if the Denzer can do the same. All right, already running out of articulation there a little bit. Traction control kicking in. The car's responding pretty quickly actually and moving forward. Starting to slip and slide around a little bit though. All of that weight, it's hard to manage, right? But we're still on the way upwards here. So steady throttle. It's doing pretty well, let's be honest. Here's a bit of a rock. We're trying to step over here on the front. Now what I'm doing is just keeping that throttle steady as possible, letting the car try and figure it out without that locking diff. I don't think it's going to do it though. Now I could mash the throttle as well and see what happens then. A little bit harder. There we go. That's doing better. It's good, that's good. Oh, big lump of a vehicle this. Well, it's done it. It's got up. It's a capable four-wheel drive this, absolutely no doubt. Especially considering the fact that this is a really, really heavy thing. It's really using that traction control system there to get up though. But the additional torque from that low range on the rear makes a big difference, I think. And the traction control tuning is actually pretty good as well. So listen, it's not as naturally capable as the Land Cruiser, but you know what? It's got the diff locks as well. They're there if you want to use them. That's a good thing to have. Let's turn those on quickly and just see what happens. There we go. Now, front and rear diff locks turned on. And there's no requirement for traction control anymore because... Oh, a big wheel lift on the front there. It just crawls. So I think credit where credit is due for this Denza. It is... It's good. It's clearly a rung or two above the BYD Shark, which is a little bit of a letdown off-road. This is less so, absolutely. It's what you would call more of a proper four-wheel drive in terms of capability. Can it lay a glove on that Land Cruiser though? I don't think so. The suspension doesn't lend itself to it. And the weight is such a big challenge to overcome with this car. It does a really good job of it, don't get me wrong. But it's something that physics... You just can't get around that, right? Now we're going down the same hill now in the Denza B8 and we're using what they call kind of hilariously creep mode, which is like an off-road cruise control, I suppose. It's not describing that one funny uncle that comes to Christmas. It is a pretty good system, actually. It's not as smooth and as good as the Land Cruiser. It sort of lets the car go and then pulls it back in again. So it's not doing as good a job. But once again, the job is harder here because we've got less articulation, less stability and more weight to manage. But the technology is still there and it would be really beneficial for someone who's a bit less experienced behind the wheel to use. This is a vehicle that even if you're a more seasoned or experienced four-wheel driver, you'd probably have to relearn the way to drive this car a little bit. Because it's so technology heavy in terms of the capability that's on offer. It's not that traditional capability that you get with a Land Cruiser. It approaches it from a completely different manner. Mostly it's from software. It's not as smooth as I would like through here, to be honest with you. I'm sort of getting on and off the brakes here a bit, trying to get it through smoothly. But we're not bottoming out. We've got great suspension clearance, obviously, because we've got height adjustable stuff here. So I'm not bottoming out anywhere. There's no issues with the tires. That's all pretty good. So what did we learn about this Denza? Listen, from the driver's seat, it felt capable, but not naturally so. But it's interesting to see what it looks like from the outside. So let me know in the comments, what did you think? Because from here, I can't see it from the outside, but I can feel it, I guess, doing a good job, but having to work much harder to get to that level. I reckon if we found a hill that was even slipperier, even steeper, or had deeper ruts, or something like that, then the gap would start to widen between the Land Cruiser and the Denza. But it gets a solid pass mark. It's really good. It's just not that excellent inherent capability, from my point of view, than what you get with the Land Cruiser. So good, but not better. Well, the rain is coming down here out in the bush. It's been, to be honest with you, not the nicest day. It's been cold, windy, plenty wet as well. But the interesting thing about this day is absolutely the comparison of these two cars. They are head-to-head in so many ways, but at the same time, they are so incredibly different. Now, what we've seen, I think, is some of the strengths of this Toyota Land Cruiser, they still shine through in terms of off-road capability, the way the car drives, a bit of that engineering. Now, it is a really nice car just to be in and be around, I think. But we are seeing a glimpse of the future here with this Denzer B8. What they have managed to do with this big behemoth is quite amazing. And how much car you are physically getting for your money, well, it absolutely blows the Toyota away from that point of view. Now, which one is better? There is a bit of a horses-for-courses argument to be had here. Me, personally, this is very personally, by the way, I choose the Toyota because I'm kind of turning into a crusty old man already. I really like what that car does in terms of capability, what it says on the tin. I like the idea of diesel power. Personally, over hybrid for the time being. But, this thing, it's tens of thousands of dollars cheaper. It's got electric-only driving range, it's got a really impressive interior, so much technology. So, this is, ostensibly, the better car in so many metrics. It may not be as good off-road, it may not drive as well, but it's just got way too many advantages to be overlooked. So, for most people, this is the choice. For the hardcore four-wheel driver, this one still stands out. Now, while I'm standing out here in the rain, do me a favour, let me know what you think in the comments below. Have I got it wrong? Give me a thumbs up while you're there as well. And, as always, thank you for watching.