Toyota Quietly Made the Land Cruiser 250 Smarter and Harder to Steal

Toyota has given the Land Cruiser 250 a quiet update in Japan, and it’s more about useful upgrades than anything flashy. The focus this time is on safety and theft protection, though for now, only the gasoline version gets the changes. 

On the outside, nothing really changes in terms of design. The updates are limited to the color palette. A new Neutral Black is replacing the old Black (202), plus a monotone Sand finish without the contrasting white roof. Those sit alongside Platinum White Pearl Mica and Avant-Garde Bronze Metallic.

There is one small visual tweak worth noting. The round Bi-Beam LED headlights, previously limited to the First Edition, can now be optioned on the VX. They give the front end a more classic look compared to the slimmer triple-beam rectangular LEDs.

Inside is where it starts to matter more. The VX now gets Toyota Teammate Advanced Drive, which brings traffic jam support, a driver-monitoring camera, front cross-traffic alert, lane change assist, and emergency steering assist. It also adds more comfort, with an eight-way power driver’s seat with memory and a four-way power adjustment for the front passenger.

Toyota also steps up the anti-theft side. The smart key system now checks distance more strictly, so the car will not unlock or start if the key is not nearby. On top of that, the T-Connect My Start Lock lets you remotely disable the engine altogether.

Under the hood, the Toyota Land Cruiser 250 stays the same. The 2.7-liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder makes 160 hp and 181 lb-ft of torque, paired with a six-speed automatic and full-time 4WD.

Pricing for the Land Cruiser VX gasoline 4WD seven-seater starts at ¥5,779,400 ($36,200), which is ¥329,400 ($2,100) more than before. If you are waiting for the diesel, that one arrives later, after December 2026.