2018 Toyota Land Cruiser

A common preference for the social elite of Dhaka, the Toyota Land Cruiser has served faithfully as the chariots of the rich and powerful for more than six decades now. The Land Cruiser Prado was the slightly smaller, slightly cheaper younger sibling to the full bore Land Cruiser, and found its niche in tax heavy third world markets like ours, where affording a V8 Land Cruiser means dishing out so much cash that it makes the Range Rover a viable alternative.

Good news then, since Toyota is bringing back the Prado. Designed for the European and Asian markets, the 2018 Land Cruiser doesn't yet bear the name "Prado", although we are likely to see the name reappear on grey market recondition imports from Japan.

Under the hood, the new LC comes with a choice of 2.8 D4-D direct injection 4-cylinder diesel, 2.7 VVT-i 4-cylinder petrol and 4.0 Dual VVT-i petrol V6 engines. The diesel and the petrol motors will be the ones likely brought into Bangladesh, since the tax for the 4.0 litre model is going to be prohibitively high. Still, not like the 4-cylinder motors don't produce enough power – the 2.8 D4-D puts out 177 HP and 272 lb-ft torque, while the 2.7 VVT-i manages 161 HP and 181 lb-ft torque. The usual amenities of a large SUV are to be expected.