Toyota’s Tiniest Land Cruiser Will Make You Forget All About Slate’s Eventual Existence

Yes, Toyota still makes a three-door version of the Series 70, and it’s surprisingly cheap.

Close-up of a black Land Cruiser roof rack with embossed lettering, illuminated by warm sunlight.

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Published 2 hours ago

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Updated 30 minutes ago

We’re big fans of Toyota’s Series 70 Land Cruiser here at the GP motoring desk. Almost every variant or iteration that comes out catches our eye and makes us drool.

Enter the Series 70 short-wheelbase model. While we’re familiar with the standard long-wheelbase five-door version and the workhorse pickup, we had no idea a three-door version existed, let alone a convertible three-door version.

Until now. (Yes, we may have been living under a rock.) Feast your eyes on this fantastic shorty Series 70.

The tiny and modest Land Cruiser we never knew existed

It was just a few years ago when Toyota reintroduced its Series 70 for select export markets. These include South Asia, Australia, Africa and South America.

The relaunch included the standard long-wheelbase five-door version, along with the pickup variant for those who need a true workhorse. But Toyota was shockingly coy about its three-door version, which is why we’re a bit surprised to learn that it exists.

Beige Toyota Land Cruiser SUV with black grille and silver bumper on a white background. — This three-door Land Cruiser Series 70 is the cheap, small Toyota truck that America deserves.

Toyota’s own official Land Cruiser YouTube channel recently got a chance to check it out with Toyota Racing and rally driver Takamoto Miura and Land Cruiser’s Chief Engineer Masaya Uchiyama. It looks as epic as you’d imagine.

The cheap, small Toyota 4×4 we really should be getting

White two-door off-road SUV with black wheel arches and alloy wheels on a white background. — Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better than the five-door Series 70, Toyota also sells a rare three-door model.

Miura and Uchiyama both go into detail overviewing some of the short-wheelbase model’s unique features. First, the duo highlights the base-model commercial three-door variant, which is about as modest as it gets.

Manual crank windows, cloth seats, vinyl interior trim bits and even a factory snorkel. Then, the true unicorn comes out.

Beige open-top off-road vehicle with red side decals and two passengers inside. — But the rarest of the rare is this convertible three-door variant, which is a hot item in the Middle East.

Not only does the droptop three-door model come with a removable roof. The front windshield can fold down and forward, allowing for better forward access and visibility, a feature likely used for farm workers.

According to Uchiyama, the three-door convertible variant in any form is one of the rarest configurations available. It’s not available to the Japanese market and 90 percent of these specific builds get sent to the Middle East. The other 10 percent make it to select markets in Southern Asia.

Beige open-top 6x6 off-road vehicle with gray bench seats and two men standing nearby. — If only we could get a Toyota Land Cruiser this cool on our shores.

The best part: it only costs around $49,000 USD with today’s conversion rates. Power comes from either a 129-horsepower 4.2-liter naturally aspirated diesel inline-six dating back to 1990 or a more modern 4.0-liter “1GR-FE” gasoline V6 good for around 228 horsepower.

With all the hype surrounding the demand for cheaper, more affordable trucks and SUVs, this only makes us want the Series 70 even more.

About the Author: Chris Chin is an associate editor at Gear Patrol, covering cars, trucks and anything else with four wheels. He has over a decade of experience writing news and reviews but considers himself an enthusiast first, with a passion for classics and European cars. His daily driver is a 1987 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL with nearly 250,000 miles (87,000 are his).

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