4 minute read • Mater Cars For Cancer, Car Lottery, Mater Lotteries, Car News, Cars For Cancer
Win Big with a 300-Series Toyota LandCruiser GR Sport
Aussies love the LandCruiser; we always have. Because they do most anything we ask with little complaint, and they just keep getting better. The latest 300-series LandCruiser GR Sport sits near the top of the range, but at $150,507, it won’t suit everyone’s budget. You don’t have to miss out though—grab a ticket in Mater Cars for Cancer lottery No. 114 and you could win big.
The latest LandCruiser GR Sport is one trick truck, and a far cry from the first batch of rudimentary FJ25-series LandCruiser cab-chassis imported back in 1957. Brought over by Thiess Constructions for the gruelling Snowy Mountains Scheme, the LandCruiser, was unknown outside of Japan. Thiess normally used the well-proven Land Rover, but the Brits simply weren’t building them quick enough.
Did the original LandCruiser flatten the Snowys as if they were a mere speedbump? No, like most cars in those severely rugged conditions, the LandCruiser broke; it’s what came next that forged the legend. Whereas some manufacturers may have buried their heads in the soft and peaty alpine soil and ignored the problem, Toyota dispatched a team of engineers to New South Wales who were able to rectify further problems as they arose, send parts back to Japan for analysis, suggest production improvements based on firsthand experience and off the back of every breakdown, make the LandCruiser the best of the breed.
Sir Leslie Thiess was suitably impressed and ever the entrepreneur, expanded his business interests to include distribution of the Toyota brand in Australia, marking our nation among the first export destinations of what is now an automotive global powerhouse. Thus, the LandCruiser quickly became part of our landscape, so much so that it’s almost a naturalised Aussie. You’ll find a well-worn FJ-series in any corner of this nation you care to look, because over the last five decades, the LandCruiser has been the go-to go-anywhere car for farming, government, mining, and any other industry that requires a robust workhorse.
Toyota’s ubiquity can be traced back to those Snowy Mountains trucks because the company wanted to ensure their machines were fit for purpose, and they’ve been doing so ever since. Case in point, Toyota quickly identified a need for a more comfortable but no less capable off-roader, and in 1967 they spun their LandCruiser wagons off into the 50-series, designed for export to Australia and the USA, and featuring less utilitarian styling and appointments. It was a prescient move; the popularity of 4WD wagons, or SUVs as we now call them, increased unabated in the proceeding decades.
Toyota’s separate work and wagon ranges continue today, with the rugged and rough 70-series catering to the job sites and the 300-series able to handle plenty of rough stuff while ensuring the occupants are cocooned in luxury on the drive to work. The latest LandCruiser GR Sport could be considered Toyota’s ultimate offering when it comes to marque, as although it sits one level under the top-of-the-range, it has a bunch of handy off-roading features only available to that spec. Of course, once you cram a car full of tech and luxury, not to mention utmost reliability, the price adds up. But if you grab a ticket in the latest Mater Cars for Cancer lottery, a brand-new 300-series LandCruiser it might only cost you $30.
Like the rest of the 300-series range, the GR Sport is powered by a 3.3 litre twin turbo V6 and has a 3.5 tonne towing capacity; both handy features as the winner will also receive a Zone RV Family Sojourn caravan. The GR Sport’s differentiator is in the axles and suspension, with some useful inclusions for those off-road adventures.
Locking differentials are a must when the tracks get slippery, but they’re rarely included in SUVs these days; traction control systems are pretty good and a lot of fourbies don’t get too far off the tarmac anyway. Toyota includes front, rear and central differential locks in the LandCruiser GR ensuring this wagon has no trouble regardless of road surface.
Most road vehicles use torsion-sprung swaybars to prevent the vehicle from leaning too far over during corning, but off-road, they hamper axle travel and can leave you with a wheel clear in the air if the terrain is terrible. Toyota includes E-KDSS in the LandCruiser GR, which enables the driver to disconnect the swaybars at the flick of a switch.
All up, the LandCruiser GR Sport is a premium package with all the safety and interior luxuries you can think of. One local review even posited that maybe it had too much luxury. Either that or too much off-road capability. Maybe that’s a fair point, but it certainly isn’t a criticism.
For your chance to win this awesome 300-series Toyota LandCruiser GR Sport, a Zone RV Family Sojourn caravan and $32,148 in cashable gold bullion, grab a ticket in Mater Cars for Cancer lottery No. 114 today; the last 19 lotteries sold out early, so don’t miss out on this $330,000 prize pool.
