Toyota has expanded the Land Cruiser (LC) 70 Series in South Africa with a new five-speed manual gearbox option.
Mated to the 70 Series’ 2.8-litre, turbo-diesel engine, the new manual powertrain joins the existing six-speed automatic and is priced at R887,000 for the 79 Single Cab, and R969,800 for the 76 Station Wagon.
The country’s best-selling automaker believes this new transmission option will broaden the appeal of the LC range in South Africa.
With the introduction of the manual 2.8GD-6, Toyota has discontinued the previously available LC 76 4.5 V8 diesel manual.
“When we phased out the LC 76 4.5 V8 Diesel Manual Transmission Station Wagon a few months ago, we anticipated that some customers would miss having a manual gearbox in the lineup,” said Glenn Crompton, Vice President of Marketing and Technical Services at Toyota South Africa.
“With that in mind, we wanted to make sure we could provide a variety of powertrain options for all our customers, and this new manual transmission is a perfect fit for their needs.”
Made to work
The new 2.8-litre manual entry produces 150kW and 450Nm – a downgrade of 50Nm compared to the automatic models.
The shifter features unique gear ratios and strengthened components to suit the usage of the Land Cruiser 70 Series.
Compared with the previous V8 manual, the new manual gearbox has been designed to make the most of the four-cylinder engine’s higher torque output with shorter first, second, and third gears to aid start-off performance.
It also has a longer fifth gear to help improve fuel economy and reduce engine noise when cruising at highway speeds.
A new flywheel, compatible with a 12-inch clutch, has also been adopted for the new powertrain for improved clutch slip resistance, while a triple synchronisation mechanism has been added for the first gear to enhance shifting operability.
The manual variants further add a dust seal to the rear end plate to prevent ingress of foreign matter to the release bearing.
Apart from the deletion of the front console box due to the packaging of the manual gear shifter, as well as downhill assist control, all variants equipped with the manual transmission offer the same level of equipment and share the same gross combination mass and towing capacity as their automatic counterparts.
“The strength, capability, and towing and off-road performance of the four-cylinder automatic powertrain has already been very well received by customers and the new manual option will further broaden that appeal,” said Crompton.
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