Thanks for this thread! It's interesting to see how the Land Cruiser has evolved from a bare bones off-roader into the luxurious flagship that it is today. Each interior over time became more comfort oriented, which started to drastically show with 80-series and 100-series. These are king in Africa, especially in my parents' homeland of Nigeria. Almost all of our relatives have one, as well as several ranging from the 80s to the 200s(as well as a few Lexus LXs and GXs) at our own homes that are used during visits. Sadly, most of the LC100, 120, 150, 200 buyers there are government officials, with the rest being civilians or oil expatriates. I'd say that the LS400 and LX450 are what initially attracted my attention to Lexus, before the LX470 solidified it.

 

Actually, the Gelandewagen was actually developed from 1972 and introduced in 1979. The current model I have developmentally dates back to 1987 when a comfort-oriented variant was greenlighted, That is the W463 introduced in 1989 and sold from 1990 as a '91 model, not the original W460. When you refer to tank-solidness, I can say I'd rather use a G-wagen as against a much larger LC200 or LX570. The only thing is that I feel more comfortable using an older G-wagen(pre-2001 models), as against my own since those are not as fragile and have a higher ground clearance than an AMG-tuned G55.

I've only driven/been driven in the LC200 and LX570 offroad in different parts of the Africa and Asia, but not necessarily here in the US or in England/Europe, so I really couldn't compare how each perform side-by-side as those are vastly different environments. I can say that the LC200 and LX570 handle potholes extremely well on the streets of Nigeria(plus a few other developing countries), but in an early-mid 2000s G-wagen it's another story. The LC and the LX are notably more comfort-oriented in general, so it's no surprise why they wouldn't feel as robust as a G-wagen which isn't a family vehicle like they are. I can vouch that reliability is much better, as our '09 LC200 4.5d V8 could be left garaged for months on end back in Central England and still be in excellent condition. I constantly have to nag my father about not neglecting my G55 while I'm away, as reliability may be definitely better than the rest of the M-B line up, but I wouldn't dare take the risk like I would with a Toyota/Lexus.

 

That first, original, interior is great - the rest are a bit plastic fantastic, culminating in the LX which seems to have a 1980s midi-hifi unit making up much of the dashboard.