My colleagues told me all about the Pan European launch of the new Toyota Land Cruiser. Ad nauseum.

Ditto for their off-road experiences 4,200 feet up in southern Spain’s Sierra de Almijara mountains and for every gully and man-made obstacle they met with and conquered in their Land Cruiser steeds.

More recently, they were out again savouring Land Cruiser’s delights on more daunting road surfaces, the crème-de-la-crème of Kildare’s back-roads.

Untimely illnesses dictated that I missed both. But heaven help me, there was no way I was going to pass up test drives in either the LWB or the SWB Commercial variants – which I opted for before their cosier, passenger-pampering, brethren.

Body-styling and interiors are ‘softer’. A bit on the RAVfourish side. But lest any of my macho off-road or construction-site engaged friends feel like shying away from this magnificent creature, let me assure them that the softness we are talking about is what the eye takes in at first glance.

The spacious cabin has an air of real quality. The view is commanding. And that high-riding position is what most men (and women) crave for.

A ‘clean uncluttered’ dashboard has to one of the best laid out in this sector with all major switches and controls falling easily to hand. Adjustable for height, rake (and lumbar), the driver’s seat is comfortable and supportive. And worth a special mention, is the way the side mirrors fold in at the press of a button.

Forget the soft edges. New Land Cruiser is tough, sturdy-built and as durable as ever. With all the rugged characteristics and the off-road reliability, that made the range famous – and such a big hit with Irish buyers who made it their number one choice for most of the last decade – this new Land Cruiser has winner written all over it. Not Paris-Dakar, or Dakar, but the real thing. Sales! Close to four million world-wide over the past fifty one years. Almost ten thousand sales, in Ireland, over the past 70 months.

I’ve always enjoyed my Land Cruiser driving experiences. Few vehicles, and no genuine off-roader that I’ve driven, will handle Irish roads half as good. If anything, the latest Land Cruiser is 10% better on tarmac surfaces than its erstwhile predecessor. And I say this on the back of some pretty hairy West of Ireland boreen experiences in a half-laden LWB Commercial. This babe will go anywhere. Pull anything.

Off-road, on the farm, or the rough construction sites where you tend to see lots of Land Cruisers, this newcomer is a capable handler. It should be. Toyota tested it in a variety of places, including Australia, where they’ve got some extraordinarily rough rocky climbs and descents. One is so steep they tell us that the previous model only got to the top with a professional test driver on board. An inexperienced driver, initially scared to sphincter spasms, found the new Land Cruiser so capable, he covered the course three times for the fun of it.

He might not have been able to do so had Toyota gone down the soft undercarriage route favoured by so many rival brands. Shying away from monocoque construction, Land Cruiser employs a traditional body-on-frame design with a greater resistance to twisting forces and the sort of strength required for hard-off road use. Apart from off-road virtues, tyre rumble and roar isn’t transmitted into the cabin of a body on a frame vehicle in the same way as it effects a monocoque design.

And sixty per cent more torsional rigidity in the body structure produces the sort of stability, comfort, and refinement levels we normally associate with the passenger car. And speaking of refinement, Toyota claim the Land Cruiser’s cab is markedly more refined than its predecessor with reduced drag co-efficient and upgraded insulation cutting road and wind noise to the bone.

Land Cruiser power, as for the outgoing model, comes from a 3-litre D-4D mill. Greatly improved, it kicks out 124kW (163hp) at 3400 rpm with 343 Nm of torque accessible between 1600-3200 rpm. Top speed is 103 mph. O to 62 mph takes just 12.7 seconds. And that’s not half bad shifting for a vehicle that turns the gvw scales at 2850 kg and sups diesel at the rate of 9.5 litres per 100km.