Cruiser. What Toyota came up with was a most appropriate replacement. Although completely new in styling,
duty axles and leaf spring suspension. However, not everyone liked the heavy duty leaf spring suspension.
markets. Many complaints originated from 1st world countries, such as Japan, where off road ability and cargo
world and customers would be lost to softer riding vehicles if something was not done. Toyota did not want to
nicer riding suspension. The Bundera and Prado models were born.
The Bundera (or Land Cruiser II as it is sometimes called) was the short wheelbase version of this light duty
would be called the Prado and was most commonly sold as a 4 door wagon. The most striking differences
lighter duty axles that were similar in design to those found in the Hilux 4x4 truck. This was a technical
basic front suspension design would be standard on the 80 series in 1990, the 105 series in 1998 and the 78/79
spring design and after years of testing was found to sacrifice little if any durability and off road capability.
The Bundera, commonly called the RJ70 or LJ70 depending on the engine it used, used a new 8" ring="" gear="" high="">
axles. Hilux type engines were also used. Either the R series (As in 22R) petrol, or the L series diesel engines
axles and engines did reduce the weight somewhat, however, these Land Cruisers were still a bit heavy for the
70 series Bundera. Most customers who would purchase a short wheel base 70 series preferred the heaviest
so slow, that Toyota considered ending Bundera production. By 1989, the Bundera was only sold in a very few
although the suspension and chassis remains basically unchanged. Around 1993, the Bundera faded away into
necessarily searching for the ultimate off road vehicle. Most Prado customers were simply looking for
much larger and more expensive Land Cruiser 80 series. Since then, the Prado later evolved into the 90 series
expensive than the flagship Land Cruiser 100.