Toyota Mega Cruiser
In this tiny corner of the car world, calling certain vehicles weird sometimes requires a course correction. In 1995, on the Toyota Mega Cruiser’s debut, and in 2015, when I first emailed subscribers about it, the Mega Cruiser was quite strange. Honest.
Like AM General’s HMMVW-turned-Hummer H1, the Mega Cruiser started as a military contract-turned cocky civilian conveyance. Big-ass 4.1-liter diesel engine, that’s kind of odd.
(Specifically, it was an inline DOHC 4-cylinder turbodiesel that made 153 horsepower and 282 lb-ft. of torque. Toyota called it the 15B-FTE.)
Here’s the thing: in 2025, only its austere interior and diesel engine are weird. Less so the diesel, as it was used in a bunch of Toyota’s busses.
Let me be the first to say it: the Toyota Mega Cruiser isn’t all that weird anymore. It’s rare, sure, Toyota made only 113, but its spirit has transcended its limited production numbers.
From Toyota’s own lineup, your choice of similarly sized — or larger — off-road SUVs abound. Chinese-made SUVs will do the same, and then match or exceed the Mega Cruiser’s water fording or its once novel four-wheel steering. Can it ‘crab walk’, like an SUV from China? Nope.
Heck, even a Cadillac Escalade can do that party trick in 2025.
Skeptical? A Mega Cruiser isn’t all that mega. It’s about the size of a Toyota Sequoia (though shares a shorter overall length, like the Hummer H1).
Doug DeMuro has done a video on the Mega Cruiser. Reddit knows about it!
BXD-20 Mega Cruiser: Howabout that interior, eh? Pure luxury… Note how Toyota was keen to show off the Mega Cruiser’s four-wheel-steering and imposing stance from its choice of photo angles. • Toyota
The recent explosion of dedicated subcultures around off-roading — from motorcycles to modified Jeeps to lifted smart fortwos and Vipers — to say nothing of improved technology (tires especially) means that the community has surpassed factory-made. A Mega Cruiser may have Toyota reliability, but does it truly have Moab capability?
Yeah, it’s kind of strange that Toyota made an SUV that looks like a Hummer. Though, if you think about it…they all do.
For the reasons above, the Toyota Mega Cruiser is no longer a weird car…
michael banovsky
…it’s kind of like a Mercedes-Benz Funmog, without the fun part.
