BY Alex Julius

There couldn’t be too many Toyota Landcruiser Sahara V8 owners who would take such an upmarket, luxury vehicle on a grueling 4WD trek through Arnhem Land – a trip that required fording no less than four major river crossings – but that’s what AJ did, and we suspect he’s still shaking from the experience.

“Here we go Riggers, this is perfect,” I said as I pulled up in front of the King River .

Tony Rigby and I had left Darwin early that day. With the Territory’s unrestricted speed limit on the open road, and a mischevious curiosity to put my still-new Cruiser – with its 4.7 litre V8 petrol engine – through its paces, it had been a very quick start to the trip.

Well, if the truth be known, we had been smokin’. We belted out along the Arnhem Highway , flashed through Kakadu National Park , stopping only for fuel at Jabiru, and then drove over the East Alligator River crossing hardly two and a half hours later. Not bad considering we obeyed the speed limits in those places they were in place, and still clocked up nearly 300 km. At one point on a long, flat, rifle-barrel stretch of road, I gripped the Sahara’s leather-bound steering wheel with both hands, flexed my arms out straight, and then uttered that boys’ own cliché that is invariably accompanied by a glint through squinting eyes and a flash of clenched, grinning teeth.

“Let’s see what she can do, shall we?” I said to Riggers. I suppose I wasn’t surprised that this beautiful vehicle reached 188 kph before it stopped accelerating, albeit that I probably would have gained another couple of kays with the air-conditioner off. After all, I’d managed to get 178 kph out of my previous 100 Series GLX turbo diesel Landcruiser. But I was surprised at just how well the big wagon handled the pace. It just seemed to glide along the road, with no discernible vibration. According to the literature, both the new GLX and Sahara in the LC100 range, have Independent Front Suspension, combined with rack and pinion steering, offering superior ride and greatly improved high-speed stability and handling. And the Sahara also has Vehicle Stability Control and Active Traction Control. I knew there had to be good reason for the limo-style ride of this immaculate vehicle.
The drive through Arnhem Land was interesting for more than river crossings. This is where Cyclone Fay nudged the Top End coast in March 2004.

So, getting back to the King River , at that point in the trip, Tony and I were already well inside Arnhem Land which occupies the north-east portion of the NT’s Top End. Proclaimed as an Aboriginal reserve in 1931, a permit is required to visit this ultra-remote, incredibly-rugged and largely-unspoiled land mass abutting the Arafura Sea .

We were on our way to Arnhemland Barramundi Nature Lodge, about 20 km from Maningrida, which meant driving over more than 300 km of rugged, unsealed and often washed-out gravel sections, most of which hadn’t seen a grader since before the previous wet season. We also had four major rivers and a number of creeks to cross.
With numerous features to make driving ultra-comfortable and an absolute pleasure, on the open road, the Landcruiser Sahara V8 is in a class of its own

Here we were at the first, which also gave me an excellent water-crossing photo opportunity which I needed. We went through relatively easily, pushing a wave ahead of the vehicle; although a hole in the middle of the crossing put the bonnet right under for a couple of metres. For this crossing, I’d allowed the Cruiser to govern its own destiny. The LC100 Sahara has what Toyota calls Active Traction Control (TRC). Like all Cruisers, the Sahara is constantly in high-range 4WD. However, TRC will automatically kick in whenever it senses the vehicle needs more traction. It does this by utilising the vehicle’s 5-speed automatic Super Electronic Control Transmission (ECT) with lock-up torque converter, and by locking in the Centre Differential and ensuring appropriate power is distributed to all wheels.

The drive through Arnhem Land was interesting for more than river crossings. This is where Cyclone Fay nudged the Top End coast in March 2004.

Only a couple of days before this trip, there’d been some unseasonal heavy falls across the Top End. Unfortunately, because I couldn’t find anyone who had been over the road in the last 48 hours, I didn’t quite know what to expect. The King River hadn’t been too bad, but it was all downhill from there. The next three major river crossings – the Goomadeer and the two tributaries of the Liverpool - were all far deeper than I’d expected and flowing faster than I was comfortable with. Each time the water went right over the bonnet, and each time for longer than before. In a diesel Toyota Landcruiser, one fitted with a snorkel, I would not have worried at all. But a petrol automatic was not meant to handle these sorts of conditions. About the best thing going for it was that at least they were all fairly short river crossings, with the dangerously deep sections only 3 or 4 metres long.

Although the Sahara ’s TRC had impressed me with that first crossing over the King River , from then on, I decided to take control of my own destiny, and chose to ford those deep crossings in conventional first-gear, low-range 4WD, with the centre diff lock selected manually in advance.

All went well until the last Liverpool River crossing which at its deepest point was about 1.2 m. I won’t go into details but, for various reasons, we simply had to get to Maningrida, and that meant taking the plunge, if you can excuse the obvious pun. Nerve-racking doesn’t do justice to how I felt as the bow wave I pushed ahead slowly crept up the front of the Cruiser before, once again, flowing right over the top of it.

There is not much spared in Toyota ’s top-of-the-range Landcruiser 100 series Sahara V8, including elegant full leather seat trim and DVD Satellite Navigation.

With the previous crossings, once the bonnet went under, I figured the best thing to do was to flatten the accelerator and get the engine out as quickly as possible. I figured the longer it was submerged, the more chance of electrical connections failing and of water getting into the air intake which would have been fatal.

That’s what I did again but this time the bonnet seemed to stay under forever. I remember cursing loudly…something bad had to happen and I couldn’t believe what I was doing to what is really a luxury vehicle. The engine must have already been under for 4 or 5 metres when it began to lose power. That was it…I knew it was over, and I yelled a profanity. But suddenly – perhaps miraculously – it found some torque and surged forward. Before I knew it, the bonnet reappeared and we were driving out of the deep section.

Once out of trouble, I pulled up and looked at the instrument panel. There were half a dozen warning lights on and oil pressure was down to zilch. I quickly turned the engine off and got out of the car feeling quite shaken.

We lifted the bonnet and you can imagine how much water we saw dripping off the engine and around the guards. At this stage, I should explain that, had I had a tarp or similar with me, I would have been well advised to secure it across the front of the Cruiser before each river crossing. Prior to the trip, I had it in my mind that the engine-cooling fan had a clutch which stopped it from turning should it propel onto the radiator during a deep water crossing. There was no evidence of damage to the radiator, so either the clutch worked or the fan simply did not bend forward enough to hit the radiator. Regardless, if I had to do it again, I would definitely put a tarp between the grill and the bow wave as it would definitely reduce the amount of water flowing onto the engine.

We let the engine dry for half an hour or so, hoping the warning lights on the instrument panel were more a reflection of water on electrical connections rather than more serious issues. When I started it again, the oil pressure went back to normal and only one light remained. That was the orange light that looks like an engine. All the manual had to say about that particular light was to take the vehicle as soon as possible to your Toyota dealer. Yeah right, I thought.

I took it nice and easy for the remaining 80 km to the Lodge. Once again, I put the bonnet up, and the engine warning light was no longer evident an hour later when I started the car again.

With numerous features to make driving ultra-comfortable and an absolute pleasure, on the open road, the Landcruiser Sahara V8 is in a class of its own.

From the research I’ve done for this article – and most definitely to satisfy my own curiosity because I’m still flabbergasted that we came out unscathed at the other end of this amazing adventure – I truly believe the Landcruiser’s state-of-the-art electronic componentry – which shuts down unnecessary loads on the engine when maximum power and torque are required – combined with incredibly water-tight sealed connections, made the difference.

The fact that no water got into the airtake and internally into the engine – which would have turned the conrods into spaghetti – may have been more good luck than good management. But I can tell you that, on closer inspection, for water to get in, it would have had to come in from under the righthand guard, and through a fairly narrow opening. That would happen more easily if the vehicle was stationary rather than moving forward through water.

In case you’re wondering how we got back again, well I flew back from Maningrida and Tony stayed on as the Lodge’s new chef. The Sahara went back to Darwin by barge. I just didn’t have it in me to take on that adventure again, and on my own, just a couple of days later.

And what do I think of the Toyota LC100 Sahara V8? Well, it is not only the smoothest, most-beautiful-to-drive and most-comfortable vehicle that I have ever owned; it is by far and away the most amazing four-wheel-drive that I have ever experienced.