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Toyota's Land Cruiser is truly a global vehicle. In the past fifty-five years, some four million Land Cruisers have been sold in more than 125 countries. Originally a crude but highly utilitarian off-roader patterned after American military jeeps, the Land Cruiser has branched out to encompass a plethora of shapes, styles, and amenities. Toyota's oldest nameplate, the Land Cruiser has been built in the form of a pickup and an SUV, as a softtop and a hardtop, with two doors and four. Today, the Land Cruiser sold in America comes in only one body style and a single trim level, an eight-seat SUV loaded with at least as many luxury features as off-road items. It's exactly the sort of vehicle we love having in our Four Seasons fleet, even if the price of gas conspired against it over the course of the year.

Often stereotyped as extreme environmentalists, hybrid drivers actually come in a variety of flavors. Some do drive the cars as a personal statement of their love and commitment to the Earth, but others are actually car geeks who appreciate technology for technology's sake. No matter how efficient their green ride is, these owners are always looking for the next step.

It all started out innocently enough back in 2004, when Toyota brought over its Japanese-market bB and called it the Scion xB. To everyone's surprise (including Toyota), it caught on like wildfire, outselling the more conventional xA by a margin of nearly two-to-one.