SAC unleashes “The Beast” Land Cruiser 200VX

Following an array of retrofit improvements, the Steves Auto Clinic (SAC) group in South Africa now offers Namibian offroaders what has been described as the Best Cruiser Ever.
The engineers at Steves Auto Clinic have long suspected that the 4.5 D-4D V8 turbo-diesel engine that hides under the bulging bonnet of the Toyota Land Cruiser VX200 could offer so much more.
Now,there is more to this imposing off-roader than the 173kW and 615Nm that the turbo-diesel engine is rated for when it leaves the factory in Japan. It is after all a V8 fitted with two turbos, so gaining extra power, is possible.
After countless hours spent on the dynamometer SAC have found a way to unleash the Toyota Land Cruiser VX’s hidden power. So much power was lying in reserve, they decided to call this power upgrade, “The Beast”.
SAC work very closely with the team from Dastek Power and Unichip to develop, test and fit these performance enhancing chips. What distinguishes SAC from the competition is that they map the engine in three dimensions and consider engine speed and engine load alongside other parameters, such as fuel mixture, boost and ignition.
Their engineers are also not happy with merely testing a conversion once and then fitting it to any vehicle and hope that it works properly. They monitor and test new performance upgrades to breaking point and still insist that every vehicle that is fitted with the conversion be tested in full on their dynamometer to ensure that the chip considers the vehicle’s condition and age, the driver profile and the environment and altitude in which the vehicle will be used daily.
As for “The Beast”, it brings an increase of more than 20 percent in vehicle power and 50 percent more torque sound like? That’s right, your Toyota Land Cruiser VX200 will now have around 200kW and 900Nm on tap. These are torque levels previously reserved for trucks and supercars. In addition, this Unichip Plug and Play conversion offers five different engine maps (programmes) that have all been tested and proven in South African conditions by the SAC test engineers.
The first map allows for a standard operation, which is exactly as the engine left the factory. Next up is a special map that changes the V8’s character to prioritise fuel economy, this is a very popular choice for city dwellers stuck in regular traffic.
Then the Off-Road and Towing selection, which completely changes the engines’ operation to befit low-down grunt and which makes the engine very responsive to the accelerator.
Map 4 and 5 will unleash “The Beast” from its cage. In Map 4 you have access extra power, and it will immediately change in acceleration and top speed.
In Map 5 mode you will find yourself pushed back in your backrest as the big and bulky 200 Series suddenly forgets about its weight, ignores the laws of physics and bolts forward.
“We increase the power in several stages and we can offer the Land Cruiser VX200 Series owner a Unichip and dynamometer fitment, a new big bore exhaust and other specialist tweaks that gradually build up the power to its ultimate level,” concluded Fischer.