Son of Land Cruiser

Robert Barry spends a week in the all-new Toyota Prado VX Limited and decides it’s a more urban friendly SUV than bigger sibling Land Cruiser 200 VX.

It’s bigger and more luxuriously appointed than ever before, with seven seats and the ability to tow a braked trailer up to two and half tonnes, which means the Prado VX Limited will easily appeal to Executive buyers with a family.
For business and lifestyle purposes the smaller footprint and amenity of the new Prado range makes more sense to urban dwellers than its much bigger brother the Land Cruiser 200 VX. It’s also significantly cheaper with three grades offered from $78,490 to $104,990 for the VX Limited pictured here.
The Prado VX Limited is well equipped with an on board DVD player, dual zone climate air-conditioning, USB iPod connection,  satellite navigation, glass sunroof, roof rails, as well as leather upholstery and upmarket trim which includes wood grain-look inserts on the steering wheel. Bluetooth is also standard as are remote steering wheel controls for the audio, cruise control and other driving functions.   
The Prado is even easier to park than the bigger Cruiser, given that it has four cameras on board rather than one. There is a camera located in the radiator grille, another on the rear hatch and another each stationed under the exterior mirrors.
These four cameras will allow you to see easily place the vehicle in tight car parks as well find your way through the bush and up and down hills when off-road, which is primarily what the Prado has been designed for.  It’s very competent and the arsenal of electronics allows any driver to cross tough terrain without the need for years of experience or specialist training.
Our vehicle was fitted with the off-road package which includes the CRAWL system that allows the vehicle to travel over ground at speeds between 1 and 5 km/h. The Prado also receives a multi-terrain system with four modes: loose rock, mud/sand, mogul and rock.
If the off-road package is not specified then the VX Limited receives a parking assist function as well as a pre-crash safety feature with dynamic radar cruise control. Other technical features in the new Prado include the Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System (KDSS) which maintains the vehicles on-road composure, and gives the driver the option of sporty or comfort settings.
The ride quality and handling of the Prado on tarmac is very good, there’s very little rock and roll that’s commonly associated with this size and type of vehicle.
Off road in low ratio the KDSS will disconnect the front and rear anti roll bars which give the Prado more articulation and better traction in tricky situations.      
To be honest the only Achilles heel of the Prado is its noisy and now inferior 3.0 litre inline four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine that’s mated to a five-speed automatic transmission.
In comparison to the 150kW 2.7 litre V6 engine in the Land Rover Discovery 4, and the 145 kW four-cylinder diesel engine in the latest Kia Sorento and Hyundai Santa Fe seven seat SUV models, the common rail 127kW turbo diesel unit in the Prado feels anaemic by comparison.
Acceleration is noisy and you can sense that the Prado engine is working harder than it ought to be. Once at motorway speed things settle down and the car is quiet and pleasant to travel in but one can imagine with a full complement of passengers plus a trailer on the back, the engine performance would be even more compromised.
Hopefully, Toyota will heed our plea and introduce a new engine at facelift time.

Specifications:

Body type Five-door wagon 
Drive All-wheel-drive 
Engine Type Inline four cylinder diesel  
Engine Capacity 2982cc
Max power 127kW @ 3400 rpm
Max torque 410Nm @ 1600 rpm
Fuel Consumption 8.5l/100km
C02 emission 225g/km
0 to 100kph N/a
Front suspension Double wishbone
Rear suspension Four link coil sprung
Roof Rack Yes
ABS Brakes Yes
Air Bags 9

 ESP Yes
Air Conditioning Climate
Lap/diagonal belts 7
Satellite Navigation Yes
Electric seats Yes
Burglar Alarm Yes 
Panic Button No
Boot release Yes
Cargo Cover Yes
Boot Capacity 104-1833l
Wheel type 18-inch alloy
Spare Tyre Full size

Through Life Cost Report
36 Months 60000km
Price    $104,000
WOF    $135.00
Registration      $1010.69
Servicing to 60k:     $982.13
Total Tyre cost:   $1242.00
Residual (37%) $38480.00 
Indicative final figure $68889.20

The Through Life Cost Model is used for illustrative and indicative purposes only. StratCon Partnership Limited and Adrenalin Publishing Limited accept no responsibility or liability should any costs indicated in the Through Life Cost Model change from those published. All residual values are based on an average of values achieved through Turners Auctions Limited sales for the previous 3 months from issue date.