How to soften the Prado ride?

I've never had anything except small cars, Bantam. I prefer small cars, but want to drive the back tracks, not exactly the Canning Stock Route, but the station and community tracks north of Kalgoorlie near Laverton and Banjawarn Station then the tracks around Nookambah, Nirripi, Kiwirrakurra. Really wonderful areas less travelled by the tourists.

What I like about the Prado is the undercarriage armouring, clearance, reputation for strength and quite decent fuel use.

As others have said further on.

Check the tyre pressures.

There are plenty of mechanics and tyre fitters out there that think they know better than the manufacturer what the inflation pressure should be.

A couple of extra PSI may be fair...but some of these guys put heaps more pressure than is appropriate....muppets

The handbrake put her RAV into the dealer for a service.....dealer remember who should know the correct pressure....or at least be able to read a tyre plackard.......and the tyres came back over inflated to the tune of about 15psi...of course it drove like a dray.

When I picked up my 2wd hilux from the used car dealer, the tyres where over inflated to the tune of 20psi....I knew what was wrong when I test drove it....the 1 hour trip home was bone jaring.

Most vehicles including softly sprung pasenger cars move on the tyres before the springs.....all of that short sharp jaring action is absorbed by the tyres.

Over inflating tyres in any car will turn it into a dray.

Before you test drive again, ask what the tyres are inflated to and is that what is on the tyre plackard....get em to check or take your own guage.

AND..OH yess, the vehicle unladen will drive harder than with a load .....ALL of the stationwaggon 4wds are fairly softly sprung and have fairly low payloads in comparison to the commercial variants.

So you don't have to put much in them to soften the ride.

Even my hiluxes..that are known to be hard riding...it only takes a couple of hunderd KG of the over 1 tonne available payload to soften them up...as long at the tyre pressures are correct for the load carried.

When you test drive again...drive the vehicle alone or with 1 pasenger...then borrow a couple of bodies from the show room and put em in the back seat

Both my hiluxes ( remember stiffly suspended by any standards) ride much better with someone in the pasenger seat.

AND, remember it is a new car and neither the springs or shockies will have bedded in.

moving further on.
After market shock absorbers may yeild some improvements...there are some brands and models that are specifically known to be designed to ride better....KONI shock absorbers where designed for performance with a good ride from day 1...the story is that the danish royla family wanted a bit of comfort..even though they where and still are a known bunch of rev heads.

cheers

These are great !
My mates old Pajero (~1988) has them in the front (as standard !!), and it's awesomely comfortable.

I thought you were joking, Michael, but now I will forget the Jayson recliner and keep in mind a suspension air seat.

At $2200 it will be good enough to later move into the nursing home.

Forget the "Playdo" and buy a Discovery 4 ..... but then he wont have to bother about a hard or soft drive ,,the Land rover will break down before he gets it out of the drive way.

Cruel ...but fair...:)

Cheers
Greg

I have been bagged for having a D4, yet I have taken it to the Mereenie Loop, Chambers Pillar and the Bungles and in 2 years and 66,000km the only warranty has been the touch screen.
I do not drive for economy and have averaged since new 11L/100Km.
The ride is very comfortable and my wife, who has arthritis, is very happy with the comfort.
Dont bag anything until you have owned or driven one. I have at work driven a number of theToyotas, Mitsubishis, etc and have chosen the D4 and have been overjoyed.

Plus 1 for Land Rover.

At least one other person on this forum agrees with me.

Cheers
Disco.

Haha....you will probably find many.

A lot of people do listen to a brothers best mates, fatherinlaws, ex wife's new husband when it comes to advice. I have owned a 200, which is a good direct comparison to a D4, however it was the shortest period of time I have ever owned a 4WD....listened to too many that the oil consumption issue had been fixed on the 2011 model, when I should have spoken to mechanic in the family that actually worked on them.

Brett.....

4WD tyres have a much taller sidewall than cars so they are prone to flexing and moving around a lot it's a 2 ton vehicle so don't be tempted to reduce your pressure for the sake of a bit of comfort talk to a tyre dealer about running the correct pressures