Prado - how good are they?

Without starting a debate, we have a Petrol V6 98 Prado, absolutely love the car both on and off road. If we ever were to upgrade our 4wd it would be to newer version of the one we have and TD.

We've no trouble with either 4wding or towing (Campertrailer). And my wife loves it!

Definely recommend them!!

Steve and Sandy

H2O,

I too have a 90 series Prado - can recommend them for offroad - did a double crossing of the Simpson, and had no problem at all (fully loaded with five passengers)

Towing, I've only ever done the old tip run, but Steve has answered that one for you (above)

Noting that 95% of most people's driving is around town (including car parks etc) the slightly smaller Prado is very nimble (much better turning circle than a Commodore)

Hi H20,

While I have a GU patrol and reckon its great, your requirements sound like a Prado will fit the bill better. The prado definetly drives more "car like" for every day driving and will get to all the places you now want to go. If you have got all the "rough stuff" out of your system, no real requirement for the arguably tougher Patrol. While the ultra tough front axle of the Patrol is close to unbreakable, it certainly has a big turning circle and I notice its harder to park in tight places than my 80 series.

Cheers

Captain

Likewise, we are the very happy owners of a 1998 90 series Prado 3.4 ltr petrol manual. Ours has towed a camper trailer with no probs and on a month long trip through the Kimberley & Pilbara this year we lots of them towing caravans, so would imagine horse float would be no worries.

In terms of articulation, the Patrol would have the edge I would have thought but we have never found the Prado wanting in conditions ranging from really soft beaches to river crossings and muddy tracks. I'm not sure the current model Prado has the same clearance as the 90 series but owners of the current model would give you a better read.

Regarding fuel, ours generally does around the 12-14 l/100km depending on how hard it's being driven. It's great to park and occupies a smaller 'footprint' than either Commodore or Falcon wagons and seems to have a perfectly acceptable turning circle.

The other best features are its on-road handling (as a consequence of constant 4WD) and its Toyota reliability, and as one who has experienced the Nissan reliability first hand, I'll have a Tojo any time thanks. Good luck with your choice, but if your going to a Nissan, you might as well stay with your 80 series, for mine!

The prado is not only what has been mentioned above, but they are quite strong as well, given they weigh less than 2000kg as they come from the dealer, and the only real weak point, if you could call it that seems to be if you fit a front locker and use it, on climbs where the front of the car lifts andincreases the cv angle, they can become vulnerable, but having said that I have heard/seen alot more patrols breaking cv's than prado's.

I have treated some prado's pretty hard, run 285's, and have even bent 3 ROH rims and not even knocked the front end alignment out, and for daily driving, and parking, with the short bonnet, vision, tight turning circle, lighter weight, and 100 series gearbox and brakes, have found the prado quite good.

If your budget stretches to a V6 120, they get excellent economy, same and even better in some conditions than the diesel, with 180kw on tap.

I have a 2001 Prado TD Diesel Auto. and just recently did the cape york thing and notably the OTL with a friend who had a new Nissan 3 lt TD manual and a friend who had a Troopy and the Prado did everything the others did and they did every thing that i did. Great truck and the wife loves driving it in city and 4wd occasions, 50mm lift will be nice when I get it. Anyway it seems that you have made up your mind with the patrol choice so why worry about the wife, just look after yourself.

Hi H2O,

I have a 2002 Prado TD which has just turned over 100,000 klm with virtually no problems.I have found the only major weakness to be the suspension - in particular the front. I have bar,winch and dual batteries which caused the front end to sag. This problem was cured by OME suspension upgrade that had the added advantage of giving a modest but very handy 40 mm lift. The rest of the car (touch wood) has been bulletproof.

Cheers

Kevin

Other then the actual cost of the Prado . . . they are a good vehicle.

I was close to buying one not long ago , but bought a Patrol instead , only because for what I wanted (leather , dual air con , PLENTY of room for teenage kids), the Patrol was better suited.

Still thinking maybe the TD Prado might have worked.

I've just traded my TD Prado for a LandCruiser 79series traytop.

The Prado was faultless - did 80,000+ kilometers including 3 Simpson crossings, 3 Anne Beadell Hwy trips, 4 High Country trips hand heaps of 4wding closer to home. It never missed a beat, and the only mechanical problem was one sway bar rubber needed replacing.

Like Go-Offroad says, they are as strong as any other LandCruiser.

The TD Prado is a great vehicle. I have had one since new in June 2000. I have now completed 167000km on it and it is still going strong. A look under the engine bay and it still looks brand new.

The only problem I have had was at 20,000km the clutch produced a shudder when shifting between 3rd down to 2nd. Toyota did admit it was a known problem and happily changed the clutch under warranty 147,000km under the belt for this clutch and it still feels like new.

It is a great towing & touring vehicle, I have not as yet found it limit where I have wanted to go off-road. The car is standard except for Polyairs in the rear (to help when car is fully loaded & towing the camper trailer), and a Dual Battery ssytem to ensure the fridge stays cold and the car starts in the morning.

I've had a 2002 TD Auto since new and have spent 3 months touring around WA/NT. Fantastic vehicle for the purpose. With the extra bits and fully loaded we did put King Springs on to help out with the sagging and wallowing, but kept the original shocks - no problems at all.

Fuel consumption for the trip was 12.5l/100kms fully loaded, no towing, no roofrack, two adults. All sorts of terrain and adjusted tyre pressures accordingly on BFG/AT 265/70/R16's.

Re the alloy bullbar, we hit a small roo (probably more wallaby proportions) doing about 100kph and no damage to the bar. We did get it low on the bar, and not over the bonnet, so not a real test I suppose. If I had to choose again, I'd go an ARB steel. I'm getting sick of the autosol and polishing cloth with the alloy.

Now used around town, no problem at all.

Go the Prado you wont regret it, they are a great vehicle on & offroad I can endorse all previous comments.
Worst part is once the wife gets to drive it you better get used to the passenger seat.

Cheers