New Prado
Submitted: Thursday, Mar 31, 2011 at 20:10
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Eli J
Hi everyone,
Just interested in hearing from anyone with a prado . I am looking at buying a brand new GXL. Not sure about weather to go a diesel or petrol. I do tow a camper trailer from time to time. Pretty much just interested in hearing peoples likes /dislikes of the respective cars.
Cheers in advance
Reply By: Fritz N - Friday, Apr 01, 2011 at 19:18
Friday, Apr 01, 2011 at 19:18
Hi Eli
Have just completed a 2130Km roundtrip to and in the WA goldfields towing a fully loaded camper trailer with 280 litres of extra water and fuel. Consumption on the 2010 GXL Diesel varied between 9.3L/100km and 11.1L/100km depending on speed 90Km/Hr for the lower and 100Km/Hr with aircon set at 25.5C for the higher figures. I removed the 3rd row of seats for extra room in the back, leaving thse in for this trip would have been a waste of space and extra weight. 2nd row left in to accomodate our electronic detection gear.
One thing that does bug me with this model is that the 2nd row does not flip over so it does waste a lot of space with the 3rd row removed, this does not apply to the GX model whose 2nd row does flip.
Annoying vibration at 1500rpm in the dash under load that toyota resolved on the last service and they are aware of it. Mudflaps on the back arches totally inadequate, 500Km of dirt/gravel chopped up the paintwork under the rear bumper and destroyed the trailer paintwork as
well,,,big oversight on my part. No 12V outlet in the cargo area but there is a 100W 240volt outlet , why they did not put in a 12v unit next to it surprises me. No rattles after the corrugated dirt/creek/track/
hill driving and cab totally dust proof. Have 16000Km on the clock now, about 3000 on dirt and still very sound.
Nice vehicle to drive but boring shape to look at, previous model much easier on the eye with better internal trip patterns.
Regards Fritz
AnswerID:
450001
Follow Up By: Kimba10 - Friday, Apr 01, 2011 at 21:36
Friday, Apr 01, 2011 at 21:36
Hi there Fritz, if the rear bar been chipped and so
forth due to the mudflaps (or lack of) jump over to pradopoint.com and go to 150 section. There is an artical about this on there and some 150 owners have taken it up with toyota who have come to the party and resprayed the rear bar again. There is also a new rear mudflap available as
well due to this problem. I believe there is also a front one on the way as
well. .....................
FollowupID:
722482
Follow Up By: skulldug - Friday, Apr 01, 2011 at 22:37
Friday, Apr 01, 2011 at 22:37
I agree fully. Annoying vibration at 1,500rpm. Flatspot under light load. Fuel tank is 150 l but they can starve and die with 30 l left in the tank. I am a disappointed owner.
Skull
FollowupID:
722489
Follow Up By: Kimba10 - Friday, Apr 01, 2011 at 22:44
Friday, Apr 01, 2011 at 22:44
They reckon that vibration is from the drivers side guard going buy what a lot of comments have been on pradopoint not the dash.................
FollowupID:
722492
Follow Up By: Eli J - Friday, Apr 01, 2011 at 23:22
Friday, Apr 01, 2011 at 23:22
thanks for responses,
Hey skulldog, are there any other dissapointments you have found.
Some mixed responses here, wonder if they fixed rattle and mudflaps in 2011 models. Was tossing Pathfinder into the equation at one stage.
FollowupID:
722494
Follow Up By: skulldug - Saturday, Apr 02, 2011 at 15:11
Saturday, Apr 02, 2011 at 15:11
Eli,
Positives - Excellent tow vehicle (
mine is chipped), internal layout, seats dash etc all excellent. Economy is 12 to 13l per 100 km (pre chip) and slightly more or less post chip depending on which setting you run (
mine is DP chip set on 5 out of seven).
Suspension travel is excellent. Traction off road is excellent.
Negatives - flat spot, vibration. Service managers are in denial about these problems despite them being talked about widely on the web. They will fix the dash but not the vibration that causes it to rattle. The third row seats took me a day to take out and install a false floor for my recovery gear. Ground clearance is too low. Rear door wheel cover and wiper housing thinggy is a dust trap and makes it hard to see out the back when car is dirty even after a hose down. Rear window is too small (not a problem as such but my opinion). Rear mud flaps are too small and lead to a permanent dirty mark along the rear side of the vehicle.
On balance - mmm??? I'm borderline about them. All cars have negatives but the vibration and flat spot are hard to forgive. I'll let you know my verdict once it has done 300,000 km.
Good luck
Skull.
FollowupID:
722547