Following the worldwide release in 2010 here are my first impressions of the 150 series LandCruiser Prado LC5 review. The first few parts of this review focuses on the interior and exterior design quality followed by the road test for the 5 door and 3 door versions. (The review will cover both 3 and 5 door LandCruiser Prado’s)
The new exterior design: The pictures and other images do not reflect its proportions. In real life the new Prado is nicely proportioned with only the rear bumper making the rear lights look higher than they really are. I have a few other criticisms that could be addressed by a model upgrade, for example: bigger wheels and nicer looking alloys could have been used. The updated sheet metal does make 150 series Prado look more up to date but at the same time doesn’t make the 120 series Prado look old.
The physical design is very similar or identical using the same basic door frames all round. Side by side you can see that the roof profile is virtually identical. On the surface it only looks like Toyota only modified the rear side windows- but of course that’s only perception.
Of course when you look at the specifications that the new model has been redesigned to have greater ground clearance yet shorter overall height AND more interior space! On some versions the 150 series has quite a number of cameras on board. One rear integrated into the hard spare wheel cover, one in each wing mirror and one in the front grill. Apart from that the plastic side cladding has been removed on door and the wheel arches.
Overall the new exterior design look Ok in our eyes – but looks are subjective.
The new interior design: There are big changes in the 150 series Prado interior. Gone is the early 2000 look and now has a 2009 industry trendy pod like electro-luminescent dashboard readout. It’s like the more Mazda than Mercedes in terms of design though. The quality of materials especially on the door trims and large dash are not particularly high quality in terms of looks at first glance.
In general the interior materials are sturdy but the design of the center console controls does not look integrated. It seems like they have just put different equipment stack together without really thinking about how they look together. On the top range ‘Kakadu’ version does fill out the center console hence does look better but in lower range versions the small LCD display instead of GPS screen looks plain odd. However when you drive the display makes more sense since it shows the time and outside temperature and a basic trip computer which amongst other things shows fuel consumption and so forth. On most versions the screen doubles as the rear camera display.
The 4wd transfer case lever is now deleted. Instead you have buttons and dials to activate or control the 4WD system which seems like a natural evolution since the auto gear shift is a larger switch anyway. The seats are as good as the 120 series but are trimmed in differently. The most noticeable change to the seating is the 3rd row of seats. It’s now 7 seater at maximum and they are stored under the floor rather than folded against the side windows like the 120 series. (I didn’t see a 8th seat beat) There are also now versions which can only seat 5. The 3rd row of seats are fully motorised on some Prado versions and manual or optional on others. The 2nd row of seats can also be slid back and forwards for easy entry to the 3rd row. Unfortunately the location of the 3rd row of seats makes the floor level quite high. Of note the 2nd row seats have been made flatter so child seats and capsules can be fitted with less hassle than the superseded model!
A number of minor changes include relocating the jack and the replacement of the next to useless rear door stopper in the 120 series and finally a working door stopper. The dashboard instruments when turned on are nicely done although light reflection can occur – which is annoying. One of the most interesting features I saw was the integrated AC power inverter. It has a 100W limit so should be able to power laptops and fridges. So yes there’s a power point! Of course this feature may be version dependent.
Although I liked the design of the new steering wheel I thought the leather used was very plastic looking. The steering wheel was noticeably thicker as per the door handles. In fact everything that you would use your hands for has a chunky but lightness to it.
Overall the interior is a noticeable update and also a downgrade from the superseded model. You see while the previous model’s overall interior looked and was competitive with other luxury models of the same age the 150 series interior does not.
Conclusion: So far the exterior is nice and the interior a decent place to be. However there is scope of further improvement. Even better materials would justify its the price tag and perhaps a different center console designer. On the surface (exterior) it does not look like the underlying body has been redesigned so the size and windows are all the same? It does look like Toyota has updated or redesigned all the exterior panels! At this stage, I personally wouldn’t call it a completely new model rather version 1.5 since there are so many similarities with the 120 series. Overall – yes a pretty decent upgrade.