Conclusion so far – After 3 months
After 3 months ownership of the Prado GXL version this is essentially what I think.
When I picked the car up there was an issue with the the fold up 3 row of seats. One of them did not click properly into place. So it wasn’t a good start. This was fixed under warranty. Nothing else was wrong. Everything else was in place and looked good.
The first trip home left several good impressions. The most obvious one was the quietness of the interior. It was initially eerie. I expected a quiet interior but this was impressive. Only a little engine noise and wind rustle near the wing mirrors could be heard on the highway.
Yep this was upper luxury car quietness. I only hope that as the tyres wore it would not get noisier – as happens with all cars. There where no rattles or strange mechanical noises it was genuinely great place to be.
First time drive was a bit intimidating as it is a big car and finding your place on the road was initially difficult. There is little steering feel of the road that was being transmitted. Much less feel than the Grand Vitara but much more than the Lexus RX350. As a side note the only problem real problem with the RX350 was its steering.
Cornering felt OK but body roll was noticeable. It definitely displayed traits of slight under steer on suburban streets but was fine on the highway. Roundabouts was where body roll was the main feature as opposed to anything else. Tightening the steering circle displayed even more body roll but it kept reasonably true and a even tad of over steer. The Prado tends to lean heavily on the front wheels. If you’re happy with body roll then this is not a problem. So in all honestly it does corner quite well at normal speeds.
U-turns revealed a reasonably tight turning circle and was most impressive for a large car. Also noticed was the tight LSD and center diff making the U-turns effectively small. It also revealed that the standard tyres like to squeal. Again bearing in mind that the Prado does weigh in close to 2 tons it not too bad.
Parking the Land Cruiser was strangely easy. Reversing or parallel parking was a simple task aided by the ability to know where the rear ends (via the spare tyre) and the front where the bonnet ends. Mind it it is difficult to know where the front ends as I seem to always end up with more space in the front.
In the brake department – you can tell that they’re working hard to slow the car down. Again they seem OK for a car this size. Not as good as smaller and lighter cars but reasonable.
The ride quality for the Prado is really very good. It absorbs bumps large and small without any fuss. However like all rigid axle cars the rear will slide or bump heavily if both rear wheels hit a large bump at the same time. In the wet-the rear will slide over steer like any rear wheel drive car but with much less drama, no doubt helped by the various LSDs and AWD. Added to this it doesn’t wallow and makes little or no noise when working.
The quality of the interior plastics is very good, however when using plastic protectant on the interior it does not seem to go on evenly. Everything seems to fit together very well without squeaks and lids and so forth worked well. Everything felt solid.
No off-road trips where done in the first 3 months for running in purposes.
The standard Toyota stereo system sounds OK for a standard system. I guess that due to the quietness of the interior helps in that regard. New better quality speakers would probably make a noticeable difference. The system is not a completely integrated one found increasingly in other manufacturers cars. So you can change it without too much problem if you’re not happy with it (which we eventually did) . Even better because it is a 2-din unit you can get a 1-din stereo and have a CB in the unit as well.
The standard system now plays MP3 CDs which is a great feature. The only real negative is that it takes a long time to load up the MP3 disc after turning the car on or changing discs. Playing normal CDs don’t have this problem. So you don’t need and iPod !
The petrol engine is a very good one. Lots of power low down and lots up top the rev range too! The engine despite being new did not feel tight and revved freely. It makes little noise on the moved and is smooth too.
The diesel engine is relatively noisy with some typical diesel vibes. In city traffic the engine is noticeable and annoying relative to the petrol. That said the diesel on the Prado is the least annoying compared to say the Nissan patrol or Mitsubishi Pajero versions.
The gear box is a 5 speed auto unit, new to the Prado from late 2004. It shifts smoothly almost all the time and shifts as expected. (See the long distance for further explanation) I only noticed gear hunting when using cruise control and going up continuous hills. It worked fine without cruise control turned on.