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150 Series (2010) Toyota Prado 1st Impressions |
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120 Series |
1st impressions29 November 2009
Following the worldwide release of the 150 series Land Cruiser Prado here are my first impressions. They are for both 5 door and 3 door versions. You may disagree if you wish! Exterior: The pictures do not reflect its proportions. In real life the 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 and they are: that bigger wheels and nicer looking alloys be used. The updated sheet metal does make it look more 2009 at the same time doesn't make the 120 series Prado look 'old'. It does look more 'aggressive' than the 120 and nice but in a different way. The physical design is very similar or identical using the same basic door frames all round and monocoque. Side by side you can see that the roof profile is 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! So whatever the changes you wouldn't notice them! 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. Interior: There are big changes in the 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 then Mercedes in terms of design though. In general the interior materials are sturdy but the treatment on 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 the center console look good. In lower range versions the odd '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 a few other settings. On most version the scrren 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. 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. (I didn't see a 8th seat beat) and while a bit slow is quite a showy piece of work. There are now versions which only 5 seaters. The 3rd row of seats are 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 flow level quite high!
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Interior (continued): 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. Of note the rear seats have been made flatter so child seats and capsules can be fitted with less hassle than the superseded model! Overall the interior is a pretty decent up to date upgrade. 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! Read what I though about my first road review for the new Prado here: 150 Series Toyota Prado first drive
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