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Toyota Prado Long Term Review - 3 months. |
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September 2005
Initial impressions after trying out the VX and Grande models. The test drive of the VX and Grande models left a great 1st impression. But rather than focus on all the positives (I'll leave that to the long term reports) I will state the negatives. Note that they where driven at different dealers. The VX has in my opinion a 80's ambience and appears unfinished in terms of trim. For example the center stack had silver strips whilst the rest of the door and dash had what appeared to be wood finish. The velour seat rim didn't impart a sense of increased luxury over the GXL. The Grande version was much better with the black lit instrument panel. But this particular car was effected by warped discs. The dealer should have fixed this before letting anyone else for a test drive as it doesn't leave a good impression. Anyone who didn't know this would have been concerned. The leather used could be been better quality too. Standard rear DVD is expected at this price range.
The first long distance trip in the Prado lasted for about 10000ks all up. Across Australia and back. The long trip so early in the ownership means I can tell you the following: It as great car for long distance. It is quiet on every single road surface you can imagine. There is very little fatigue inducing steering vibration on the move. (Not as good as the prior SGV in this department by a small fraction. However the Prado is superior to the SGV in every other way but you'd expect that for the price difference) Combined with space, performance, and reasonable standard stereo system with the ability read MP3 CDs and comfy seats, powerful air-con even for 40C+ degree heat all day and cruise control make the desolate outback seem civilised. Surprisingly I did not miss the lack of a lumbar support. Acceleration is available at all speeds even with a lot of luggage on board. The gearbox is really smooth shifting until you start reaching the higher speeds specifically 140kph-ish (2700rpm). At that sort of speed the down changes are quite abrupt. Then again that is expected. A Prado going slowly is the driver's choice if its a V6 model of course. Diesels are slower and you can tell. Top speed for the Prado is easily 180kph as claimed and will easily get there. Mind you handling is not exactly predictable at that sort of speed. Over this trip I worked out that the best cruising speed is 140kph. It will sit there all day and slow down quickly if wildlife appeared on the road. Petrol consumption was a big surprise. (Melbourne-Adelaide run) Despite being a new car consumption on a variety of petrol types 91 - 98 octane it was a mere 11.2 litres per 100kms. A mix of inner city peak hour commuting. The same leg on the way back was 9.2 litres. So its not bad for a brick. Mind you a cruise control set at 100 for most of the way helped. High speed (140kph+) fuel consumption was pretty at about 16 litre per hundred kilometers. This was done in the Northern Territory. With a fuel capacity of 180 litres you can expect at least 1500km without a fuel stop. The engine can use 91 octane or anything higher.
So far there is nothing 'bad' to report. Sure it doesn't handle like a sports car but least it doesn't have any handling issues like excessive over or understeer and/or unexpected responses in emergency situations. Neutral is a good description just the body roll to sort out and it could be the 'big 4wd sports cars'.
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After 3 monthsLast Updated: 09 May 2008 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 to be fixed under warranty. Thankfully 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 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 hoped 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 good. 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. The under steer situation only arises when trying to avoid body roll. If you're happy with body roll then this is not a problem. So in all honestly it does corner quite well U-turns revealed a light 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 for the Prado is really very good. It absorbs bumps large and small with 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 shift like the SGV 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 an integrated one found increasingly in other manufacturers cars. So you can change it without too much problem if you're not happy with it. 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 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 gear box is a 5 speed auto unit, new to the
Prado. It shifts very 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. |
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