Toyota has rolled out updates to the MY22 Toyota LandCruiser Prado. While we already have a review of the 2021 Toyota LandCruiser Prado Kakadu (watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwcyPcc-ZqQ), this is a review of the step down the ladder.
Paul Maric reviews the 2022 Toyota LandCruiser Prado VX, which represents far better value for money than the top-specification Prado Kakadu. Let us know what you think in the comments section!
Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
More Toyota content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/toyota
More Toyota LandCruiser Prado content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/toyota/landcruiser-prado
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior 00:54
Interior 03:32
Infotainment 04:54
Safety Tech 06:22
Practicality 07:10
On Road 12:40
0-100: 14:15
On road: 14:27
Off Road 16:40
Verdict 22:09
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
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#toyota #prado #review #landcruiser
Paul Maric reviews the 2022 Toyota LandCruiser Prado VX, which represents far better value for money than the top-specification Prado Kakadu. Let us know what you think in the comments section!
Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
More Toyota content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/toyota
More Toyota LandCruiser Prado content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/toyota/landcruiser-prado
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior 00:54
Interior 03:32
Infotainment 04:54
Safety Tech 06:22
Practicality 07:10
On Road 12:40
0-100: 14:15
On road: 14:27
Off Road 16:40
Verdict 22:09
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1
You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.
Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!
Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!
CarExpert:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au
Paul Maric:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric
#toyota #prado #review #landcruiser
Category
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MotorTranscript
00:00 G'day, I'm Paul.
00:01 Toyota has recently subtly updated the Land Cruiser Prado.
00:05 It's one of the best sellers in the country
00:07 when it comes to SUVs,
00:08 so we thought we'd get behind the wheel of it.
00:09 This here is the Prado VX.
00:12 So it's one down from the top specification Kakadu model.
00:16 This competes with things like the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport,
00:19 the new Isuzu MU-X, the Ford Everest.
00:22 There's quite a few competitors in this segment.
00:25 This is a little too expensive
00:27 at around that $77,000 mark.
00:29 The entire Prado range kicks off from about 60 grand,
00:32 so there is something in there for everyone.
00:34 Today we're gonna do a detailed review of this car.
00:36 If you do wanna skip ahead to other parts of the review,
00:38 you can use the time codes up on the screen there,
00:40 or if you're on YouTube,
00:41 just scroll down and use the chapters below.
00:43 And if you haven't done so already, I'd love it
00:45 if you could subscribe to our channel
00:46 and press the bell icon so you can find out
00:48 every single time we look at very minor
00:51 and subtle updated cars.
00:52 So before we kick off,
00:54 I have to apologize on behalf of Mother Nature.
00:57 It is very windy today.
00:58 You've got 10 exterior colors to pick from,
01:01 all but white and black are an additional $600.
01:05 So the styling has kind of stayed the same.
01:08 The big change here is with the wheels.
01:09 We'll run through those in a second.
01:10 But Prado, I don't know,
01:12 it hasn't really changed all that much over the years.
01:14 They just do subtle tweaks every now and then,
01:16 so it inherited this giant grill
01:18 with the big teeth down the front there,
01:20 but I think it still looks nice and stylish.
01:23 And the other fascinating thing is when we picked this up,
01:26 I thought they accidentally gave us the Kakadu
01:28 that we reviewed like six or seven months ago,
01:30 'cause this looks literally identical.
01:32 The color's the same, the interior's the same,
01:33 but there are some differences there,
01:35 including the price, about 10,000 bucks.
01:37 So there is a big saving if you step one down,
01:39 and I'll run you through some of those differences
01:41 a little later on.
01:42 So over here, you have a set of bi-LED headlights
01:45 with LED daytime running lights,
01:48 a fog light tucked into there, headlamp washers.
01:50 I have mentioned before in another video
01:51 that these are handy for four-wheel drives
01:53 because you can get mud come through
01:55 these little creases here, gets all over your headlights,
01:58 and you have to get out and clean them,
02:00 whereas this will just give them a high-pressure squirt
02:02 to make sure you always have visibility.
02:04 Whip around to the side.
02:05 Down here, you've got 19-inch alloy wheels.
02:08 This is a brand new design,
02:09 so as part of the update, this has changed.
02:12 Kind of looks nicer, I guess.
02:13 You have a set of all-terrain tires
02:15 that come standard as well with the Prado.
02:18 And really, if you are gonna be doing any off-roading,
02:21 even if it's sort of not all that serious,
02:22 you do want some all-terrains
02:24 'cause they're gonna give you
02:24 a little bit more traction in mud.
02:26 You can see here today, it's been raining a fair bit.
02:28 The sort of conditions here are quite muddy,
02:31 and the tread pattern there
02:33 is literally already full of mud,
02:34 so if you do anything a little more serious on a road tire,
02:37 you're simply not going to get anywhere.
02:38 So even with the all-terrains here,
02:40 it's still getting a little bit muddy.
02:42 Up the top here, you have an indicator
02:44 built into that wing mirror.
02:45 Side steps along the bottom there.
02:47 Privacy glass, set of roof rails,
02:50 and then if you come around to the back,
02:51 look at this, flat tailgate,
02:53 so no cost option to move your spare tire
02:56 from here to under the vehicle.
02:57 The only downside is that your fuel capacity
03:00 goes from 150 litres to 87 litres
03:02 because putting the tire under there
03:04 reduces the fuel capacity by deleting that sub-fuel tank.
03:08 But you do get a window here
03:09 that opens to get things in and out easier.
03:11 It is still a swing tailgate,
03:13 but it sort of makes it a little less cluttered on the back,
03:16 which, I don't know, makes life a little easier.
03:18 Let me know what you reckon about the Prado.
03:20 Is it still competitive?
03:21 There is a brand new Land Cruiser 300 series coming.
03:24 This should be replaced next year as well,
03:26 and I think that the rest of the segment has moved on,
03:28 so they've probably got a little bit of work to do here,
03:30 but keen to get your thoughts
03:31 on what you think of the Prado.
03:32 We're inside the Prado.
03:33 Let's kick off with the key.
03:34 So you've got lock, unlock, and boot.
03:38 Then on the back, you have Land Cruiser.
03:40 It's a proximity sensing key,
03:41 so leave that in your pocket.
03:43 Once you're inside, you have a push button.
03:44 Start over here on the driver's side,
03:46 and everything fires to life.
03:47 Now, what about styling?
03:49 Yeah, this is getting on in age,
03:51 and I don't know, the Prado has always been
03:53 about getting things done,
03:55 and I think that's what this style definitely is.
03:58 If you remember the review we did on the Kakadu model,
04:00 it had sort of wood grain up the top here
04:02 and sort of around the place.
04:03 This dials it back just a little bit
04:05 with just this strap of faux wood grain.
04:08 I think though the color palette is good,
04:11 this beige interior probably isn't gonna be great
04:13 if you have kids and that kind of thing,
04:14 but for the most part,
04:16 this looks, I guess, classy and nice enough.
04:19 We've got some softer touch materials along the top there,
04:22 piano black around the edges of the infotainment system,
04:25 and then along the bottom here as well.
04:27 But outside of that, it's all sort of pretty straightforward.
04:29 Touch points, it's nice and soft there.
04:32 Soft on the door as well.
04:34 How soft is it?
04:35 Well, we've tested all the main surfaces
04:36 in this cabin with our durometer.
04:38 If you wanna see how this car compares
04:39 to others we've tested before,
04:41 we'll get the link in the description.
04:42 Now, build quality.
04:44 Let's see.
04:46 Ooh, it's a bit shaky.
04:49 But yeah, not too bad.
04:50 I think it's just this center bit that's a little bit loose,
04:52 but the rest of it feels pretty good.
04:54 Brado comes with a nine-inch infotainment system.
04:58 This has AM/FM DAB+ digital radio built in,
05:02 and then it also uses a 14-speaker JBL-branded sound system.
05:06 You've got inbuilt satellite navigation,
05:08 but you also have smartphone mirroring
05:09 in the form of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
05:12 Both of those require a cable.
05:14 I'll show you what Apple CarPlay looks like first.
05:18 There it is.
05:19 So full screen, but you'll notice it's just a
05:21 tiny, tiny bit laggy.
05:23 It's not the end of the world,
05:24 but yeah, could just be a little bit quicker.
05:26 Keep in mind as well that this stuff operates
05:28 with the voice recognition system.
05:30 While the inbuilt voice recognition system isn't that great,
05:33 using this with your smartphone paired
05:35 will use the cloud to recognize what you're saying.
05:38 We actually shot a comparison
05:39 between Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
05:41 If you wanna see how they compare,
05:42 you can click up here to watch that.
05:44 Let's have a look at Android Auto.
05:45 So again, full screen, also similarly laggy.
05:48 You can see it's a little bit delayed there
05:50 as I flick up and down between different menus.
05:53 Other thing worth pointing out as well,
05:55 that you can actually get off-road maps for your smartphone,
05:57 and then using the app that comes with that,
06:00 you can sort of just load it here
06:01 on the smartphone mirroring screen.
06:03 That's good because if you do go off-roading,
06:05 the inbuilt satellite navigation
06:07 probably isn't going to do a great job
06:09 if you go into the depths of the bush,
06:10 but some of those off-road maps actually have trails
06:13 and tracks that aren't on regular navigation systems.
06:15 So worth keeping that in mind
06:17 when you're buying your next SUV.
06:18 You wanna have stuff like this
06:19 so you can actually head to the bush
06:21 if you wanna head to the bush.
06:23 Now, what about safety?
06:23 You have autonomous emergency braking
06:25 with pedestrian detection.
06:27 You have an auto-dimming rear vision mirror,
06:29 rear cross-traffic alert,
06:31 blind spot monitoring through the wing mirror there.
06:33 You have radar cruise control
06:34 and a lane departure warning.
06:37 In terms of cameras and parking,
06:39 you have both front and rear parking sensors
06:41 and a 360 degree camera.
06:43 Let's have a look at what that looks like.
06:44 There it is.
06:45 Quality is not that great.
06:48 It's quite grainy.
06:49 I don't know why they have this random V section
06:52 in the middle there,
06:52 but you can see here around the car,
06:54 you can't really make out anything there,
06:55 eagles, cases, and they just look like a bit of a mess.
06:59 But the good news is if you do off-road driving,
07:02 you have cameras off to the sides
07:03 to help with getting in and about off-road tracks.
07:06 So I guess that is one handy feature,
07:08 but the quality of the cameras isn't amazing.
07:10 Let's talk practicality
07:11 and where are you going to charge your device?
07:14 Well, you have one USB port down the front here
07:17 and then a 12 volt outlet next to it.
07:19 It's a bit silly having just one USB port
07:21 because if you have your smartphone hooked up
07:23 for mirroring, that's gone.
07:25 Your passenger then can't charge anything
07:27 unless they have a 12 volt converter,
07:28 which is a little bit silly.
07:30 They really should be adding more USB ports here.
07:33 In terms of storing your phone though,
07:34 you've got this little slot down the front here
07:36 that you can go sideways in.
07:38 You've got cup holders down the front here
07:39 that you can kind of squeeze it into.
07:41 In the 200 series, this is a wireless phone charger
07:45 and in the Kakadu, you've got switch gear here
07:47 for the crawl control.
07:48 Here, it does nothing and it's kind of pointless
07:51 because when you accelerate,
07:52 your phone just slides straight out of there.
07:53 So I don't really understand what the point in that slot is
07:57 unless you can find something that fits in there
07:59 that you can then close it in with.
08:00 You have your cup holders down the front there.
08:02 Let's try our coffee, fits in okay.
08:06 Use our bottle in there as well.
08:08 No dramas, you've got some teeth there to hold it in.
08:11 Then inside the door,
08:11 you've got storage for your little bottle.
08:14 We'll see if it fits our big bottle as well.
08:16 No, but let's see if our big bottle fits in here
08:20 because we have a fridge.
08:23 Look at that.
08:24 And no, it doesn't.
08:25 So small bottles only in your fridge, unfortunately.
08:29 We've got a glove box over here, reasonably sized.
08:33 Then up here, you have a mirror
08:35 to keep an eye on the kids in the background
08:37 and then another pull of that
08:38 reveals your sunglasses holder.
08:41 Righto, moving on to comfort,
08:42 you have dual zone automatic climate control.
08:45 You have heated and cooled seats for the first row
08:48 and then seat heating for the second row.
08:51 Your seats here are electrically adjustable,
08:54 both for the driver and front passenger.
08:56 Quite comfy seats as well.
08:57 You can see the perforations here for the air conditioning,
09:00 but for a long distance drive,
09:02 this is the type of seat you wanna be in.
09:04 Steering offers both tilt and reach adjustment
09:06 and it's electric.
09:07 And then for our reach test,
09:09 all of this stuff is easy to reach.
09:10 It's just when you get across to this side,
09:12 you gotta lean into it a little bit to get to it.
09:15 Second row, what's it like?
09:17 Look, surprising amount of room back here.
09:19 So my seat is pretty far back and I've got acres of knee room.
09:22 Toe room's excellent and head room is really good as well.
09:25 So impressive on that front.
09:27 You've got back pockets here,
09:29 controls for the seat heaters,
09:31 and then a third zone of climate control.
09:34 Your air vents are in the roof here.
09:35 It is disappointing there's no USB charging back here.
09:38 All you have is a 12 volt outlet.
09:40 You have a center armrest with two cup holders.
09:44 Let's throw our bottle into there.
09:45 No problemo.
09:46 And then inside the door,
09:47 you've got bottle storage as well.
09:50 Now, the good thing about these seats in the second row
09:52 is they slide forwards and backwards
09:54 to give you more accommodation in the third row,
09:57 but they can also recline as well,
09:58 just in case you wanna kick back and relax a little bit.
10:00 So really decent and versatile second row
10:04 and ISOFIX points on the two outboard seats.
10:06 But I'm keen to give the third row a shot
10:09 just to see if I can actually fit in there.
10:10 So third row, what's it like here?
10:13 To get in, you pull this lever,
10:15 drops the back of the seat and allows it to slide forward.
10:19 Now, gotta be honest, this isn't a huge gap to get in.
10:22 So I'm gonna have to get a little creative here,
10:23 but I'll use the side step to climb on in.
10:27 Then you work your way through there.
10:29 And away we go.
10:31 I'm gonna bring this back and lock it in.
10:34 So actually can't go any further than that
10:37 because my toes are now like wedged into there.
10:40 So it's as far as that'll go.
10:42 I'll put that back in.
10:43 I tell you what, look,
10:44 there's a surprising amount of leg room.
10:45 So knee room is okay.
10:46 Toe room is terrible there,
10:48 but I can just turn my legs a little bit
10:50 and my head is literally touching the roof.
10:52 But it's a surprising space for adults.
10:54 I wasn't expecting to be able to fit here so easily.
10:58 Then on top of that, because this row slides,
11:00 you can sort of move it forwards and backwards
11:01 to give yourself a bit more room if you do have adults here.
11:04 You've got cup holders off to the sides,
11:06 and then you have your own set of air vents here,
11:08 plus your own grab handles.
11:10 It doesn't look like there's a great deal of room
11:12 in the boot though,
11:13 so let's go have a look at what we can actually fit in there.
11:15 So I mentioned earlier,
11:17 you've got a few ways of getting access here.
11:18 You can crack this open to retrieve your luggage,
11:21 or you can pull the back open.
11:24 Keep in mind, this is a little bit frustrating
11:26 if you park up against a wall like I do at home.
11:28 It means getting in and out is a little tricky,
11:30 but you can lock this open
11:32 so you can get access to things without it
11:35 decapitating you and chopping your legs off and stuff.
11:38 Now, behind here, a bit sticky beak,
11:40 we have a storage slot and we also have a repair kit.
11:45 Over off to the side, you have a power outlet,
11:48 which is a handy thing if you need to run a compressor
11:50 or something like that, just off to the side there.
11:52 Dropping this is fairly straightforward.
11:55 Keep in mind though,
11:56 that you only have a little over 100 litres here.
11:58 So just to put that into context, there's my laptop bag.
12:01 That only just fits in there.
12:03 There's no way you'll get a suitcase in there.
12:05 So while you do have an okay amount of room
12:07 in the third row for adults,
12:10 it really means you have then no space behind the third row.
12:13 So to drop the third row, it's a pull of this lever
12:16 that then falls out of the way.
12:18 That expands the space to about 600 litres.
12:21 And then I'll pop the bags in now
12:23 so you can get a feel for what that looks like.
12:25 And they are there.
12:27 And then finally, if you wanna go
12:30 for the most amount of space possible,
12:31 you have to get rid of the second row.
12:33 I'll show you what that looks like.
12:35 With second row gone,
12:37 you have about 1800 litres of cargo space.
12:40 So right on the road in the Land Cruiser Prado,
12:44 this had an update a little while back
12:46 where they bumped up the amount of torque
12:48 coming out of this 2.8 litre diesel.
12:50 So of course, it's 2.8 litre turbocharged
12:53 four cylinder diesel engine,
12:54 makes 150 kilowatts of power and 500 newton metres of torque.
12:59 And that's all mated to a six speed automatic transmission.
13:02 It's the same engine you get in the Hilux.
13:04 This obviously weighs more than the Hilux.
13:06 So it feels a little more sluggish in comparison,
13:09 but it's not the end of the world.
13:11 It still has enough punch.
13:13 And I've actually towed with one of these.
13:14 I had one of my cars plus a trailer on the back
13:18 and it did a pretty good job.
13:19 You're not gonna win any traffic like Grand Prix,
13:21 but it gets up and moving quick enough
13:23 and keeps up with traffic, which is pretty much
13:25 all you can expect from something like this.
13:27 Let's talk fuel economy.
13:28 Toyota claims 7.9 litres per 100 Ks from the Prado.
13:33 Let's have a look at what we're achieving.
13:35 11.1.
13:37 So still quite a way off the official figure,
13:39 but it is worth keeping in mind this car is brand new.
13:41 It's only done 400 kilometres.
13:43 We've effectively been running it in.
13:45 With a diesel, you can expect that for the first,
13:48 you know, couple of thousand kilometres
13:49 that it's gonna be using a little bit more fuel
13:51 before everything's bedded in and ready to rumble.
13:54 You don't have any drive modes to pick from,
13:55 but you do have a sport mode.
13:57 So if you slot it into the sport mode,
13:59 that gives you slightly sharper throttle response
14:02 and also quicker gear shifts as well.
14:04 It'll hold onto gears a little longer
14:06 and then change down gears earlier too
14:08 to give you slightly more sporty drive.
14:11 Toyota doesn't have an official zero to 100 time,
14:13 but we've put it up against a stopwatch to see how it goes.
14:17 (car engine roaring)
14:20 Okay, let's talk handling.
14:29 So permanent all-wheel drive system.
14:32 That means you have decent amount of traction.
14:36 So it's not like a lot of the ute-based SUVs
14:38 in this segment that have rear-wheel drive
14:41 and then the ability to go to all-wheel drive.
14:43 This actually has that full gamut
14:44 where you have high four all the time
14:47 and that gives you that surety behind the wheel,
14:49 especially when you're towing.
14:50 It can get pretty dicey if you just rear-wheel drive
14:53 and towing, you can't go into four high
14:56 on sealed surfaces in those ute-based SUVs.
14:59 So this mode here is perfect for on-road driving
15:01 when you need that little bit of extra traction.
15:04 Let's talk about the ride.
15:05 So the last time we drove the Prado,
15:06 it was the Kakadu spec and it has air springs,
15:09 adaptive suspension, KDSS.
15:12 It was kind of kitted out with a whole bunch of gear.
15:14 I actually think this version,
15:16 which has none of that, drives way better.
15:18 It just soaks up bumps nicely.
15:20 It's more than happy to have these consecutive undulations.
15:24 I found that the Kakadu rode well,
15:26 but it was just a little firm at times
15:29 and just really wasn't tuned that sort of comprehensively,
15:33 whereas this feels great behind the wheel.
15:35 It is no Rolls Royce,
15:36 but it does feel good for an off-road focused SUV.
15:40 Often they're not really the benchmark
15:43 in handling or ride comfort,
15:45 whereas this sits beautifully in the middle there
15:47 where it feels nice and comfortable
15:49 and isn't overly firm or too sporty.
15:51 What about road noise?
15:52 We're getting a little bit of noise coming in
15:54 from the wind and the wing mirrors,
15:57 but outside of that,
15:58 you don't really get a great deal of tire noise.
16:01 The engine can get a little thrashy inside the cabin
16:03 if you get stuck into it,
16:04 but for the most part,
16:06 it's actually quite a pleasant place to be seated.
16:08 On the visibility front,
16:09 it is excellent out the front there,
16:11 really good out the back,
16:12 even if you have the third row up,
16:14 it's still not that much of an impedance
16:16 in terms of your view.
16:17 Big wing mirrors as well with blind spot monitor
16:19 built into those,
16:20 so you can clearly see outside of the vehicle
16:23 and front and rear parking sensors.
16:24 So it's like a win-win in and around the city as well.
16:27 And finally, we have a turning circle of 11.6 metres,
16:32 which is actually pretty reasonable
16:34 for something this size.
16:35 Means you're not gonna get stuck with three point turns
16:38 every single place you go.
16:40 Okay, let's do just a little bit of light off-roading here
16:42 to see what the Prado is like.
16:45 Before we get stuck into it,
16:46 I'll just run you through the off-road specifications.
16:48 You have four high,
16:50 which is just your standard drive mode.
16:51 It's permanent full-time four-wheel drive.
16:53 You also have a low range transfer case.
16:55 You have a centre differential lock,
16:57 a rear differential lock,
16:58 hill descent control,
16:59 and also with the rear diff lock,
17:02 it's worth noting that you have to be in low range.
17:05 In terms of your ground clearance,
17:06 it comes in at 219 millimetres.
17:08 Approach angle is 30.4 degrees,
17:10 which is the angle of the face you can approach
17:12 before you hit anything.
17:13 The departure angle is 23.5 degrees,
17:15 which is the same, but in reverse.
17:17 And finally, you have 700 millimetres of wading depth.
17:20 Given it is so wet today,
17:22 we're gonna go tackle the logs.
17:24 They are still a little bit greasy,
17:25 so I'll leave it all in just the standard
17:28 sort of four-wheel drive modes at the moment.
17:30 We'll see how it goes getting up here.
17:32 I don't think it'll be too much of a drama,
17:33 but I'm happy to be corrected.
17:36 Okay, here we go.
17:41 So far, so good as we start on the logs,
17:44 lean into the throttle.
17:45 It's actually doing a decent job.
17:50 It's not fussed at all.
17:51 Kill those parking sensors.
17:54 Excellent.
17:54 Okay, so we climbed that without any problems at all.
17:57 That was actually pretty effortless for the Prada.
18:00 We'll run down our hill now.
18:02 Pop the hill descent control on.
18:04 We'll see how that goes.
18:05 Whoa, that is way too fast.
18:09 That is way too quick.
18:11 Yeah, I'm gonna take over that stupid fast.
18:14 I don't know whether it's just not detecting
18:16 we're on a decline.
18:17 We're like facing down.
18:18 I don't know why it wouldn't be,
18:19 but that is way too quick.
18:21 Mainly 'cause we have lots of ruts here,
18:23 and they're quite deep as well,
18:25 which means if you were to drop into one of these
18:27 and it ran away from you,
18:29 you could do some serious damage there.
18:31 Like that one right there,
18:32 we have a tire in the air,
18:34 so you definitely don't wanna be hitting one of those
18:38 without any control over descent.
18:40 You know, I understand the logic
18:41 behind these hill descent controls,
18:42 but I don't know,
18:43 some of them just aren't really calibrated very well.
18:46 Okay, next up, we wanna see how rigid this chassis is.
18:49 So we're going on our little sort of seesaw setup here,
18:54 and, oh, come on, big angle.
18:58 When we get to the center here
18:59 and we've got two wheels off the ground,
19:01 I'm gonna try opening and closing the door.
19:04 That should give us a good indication
19:05 of how rigid the chassis is.
19:07 So there it is about there.
19:09 (door creaking)
19:12 That's pretty good.
19:13 Let's put a bit more angle on it.
19:15 (door creaking)
19:16 No dramas, so tick on the rigid chassis.
19:19 Next up is our offset mogul.
19:21 This will give us an indication
19:23 of what the all-wheel drive system is like.
19:25 So in this situation,
19:26 we're gonna have two wheels off the ground,
19:29 and we're going to rely on the car's traction control
19:31 to start with to get us out of here.
19:33 So I don't have any of the diffs locked at the moment,
19:35 so I'll just roll into this.
19:37 There it is there.
19:37 We have two wheels off the ground right now.
19:39 I've got my foot off the throttle.
19:41 I can see that wheel is starting to move a little bit.
19:46 Lay into the throttle a bit more.
19:48 I got it starting to spin.
19:50 And you can hear the traction control.
19:54 That's pretty good.
19:55 That was all just traction control getting us out of there.
19:57 That's impressive.
19:58 We didn't even need any diffs locked.
20:00 Now this is, yeah, when I say light off-roading,
20:02 we're not really challenging the Prado at all.
20:05 And look, it's a Toyota,
20:06 and I say that in the sense that they develop these things
20:09 to tackle virtually anything.
20:10 They've put a lot of effort into tackling things
20:13 with the bigger Land Cruiser.
20:15 So you can see here that all this stuff
20:16 is pretty sort of Mickey Mouse.
20:18 All right, I reckon the Prado's had a little easy.
20:20 All right, let's try going back up the hill
20:22 that we went down.
20:23 Couple of decent ruts in there,
20:25 and I really just want to see what these other modes do.
20:27 I think we've picked a very easy challenge for the Prado.
20:31 See how it goes.
20:33 So, so far, so good.
20:34 It's still in the high range
20:35 with none of the differentials locked.
20:39 Let's see what happens here.
20:40 Here we go.
20:42 Okay, I found a bit of a challenge.
20:43 Oh, just about to make it, but not quite.
20:49 Okay, so we'll go back down.
20:51 This is, in this situation, when we're going uphill,
20:54 and we've got big ruts like that one,
20:57 we're basically asking the car to be able to send
20:59 all of its torque to the wheel that's easiest to access.
21:03 And in this situation,
21:04 it's going to be the ones that have no traction.
21:06 So to aid that, we can lock the center diff.
21:09 What that does is it sends 50% of torque to the front axle,
21:12 50% to the rear axle.
21:14 We'll see if that helps us get up.
21:15 If that doesn't work,
21:16 I'm going to lock the rear diff as well.
21:18 So let's give this a shot.
21:21 Okay.
21:21 Crawling up to that same section.
21:25 There's the front left in.
21:27 Okay, and this is where we got stuck last time.
21:32 (car engine revving)
21:34 There it is.
21:36 There it is.
21:37 Man, this thing is a beast.
21:41 So that was just with the center diff locked.
21:43 I know this isn't like super serious four-wheel driving,
21:45 and some of you guys that go and, you know,
21:47 climb Everest and stuff in your four-wheel drives
21:49 will think it's a bit Mickey Mouse,
21:50 but for the average consumer,
21:52 that's what they're going to be doing.
21:54 And the fact that you can get up most things
21:56 without touching your controls is pretty cool.
21:58 But then if you need to, you can just lock the center diff
22:00 and it'll climb up something like that
22:02 that I probably wouldn't go up if it was my own car.
22:04 So yeah, pretty impressed with the Prado
22:06 in terms of an off-road vehicle.
22:08 So the Land Cruiser Prado.
22:09 I think I say this a lot about Toyotas.
22:11 They're just trusty and dependable.
22:13 This is starting to get on in age
22:14 and there is a brand new one coming next year,
22:16 but I feel confident recommending it
22:18 because it'll go anywhere.
22:20 It'll do things that most people will do.
22:22 And if you want to go that one step further,
22:24 you can go and get a litany of aftermarket accessories
22:27 for it that'll allow you to go even further.
22:29 It's pretty efficient for what it is.
22:30 It'll tow enough for what most people want to do
22:33 and it's comfortable enough for long distance drives.
22:35 So it really is hard to complain.
22:36 It is a little let down in terms of technology.
22:39 A lot of the competitors in this segment
22:40 are now moving the game forward
22:42 in terms of what they offer inside.
22:43 And when something like the new Ford Everest
22:45 comes out with a V6 diesel,
22:46 big infotainment screen, a hybrid as well,
22:49 this is going to feel comprehensively old.
22:51 But at the moment,
22:52 if you do want to splash some cash on this,
22:53 I wouldn't even bother going to the Kakadu.
22:55 It's an extra 10 grand for not a whole lot of extra features.
22:58 This really is the sweet spot in the range.
23:00 The VX is where I would be spending my money.
23:03 Now, let me know, did you buy a Prado?
23:04 How's it been in the long run?
23:05 And are you looking at upgrading it
23:07 when a brand new version of this comes out
23:09 or even right now?
23:10 Let me know what you think in the comments section below.
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