2024 Toyota Prado: 10 things you need to know

The new 2024 Toyota Prado is shaping up to be an even more serious off-roader than the Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series with which it shares its underpinnings.

We got our first physical look at the replacement for Australia’s top-selling large SUV at an exclusive media preview in Melbourne this week, ahead of the new Prado’s local release in mid-2024. Here’s what we learned.

We’ve seen the dimensions on paper, but it’s another thing seeing the car in the metal. The new Prado is about the same size as the full-size LandCruiser 300 Series, making it bigger than any Prado before it and no longer the ‘son of LandCruiser’.

Standing next to it, the 250 Series Prado’s larger dimensions are clearly apparent, but at the same time it doesn’t appear enormous. We weren’t allowed inside the locked prototype so can’t speak to the cabin feel, but from the outside its exterior dimensions are clearly a big step up.

The new Toyota Prado does without the side-hinged tailgate that’s been a fixture since the original of 1996. Instead, the new Prado’s tailgate is top-hinged like the one on the LandCruiser (and available as an option for the outgoing Prado). The upper glass section can also be raised separately, as with the old Ford Territory, allowing for quick access to the cargo area.

The Toyota Prado has always been available with dual fuel tanks; the current model has a combined capacity of 150 litres (via an 86-litre main tank and a 63-litre sub-tank), while the previous generation could carry 180 litres. But the days of enormous fuel tanks –  which made the Prado capable of crossing the Simpson without carrying extra fuel, for example – seem to be over.

Previously, mounting the spare tyre to the tailgate allowed engineers to fit a second tank where that tyre would have gone (hence the swing-out, rather than flip-up, tailgates of previous models). But with the new model the spare tyre resides under the rear, limiting room for a sub-tank.

Obviously the aftermarket suppliers will come up with solutions, but based on our quick crawl-around underneath the car, the new Prado’s fuel tank doesn’t appear to be different to the single 110-litre unit in the 300 Series.

It looks like the Prado will get the same rubber as the LandCruiser 300 Series. That’s perhaps no surprise given the two share the same TNGA-F ladder frame, including its tracks and wheelbase.

The tyres on the prototype shown this week were Dunlop Grandtrek all-terrains in the identical 265/65 R18 size seen on the ‘king off the road’ LandCruiser.

For the first time, at least some variants of the Toyota Prado will offer a 360-degree camera display, with cameras on the grille, windscreen and in each side mirror providing vision all around the car.

Also expect the latest iteration of Toyota’s Multi-Terrain Monitor, which assists with the placement of wheels in off-road situations by providing more detailed imagery on the centre screen.

The new Toyota Prado looks like it might get more serious underbody protection than the LandCruiser. Rather than the reinforced plastic of the 300 Series, the Prado prototype featured proper steel shields, even if they were somewhat distorted by many brushes with nature.

Granted, they could have been part of the bullbar package also fitted to the pre-production vehicle we saw, but we’re hoping that steel will make an appearance as standard or at least optional equipment.

The new Prado – or LandCruiser, as it will be called in North America – will be offered around the world with two very different headlight designs. One is a more traditional circular look (similar to what’s being reintroduced on the updated LandCruiser 70 Series) and the other is a quad-headlight arrangement reminiscent of the old 62 Series and 80 Series. Only the latter will be offered in Australia.

The 2024 Toyota Prado prototype shown to media and dealers in Melbourne this week featured a bullbar with a neatly integrated winch.

The winch was hidden behind the number plate, putting it mostly out of sight. Expect it to be offered as an accessory when the new off-roader arrives in mid-2024.

At least some versions of the new Prado will be available with a dynamic front anti-roll bar designed to increase wheel travel and articulation when off-roading, without ruining on-road ride/handling.

The prototype Prado we crawled underneath had an active stabiliser bar that looks similar to the one available on the 300 Series, and the latest iteration of the electronic Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System (e-KDSS) system should be part of the Prado package.

Australian pricing won’t be announced until closer to the fifth-generation Prado’s local launch in mid-2024, but prices are expected to increase significantly over the current model’s $62,830-$87,468 range, and customers currently waiting up to 12 months for the existing model won’t be price-protected.

But while Toyota dealers will have to ‘upsell’ many of them into a new Prado, for which delivery wait times may be even longer, Toyota Australia will no doubt be keen to keep pricing under that of the LandCruiser ($94,301-$143,101) to prevent sales substitution.

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