Toyota LandCruiser Prado 2024 Review

The 2024 Toyota LandCruiser Prado 250 Series line-up comprises five models priced from $72,500 to $99,900 plus on-road costs.

These prices are a huge hike compared to the old 150 Series – we’re talking $10,000 and more.

They’re also a fair bit higher than obvious rivals like the Ford Everest and Isuzu MU-X, and are even entering Land Rover Defender territory at the top-end.

A new off-road hero called the Altitude is added to the range, joining the fleet-focussed GX, family GXL, premium VX and luxury Kakadu.

All five variants come with the same fundamental mechanical package: the sae TNGA-F ladder frame as the LandCruiser 300; a 48-volt mild hybrid version of the familiar 2.8-litre four-cylinder that’s become the first Toyota turbo-diesel engine in Australia to use AdBlue; a new eight-speed automatic transmission; permanent 4x4 with low range; a Torsen locking centre differential and new electric-assist power steering system in place of the old hydraulic rack.

The new Prado swaps from a side- to vertical-opening tailgate with separate window opening and slips the full-sized spare wheel under the floor. Three of the five variants have seven seats standard while the GX and Altitude omit the third row.

Standard equipment highlights on the GX include 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, side steps, fabric seat trim, dual-zone climate control, a 7.0-inch digital instrument cluster, a 10-speaker sound system and a 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, inbuilt navigation, AM/FM and digital radio.

GXL – which is expected to account for 50 per cent of Prado sales – additions include roof rails, privacy glass, a power tailgate, synthetic leather upholstery, a powered driver’s seat, heated and ventilated front seats and a wireless smartphone charger.

The Altitude exclusively adds a front stabiliser disconnect system, locking rear diff, Toyo all-terrain tyres and a sunroof. It also gets bi-LED headlights, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, Multi Terrain Select off-road drive modes, a 14-speaker JBL audio and a refrigerated console box.

VX upgrades include five on-road drive modes (up from three), adaptive suspension, 20-inch alloy wheels, leather-accented seat trim and a power-adjusted passenger seat and steering column. It also swaps to a black vertically barred grille, which it shares with Kakadu.

Among other things, the Kakadu alone has a limited slip rear differential, panoramic sunroof, illuminated side steps and heated and ventilated rear seats.

There’s much less differentiation across the range in terms of safety equipment. The GX gets the key stuff like autonomous emergency braking and nine airbags that stretch to cover row three in seven-seaters.

Adaptive high beam and tyre pressure monitoring is added at VX level. A head-up display is reserved for Altitude and Kakadu. The Prado has been crash-tested by ANCAP and a test result is on the way.

Premium paint is $675 while a $1675 two tone arrangement is reserved for Altitude. There are as few as one and as many as three standard paint choices across the range.

The Prado is covered by a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty.

Service intervals are a short 10,000km/six months, something Toyota attributes to the hard work the car is likely to encounter. The first 10 services are capped at $390 each.

Undoubtedly, categorically, the best thing about the new Toyota Prado is its improved driving quality.

Toyota certainly recognised that and exploited it with an extensive drive program in and around the spectacular Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory.

Off-road specifically, Toyota’s made a good thing that bit better with new-generation electronics aiding the traditional metal bits.

Even without a rear locking diff in most versions, or opting for low range, the new Prado can exploit its ground clearance, articulation and traction control to conquer quite challenging obstacles.

Opt for low range and it becomes a truly potent off-roader capable of overcoming almost any challenge a driver would sanely contemplate.

The transition from high to low range and back again was made consistently and smoothly via a simple tab.

There were no stiff gates or levers, hesitation, driving back and fro or any of the other palaver you can go through in this process.

It’s also nice too that the painful, graunching sounds made by the 150’s hill descent control are gone. Even increasing the panel gaps at the front to avoid contact damage is a nice touch.

But it’s on-road where the biggest improvements over the old 150 Series are to be found. On gravel or tarmac, the new Prado feels very secure.

The new steering is a revelation. At low speed it’s light and direct – great for picking this big and bulky vehicle through a shopping centre (or narrow forest track). At higher speed it’s weightier but no less connected.

The engine looks less than remarkable on paper, but the addition of the new eight-speed auto makes it feel more prompt and refined than before. The 48V HiLux with the old six-speed is nowhere near as keen or good as this.

This is a 4990mm long vehicle that weighs in around 2500kg and yet this powertrain makes it feel pretty darn eager.

The electric motor also helps with initial tip-in and the new stop-start system is unobtrusive too. The engine can still get clattery under pressure, but this overall package is an obvious overall improvement.

The ride and handling balance has also swung more toward the dynamic side. Where the 150 Series felt tall and topply with a tendency to roll in corners, the 250 Series sits flatter and more certain on its double wishbones and rigid rear axle.

In the GX, GXL and Altitude with passive suspension, the compromise is darn good. There’s still some ladder-frame shake on corrugations, but it’s pretty well controlled. The VX and Kakadu, with their adaptive set-ups, are too blowsy in comfort on the open road, hit a nice balance in normal and get a bit firm in the sports modes.

The other thing that really works for the new Prado is its exterior design. This retro look is pretty handsome and it’s going to sell Toyota plenty of vehicles.

Inside, the trims and interior design is nice enough, seats are new and comfortable and there are an acceptable number of storage spaces provided across the three rows, as well as USB-C outlets.

Elbow and headroom in row two are generous and it’s a comfortable ride being situated well away from the axles. The cabin is also quiet, as ladder frame cabins tend to be, and access to row three doesn’t require too many gymnastics.

Sorry to say but the list of what’s not so good about the 2024 Toyota Prado is quite long and it’s mostly focussed on the cabin.

It starts in the third row where the space reserved for the mild hybrid battery (and the bigger hybrid battery used in the North American 250 Series) means a raised floor height.

Add in the split-fold third row seat – which sits above it – and the space shrinks even further. A drop-in storage box levels the floor but also accentuates what a compromised solution this is.

With all three rows raised, Toyota claims 182 litres of storage for the seven-seat variants, 906 litres with the 50:50 split-folding third row lowered and 1829 litres if the 60:40 split second row stowed. The five-seat GX and Altitude do slightly better at 954 litres and 1895 litres.

They’re not stunning numbers, but they are at least mostly better than the 165mm shorter, 95mm narrower and 90mm lower roofline old Prado, which claimed 120, 620 and 1833 litres respectively.

Taking the gloss off that is the 150 Series, across all grades, has a higher payload than the new Prado.

Move forward and the new Prado’s second row isn’t all that generous in terms of kneeroom – a sliding seat base would help here. It’s also knees-up because of its ladder frame basis.

Get up-front and there’s a whole new generation of digital instrumentation to contemplate. On the surface it all looks good and there seems to be lots of info, including multiple off-road pages.

But start drilling in and the frustration begins. Configuring the instrument panel is a complex process. That became apparent pretty quickly because Toyota has made the silly decision not to have a shortcut or physical button to turn off the parking sensors.

You instead have to drill through the instrument panel to figure it out, a process that defeated many. The result was a lot of bing-bongs and trilling during off-road driving.

There are other irritations: there’s no home screen for the touchscreen, the volume button is small and despite Toyota boasting how the off-road controls have all been gathered together on the centre console, they actually haven’t.

We also don’t agree with Toyota’s decision not to offer tyre pressure sensors on the rugged Altitude, let alone the GX and GXL – why are they only fitted to the VX and Kakadu?

It’s also disappointing the fuel capacity has dipped from 150 litres to 110 litres (it was 180 litres back in 120 Series days) – it’s still pretty reasonable, but not as outback friendly as before. Some people won’t be pleased they’ve got the added responsibility of an AdBlue tank level to monitor as well.

And while the braked towing capacity has been bumped to 3500kg, matching the Everest and MU-X, the payload you can carry while doing so is as low as 230kg. Good luck with that…

Given the massive pre-orders for the 2024 Toyota LandCruiser Prado, a lot of people reading this will be looking for confirmation they’ve already made the right choice.

Well, if the focus is on the driver’s seat then yep, the Prado 250 Series is improved off-road and vastly improved on-road. Good choice.

But beyond the design nothing much else really impresses about the Prado. It feels like the A-team worked on the mechanicals and the B-team spent plenty of time having long lunches when they were supposed to be optimising the cabin and its tech.

That third-row set-up and some of the other shortfalls like the lack of parking sensors shortcut button are just plain puzzling.

Really, such things are not worthy of a vehicle wearing the Toyota badge, especially when such an enormous price increase has been imposed on it.

So based on this first encounter the new Prado does not appear to be the knockout blow for rivals it was widely expected to be, particularly the Everest.

The comparison testing can’t start soon enough.

2024 Toyota LandCruiser Prado GXL at a glance:
Price: $79,990 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel mild hybrid
Output: 150kW/500Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 7.6L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 200g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Unrated

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