Toyota LandCruiser Prado GXL 2010 Review

Price Guide (recommended price before statutory and delivery charges): $60,904
Options fitted to test car (not included in above price): Nil
Crash rating: TBA
Fuel: 95 RON ULP
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km): 13.0
CO2 emissions (g/km): 306
Also consider: Jeep Cherokee, Mitsubishi Pajero

Overall rating: 3.0/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 3.5/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 3.0/5.0
Safety: 4.0/5.0
Behind the wheel: 2.5/5.0
X-factor: 3.0/5.0

There's a view that the prettier the medium SUV, the less adept it is offroad. Consider for example... ummm...

Well okay, all medium SUVs are ugly. One of the more aesthetically challenged in the segment is Toyota's Prado. While we're confident it would gallop up a 35-degree grade or ford a river crossing towing a four-berth caravan, we also reckon the latest model could be Toyota's homage to the anglerfish.

But it is one of those rare go-anywhere wagons so capable that you find yourself forgiving or even just plain ignoring its looks. The Prado is a purposeful appliance offroad and other than the annoying clutch and gearchange, or the third-row seat packaging that's hard to endure, this is a highly impressive mid-size SUV.

For a start, there's the Prado's 4.0-litre petrol V6, which is fabulously torque-rich and yet capable of firing off like a rocket to the redline, just shy of 6000rpm.

This is an engine that will slog up a hill at 1000rpm in sixth gear without any fuss. Drop the transmission back, however, and the Prado provides 'athletic' performance. It's not the sweetest sounding engine and is marginally noisier than any other source at 100km/h, but it's refined for an offroader's.

During the week in our possession it posted mileage around 14.4L/100km over a mix of predominantly urban driving with some freeway cruising, gentler country-road driving and a little offroading.

If there's one glaring shortcoming in this car, however, it's the manual transmission and clutch. The Prado is a much better vehicle with the optional automatic transmission -- not this six-speed manual, which is heavy, slow and sludgy in its shift quality and is not what you'd call 'on speaking terms' with the clutch.

The clutch itself is actuated by a long-throw pedal that left this writer with sore muscles in the left shin. This was the only significant gripe about the driving position however, with the comfortable seats and ergonomically efficient instruments and controls passing the test otherwise.

On the road, the Prado defaults to understeer but is predictable up to a reasonable threshold of grip. We were surprised by the amount of feedback through the steering wheel -- still not great perhaps, but better than expected from this very intensely capable all-terrain wagon.

If the Prado's on-road dynamics are not up to the level of a Ford Territory's -- and they're not -- at least the Prado's ride is way better. Indeed, the Toyota's ability to smooth things out is astonishing. It's not wallowy by any means, being fairly well controlled, but its ride is superior to quite a number of passenger-carrying vehicles that aren't designed to go offroad.

Offroad the Prado quickly proves its credentials with an ability to climb steep grades in high-range 4WD. By way of comparison [Ed: sort of!] the same grade required low-range 4x4 and the centre diff locked in a diesel ix35 a couple of months earlier.

At no point did the Prado ground itself; front, rear or in between. Hill Descent Control in low-range first gear, in the view of this writer, still a little faster than ideal, but not by much.

Wheel articulation of the Prado was superb on a turn downhill that led to a VW Touareg and a Suzuki Grand Vitara lifting wheels in the past. The Prado was able to make the turn without lifting a wheel or touching the ground underneath the car.

Manoeuvrability offroad is helped by the Prado's (relatively) tight turning circle, which is also a boon in shopping centre carparks. For an SUV of its size, the Toyota is a handy jigger when it comes to parking and the reversing camera and parking sensors are properly set up to aid the driver in tighter situations.

There are, however, a couple of minor packaging issues. For headroom and kneeroom, the second-row seat is adequate for average-sized adults, but even with the seats adjusted as far aft as possible, occupants won't be able to stretch out and there's not much room to poke your toes under the front seats.

Also, with the middle seats set that far to the rear, there's very little room left for passengers of any stature in the third-row seats. These seats, which fold out of the floor with a touch of difficulty, provide adult-level headroom, but for adults to sit back there, the mid-row seats must be adjusted forward.

As for climbing into the third-row seats through the open doors, it's hard work for adults and not that much easier for kids. The second-row seats tip forward easily enough and the base slides forward without restriction, but there's pitiful room to place one's feet while climbing into the rear through the door.

But then the Prado makes no real pretence of being a peoplemover; it's an SUV first and foremost. In that role it's very effective -- and to find a more capable mid-sized SUV offroad you have to start making serious concessions in the comfort stakes.

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