Toyota’s LandCruiser Prado 4WD continues to dominate the go-anywhere segment, outselling the competition by a country mile – its robust nature and off-road capability making it a popular towing vehicle. A purpose built heavy 4WD yet behind the wheel a very comfortable and capable vehicle. Perhaps dated but still to my mind streets ahead of the larger LandCruiser 200 4WD which is overly expensive and in need of an all-new model. I drove the top-line LandCruiser Prado Kakadu limited-edition Horizon at $88,990 – as they say with all the fruit – frankly the standard Kakadu would be my pick and I notice in the latest 2021 series the Horizon model has been dropped. 

Despite Prado being best suited to off-road and towing duties, around town, it’s a very comfortable and economical seven-seater but heavy at 2455 kilos. Thankfully the test vehicle had the no-cost option of a flat tailgate, which moves the spare wheel under the floor making the door lighter and easier to open although it means the loss of the 63-litre under floor fuel sub-tank. The 2.8-litre turbo-diesel has been given more power and torque for 2021, increased safety equipment and the latest generation multi-media system. Toyota now adopting six-speed automatic as standard across the Prado range. What surprised me most was fuel consumption and I managed a commendable 7.4L/100k with mainly open road cruising.

I’m David Berthon

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