Let me tell you right away: the car from this test costs about 60 thousand dollars. What, what, for this money you can buy five and a half “state employees”? Okay, close the text. Who is interested in what you get for such an amount, you are welcome to follow me, letter and paragraph.
“Girls love Prada and Gucci, boys love Prado and Bellucci,” a line from one Belarusian band automatically paraphrased and played in my head while I was walking to the Toyota dealership to pick up an SUV. “Kruzak”, albeit in the Prado version, “inspires”. Maybe boys will prefer something fast, sharp, daring, with “stars” or propellers on the logo, but men who need status and confidence on the road will certainly go for the Land Cruiser.
A moment of gratitude: not every dealer this summer was ready to promptly provide a car for the whole day for a trip with Yuri Zhigamont. But Toyota Center Minsk Vostok gave us both the Fortuner about a month ago and the Land Cruiser Prado without any further discussion or clarification. Everything would be so!
Where did you go?
With the film crew of the main Belarusian television traveler, we set off on the road in the last days of August. While it was dry and warm, we went to enjoy the views of the Braslav lakes! Nearby is the agricultural town of Slobodka - Yuri Zhigamont has something to tell about it.
By the way, in addition to Yuri and his “crew,” guys from Belarusfilm worked at the filming location. A little insider: a big documentary is being prepared about Yuri and the filming of his legendary project. “Filmmakers” will show how the filming of “Padarozh” took place at different times of the year, how Zhigamont and his team look for memorable places and what such trips deep into Belarus mean for Yuri. It will be interesting!
"Premium" truck
We are going and are glad that the format of travel with Yuri Zhigamont allows us to better understand the car. After an ordinary C-class passenger car, the Land Cruiser seems like a hulking lump; the first meters look like a huge white cabinet on the road. At this moment you remember that the “older” model, Land Cruiser 200, is even larger.
The inscription “Welcome to the territory of comfort” on the display that greets the car at first seems slightly mocking. The cold blue lighting on the climate control and the ascetic design of the dashboard do not give the feeling of a home on wheels. And there is only one solution: in order to feel comfort, feel the smoothness and all the “trick” of the Land Cruiser Prado, you need to drive at least 100 kilometers in it, preferably on the highway.
This is where the smoothness of the ride is, this is where the territory of comfort is! You remember how other classmates shuddered in the pits, how the joints on the track were transmitted in a big way to the steering wheel and hands. Brrr! Prado doesn’t have this - he is a “Japanese” intellectual. “Konichiva” - and carried it off without disturbing the riders. Here, for a second, you can even forget that this is a frame SUV.
Under the hood of the TLC Prado there is a 2.8-liter diesel engine. The same one that was in the Fortuner. Look how autobloggers react to it - they say, the “tractor” rumbles loudly. If you open the hood and stand next to it, maybe. And if you get into a car, you need to have the hearing of a mouse to find fault with the engine volume. When driving, the diesel engine is also practically inaudible, unless, of course, you crank it up to 4 thousand revolutions and drive measuredly, as a “cruiser” does.
The Land Cruiser Prado is not a tractor at all, but a bit of a truck. Just look at the passport data - empty it weighs two tons, and its total weight is 3 tons minus 10 kilograms. Japanese engineers, of course, are great fellows, but they have not yet learned to deceive physics - keep this in mind if you suddenly want to drive the Prado in street racer mode, with late braking. All this mass needs to be stopped, and don’t expect racing grip from the brakes - this “Japanese” slows down without haste or panic.
But don’t think that the brakes are worthless, no. They passed the stress test in the Braslav region by 10 points, when they had to urgently slow down in the night in front of a fox that suddenly jumped out under the wheels. I pressed the pedal harder - the ABS worked, the passengers “bowed” to the red-haired extreme sports enthusiast, but there were still ten meters left before her.
If we are already talking about the “truck,” then it’s time to open the back door and look into the trunk! The door is so massive and confidence-inspiring that there is a locking stop there.
Need to drop off small items? Just lift the glass.
The necessary set of tools is hidden in the door itself. There is a 220 volt outlet in the trunk.
Appearance of the new Land Cruiser Prado
The appearance of the new Toyota Land Cruiser is not very different from the pre-restyling Land Cruiser Prado. The new SUV has received an updated front part of the car and rear dimensions. However, even small improvements really refreshed the appearance of the Land Cruiser Prado after restyling. The front part of the Prado, having undergone an update, is now very similar to the “spirited hundredth Cruiser” - the Land Cruiser 200. “New things” to the front end, innovations to the “front” part of the car, include an updated shape of the headlights, a new radiator grille appeared, the hood lid received relief stamping, the bumper received neat fog lights. The rear of the updated body in the new Prado 2018-2019 now has fresh, LED dimensions, the shape of the lights is slightly different from the previous car. The rear bumper has been updated, and a completely different trim for the fifth tailgate has been installed.
The updated bumper has somewhat lengthened the new Prado 200, increasing the length of the car by 6 centimeters. The length of the Toyota Cruiser in the new body is 4.84 meters, and the length of the Prado before restyling was 4.78 meters. The ground clearance of the Land Cruiser Prado 2018 model year has not changed, repeating the performance of the old body. The SUV's ground clearance is 215 millimeters. True, despite the assurances of Japanese engineers, the updated shape of the Japanese front bumper made the cross-country ability slightly worse. Now the approach angle is 31 degrees, but the remaining angles remain “unshakable”, maintaining their values. The angle at the exit was 22 degrees, the angle of the ramp being overcome was the previous 25 degrees.
Japanese intelligent
A frame, permanent all-wheel drive and a bunch of electronic assistants for off-road driving - the Land Cruiser Prado can still be driven into a muddy rut, and it will move along it like a tank. The Cruiser follows the highway like a liner, but its real purpose is different - this can be understood simply by looking at the central part of the console.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time and space to drag the car off-road, so we had to be content with only driving along the slopes and hills of the Braslav region. The Land Cruiser pulls along them without problems, except that it is better to turn off the eco mode - it will obviously be easier for the car to climb to new heights if the electronics allow you to turn the engine.
“Automatic” is classic, with six steps. In both Fortuner and Prado, the lever moves like a “snake”. Some people don’t like this and it smells like outdated technology, but personally it’s convenient for me - you definitely won’t miss it, as happens with other “automatic machines”, where you accidentally fly the lever into Sport or “neutral”.
The behavior of the “machine” varies greatly depending on the mode that is selected with the buttons. If you want to save fuel, choose Eco, but then the “cruiser” frankly “doesn’t work”, because it has a completely different task. In Comfort, the response to the gas is sharper, the speed is gained faster. Sport and Sport+ are the “hottest”, but “hot” is precisely in the sense of the Land Cruiser Prado: no one canceled more than two tons of weight. From a standstill, the SUV accelerates without a jerk, gradually starting off and accelerating after a couple of seconds. But this acceleration is not from a cannon, but the same “Japanese intelligent” one. All modes have one thing in common: you save money, drive a little more vigorously or “slow down”, but the “automatic” works unnoticed, without poking or kicking. Here is that very “comfort territory” for you!
The fact that the car is clearly not for “hot guys” can be seen from the multimedia. Hefty buttons, no less icons on the display and a minimal set of capabilities - all so as not to strain your eyesight and not rack your brains in the menu.
True, the quality of the pictures from the cameras (they are literally stuck here in a circle) is expected to be better.
The Land Cruiser Prado has something different in its interior: a seat with an abundance of electrical settings, an electrically adjustable steering column, and a huge refrigerator-armrest. The seats, by the way, can both warm and cool.
Price of the new Land Cruiser Prado
The much-awaited new Toyota Prado has finally begun to roll off the assembly line of the Japanese Toyota plant, the restyling of which has appealed to many fans of frame SUVs. The Russian start of sales of Toyota Land Cruiser Prado began in December 2021. However, the price of a new Toyota Land Cruiser is higher than the price of a Land Cruiser Prado in the old body. Several reasons contributed to this. The first is that the new Toyota Land Cruiser is now equipped more richly than the pre-restyling model. Another reason is that the new Prado partially vacates the SUV niche before the advent of the Toyota Fortuner, so that Japanese SUVs do not compete with each other within the group
Our verdict
On the highway, the Prado’s consumption turned out to be around 8.2-8.3 liters per “hundred” - quite reasonable figures if you think about the weight of the car. At the same time, the “cruiser” surprised us with its taxiing - with such a weight, the SUV rolls minimally, handles predictably and does not frighten with reactions. Passenger comfort? Back and forth they snored peacefully, and even snored - what is not the best proof of the “territory of comfort”?
Another thing is that it’s stupid to take a Land Cruiser Prado if you are a frankly “asphalt” driver - why carry this mass and pay a wild toll for it? Then it's better to look at the C-HR or RAV4.
Vadim ZENKEVICH
Auto business
Toyota Land Cruiser Prado technical specifications table
| Length/width/height, mm | 4840/1855/1845 |
| Wheelbase, mm | 2790 |
| Engine | diesel 4-cylinder |
| Working volume, cubic cm | 2755 |
| Max. power, hp | 177 |
| Max. torque, Nm at rpm | 450/1600-2400 |
| Transmission | 6 automatic transmission |
| Max. speed, km/h | 175 |
| Fuel consumption city/highway, l/100 km | 9,2/6,3 |
| Fuel tank, l | 87 |
| Curb/gross weight, kg | 2165/2990 |
Technical characteristics of Land Cruiser Prado
In the expected Toyota Land Cruiser Prado 2018-2019, the technical characteristics remained at the level of the pre-restyling car. The front wheels have a double wishbone suspension, the rear axle of the SUV is continuous. Optional adaptive shock absorbers and rear axle supports are available.
The new Prado is equipped with a standard suspension as standard and has electronics that allow you to change the engine settings. Transmission and steering options - there are three modes: Sport, Standard, Economy. If you select the optional adaptive suspension, the number of special modes expands to five. Additional modes appear: Sport C and the extremely advanced Grade C plus (Sport S+). These “sports options” make it possible to change the performance characteristics of the car suspension.
As before, the basic version of the transmission received a permanent all-wheel drive option and a low gear. An innovation is the introduction of an auto mode - MTS-AUTO (MTS-AUTO) in the advanced MTS concept (Multi Train Select).
Under the hood of the restyled SUV, three different engine options can be installed. For example, the European version of this car has two gasoline engines and one diesel.
Petrol Land Cruiser Prado 2021:
- Atmospheric engine - volume 2.7, four cylinders, producing 163 horses (246 Nm), generated with a 5-speed manual transmission (5 manual transmission).
- The 4.0 engine is a 6-cylinder power unit capable of producing 282 horsepower (381 Nm), coming with an automatic transmission (6 automatic transmission).
