Driving Toyota’s LandCruiser Prado 4WD, the vehicle of choice for grey nomads touring Australia, towing a Caravan or simply exploring off-road – travel up North in the Territory and you see an amazing number on and off the road. Heavy and in some ways dated the LandCruiser Prado still performs its intended function in a very capable way – the 2.8-litre turbo diesel no fire breather, however unlike the just superseded limited-edition Kakadu Horizon I recently drove, the 2021 model gains 20kW more power and 50Nm more torque – six-speed automatic now the only transmission available – the Horizon edition now dropped, the Kakadu now the flagship but dearer at $87,030 while the entry GX and popular GXL rise by $5,750,  starting from $59,840.

The Prado still our best-selling large SUV and leading this segment for 10 of the last 12 years. In many ways too heavy and over-engineered for around town use as an SUV, best off-road as a 4WD and for its towing ability – braked towing capacity 3,000kgs. The Kakadu benefiting from adaptive variable suspension, the rear air suspension now with auto leveling. Toyota has also upgraded its Safety Sense system expanding its pre-collision warning system with upgraded autonomous emergency braking. Its also now gains the latest multi-media system with larger 9-inch colour display screen and advanced voice recognition and compatibility with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

I’m David Berthon

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