My Land Cruiser Prado - Ownership Review

[Mathew]

We used to have a Gen 6 Mitusbishi Lancer (not Galant) in the exact same colour as the one in the photo. One of our friends had the exact same Galant in the same color. I, as a little kid, used to wonder what the difference was between the Lancer and the Galant then except for the different names, auto gearbox and power windows.
Even now, I wonder if there was a difference in the engine capacities. It was funny how two cars that looked exactly the same from outside could have different names back then.

Regards,
Vipin

Thanks Vipin.
Galant is having 2000CC engine capacity while Lancer 1600CC. Here in Middle East only petrol option available, no diesel. The shapes of both cars are almost same,and lead to little confusion. Lancer is light weight and hence good breaking. Good breaking means shorter space to target. Steering is light, decent cabin space. Galant is heavy (current generation is very heavy-thick sheet metal). I feel the breaking needs more space (break little ahead of target). Power to weight ratio is bad, while power to weight ratio is good with Lancer. My brother is having a petrol Lancer and still going strong with 2.60Lakhs kilometers. No main service costs. Galant too reliable but need to get serviced by technically experienced mechanics. My comparison is based on my experience, and personally prefer Lancer for low maintenance cost.

Galant on other hand looks awesome. Very stable on high speed. The four spoke steering wheel is good. The sheet metal used is of high quality, and hence any scratch or else can be easily fixed. Generation to generation they follow a specific design pattern. Lancer was success in India, but they can not keep the momentum.

 

[Mathew]

“The U.S. Navy in Bahrain declares state of emergency for Bahrain, Qatar, eastern Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. The case is considered one of the strongest cases for the past 30 years, and it warns their marine on these above countries from the wave of torrential rains too. It will begin on the morning of Sunday, November 17th and will continue until Thursday, 21 November, where it will rain for 3 days, continuously on these countries. and the U.S. Navy analyzed that this case is a strong low weather is coming from the north and the source is from the Caspian Sea in northern Iran, and there are logistical support strong moisture tropical immense sourced from the Indian Ocean with moisture from the huge basin Arabian Gulf, at the confluence of humidity stream from the north with the current humidity from the middle and a humidity stream from the south will create a state of instability layers of the upper atmosphere on the northern, central and east and west of the Arab Gulf states. Cause of this weather forecast, the emergence of Altocumulus with huge pull Alsopersel black clouds which gives lightning and severe thunderstorms, which could turn the day into Dark. This gives a very heavy rain accompanied by large grains of hails. and the possibility of emergence sea Hurricane water with sea view and warn sailors from the Navy not to go to the sea throughout the next week as well as not to risk in the wild (Deseret) and low places as a result of those heavy rains too. -- Issued by the U.S. Navy”


The above is true, and still going on. Why I am referring this here in this forum? Look what happened to my friend’s vehicle.



Really, the vehicle is strong. No damages to glasses. Front right wing mirror, and little denting.
Look at the roads.

 

[Mathew]

Land Cruiser Prado 2014 is now available at showrooms. The changes are mainly on head light with Daytime Running Light (DRL), and brushed aluminium stripe at the rear. Front bonnet grill changed to Innova Style. The front-bumper guard got a new design. Audio system changed to LCD type. The side profile is same. No changes. The top end got some additional security mechanisms.

Four Cylinder Full Options.


Four Cylinder Low Options. Right side is six cylinder low options.

 

[Mathew]

I visited the showroom, and have taken some pictures.

Six-cylinder full option. The rear door mounted spare tyre indicates six-cylinder.




The difference between low end and full options. Full option is having LCD console, while low end with regular CD player.




START/STOP button in-place of ignition switch. Console layout is good.

 

[Mathew]

Rear seat got additional cup holders.


View from the rear seat.


Separate A/C controls for the rear passengers.


Roof mounted storage fro driver and front passenger.


Side View.

 

[rahulsingh_er]

Mathew congrats for the ride man the beast truly suits the middle east environment, request you to share price if possible

 

[Mathew]

Thanks rahulsingh_er,

Here in Middle-East, no State Road TAX like in India. This is a huge saving. The vehicle supplier will make all necessary documents. The supplier will provide all necessary additional fittings, including floor mats. They also provide 10 Litre Petrol by default or more depends. The pricing includes everything to take the vehicle on the road.

Two variants 4-cylinder and 6-cyliner, with multiple options. 4-Cylinder comes with two options, low options and full options. 4 Cylinder low option costs 9100KD, while full option cost 9980KD.

Converting to Indian Rupees, the low option comes to equivalent 23Lakhs, while full option equivalent to 25lakhs. The same vehicle available in India for approximately 59Lakhs (showroom price). Now imagine how much they are saving per vehicle.

 

[Mathew]

the LC Prado is the apt vehicle. Much better than the 'Fortuner' offered here in India. LC Prado looks stunning in white color, just love the stance of it, its a real SUV.
Thanks for all the shipment info. etc. very interesting.
Pls. do share some more offroading experiences of yours in your 'Prado' with lots and lots of pics, thanks.

Thanks anup.jeep

Land cruiser Prado costs approximately 59Lakhs, while Fortuner costs 22.5Lakhs in India (showroom price). Both are of different classes. Will cover some comparisons in this thread. Off-Road experience also you can expect here.

 

[Mathew]

Hi,
Congratulations on your Toyota Prado..
As we all know the Technically and Mechanically Toyota badged Cars are very well done and its proved all through this years. But as i see in all the segment cars from Toyota, the interiors (Dashboard objects setup) were not matched with the competitors.
Even in India Innova and Fortuner were not having designed with some good looking Dashboards / Consoles etc., Its simple and plain looking.

Thanks Ambylovers.

Yes. You are correct.
They have considered such issues, and introduced new items in refreshed land cruiser prado 2014.

 

[Mathew]

Blind Spot monitor System



"If a vehicle is in the outer mirror’s blind spot when changing lanes, the mirror indicator turns on to alert the driver. If the turn signal is then activated, the mirror indicator flashes on and off."

This is a thoughtful feature, and needed in such big vehicles. Inside the mirror itself and embedded LED indicates the object is on the blind spot.

 

[Gurrala74]

@Mathew

Sorry I am bit late here, Excellent ownership review of "Prado" with some nice pics of Kuwait too. I wish many and many happy miles with it and also look forward to see lot of pics in future with updates of the car

 

[Mathew]

Sorry I am bit late here, Excellent ownership review of "Prado" with some nice pics of Kuwait too. I wish many and many happy miles with it and also look forward to see lot of pics in future with updates of the car

Thanks Gurrala74,

Hope to add more technical details with pictures.

Weather was unstable today. Begin with fog, little cloudy thereafter, and later turn to clear sky. Visibility was very short due to fog (picture attached). So little traffic jam due to slow moving traffic.

The refreshed Prado 2014 comes with lots of useful features. The above Blind Spot monitor System is available with 2014 model. It is a must feature on large vehicles. The refreshed Prado got a miniature radar system. These features are not available with earlier versions.

 

[Mathew]

Refreshed Prado 2014 -- Emergency Brake Signal



This is a beautiful feature SUVs must have. If a car is following SUV for example, any panic breaking must end up with rear-end collisions. This is useful when the speed is high, and particularly on highways.

 

[Mathew]

Features of Refreshed Land Cruiser Prado 2014 Explained - Contd.
Vehicle Stability Control System

Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) is mostly available in top variant of all vehicles. This feature can be turned off, but comes back when started again. The feature is already available on all variants of present model.

 

[Mathew]

Features of Refreshed Land Cruiser Prado 2014 Explained - Contd.
Dynamic Radar Cruise Control System.

Millimeter wave radar signals the distance between the vehicle, and the vehicle ahead. This is a handy new-feature for highway cruise. This feature is not available in old models. Again, this feature is available only on top variants. Toyota Fortuner 4x2 Automatic in India is heaving cruise control system. It is the basic cruise control system with manual increase/decrease of speed.