Seeking the sun in Toyota’s new Land Cruiser Prado

The Prado’s Crawl Control system in action. (Photo: Toyota SA)

By Melinda Ferguson

23 Jul 2024

As the weather in Cape Town caused misery and mayhem, the writer made a welcome hop to 30-degree Mozambique to test drive Toyota’s highly anticipated new Prado.

I felt a bit like a criminal as I landed in sweltering Maputo. Dressed like a yeti woman in scarves, gloves and a beanie, I’d slunk out of Cape Town at daybreak on a red-eye flight to Joburg en route to Mozambique, leaving my sodden boyfriend and miserable dog to deal with a leaking roof.

It was during that week that Cape Town saw some of the worst weather recorded in recent times. The city had been inundated by torrential rain and whipped by gale-force winds. Roofs had blown off their rafters. Roads were rivers. Schools were closed.

As I stripped down into a light cotton dress at Maputo Airport and emerged into the Mozambican sun, I felt like a proper traitor abandoning Noah’s Ark. Less than 2,000km away, my loved ones in the Mother(less) City were knee-deep in sludge.

The new Land Cruiser Prado shows off blended retro/contemporary styling. (Photo: Toyota SA)

I jumped into my First Edition Land Cruiser Prado, with its round lights and bi-tone roof, and switched on the ignition. It didn’t take me long to acclimatise to the brilliant sub-tropical weather and my steed.

Along with my stockings, scarves and mittens, I ditched my survivor’s guilt as we headed across the majestic Maputo-Katembe suspension bridge in the direction of Ponta do Ouro. Navigating a heavily speed-restricted Maputo outbound road, the new Prado, with its 150 kW/450Nm re-engineered 2.8 turbo-diesel engine, champed at the bit across the longest bridge in Africa.

New Prado mania

I’d been longing for this event ever since word got out that a local new Prado launch was on the cards. I was not alone. Global anticipation had been mounting.

Toyota finally unveiled the new Land Cruiser Prado on 2 August 2023. It had taken close to 14 years for the fifth generation to make its appearance.

For decades the Land Cruiser has been Toyota’s halo brand. It’s been a massive seller for the company, selling more than 11.3 million units in 170 countries.

Toyota Land Cruiser Prado BJ The original 1951 Toyota BJ. (Photo: Toyota Global)

Launched in 1951 as the Toyota BJ, it made global headlines by becoming the first vehicle to successfully climb 2,900 metres to the sixth station on the slopes of Mount Fuji. The Japanese company was only 14 years old at the time and was regarded by many of the more established motoring brands as a disruptive “start-up”. The Land Cruiser in many ways put Toyota on the map.

The Prado (meaning “prairie” in Spanish) made its first appearance in 1985.

For some context, it sits just below the humungous Land Cruiser 300 and above the more utilitarian 70-series.

Pictures of the new Prado, known in some territories as the Land Cruiser 250, soon went viral. While most swooned at its blended retro/contemporary styling, a few armchair critics got all hot under the bonnet. There were accusations that Toyota had “borrowed” too heavily from Jeep, the new Land Rover Defender, and its own FJ Cruiser. There were some who said it was the Ford Bronco’s doppelgänger.

However the naysayers were few and far between and responses were nowhere near as polarising as when the new Defender, the Prado’s most direct rival, was unveiled in 2019. In fact, some local fans got so excited that they headed to their Toyota dealerships with bags of cash to put down as deposits so that they could be the first to wait in line for their Prados. And wait they did.

Originally earmarked for an April 2024 release, the 5th-gen Prado finally hit local showrooms in early June. A record 691 of them sold within 30 days. It will be interesting to see what July sales are. The desire is there, but it appears that stock shortages will keep people waiting. At least they are here, because as I write this, Land Cruiser-crazy Australians are yet to receive their Prados.

Leaving Maputo

On a two-hour drive in the direction of Ponta do Ouro, en route to the paradise-like White Pearl Resort, the roads continued to be heavily speed restricted. It was frustrating to be doing a dreary 60km/h and maximum of 100km/h in an SUV that was clearly capable of much more. I swapped the driver’s seat with my co-pilot and read up on some specs.

The new Prado uses the Land Cruiser 300’s platform, as well as its trusty ladder frame chassis and has thus grown substantially in size. Now almost five metres in length, it’s 45mm longer, 95mm wider and has a 60mm longer wheelbase than its predecessor. This creates significantly more rear passenger legroom and boot space. It’s also got electronic power steering as opposed to the old hydraulic-assisted set-up. There’s a new 8-speed transmission and a disconnecting anti-roll bar system which helps reduce body roll during fast cornering or over challenging road surfaces.

There are four derivatives on offer in the local lineup: the entry-level TX, the “mid-range” VX-R, the top-of-the-range VX-R F.E. BT, and the limited First Edition.

New tech

toyota land cruiser prado tech The on- and off-road tech is intuitive and easy to access. (Photo: Toyota SA)

Out of the driver’s seat, I had an opportunity to play with the tech which has been completely revolutionised compared with the outgoing model.

When the new Prado was unveiled in 2023, Simon Humphries, Toyota’s global head of design, spoke at length about its intuitive drive tech.

“Vehicle control is fundamental to building trust between driver and machine. We designed the cockpit controls to be easy to identify and operate by feel alone. Here we sought the expertise of Dakar Rally champion Akira Miura, no stranger to driving under pressure in extreme environments. He told us it’s crucial that the interfaces support the driver, with maximum accuracy, and minimal effort, whatever the conditions.”

There’s also all the handy stuff like a wireless charger, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, and three USB-C ports. The multimedia system is accessed via a high-definition 8- or 12.3-inch touchscreen. The large screen was great in the First Edition and top-of-the-range VX-R. However, when I drove the entry-level TX, I was somewhat disappointed by its significantly smaller screen and instrument cluster.

toyota land cruiser prado The First Edition has round lights. (Photo: Toyota SA)

By now the temps were 31 degrees in the shade, so I switched on the ventilated seats on my dual-zone climate control. (In Cape Town the heated seats would have been on max.)

On-road, off-road

As we headed further south, the Prado really came into her own on heavily rutted, potholed roads. On rocky surfaces, wet patches and sand, she was the boss. There was very little noise or vibration in the cabin, thanks to the Prado being lined with substantial sound-absorbing materials and body sealing in key locations like the wheel arches and behind the facia.

The new 8-speed auto transmission felt smooth and seamless. When it came to fuel consumption, I managed to achieve around 7.2 litres/100 km over hundreds of kilometres, which was pretty impressive for such a large and powerful vehicle.

On day two we did a few hours of challenging dune driving. I relied pretty heavily on the Multi-Terrain Select system which allows one to toggle through off-road terrain situations like Sand, Mud and Rocks and the vehicle then adjusts intuitively to the appropriate settings.

With noon temperatures raging, the sand was hot and slippery. You had to really “donder” the Prado up dunes, at speed, to not get stuck. The instructor tried several times to show us the Prado’s Crawl Control system which is also found in the LC 300, to demonstrate how easy it is to get out from being lodged in sand.

toyota land cruiser prado crawl control The Prado’s Crawl Control system in action. (Photo: Toyota SA)

All kudos to the Prado as it took the instructor dude great effort to actually get the vehicle stuck. I was reminded of the Saudi Arabian saying: “Only a Land Cruiser, or a camel, can get you over these dunes”.

There is no doubt that the Prado is a hugely important product for Toyota, in fact it’s probably the most significant SUV to be launched locally this year. It hits the sweet note by being plush and comfy for city driving, while it’s an absolute beast off-road and stays true to its origins. The Prado’s long customer waiting list is a testament to both its relative affordability and obvious desirability.

And then it was back to Cape Town in my gloves, scarves and mittens...

Pricing:

Land Cruiser Prado 2.8GD TX – R1,296,300
Land Cruiser Prado 2.8GD VX-R – R1,448,900
Land Cruiser Prado 2.8GD VX-R First Edition – R1,462,400
Land Cruiser Prado 2.8GD VX-R F.E. BT – R1,472,600. DM

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South Africa

New Prado mania

Leaving Maputo

New tech

On-road, off-road