- Doors and Seats
5 doors, 7 seats
- Engine
2.8DT, 4 cyl.
- Engine Power
130kW, 450Nm
- Fuel
Diesel 8L/100KM
- Manufacturer
4XD
- Transmission
Auto
- Warranty
5 Yr, Unltd KMs
- Ancap Safety
5/5 star (2011)
2020 Toyota LandCruiser Prado Kakadu ‘flat back’ review
A trip during the summer holidays demonstrates why the humble Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon have been replaced by four-wheel-drive wagons.
You never really notice just how many of a particular type of car is on the road until you’re driving one yourself.
- Comfortable cabin
- Go-anywhere ability
- Quality fit and finish
- Chilled centre console
- Single tank still has good open road driving range
- Awesome low and high beams.
- Service intervals
- No Apple Car Play or Android Auto
- Not enough charging ports.
That was the case with the Toyota Prado we were testing over the summer holidays. In case you hadn’t noticed, they’re everywhere. Especially at this time of year.
We were testing the top-of-the-range Toyota Prado Kakadu, minus the spare wheel on the back which, I discovered, is quite a conversation starter if you happen to bump into a fellow Prado owner at a fuel bowser. Especially if they’re retired.
The reactions were evenly split: about half the Prado owners who had a spare wheel on the tailgate wished they waited until the “flat back” option was available, while the other half loved the extra driving range from the auxiliary tank and didn’t want to crawl under the car to get the spare if they ever got a flat tyre.
For the uninitiated, this generation Prado launched in 2009 with twin fuel tanks (a standard 87L and an auxiliary 63L “sub tank”) and has had two facelifts (2013 and 2017) and one engine change (2015) in that time.
In August 2018 Toyota finally answered the call of owners who wanted to move the spare wheel off the back and didn’t need a theoretical driving range of more than 1500km between refills. Indeed, even on just the 87L tank fitted to the “flat back” models you can get close to 900km on one tank if driving frugally and in the right conditions.
Poor old Toyota can’t take a trick, though. Having gone to the considerable engineering effort to design a rear door and mount the spare wheel underneath (in place of the 63L tank) owners still have something to whinge about: some still don’t like the fact that the door swings outwards like a fridge door, rather than upwards like a hatchback.
The cost of designing a vertically opening door is a bigger feat than most people can appreciate. I know, because I got an ear bashing from other Prado owners whenever I tried to defend it.
But here’s the thing: there are times when a vertically opening tailgate is not ideal, such as shopping centre car parks with low roofs. For what it’s worth, the sideways opening door doesn’t bother me.
The other surprise: before setting off on The Big Trip on the summer break, I was genuinely concerned about the lack of range by having only one fuel tank.
Turns out I needn’t have bothered. The Prado sat in the 10L to 11L/100km bracket most of the time, so it was getting close to 800km between refills in any case.
Considering the amount of air the Prado has to push out of the way at freeway speeds, given its tall, bluff stance and wide, all-terrain tyres (versus low friction, road-biased tyres) I was impressed with the economy from the 2.8-litre turbo diesel matched to the six-speed auto.
That said, it was interesting to compare the fuel economy with the Audi Q7 50TDI we were running at the same time. That vehicle was hovering in the 8L/100km range, which shows what a slightly lower and sleeker body, road tyres and an eight-speed auto can do to fuel economy.
The other thing that surprised me about the Prado: while it was comfortable at freeway cruising speeds, it really didn’t enjoy long steep hills, especially if it needed to accelerate from lower speeds. That was the only time the Prado felt a little underdone. And we weren’t even towing at the time.
But the positives outweighed the negatives for me. Toyota finally added a digital speed display with the most recent update about two years ago; now we just need Apple Car Play to be added to this model’s infotainment system as it gets rolled out across the Toyota range. And the radar cruise control works well once you master the controls.
It’s amazing how quickly you get used to having a refrigerated centre console – and how much you miss it when it’s gone. Why don’t some hatchbacks have this? I want one.
The Prado’s centre console cooler can keep drinks and snacks so cold you can give yourself an ice cream headache if you swill water from the bottle too quickly.
The leather seats have both heating and cooling up front; I had the coolers on the whole time, which complemented Toyota’s super chill air-conditioning brilliantly.
Legroom, headroom and shoulder room is massive in the first two rows of seats; the third row is still better suited to kids only. But at least on the Kakadu you can open or stow these seats at the press of a button.
Another highlight that often gets overlooked is the awesome LED headlights on this model grade, on both low and high beam. The low beams have a good spread of light so you can better spot wildlife of the edge of the road, while the high beams really throw a lot of light down the road, about 200 metres if I had to estimate.
For anyone coming to a Prado for the first time, however, it’s worth noting these types of vehicles drive differently to a passenger car or small SUV.
Because the Prado has the underpinnings of a heavy duty four-wheel-drive, the taller suspension (for extra ground clearance) and off-road tyres mean a little more caution is required in wet weather, particularly in roundabouts where you’re trying to turn this tall narrow mass in a relatively small space without the assistance of grippy road tyres.
Sure, the Prado is equipped with stability control to save you from minor mistakes or indiscretions, but the technology can’t save you from the laws of physics. This word of warning applies to all body-on-frame four-wheel-drives, not just the Prado.
If this seems a small price to pay for a genuinely go-anywhere vehicle, the Prado is a great choice.
Just be aware, though, that the Prado is still on Toyota’s old servicing schedule of six months or 10,000km, whichever comes first.
The individual prices are capped at a competitive cost for the first three years, but the cost of routine maintenance can rise sharply once the fixed price program is finished.
Overall, the Toyota Prado is an awesome family car and has the capability of going where most owners would fear to tread. Sometimes it’s just good knowing you’ll never get stuck.