twr7cx
2nd September 2019, 08:59 AM
I've recently racked up a lot of km's in a work owned MY18 Toyota GDJ150R LandCruiser Prado GX 2.8DT.
Now I've always had an affectionate soft spot for the Prado range having previously had a work MY09 Toyota KDJ150R LandCruiser Prado with the 3.0 D4-D turbo diesel motor and six speed manual gearbox which was a delight to drive (especially compared to the 200 series boats that some of my other colleagues were in). I didn't look at any before buying our D4, but that was only because the D4 came up at a great value price that couldn't be ignored, otherwise I certainly would have.
Anyways, while driving the MY18 Prado over that time I couldn't help but compare it to the still newish to us, MY12 D4 2.7 TDV6 that I bought my wife as our family car.
In short the D4, despite its additional six years of age and 150,000 more km has more power and torque when driving, an engine that seems to work less matched to a smoother transmission which seems to have the right gear. The suspension is smoother on the highway and the vehicle handles the bumps with far less upset. The Prado also used 2.5L per 100km more than what we achieve in ours on very similar routes and driving.
I can only image that a newer one with the 8 speed and 3.0 SDV6 would be even better.
I'm told that the new 2.8DT engine in the Prado is different from the old 3.0 D4-D that I really liked.
What I will say about the Prado is that cruise control with distance control is just fantastic. The car automatically slowed down when it caught up to others. It would beep if you got near the white lines, etc. Not sure if equivalent year Disco's now have this?
It obviously also had a much more modern headunit which was nice.
If I'm being picky I also found the dash on the Prado to be offensive. It's big and bulky squares that stick out at you aggressively.
All up it just reaffirmed our decision. We wouldn't have been unhappy with the Prado, if we had gone that way, but it's definitely second to the Disco in most ways in my opinion.
Now I've always had an affectionate soft spot for the Prado range having previously had a work MY09 Toyota KDJ150R LandCruiser Prado with the 3.0 D4-D turbo diesel motor and six speed manual gearbox which was a delight to drive (especially compared to the 200 series boats that some of my other colleagues were in). I didn't look at any before buying our D4, but that was only because the D4 came up at a great value price that couldn't be ignored, otherwise I certainly would have.
Anyways, while driving the MY18 Prado over that time I couldn't help but compare it to the still newish to us, MY12 D4 2.7 TDV6 that I bought my wife as our family car.
In short the D4, despite its additional six years of age and 150,000 more km has more power and torque when driving, an engine that seems to work less matched to a smoother transmission which seems to have the right gear. The suspension is smoother on the highway and the vehicle handles the bumps with far less upset. The Prado also used 2.5L per 100km more than what we achieve in ours on very similar routes and driving.
I can only image that a newer one with the 8 speed and 3.0 SDV6 would be even better.
I'm told that the new 2.8DT engine in the Prado is different from the old 3.0 D4-D that I really liked.
What I will say about the Prado is that cruise control with distance control is just fantastic. The car automatically slowed down when it caught up to others. It would beep if you got near the white lines, etc. Not sure if equivalent year Disco's now have this?
It obviously also had a much more modern headunit which was nice.
If I'm being picky I also found the dash on the Prado to be offensive. It's big and bulky squares that stick out at you aggressively.
All up it just reaffirmed our decision. We wouldn't have been unhappy with the Prado, if we had gone that way, but it's definitely second to the Disco in most ways in my opinion.