Long term cost of ownership :Discover 4 vs Prado

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Originally Posted by Epic pooh

Ugly or not, the side hinged back door (on various) is a dumb design that I absolutely can't stand.

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It was also the cause of a world wide recall as the strut wouldn't lock and the door would close with enough force to break bones,Tojo's fix,put a warning sticker on it . Pat

I never liked the one on my d1 or defender. My sister had one on a rav which was rubbish and I was reminded by a Paj how much I don't like them. Stuff falling out, door swinging at me if not latches properly and my d1 used to be annoying with some trailers ... Like styling each to his own but give me a proper split boot like disco, rr and lc any day !

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Originally Posted by BMKal

But I must admit I do like the tailgate on the D4 - I suppose it's just a matter of what you get used to.

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The design of the upper and lower tailgate is excellent and very well thought out,way better than anything else around.

Hope they don't change it to one lift up assembly in the next model.

The D2 type is handy for loading,unloading,but can be dangerous if the vehicle is parked on a slope,it can slam shut with a lot of force as Pat said as well.

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Originally Posted by scarry

The design of the upper and lower tailgate is excellent and very well thought out,way better than anything else around.

Hope they don't change it to one lift up assembly in the next model.

The D2 type is handy for loading,unloading,but can be dangerous if the vehicle is parked on a slope,it can slam shut with a lot of force as Pat said as well.

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Definitely agree with you there. I don't like anything with a single piece lifting tailgate (with the exception of small hatchbacks, which is what I believe this style of opening is designed for).

The rear door is the one and probably only thing I hate on my D1 and D2.

Two 4x4's ago I had a RR clasic and I loved the lift and drop tailgate.

Personally I prefer the door on the D1 and D2 much better than the split unit on the D3/4.

First off it gives you a place to carry the spare without the hassle of it being under the vehicle which in turn would allow a decent sized fuel tank to be fitted standard.

It also allows you to reach right in to behind the rear seat easier to either put things in or get things out which is harder with a split door like on the D3/4.

Each to their own though.

The one thing I hate about the Toyota, is the choice of interior colours is grey, grey or if you don't like that you can always go grey. They do offer an ivory fabric though good luck getting one under 3-4 months.


When you buy a Toyota you expect to get it immediately, which is usually the case because options are pretty standard, if you want more options, go up a model, that's it., and if you want something out of the box, the dealer wants to renegotiate the price of the trade in again and again whilst waiting for the delivery.


When we ordered the RRS, the dealer was up front on how long it would take ( 3 months) and allowed us 10,000 klm's before he would consider altering any figures, which I think is pretty fair.


I absolutely love the look of the Almond interior of the D4, I think it looks so classy, which is why I chose that colour on my RRS.


When I looked at the LC200 Sahara before buying the Prado, the only choice was grey, (or black maybe, not quite sure, I forget) so I was not interested. If you intend spending 125k on a fully optioned vehicle, you should be able to get the interior colour you like without only one, or two choices.


However, my wife prefers black, which is what's in her 911, so there's no accounting for good taste...I don't like the black interior, but we are all different I suppose.


One thing Land rover does which is excellent is giving the choices of options and accessories you can adopt making your vehicle truly individual, well much more than Toyota does anyway. Some may be very over the top, but that's Ok, you don't have to choose them all.


Just my thoughts anyway.

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Originally Posted by Wilesy

The one thing I hate about the Toyota, is the choice of interior colours is grey, grey or if you don't like that you can always go grey. They do offer an ivory fabric though good luck getting one under 3-4 months.


When you buy a Toyota you expect to get it immediately, which is usually the case because options are pretty standard, if you want more options, go up a model, that's it., and if you want something out of the box, the dealer wants to renegotiate the price of the trade in again and again whilst waiting for the delivery.


When we ordered the RRS, the dealer was up front on how long it would take ( 3 months) and allowed us 10,000 klm's before he would consider altering any figures, which I think is pretty fair.


I absolutely love the look of the Almond interior of the D4, I think it looks so classy, which is why I chose that colour on my RRS.


When I looked at the LC200 Sahara before buying the Prado, the only choice was grey, (or black maybe, not quite sure, I forget) so I was not interested. If you intend spending 125k on a fully optioned vehicle, you should be able to get the interior colour you like without only one, or two choices.


However, my wife prefers black, which is what's in her 911, so there's no accounting for good taste...I don't like the black interior, but we are all different I suppose.


One thing Land rover does which is excellent is giving the choices of options and accessories you can adopt making your vehicle truly individual, well much more than Toyota does anyway. Some may be very over the top, but that's Ok, you don't have to choose them all.


Just my thoughts anyway.

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Well myself i generally only buy White cars with Black interior as i love the darker colours i find myself it doesn't show up as many marks so i like to go that way. Its certainly easy with Toyota and many other companies you basically have interior exterior diesel or petrol and auto or manual in their lower specs and if the dealer your at doesn't have one it can be maybe a week or 2 to get one off another dealer which is awesome!!

Thats one thing that ****s me off about european cars LR included there is so many options and different choices that it makes it so hard to get the exact car you want off the showroom floor and i really hate to have the suspense of waiting!! I wish on the higher spec models they would make a lot more simple things standard as opposed to options trim it down a fair bit.

I was lucky with my D4 HSE that Townsville had one with Elec steering column and Ediff which were 2 options i wanted, i would have also liked the bigger stereo and a couple of smaller items but forgot them as i didn't want to wait and everything else was all pretty good.

I do get annoyed how they say oh you can only have this colour interior with this colour wood trim no if I'm spending $125k i should be able to say i want this trim with this interior but ahwell i guess its a small thing! HAHA i will agree that Toyotas interiors are very grey i think in the Sahara there is only black or cream pretty much all you can choose.

I as well have had Toyota's all my driving life. I started with an old 60's wagon when I was still young and free and this was an excellent touring vehicle and I covered a fair bit of Aus in it, from there was a "brief" moment into a Subaru L series wagon, then into what I too agree was the last of the good Toyota touring vehicles - 80's wagon.... from this point on I got married and as the missus can't really drive an Manual, I had to change over to my 1st Auto 4WD - 105's TDi Landcruiser (last of the Solid front end 4wd's). During this time we were raising our 3 kids.... About this time I had the opportunity to do a Novated Lease through work, so I sold the 105's (Nice but heavy on fuel) and bought the current 150's that we have now and it's the missus daily driver and our current tourer..... For me as my work vehicle, I bought a little Vitara and got into this and was surprised at its offroad ability for a IFS vehicle. From there the mods started and I've still got it after 8yrs and it's great for exploring through the bush, etc. With the missus driving the Prado, & the Vitara being a bit too modified as a daily driver, I bought a '03 Navara TDi D22 Dualcab which I had the idea to use for beach holiday camping, etc.... it was ok (cargo space was great, rough riding though) but became too small in the rear seating area & this is when I thought I would go way out left field and try out a LR Disco Tdi..... I haven't had it for long but LOVE it.....

About this time I've started hearing Injector/Engine issues with the current 150's. I've got a mate who's 150's just recently had his engine (127,000kms) fail 3 days into their VHC trip.... This has given me a great concern for ours and I've also heard that Toyota are going to announce a RECALL on Prado from 2006 onwards for the injector seals, etc, but not for the 150's.... yet.... I'm hoping that with the 2 fuel filters; only use BP Diesel Ulitmate, that we may be OK, but I will look into getting the injectors replaced soon as a safety measure.... Our's has now done 3 remote trips and hasn't given us any major issues, though we did have the RHS front inner guard crack (repaired under warranty) and a ALT failed on a last trip (also replaced under warranty)....

With us wanting to do more remote touring I thought it was time to start researching for our next tourer. Not looking to buy just yet, I thought of a Defender might be a suitable vehicle, but do I go Old or New??? To my surprise, I've ended up with a '96 Defender 110 Tdi (currently un-reg) - thought being... that I will get it registered and drive it for a year or so to see if I reckon it will be suitable for us as a touring vehicle....

Sorry for the long dripple, but it's interesting to read others experiences with other makes and I never thought I would ever own a Landrover, little alone owing 2 of them !!.
One advantage in owning a Toyota is there is usually Toyota Service Centres everywhere in Australia or at least someone that knows about them..... Not sure I can say the same about Landrover and this is one of the reasons I went with the older & more basic Defender.... Time will tell though.....

rob

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Originally Posted by BMKal

I suppose that I've had as good an opportunity to compare Prado's with Disco's as anyone.

Since 2001, I've had the following (company supplied) vehicles. 1 x Prado 90 Series (diesel), 3 x Prado 120 Series (V6 petrol), 1 x Prado 120 Series (diesel) and 1 x Prado 150 Series (diesel). All of these were manual gearbox (the last three were 6 speed, the rest were 5 speed). The first four were when I was based at Kambalda - they spent most of their life on bitumen roads with only a little dirt road work and general mine site stuff (crawling over a gold heap leach operation and around the pits a bit). The last two (the diesels) were when I was based at Nullagine - and spent virtually their entire life on dirt roads, mostly pretty rough surfaces, and saw bitumen only occasionally when I went into town (Newman).

During the same period, my private vehicles were a Ford F100 (with a Chev V8 diesel in it), a Discovery 1 (V8 petrol auto), a Discovery 2 (Td5 diesel manual - which my son still owns an uses as his daily drive) and now the Discovery 4 (MY2011 2.7 litre TdV6 six speed auto).

As others have said - the Prado is not a bad vehicle. Does everything that you expect it to do, but does not really excite you. Nor does it excel in any area.

I can't really comment about the maintenance cost comparison, as the Prado's were all company maintained. On reliability though, none of these vehicles has ever let me down, other than a steering rod failure on the 90 Series Prado, and a fan belt on the same vehicle which kept it off the road for a couple of days (Goldfields Toyota did not carry a fan belt for this model in stock :o:o:o).

Of the Prado's - the 90 Series was by far the most capable off road, but still could not match the Disco 1. The 120 Series Prado was always my favourite, especially with the petrol V6 engine. On regular trips between Kalgoorlie and Perth, these vehicles did it in comfort and with plenty of "squirt" when you wanted it. But - I was glad to have a company fuel card. They are by no means an economical vehicle (about the same as the V8 Disco 1 ;)). Off road though, the 120 Series is pretty "ordinary". I remember getting stuck on a track over the heap leach at work one day that any decent 4Wd should have been able to do with ease. To prove it to the people at work (who extracted the customary "carton" from me for having to be towed out), I took the D1 out to work the next day and drove through the same spot without even needing to select low range. :D

Comfort wise, I would generally say that every model Prado falls behind the equivalent model (year / vintage) Discovery, with the exception that the 120 Series Prado is at least as comfortable as the D2 on long highway cruising. Once off road however - there is no comparison - the Disco wins hands down.

The Prado that least impressed me was the newest - the 150 Series. I would rather a good 120 Series than a 150 Series any day of the week. The newer model has become bloated. it suffers significantly in dirt road handling (the 120 Series will kill it any day) and the finish is even more cheap and nasty than previous models, with bits falling off it everywhere especially on corrugated dirt roads. I wouldn't recommend one of these to anyone. (Whoever invented that bloody horrible plastic spare wheel cover on these things needs to be shot ;)).

Probably the most noticeable area to me where the Prado simply cannot compete with the Discovery is in dust sealing, particularly around the rear tailgate door. I have yet to see a Prado where the dust does not pour in around this door when travelling on dirt roads - doesn't matter which model, they are all shockers for it.

By comparison, the Discovery 1 did leak a little bit (still not as bad as a Prado), the Discovery 2 was almost clear of dust leakage around the tailgate, and the D4 simply doesn't leak ANY dust into the cab at all - from anywhere. A little while back I was on a dirt road trip with two families in NEW Toyotas - a 200 Series Cruiser and a 150 Series Prado. When we stopped in Norseman, the women from both Toyotas were complaining about the amount of dust in the vehicles and over their luggage (and the Prado was REALLY bad) - none of them could believe how spotless the interior of my D4 was. :D

I'm not a Toyota hater .................... before the Prado's I had an 80 Series GXL Landcruiser, turbo diesel manual. This was one of the best vehicles I've ever had and would gladly have another if I could find one in good condition. But I haven't been impressed with any model Toyota since. I even test drove the new FJ Cruiser before buying the D4 as I was offered a very attractive deal on one of these through work. Now that really is a piece of crap - but it's designed for Americans, so I suppose understandable. ;)

I suppose my preference for 4WD's is pretty obvious from what I've spent my own money on ..................... after having had plenty of opportunity to compare the alternatives. ;)

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Rob,sorry to burst your and everyone else's bubble but the Toyota service centers won't fix your vehicle,people have the idea that have a supply of parts and equipment to get you going again but all they do is ring a truck and get it floated to a main service dealer,people buy Toyota's in the belief that they can get help everywhere,you break down north of Port Headland and it doesn't matter what you drive you are waiting for parts or going on a truck,I know because I lived their. Pat