The history of the Prado begins with the "Land Cruiser". Toyota has been producing the Land Cruiser series since the 1950s, and it was not until 1984 that two models were first derived from the name, in addition to the original Land Cruiser, a relatively small Land Cruiser, codenamed LC70. The 1990 facelifted LC70 was first named "Prado" for easy identification, but still retained the Land Cruiser prefix. In 1993, the second generation of the Prado, codenamed LC90, was launched. In 2002, the third-generation Prado, codenamed LC120, was unveiled and was soon officially introduced to the Chinese market by Toyota. First of all, it was imported and sold, and in 2004, it began to assemble domestic products in the joint venture factory of Toyota in Sichuan, and at first used the "domineering" name that was circulated in the market, and later the official name was changed to "Prado".
 
In 2015, the mid-size version of the Prado canceled the 1GR 4.0L engine and replaced it with a 3.5L 7GR-FKS V6 engine, and in the 2018 model, it canceled the 2.7L 2TR-FE engine, leaving only the 3.5 model in the whole series, and all of them are 7-seater models. Because the Middle East version is not affected by the CAFC "Chinese Coffee Law", it is still 2.7 and 4.0 that go hand in hand. In addition to the engine, the 2018 Prado has been changed to a time-sharing four-wheel drive, while the Middle East version is still a full-time four-wheel drive. The reason for switching to time-sharing four-wheel drive is that the loading coefficient of the drum bench in the national 5 standard has an advantage, and if the standard is stricter in the future, it is likely to be discontinued The Chinese version of Prado will be discontinued. There is little difference between time-sharing four-wheel drive and full-time four-wheel drive in asphalt road and extreme working conditions, the only difference is that in the road conditions of alternating adhesion, time-sharing four-wheel drive is more cumbersome for switching between four-wheel drive and two-wheel drive.
 
On the question of how to choose between the Middle East version and the Chinese version. At the same price, the configuration of the Middle East version will be much lower than that of the medium version, and the Prado 2700 of the Chinese version is still in stock, and there is no need to buy the Middle East version for full-time four-wheel drive, but if you have a preference for the Prado 4000, or when the Chinese version of the 2700 is not in stock, then buy the Middle East version. If you only discuss the 3500 model, then the mid-gauge version is still recommended.
 
The previous 2700 model had a 0-100 acceleration time of around 14 seconds, while the 3500 could run in 8.5 seconds. The daily speed of the 3.5L engine D gear rarely exceeds 3000 rpm, the power is enough for daily use, and the S gear of the gearbox is used to step on the accelerator deeply, forcing the speed to 4,000, you can feel the relatively solid strength, and the overtaking stamina is not weak, but there is still a distance from the feeling of "pushing back" and "stimulation", and the 2.7L displacement of Prado power is recognized as weak, only suitable for those who spend most of their time in the field, and do not need to drive it on the highway. In terms of fuel consumption, the Prado 3500 has a high fuel consumption at low speed off-road, but the fuel consumption can be controlled below 10 liters per 100 kilometers on the highway, and the fuel consumption in urban areas can be controlled at about 12 liters, and the daily driving cost is relatively economical.
 
The performance of this generation of Prado on the road has been optimized a lot, and the general road will not have a high center of gravity and a great feeling of inertia, but it will still look quite bulky when approaching narrow mountain roads, which is completely different from those SUVs with sedan chassis, such as the BMW X5. The bend on the mountain road is a little sharper, and you can hear the sound of the VSA system without the tire croaking, warning you not to drive like this. It's clearly not an SUV that will encourage you to corner.
 
The Prado's sitting position is a very traditional type of off-road vehicle, because of the girders, the carriage platform is relatively high, and there is a feeling of "boarding up" when getting on the bus. Fortunately, after boarding the car, the entire riding space is also very abundant, so that the sitting posture is very natural, and the steering wheel and foot pedal positions are also very decent. The seat maintains Toyota's usual soft surface design, although it does not have a luxurious visual feeling, but it is soft and comfortable, and high durability is its essence. One of the most flattering storage spaces in the whole car is the on-board refrigerator that has been insisted on by Land Cruisers for generations. The central pillow compartment is very large enough to hold four large bottles of mineral water, and there is a refrigeration switch inside that allows you to hear the compressor working when it is opened, but there is almost no nuisance when the lid is closed. Many cars have storage compartments equipped with air conditioning outlets to cool items, but Prado is a real refrigerator, which can have an icing effect, although it is not to the level of ice-making, but it is enough to chill drinks, fruits and the like.
 
Toyota has created one quality myth after another, and the reliability of the Toyota Prado has long been fully proven, and there is no need to worry about it in terms of quality.
 
The safety configuration of the mid-size version of the Prado is also very good, and the whole series is equipped with front, side, knee airbags and side curtains as standard, and it is also the first Toyota domestic car to be equipped with a brake priority system as standard. ABS EBD, traction control and vehicle stability control minimise the chance of hazard occurrence. It is also worth mentioning that the mid-size Prado model is also equipped with hill start assist and hill descent system.
Toyota Prado evaluation report