Apparently Prado not made for serious 4WDing?

[Croozer Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Croozer]

A mate of mine was visiting family up north NSW late last year and decided to go for a spin on the beach in his 2011 Prado GXL D4D auto. My mates pretty competent when it comes to getting off road and doesn't like to push his Prado beyond its limits. While on the beach, his gearbox gave up and he had to get it towed back to Sydney - thankfully all under warranty. More than two months later, his Prado was finally returned to him by a large Toyota dealership in western Sydney with a new gear box. When the servicing manager asked my mate how the damage occurred, he told him he was driving on the beach and made no lie of it. When asked what else he uses the vehicle for, my mate replied he sometimes tows his one tonne camper trailer but that was the extent of it. The manager looked at his dead in the eye and told him that it was no wonder the gearbox died. His exact words were, "these aren't made for serious off-roading you know!"

So then what the hell are they for? Has anyone been told anything similar by Toyota? If they're not made for off-roading, why did Toyota spend a huge amount of money designing a four wheel drive system and throw it on the Prado - which has a towing capacity of 2.5 tonne?

[williade Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close williade]

Sand driving can hardly be considered "serious 4wding". Any vehicle (with some exceptions) that has all wheel drive and tyres with decent profile should be able to drive on sand. On the one hand it sounds like the service manger was talking out of his @ss, but he is partially correct depending on your definition of "serious 4wding".

For the average joe that likes to get out on the tracks, Prados are more than capable. They would he just as capable as any other stock 4by (except maybe a VDJ76R )

[JoshF Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close JoshF]

I guess they know their own product best

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

Funny that.... The sales guys at the dealership would tell you they'll climb walls to sell one to a 4wd enthusiast, yet the cranky service manager doing his 6th mechanical rectification under warranty on a 150 series for the week is ready to bite your mate's head off for using the car in such a manner that a Hyundai Santa Fe can be used.... Or even a an X-Trail.... Or just about any soft roader for that fact. What a tool. Fancy implying a failed gearbox under 12 months old is the fault of the owner for driving the car well within it's design limits. I would've liked to have told him to piss off, and if more Prado related questions need to be asked then get someone who's actually been inside of a 4wd.... And is less painful to talk to.

And don't forget that Toyota's 4wd marketing catch phrase for quite sometime on TV and in magazines is "Nothing soft gets in" c/o Toyota's Country Australia Border Security advertising campaigns.

..... And old mate the service manager thinks driving on the beach for a bit is serious off-roading.

[Nadsy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Nadsy]

It's frustrating to hear these stories. And ur exactly right... When selling the car u have to sit through 20 mins of bull saying how much better the Prado is than the other 4x4s on the market. I'm perfectly happy with mine (been on Fraser, woodgate & up & down several mountains). Firstly that's not serious 4x4... I did overheat the transmission on one mountain coz I didn't know better & left it on high... But on sand... Really?

Mate bought an SS commodore ute, & although he drove it hard, the brakes shouldn't catch fire.! He was told it wasn't a sports car!! Well, why have all those 'thunder' ads? Mate blew up a Yamaha R6 motorbike & got told the same thing!

Anyway, it's about two things:

1) money. Any sales pitch to sell a vehicle, and any excuse not to have to fix defects; &
2) who exactly is behind the service counter. The industry is not like fast food where u can expect the same burger in hervey bay as in Canberra. It's the specific individual behind the counter who makes or breaks ur experience.

Apologies for the rant, but it's very frustrating.

[yowie Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close yowie]

A mate of mine was visiting family up north NSW late last year and decided to go for a spin on the beach in his 2011 Prado GXL D4D auto. My mates pretty competent when it comes to getting off road and doesn't like to push his Prado beyond its limits. While on the beach, his gearbox gave up and he had to get it towed back to Sydney - thankfully all under warranty. More than two months later, his Prado was finally returned to him by a large Toyota dealership in western Sydney with a new gear box. When the servicing manager asked my mate how the damage occurred, he told him he was driving on the beach and made no lie of it. When asked what else he uses the vehicle for, my mate replied he sometimes tows his one tonne camper trailer but that was the extent of it. The manager looked at his dead in the eye and told him that it was no wonder the gearbox died. His exact words were, "these aren't made for serious off-roading you know!"

So then what the hell are they for? Has anyone been told anything similar by Toyota? If they're not made for off-roading, why did Toyota spend a huge amount of money designing a four wheel drive system and throw it on the Prado - which has a towing capacity of 2.5 tonne?

Which western Sydney dealership was it?

Had mine serviced yesterday at Windsor Toyota (now 4th service), all nice people in sales and service. Spoke to one of the young mechanics about the vehicle, his opinion is that it is a very good vehicle for off road and towing.

[krypto Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close krypto]

I assume the Hilux is considered a serious off road vehicle and there are quite a few similarities with the Prado. As someone said, transmission blowing up has nothing to do with the sand although it does seem the tranny could use some better cooling.

[Keeper Member Find all posts View Profile Close Keeper]

Did the bloke ride home on an ex postie bike wearing some type of moccasins (they do not deserve a capital letter) and mankini - its okay I already know the answer.

[Matty80 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Matty80]

I suppose we'll see similar excuses for the FJ as well...

Some dealers have no idea!!!

[naenae Member Find all posts View Profile Close naenae]

I can confirm the 150 series is not an off road purpose build vehicle, after waiting 6 months for ours, it not sits in a glass display cabinet and will never be used as a reminder of what a car ordered from Toyota looks like....

[daniel Member Find all posts View Profile Close daniel]

here is a great reference from toyota http://www.toyota.com.au/prado/galle...d_capabilities

[krypto Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close krypto]

Quote from Toyota website:

" Toyota Prado is packed with advanced, game-changing, off-road technologies which mean practically nowhere is out of bounds."

[Kev7762 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Kev7762]

Sounds like another great example of customer service, as with many businesses these days many are only interested in you until you have dropped the hard earned, then they don't want to know you unless you are buying something else.

[KAKADAZ Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close KAKADAZ]

What is the Multi terrain select, rear diff lock, Low range, crawl controll and KDSS for on my Prado then? I've not had to use any of them yet whilst pulling up out front of Dome for a Latte?? SO I'm guessing those features MAY be for the purpose of off roading. Just guessing?

[naenae Member Find all posts View Profile Close naenae]

KAKDAZ if you pop those buttons off the console and dash you are referring to you will find they are not attached to anything. They are just bits of left overs from a Range Rover that Toyota got cheap at a garage sale.