On The Lookout

[Saint Nick Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Saint Nick]

Starting to gather info and look around for a 120, and although I'm a Toyota man, I don't know a great deal about the Prado.

My intention is to get a standard one and upgrade to a point where it's still good on the road, but a 'more' capable off roader that I will take down through Europe next year, including off road excursions. I have a couple of questions to start with that may help pick the right vehicle, so any advice would be gratefully received.

1) My preference will be the diesel (D4D) model, especially as now both fuel types over here are the same price, plus the fact that the diesel consumption is better. I don't know too much about the D4D engine, but reading some of the posts on here, it would appear there are one or two issues, so is there anything I should be looking at in particular?

2) I've seen that some 120's have a rear mounted spare wheel and some are underslung. I'd like to increase the tyre size and I will be uprating the suspension with a lift, so what is the biggest tyre I can go to if the spare is underslung?

3) Is the rear diff an open diff or LSD as standard?

4) Is there anything obvious that I should look out for.

Thanks again, Nick

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

Welcome St Nick

My comments for what they are worth -
1. Petrol version is usually significantly cheaper than the diesel, and tends to have less issues. If you do want to go down the diesel route have the injector feedback values checked cold to see it there is any pending issue. Injectors should have been replaced generally after 120,000 km
2. In Aus they only come with the rear spare wheel, so can't comment on the underslung version.
3. The rear diff has LSD, but it seems to wear out after the first 30-40,000 km (or less) and is useless after that. If you really want to solve the issue get an Eaton e-locker
4. Injector issues aside the Prado is a pretty robust car.

Cheers
4,

[r4ndll Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close r4ndll]

Pretty sure Europe had a recall on the injectors ages ago(customer satisfaction exercise) and has better quality diesel than Australia. Toyota Australia kept their head in the sand and hoped it would go away until it didn't.

[Saint Nick Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Saint Nick]

Thanks to both of you for the advice, it's very helpful I'm just gonna take my time and not go for the first one I see