Prado Petrol User Feedbacks

[Sudhi Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Sudhi]

Hi Proud Prado owners, Recently I bought a Prado GXL 2014 Petrol , could you please share your experience and valuable suggestion on Prado V6 Petrol.

[rascal Member Find all posts View Profile Close rascal]

Had my 2013 V6 for 2 years. Smooth, powerful, quiet. Tows my big ass trailer without issue. No injector or dpf hassles. Keep the oil changes up and you’ll have years of trouble free enjoyment.

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

It’s rock solid, guaranteed up to a minimum of 400,000km that’s for sure. Many well beyond. Very reliable & I’m 100% confident in travelling remote with a Toyota V6 4wd. The diesels can have issues with the emissions technology playing up & injector nuisances, so in my personal opinion I think you made the right choice. Reliability comes first & foremost for me without having to worry about the thought of failures. I have a friend who bought a 2020 2.8L turbo diesel a few months ago & his car is currently at Toyota for a week getting warranty work done due to a stretched timing chain. $4,000 job to replace things that may have been damaged as a result. He took it in for inspection after a rough idle one morning. Not good. We’re waiting for his DPF to cause him problems next. My next car will be a 2014 petrol Prado. The last of the petrols. Trying to prolong buying a diesel for as long as possible.

[RedAdventureWagon Member Find all posts View Profile Close RedAdventureWagon]

My 20yr old 90 series petrol is doing ok, 384,500km on the clock and still purrs like a kitten. Different engine but still a Toyota V6

[Maccer Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Maccer]

I’ve a 2007 petrol Prado GXL, bought in 2013, still have it, no issues at all. Fantastic car.

[blw Member Find all posts View Profile Close blw]

Ive had 3 Prado's, 2 Petrols and one Diesel (D4D ending with a cracked piston). Current Prado is a 2010 Petrol Kakadu bought 11 years ago and love the power, the smooth and quiet running of the machine... It's been through most of Frazer Island and towed a Jayco expanda for a few years, 180,000km and still loving it. I'd buy a new Petrol today if they still sold them.

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

I am a petrol prado owner and in the process of buying a new diesel prado, so here is my take:

As usual change ALL the fluids (include auto box) because you dont know the history for sure - observe the colour of the fluid to judge how welll looked after it has been - make sure you used genuine toyota/subaru long life coolant - its good for another 100k plus.

Take the engine sump off to scrape out any sludge and look up to see if there's any sludge - if any if found, use the diesel/kero method the clean the engine out a few times and do next two engine oil change 1000k and 2000km apart, before going back to normal oil change - i would stick with 5,000km for short trips/hard work or 7500km for highway/easy work. The no 1 potential problem / issue (easily avoided) with the V6 is a build up of sludge causing oil starving.

expect 40-60% higher fuel consumption compare to diesel on the same type of trips, but enjoy the additional overtaking grunt - yes you can chip the diesel, but there's a high correlation of chiped engine and cracked piston. Any one who tells you it's only a little bit more in fuel consumption with the V6 is either lying or wilful ignorant.

Diesel is great of for long distance and heavy towing 2000kg+ (lower fuel consumption), petrol is great for overtaking and around town (although you pay for that power at fill up). Many of the diesel "issues"can be avoided by correct/careful maintenance but buying a higher mileage second hand history unknown, petrol can be a safer bet, as it is less finicky. Not all mechanic knows how or take enough care to work on modern common rail diesel. I hope the current DPF issues can be resolved soon though.

[Guest Close Guest]

yes you can chip the diesel, but there's a high correlation of chiped engine and cracked piston.

LOL, The diesels are cracking pistons and eating injectors all over the place, chipped or not. Its sadly becoming a massive issue with them. a few a week are going now. Add this into the equation, and the huge maintenance costs, the Petrol is still the most bulletproof and economical cost.

If you tow with a diesel, you are playing the dice, as its been proven towing long distances with them, leads to more and more failing.

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

yes it can happened to up-chipped engine - but definitely more likely with chipped ones - yes towing heavy ( i would say never over 2500kg petrol/diesel) on that diesel needs a proper auto cooler. The diesel is only 3000cc not the v8 turbo 4.5l diesel - its not meant to be tow heavy or do hard work - you have proper LC for that stuff.

I am buying the prado diesel once i know the DPF issue is under control with the new one as i will be doing some remote work in 2 years time towing our 1500kg camper trailer. But i will most likely keep my prado 120 in the family for around town duties.

[rascal Member Find all posts View Profile Close rascal]

expect 40-60% higher fuel consumption compare to diesel on the same type of trips, but enjoy the additional overtaking grunt - yes you can chip the diesel, but there's a high correlation of chiped engine and cracked piston. Any one who tells you it's only a little bit more in fuel consumption with the V6 is either lying or wilful ignorant.

My V6 with 2.5" lift and 285s regularly gets into the 10s on the highway doing on or just above the speed limit (whereas a diesel is probably in the 8s so around 25% more)
Yes, it can get thirsty if you stick the boot in up hills etc, but then you are doing something a diesel cant do anyway, so not fair to judge that way
Around town its not so great, usually in the 14s where a diesel is prob still in the 9s or 10s so 50% more

Diesel is great of for long distance and heavy towing 2000kg+ (lower fuel consumption), petrol is great for overtaking and around town (although you pay for that power at fill up).

Actually I predominantly use my V6 for long distance towing of a 2400kg enclosed trailer( 2.3m high, 2.4m wide, 5m long box on wheels) and find economy is pretty good provided you take some effort to be in the right gear.

For example just yesterday I did a 160 km round trip to Sandown and back towing the trailer and economy was 15.9 l/100, cos its fairly flat there/back. This is in S mode, manually changing between 4 & 5 as need arises.

Towing the trailer up to Winton and back which is more hilly was 17.9 average over the last 800km trip.

I've found if I just leave the car in 4S and drive it, it averages around 23l/100 on the Winton trip, but if I manually flip between 4 & 5 when up/down hills, it drops significantly down to the high 17s.
I usually keep the instant fuel display on and drive in 5S until the l/100 hits 20l/100 and drop back to 4th. and then when it goes below 20l/100 again I flick it back to 5S and it drops to low-mid teens. The key is to keep the auto locked either in 4th or 5th as unlocked it chews the juice, and gbox temps soar...

My Prado does have a raptor tune, which whilst not adding much to the power, does change the auto behaviour so it holds the taller gears better, so this may be helping my economy figures..

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

i think the only way to correctly measure fuel consumption is to always fill the fuel to brim, zero the trip meter, and calculate the fuel used over km travelled. I always slow right down with the refilling the last 10 litres so the fuel has a chance bubbles out any air lock.

with my prado 120 (grande, 2 inch lift, AT tyres, no other mods), i find the onboard fuel consumption meter is about 0.8 to 1.5 l/100km less than actual consumption.

The problem of looking at instantaneous fuel consumption is at best it only reflect consumption in that instant and is not a true reflection over a range of say at least 500kms

[rascal Member Find all posts View Profile Close rascal]

That 'is' the way I calculate my fuel consumption. Fill tank to full each time, and compare litres used to distance travelled on the trip meter. (adjusted for the bigger tyres. as even though the bigger diameter tyres correct the speedo readout, (GPS confirmed) it puts the odo & trips out by the same amount)

I only use the instantaneous readout to gauge when to change between S4 to S5, cos if I wait for the auto to unlock before changing, then it sometimes takes a little longer to lock again in the lower gear. Changing before it unlocks speeds up that process.