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Just thought I's put down my impressions of the differences between these 3 versions of the Prado after having a chance to drive both the 120 & 150 recently....I currently own the 90...
All three cars are Auto Diesel GXL's. The 90 currently has 220,000km, the 120 had 79,000km & the 150 29,000km. Luckily the local dealer had both a 120 & 150 in stock so a side-by-side test was possible.
So first I drove the 150. I had never driven a D4D so this was a direct comparison to my 90. My initial impression is this is a big car. The bonnet doesn't taper off to the sides, but infact raises at the edges - something I'm kinda used to now with my work X-Trail....It gives the impression a significant width. I found the driving position is more large car like perhaps almost Landcruiser like. The 90 has a very steeply raked windscreen in comparison. During driving the first thing I noticed is that the auto transmission seemed to be changing gears more often than the 90. The 90 being a 4 speed only uses 3 gears around town....it also doesn't change down gears for engine braking so you never notice it changing down gears....
Coming to the first roundabout & using the brakes, this car has really good brakes. It didn't require much effort to get a faster than normal slow down.....much better than the 90. The 90 doesn't have ABS, so to lock the brakes requires a fairly decent push especially on good dry bitumen. In addition I have BFG KM2's 265/75R16s on the 90 which are one size larger than standard. Their extra diameter will effect the braking ability of the 90.
Reaching an 80 zone, I was able to punch the throttle.....the 150 does feel heavier & slower, even considering the D4D vs the 1kzte.....The 150 was full of fuel however (150L), & you can easily feel the change in acceleration in the 90 from it being empty to it having full tanks (159L), so a bit of that i put down to it being full.....
Sitting on 80km/h I could hear/feel what I thought was the engine labouring...As it turned out the engine was sitting on 1500rpm & I'm guessing that would also be 5th gear too. This car probably doesn't have the updated gearbox firmware, so that may change the use of 5th gear at this speed.
Accelerating to 100km/h up a slight rise also took some time...the gearbox jumped out of 5th to 4th then to 3rd under full throttle....then we had some acceleration....Unlike the 1kzte, the D4D was keen to accelerate through 100km/h without any indication it was running out of puff...
A quick brake test on the dirt reminded me again of the extra weight, the 150 is at least 400kg heavier than the 90....The car stayed pretty straight & the ABS was working like crazy, but it took what seemed to be a long time to stop from 80km/h....
Back on the bitumen & back into town, slowing to 60km/h felt like I was just walking...The car is very quiet when cruising & you need to watch your speed using the speedo rather than engine/road noise...
So where does the 120 fit in? Well as I said I had never driven a D4D before & I had never driven a 120 before either, so we took the opportunity to test drive the 120 the had in stock as well...
The 120 to me felt just like the 90 in terms of seating position....the bonnet sloped off like the 90 as well..the brakes however were much the same as the 90, although this car has ABS....they required a moderate push to get a moderate stop...The 120 was definitely zippier too....I loved to have had the D4D in my 90 series!
With the weight advantage & the D4D, the later 120's have the performance advantage for sure.
I thing I love about the 90 is the feedback you get from driving it...both on & off road. Whilst its not quite as hands on as the HJ60 I had previously, the 90 is an excellent off-road tourer. I can only sense that the 150 is a further leap away from the 'good old days'.
150 pros
Better fuel economy (may be lost after transmission firmware update)
Traction Control on GXL
3 zone Ac (the 120 had 2 zone & the 90 has 1 manual zone)
Good Brakes
150cons
Extra width (supposedly 1cm wider than the 120, but looks much wider from the drivers seat)
Extra weight - slower acceleration, doesn't seem to effect fuel economy though
Rear seats - can't as easily be removed & there is only 2
The 150 was also $10,000 dearer than the 120
Cheers
Richard
All three cars are Auto Diesel GXL's. The 90 currently has 220,000km, the 120 had 79,000km & the 150 29,000km. Luckily the local dealer had both a 120 & 150 in stock so a side-by-side test was possible.
So first I drove the 150. I had never driven a D4D so this was a direct comparison to my 90. My initial impression is this is a big car. The bonnet doesn't taper off to the sides, but infact raises at the edges - something I'm kinda used to now with my work X-Trail....It gives the impression a significant width. I found the driving position is more large car like perhaps almost Landcruiser like. The 90 has a very steeply raked windscreen in comparison. During driving the first thing I noticed is that the auto transmission seemed to be changing gears more often than the 90. The 90 being a 4 speed only uses 3 gears around town....it also doesn't change down gears for engine braking so you never notice it changing down gears....
Coming to the first roundabout & using the brakes, this car has really good brakes. It didn't require much effort to get a faster than normal slow down.....much better than the 90. The 90 doesn't have ABS, so to lock the brakes requires a fairly decent push especially on good dry bitumen. In addition I have BFG KM2's 265/75R16s on the 90 which are one size larger than standard. Their extra diameter will effect the braking ability of the 90.
Reaching an 80 zone, I was able to punch the throttle.....the 150 does feel heavier & slower, even considering the D4D vs the 1kzte.....The 150 was full of fuel however (150L), & you can easily feel the change in acceleration in the 90 from it being empty to it having full tanks (159L), so a bit of that i put down to it being full.....
Sitting on 80km/h I could hear/feel what I thought was the engine labouring...As it turned out the engine was sitting on 1500rpm & I'm guessing that would also be 5th gear too. This car probably doesn't have the updated gearbox firmware, so that may change the use of 5th gear at this speed.
Accelerating to 100km/h up a slight rise also took some time...the gearbox jumped out of 5th to 4th then to 3rd under full throttle....then we had some acceleration....Unlike the 1kzte, the D4D was keen to accelerate through 100km/h without any indication it was running out of puff...
A quick brake test on the dirt reminded me again of the extra weight, the 150 is at least 400kg heavier than the 90....The car stayed pretty straight & the ABS was working like crazy, but it took what seemed to be a long time to stop from 80km/h....
Back on the bitumen & back into town, slowing to 60km/h felt like I was just walking...The car is very quiet when cruising & you need to watch your speed using the speedo rather than engine/road noise...
So where does the 120 fit in? Well as I said I had never driven a D4D before & I had never driven a 120 before either, so we took the opportunity to test drive the 120 the had in stock as well...
The 120 to me felt just like the 90 in terms of seating position....the bonnet sloped off like the 90 as well..the brakes however were much the same as the 90, although this car has ABS....they required a moderate push to get a moderate stop...The 120 was definitely zippier too....I loved to have had the D4D in my 90 series!
With the weight advantage & the D4D, the later 120's have the performance advantage for sure.
I thing I love about the 90 is the feedback you get from driving it...both on & off road. Whilst its not quite as hands on as the HJ60 I had previously, the 90 is an excellent off-road tourer. I can only sense that the 150 is a further leap away from the 'good old days'.
150 pros
Better fuel economy (may be lost after transmission firmware update)
Traction Control on GXL
3 zone Ac (the 120 had 2 zone & the 90 has 1 manual zone)
Good Brakes
150cons
Extra width (supposedly 1cm wider than the 120, but looks much wider from the drivers seat)
Extra weight - slower acceleration, doesn't seem to effect fuel economy though
Rear seats - can't as easily be removed & there is only 2
The 150 was also $10,000 dearer than the 120
Cheers
Richard
...)
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