Toyota Land Cruiser Prado Details, Photos and Videos

The Toyota Land Cruiser Prado (Japanese: トヨタ・ランドクルーザー プラド, Toyota Rando-Kurūzā Purado) is a full-size four-wheel drive vehicle in the Toyota Land Cruiser range. It is produced by the Japanese car maker, Toyota. The Prado is one of the smaller vehicles in the range. From 2009, the Prado is based on Toyota's J150 platform.

The Prado may also be referred to as Land Cruiser LC70, LC90, LC120, and LC150 depending on the platform. In some markets it is known simply as the Toyota Prado.

In North America, the Prado is not part of the Land Cruiser range; the rebadged Lexus GX occupies the Prado's position in luxury trim. The GX uses practically identical body panels and V8 engine.

Prado has ladder frame chassis, two-speed transfer boxes and rear beam axles. The J70 platform has a front beam axle while the J90, J120, and J150 platforms have front independent suspension.

As of 2014, the Prado is available in every Toyota market, except the US, Canada (both available as the Lexus GX), Mexico, Brazil and South Korea.

First developed as the light-duty vehicle of the 70 Series, in November 1984. Available only in short body with options for soft top or hard top (metal top). Names like Land Cruiser II, Land Cruiser, and Bundera were made for these "light duty" Land Cruisers. The Bundera was a short wheelbase—being 2,310 millimetres (90.9 in)—with two doors, a plastic top, and barn doors at the rear. There were three options for the engine, the 2.4 L (2366 cc) 22R petrol engine and 2.4 L (2446 cc) 2L and 2L-T diesel and turbocharged diesel engines. Transmission for the petrol engine is the G52 type while the diesels used the R150 and R151 types. These were the same engines and transmission used in 4Runner, in cooperation with Hino.

In April 1990, a new type, the Prado, was introduced, with a redesigned front grille, front fenders, engine hood, and head lamps. At the same time, names like Land Cruiser and Land Cruiser II were still used in other parts of the world besides Japan. Prado means meadow or field in Portuguese. Despite a body-on-frame design making it highly capable off-road, the vehicle was marketed toward on-road use.

In Japan it came with electronic fuel injection and four speed automatic transmission. The 2.4 L turbocharged diesel engine with 71 kW (97 PS; 95 hp) and 240 N⋅m (177 lbf⋅ft) high torque unit was installed. The line up included 2-door and 4-door versions available in SX, LX or EX (4 door only) grades of trim.

The front suspension was changed to a "shock absorber through spring" design to improve handling. With the touch of a button you could switch between stages of absorber. The 22R petrol engine was upgraded to the 22R-E (electronic fuel injection) engine, the diesel engines were replaced by the 2.8 L (2776 cc) 3L engine, and the 2.4 L (2446 cc) 2L-T turbocharged diesel engine was replaced by the electronically injected 2L-TE turbocharged diesel engine. In 1993, the 22R-E petrol engine was replaced by the 2.7 L (2693 cc) 3RZ-FE petrol engine and the 2L-TE turbocharged diesel engine was replaced by the 3.0 L (2982 cc) 1KZ-T turbocharged diesel engine with aluminium cylinder head. The 1KZ-TE was able to reduce NOx and soot. The dash board was replaced with a new design with minor changes to suspension, brakes, and trim details.

In May 1996, the J70 series underwent a makeover and emerged as the J90 series Prado, an independent series. The body was lengthened. The design remained medium duty, like the J70. The front suspension was replaced with an independent design, shared with Tacoma and Hilux Surf, made by Hino. The J90 was made by Tahara Plant, available as a three-door short wheelbase and five-door long wheelbase version.

In Japan, the 3-door series started with an R in the series ranging from RZ, RX, RS to RJ while the 5-door line-up started with T in the series ranging from TZ, TX, TS, to TJ. All models came with front double wishbone and 4 linked suspension as well as full-time 4WD. ABS and a Field Monitor showing altimeter, thermometer and pressure were standard in all the models. The field monitor was not available as standard equipment in South Africa. Television display and audio set was optional.

Petrol engines included the 2.7 L (2693 cc) 3RZ-FE and, new in Prado models, the 3.4 L (3378 cc) V6 5VZ-FE. Diesel engines were the 2.8 L (2776 cc) 3L engine, the 3.0 L (2986 cc) 5L engine and the 3.0 L (2982 cc) 1KZ-TE.

There was also a luxury version of the J90, called the Challenger. Features of the Challenger are standard leather seats and wood on the dash.

By June 1999, minor changes were made. In order to follow new laws, fog-lamps were added to the bumper, except in South Africa. To reduce theft, an engine immobilizer was available. TX Limited with 8 seats used TX base with roof rail, rear under mirror, wood panel finish, armrest, optitron meter, base cooling as well as rear heater was introduced into this series.

in July 2000, Toyota introduced the 1KD-FTV 3.0 turbo diesel with D-4D technology to replace the 1KZ-TE in Japan.

The Prado was assembled by Sofasa in Colombia from 1999 until 2009 without significant changes. There were two versions, a 3-door with a 2.7 L engine and 5-door with a 3.4 L V6 engine with either a 5-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic. Between 2005 and 2009 they offered an optional armoured version of the 5-door version.

When the Prado was launched in the UK in 1996, it was called the Land Cruiser Colorado and replaced the 4Runner, which had been discontinued from sale. It was called this to distinguish it from the larger Land Cruiser – renamed as the Land Cruiser Amazon – which was already on sale. It dropped the Colorado name tag in 2003, when it was renamed simply Land Cruiser. In the Republic of Ireland most Land Cruisers were sold as commercials with the side windows and seats removed for tax reasons.

Appearing in 2002, the third generation Prado has revised front suspension to improve reliability. Development began in 1997 and design work in 1998, with the winning proposal originating from Lance Scott of the Toyota ED2 design studio in France in late 1999.

Engines include the 2.7 L (2693 cc) straight-4 3RZ-FE, 3.4 L (3378 cc) V-6 5VZ-FE and 3.0 L (2982 cc) straight-4 turbocharged diesel 1KZ-TE. In countries like China, a newly developed engine 1GR-FE V6 is available. The engine immobilizer became standard equipment in some markets.

In August 2004, the 3RZ-FE engine was replaced by 2.7 L (2694 cc) 2TR-FE engine and in July of the same year, the 5VZ-FE engine was replaced by 4.0 L (3955 cc) V6 1GR-FE engine with 5-speed automatic transmission available in late 2005. In North America, this model is known as the Lexus GX 470 with the 4.7 L (4663 cc) V8 2UZ-FE engine.

Complete article available at this page.