There’s a saying which originated around this part of the southern hemisphere, which goes “if you want to go into the Outback, you better take a Land Rover. But, if you want to come back, you better take a Land Cruiser”.
The tongue-and-cheek phrase rather aptly describes the Land Cruiser, which has earnt a reputation for reliability, durability and off-road capability in over seventy-plus years of production. Basically, anything wearing the Land Cruiser badge, is expected to go anywhere, at any time, and be utterly indestructible.
This includes the “light-duty” Land Cruiser, otherwise known as the Land Cruiser Prado. Of course, anyone who has driven one wouldn’t exactly call it “light-duty”. Instead, it’s the smaller or “baby” Land Cruiser. More compact, and equipped with a smaller engine, but still expected to be just as capable.
Personally, I love a Land Cruiser, particularly the Prado. I grew up with one, and remember the day my parents bought it (a Land Cruiser 100 was ruled out for being unable to fit in the garage). The same Prado is still in the family today, and has never once failed us. Even better, is that we’ve never been short-changed for not going full-sized.
Needless to say, I was rather keen to try the fifth-generation Prado, which has arrived nearly 14 years after the previous generation.
For this generation, Toyota claims that the new retro-styled Prado performs better and is more technologically advanced, while continuing to offer practicality, durability and dependability.
Of course, with my fondness for the Prado, I’d be rather miffed if Toyota botched it up.
So, is the new Prado any good? More importantly, is the “light-duty” Land Cruiser still worthy of the badge?
What We Like and Dislike About The 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser Prado Adventure
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Proven turbo diesel powerplant Superb 8-speed gearbox Balanced interior Comfortable seats Excellent at towing On-road manners are greatly improved Off-road capability Well calibrated ADAS systems | Slippery, plastic running boards Compromised boot space More paint options would be appreciated Somewhat pricey compared to competitors |
What’s In the 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser Prado Range?
The new Toyota Land Cruiser Prado can be configured in eight different ways, according to Toyota New Zealand’s website. That’s because you can have your Prado with four different trims, some with five or seven seats, and one trim with two-tone paint.
| Model | Seats | Price |
| Land Cruiser Prado GXL Hybrid | 5 | $83,490 |
| 7 | $83,990 | |
| Land Cruiser Prado VX Hybrid | 7 | $93,990 |
| Land Cruiser Prado Adventure Hybrid | 5 | $102,990 |
| 7 | $103,990 | |
| Land Cruiser Prado Adventure Hybrid with two-tone paint | 5 | $103,990 |
| 7 | $104,990 | |
| Land Cruiser Prado VX Limited Hybrid | 7 | $105,990 |
Of course, we’ll keep things simple by sticking to the spec for the rest of this section.
At the entry point to the range, there’s the Prado GXL. The GXL is the utilitarian or value choice of the lot. Above the GXL is the mid-range Prado VX. Like the GXL, but with more equipment inside and out.
From here, the Prado line-up splits in two directions, with the Prado Adventure and Prado VX Limited sitting atop the range.
The Prado Adventure is the Prado for those who consider mud to be part of the aesthetic. In other words, the Adventure is designed to be an out-of-the-box overlander, featuring an extra lockable differential and disconnecting sway-bars for extra axle articulation.
Adjacent to the Adventure is the VX Limited. This Prado is a bit lush and the choice for those doing lots of mileage. It has all the trimmings, including adaptive dampers for better ride comfort.
The Prado is available in the following colours.
- Glacier White
- Frosted White
- Dark Granite
- Eclipse
- Avant-Garde Bronze
- Sand
- Smokey Blue
For the Prado Adventure, there’s two two-tone options available, being:
- Sand, with a light grey roof.
- Smoky Blue, with a light grey roof.
There’s also two interior colour options, being Black and Dark Chestnut.For more information on the new Land Cruiser Prado, check out the Toyota New Zealand website.
How Does The 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser Prado Compare To Its Competition?
I’ll admit, this part doesn’t exactly paint the new Prado in an overly positive light. The Prado Adventure is the one of few amongst its competitors to crack into the 6-figure price range.
Beneath it is also some formidable competition too, including the Ford Everest Platinum with a silky smooth V6, the GWM Tank 500 Ultra which is absolutely feature-laden for the price, and also the capable and bashable Isuzu MU-X LX-T.
We’ve also tacked in the basic-spec Prado GXL to provide some balance, but even then, it doesn’t help Toyota’s case so much.
However, you should read on because spec-sheets seldom provide the full story. If anything, I think the Prado Adventure can justify its price.
| Make/Model | Engine | Power/Torque (kW/Nm) | Fuel (L/100km) | Towing capacity (Kg) | Price |
| Land Rover Defender X-Dynamic SE | 3.0L 6-cylinder twin turbodiesel mild hybrid | 300/650 | 8.6 | 750/3,500 | $144,990 |
| Toyota Prado Adventure | 2.8-litre 4-cylinder turbodiesel mild hybrid | 150/500 | 8.7 | 750/3,500 | $103,990 |
| Ford Everest Platinum | 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel | 184/600 | 9.7 | 750/3,500 | $91,490 |
| Toyota Prado GXL | 2.8-litre 4-cylinder turbodiesel mild hybrid | 150/500 | 8.7 | 750/3,500 | $83,990 |
| GWM Tank 500 Ultra | 2.0L 4-cylinder turbocharged petrol hybrid | 255/648 | 8.5 | 750/3,000 | $82,990 |
| Isuzu MU-X LX-T | 3.0-litre 4-cylinder turbodiesel | 140/450 | 9.5 | 750/3500 | $81,990 |
| Ford Everest Sport | 2.0-litre 4-cylinder twin-turbo diesel | 154/500 | 8.3 | 750/3500 | $81,490 |
First Impressions of The 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser Prado Adventure
The Land Cruiser Prado mightn’t have been around as long as its other Land Cruiser brothers, but it might surprise you to learn that the Prado turned forty in 2024.
In those 40-plus years of production, the Prado has been through five-generations, and yet, the design of the exterior has probably evolved fewer times than that.
In the case of the last two generations of Prado, they have shared a visually similar design since the J120 generation was introduced in 2002.
I wouldn’t criticise the Prado for this.The Prado has never been hard on the eyes, and intrinsically, the Land Cruiser namesake prioritises capability over style. Although, Toyota appears to have shifted its tone, and had clearly injected some character into the design of this fifth-gen Prado.
Its retro-throwback design appears to have been inspired by the modern FJ Cruiser, which ironically, was heavily based on the Prado at the time. Yet, the Prado also carries a modern appearance, marked by its sharp LED light features and with its boxy and rugged appearance being on trend, alongside the Mercedes G-Wagen, and the Suzuki Jimny.
My praise is only limited by the lack of paint options. Where are the metallic colours? Or the reds, greens or deeper blues, Toyota?
Either way, I reckon Toyota has nailed it with the new Prado.
What’s The Interior Like In The 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser Prado Adventure?
Ya know, it seems that automotive manufacturers aren’t really designing interiors anymore. Instead, many opt for the Tesla approach of slapping a massive screen in the middle and dusting off their hands.
Although, I can appreciate why this is occurring. Screens are cheaper than utilising banks of buttons, they reduce visual noise, and with the needlessly high technology demands placed upon cars in 2025, packaging everything is difficult.
It’s an industry-wide phenomenon, where many of the cars which I’ve tested recently – among them, the JAC T9, Leapmotor C10, Volkswagen Tiguan R Line, GWM Cannon Alpha and BYD Shark 6 – all have opted for the central command screen, with few other controls.
Unfortunately, this approach does make interiors all seem rather same-same across manufacturers. Adding to the matter, is that touchscreens aren’t quite so easy to live with when you’re in a real-traffic situation, and you can’t utilise muscle memory to adjust the climate controls. Also, don’t get me started on how they’ll age, either.
The new Land Cruiser Prado hasn’t fallen for the fad. Instead, its interior is more analogue by comparison, combining legacy physical controls with technology, instead of being so tech-forward.
Honestly, it’s bloody refreshing. There’s a button for nearly everything you’d use regularly, and anything non-essential is stored in the infotainment. Furthermore, Toyota has achieved this while packaging everything well.
Of course, Toyota are pretty good at nailing the fundamentals, and the new Prado is no exception. Everything is user-centric, and the build quality has the sturdiness one expects from a higher-end Toyota.
Better still, the driving position is fantastic. You sit high, but not so that you feel ‘atop’ the vehicle. The low dashboard makes outward visibility excellent, and the armrests on the centre console and door are nearly perfectly positioned to provide that captain’s chair feeling. The only SUV I’d say that does it better is the Range Rover.
The seats are also superb. They’re comfortable, supportive and there’s good foam density in the chair. Furthermore, the upholstery on our Prado is real leather, and it feels like a high-quality grain. So many competitors go with the synthetic leatherette these days, that one could forget what actual leather seats feel like.
On the tech front, the new Prado has an all-new 12.3-inch infotainment utilising the current generation Toyota Connected Software, along with a new 12.3-inch fully digital instrument cluster.
In the past, Toyota has been somewhat slow to adopt the latest tech. For this reason, their previous infotainment systems were middling in performance when they were released, but are usually well dated by the time the vehicle is mid-way through their lifecycle. I suppose that’s because Toyota are conversative, and they like to ensure that things work before scaling them.
This time, Toyota are being more forward (for them, anyway) on tech. Their new infotainment is a massive improvement, and a multiple-generation leap in terms of hardware and software.
The system is responsive, seldom lags and has high-quality graphics and colour levels. The Toyota Connected UI is logical, and user-friendly. In other words, the quality of this system is no longer middling, but up-to-date with our current expectations.
That said, one of the best things about this system actually isn’t to do with the screen or software. Instead, it’s that Toyota has surrounded it with a sturdy bezel. This meant I had somewhere to steady my hand and use my thumb to navigate it while driving.
It might sound strange, but once you’ve lived with it, you’ll appreciate what I mean.
The instrument cluster is another area of major improvement. Again, it’s responsive, the graphics are sharp, and there’s a high-degree of configurability embedded within it.
The 14-speaker JBL sound system is also an excellent upgrade, which has strong bass and bright high frequencies.
Although, I will freely admit that Toyota hasn’t gotten everything right with the Prado’s interior. For starters, the dark cabin materials on our press vehicle absorb a lot of light, making the space feel smaller than it is. I’d probably option the brown leather, if it were me.
I also do not quite understand why there’s an unusually long piece of trim in the foot space of the middle second row either.
Yet, perhaps the biggest offender is actually found when you open the tailgate. The hybrid battery is mounted under the floor of the third row, which means the Prado has a high load floor and compromised boot height. It isn’t quite so bad in the 5-seat configuration, but the 7-seater Prado is noticeably impacted.
With the 3rd row in place, there’s really only enough room for a couple of bags of groceries. Also, that long storage bucket is mounted in. You can remove it, but it isn’t that easy.
There is one more irritation, but this is actually on the outside. The Prado’s plastic running boards aren’t quite as robust as I’d have expected them to be, and will flex slightly on the edges when a heavy person steps on them.
They’re also quite slippery when they’re wet. I recall when I picked up the new Prado, someone at the dealership had detailed the step with some ‘wet-look’ product, which made it feel like teflon under foot. By no means am I blaming the dealership for this – the staffer couldn’t have been expected to know that.
Instead, if I were Toyota, I’d be going back to the metal ones, which they used on earlier Prados.
What’s The 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser Prado Adventure Like To Drive?
As the world’s largest car manufacturer, Toyota naturally gets plenty of attention from the public and media alike.
Yet, I’ve noticed something peculiar over the last few years where general sentiments have shifted against Toyota’s favour.
These days, it seems that the media attention Toyota receives is often negative, and sometimes excessively so. You might have seen some yourself, whether it’s an article about how Toyota is lagging on EV’s, or that their new cars aren’t reliable, or even that they’re on the cusp of losing to Chinese manufacturers.
It’s not only the media either. In 2023, a group of European activists took it a step further, vandalising several Toyota billboards and justifying their actions as ‘climate justice’.
Admittedly, these stories usually originate from a vocal minority, but sometimes it manages to reach the majority.
It’s bizarre, because Toyota are currently producing some of the best cars we’ve ever seen from the brand. Also, their strategy of focusing on hybrids as opposed to betting-it-all on red with electric vehicles, seems to have been rather wise in hindsight.
Also, the criticism about their reliability? Sure, Toyota has encountered some issues with its 3.4-litre turbocharged V6 (or the V35A-FTS engine) used in the Toyota Tundra over in the United States. Although, I’d argue this made the news, because Toyotas don’t often break.
Nonetheless, it didn’t stop the naysayers from coming out in-force for the new Land Cruiser Prado either. I heard plenty of criticism, ranging from “there’s no increase in performance!”, “its hybrid system is too complicated!”, “it won’t be reliable!”, or “why is it so expensive!!1!1!”
The thing is, most of this criticism is utter rubbish because this new Prado is honestly brilliant. Still, I’ll endeavour to answer some of the more reasonable sounding complaints, as I go through this review.
Beginning underneath the bonnet, the new Land Cruiser Prado uses Toyota’s 1GD-FTV 4-cylinder turbodiesel engine. This engine is carried over from the previous generation Prado, and is also used in the current Hilux. It’s a stout powerplant, producing 150kW of power between 3,000 – 3,400 rpm and 500Nm of torque between 1,600 – 2,800 rpm.
Okay, so those are the same outputs as the previous-gen Prado, and also with those in the Hilux too.
Yet, I wouldn’t be so quick to criticise Toyota for this decision. Firstly, because this engine has proven itself to be absolutely bombproof in terms of reliability. Secondly, the performance of this engine is excellent.
There’s plenty of performance on-tap, with abundant low-end torque providing the Prado with plenty of oomph off-the line, carrying through into the powerful mid-range. Despite being nearly 2.5 tonnes, this Prado can definitely move when demanded.
The responsiveness is also excellent. There’s minimal turbocharger lag, and it has enough power in reserve to perk up before the downshift. In practice, the Prado builds pace without feeling strained, which cannot be said about the powertrains of some of its competitors.
Although, Toyota hasn’t been quite so diligent about masking the diesel-ness of this engine. In other words, it can sound slightly coarse when you’re pressing on it. Yet, it’s not overly rattly, and none of the harshness is felt in the cabin. Also, you’ll occasionally catch it making some pleasant spooling noises from the turbocharger.
The engine is paired with a newly developed 8-speed automatic gearbox, known internally as the AL80F, or the “direct-shift” to the public. The “direct-shift” gearbox is superbly tuned. Each shift is buttery smooth and the shift-logic is optimised, so that it holds onto the cog well into the powerband and downshifts exactly when you’d want it to. I never caught it hunting for gears, even when towing with a 1.5 tonne load. More on this later.
Together, the Prado’s engine and gearbox combination provides natural feeling performance and acceleration, in contrast to the synthetic performance delivery and hyperactive gearboxes found in the Ford Everest and GWM Tank 500.
Although this engine is carried from the previous Prado, Toyota has modernised it by adding a small component of hybridity, pairing the engine with 48V mild-hybrid system and 1.4kW Lithium-Ion battery.
For those unaware, mild hybrids use a small battery and electric motor to provide electrical assistance to the combustion engine. The system provides torque-fill while accelerating, operates the start-stop system and supports other electro-mechanical systems. It can provide some electric-only propulsion at crawling speeds, but otherwise, it doesn’t really ‘drive’ the wheels.
Instead, mild hybrids are better thought of as an energy recovery system, capturing energy via regenerative braking (that would otherwise be lost), to assist with operating the vehicle. As the benefits go, there are marginal fuel efficiency gains and improvements in emissions. The Prado’s claimed fuel consumption is 8.7L/100kms, down 0.5L or roughly 5% compared with the previous Prado. We averaged 9.4L per 100kms during our test.
Of course, the addition of the hybrid system has been criticized for complicating the powertrain for only marginal gains. I can appreciate where this argument is coming from, but you ought to remember that automotive manufacturers are facing increasingly tightening emissions regulations across the globe. If it weren’t a hybrid, Toyota mightn’t be able to sell the Prado in some economies in the future.
If you are still unsure, remember that Toyota has been building hybrids for longer than almost anyone else. Also, you may find comfort knowing that the new Prado is a global vehicle, and all of which are assembled in Japan at either Toyota’s Tahara or Hamura factories – the latter of which, being where Hino trucks are built.
Being a global vehicle, the new-gen Prado is based upon Toyota’s TNGA-F platform, a dedicated new-generation SUV chassis that also underpins the Land Cruiser 300. This platform isn’t shared with any ute, unlike the majority of its competition.
By virtue of this, the Prado has great on-road manners. The new generation chassis has also made marked improvements over the previous generation. In terms of body control, the new Prado eliminates most of the yaw and head-toss that is often encountered with a high-riding vehicle. It’s also tighter through the bends, and its inputs and feedback are less truck-like.
The ride quality is also a strong point, ironing out smaller undulations without any complaints and not being jostled about by large bumps. Better still, this is delivered on the standard springs. You can get adaptive dampers (reserved for the VX Limited), but I’m not convinced you’d need them.
Yet, where the Prado really won me over was with its towing capability. As I’d mentioned, I figured I’d test the new Prado out by towing my MX-5 cup car to Manfeild for the Surgery Sprints.
Even with a sizable load, the Prado wasn’t phased. The engine has plenty of hauling power, and gearbox turning was bang on when using towing mode. The steering dampening was also excellent, and it never felt floaty from behind the wheel. I wouldn’t say it was quite as effortless as a Land Cruiser 300, but Prado did make light work of our 1.5T load.
Better still, the fuel consumption figure I achieved for this journey was only 12.6L per 100kms. That said, I didn’t max out the load limit, nor did our trailer load have the aerodynamic profile of a caravan. Still, I was quite impressed with the result.
Naturally, the Prado wouldn’t be a proper Land Cruiser if it didn’t have class-leading off-road capability. Unfortunately, we didn’t have an opportunity to test the Prado in any challenging terrain. Although there’s plenty of evidence out there demonstrating that the Prado is an absolute weapon off-road.
All Prados have multi-terrain response (off-road traction control) and a centre locking differential as standard. Our test vehicle, the Prado Adventure, is more of an out-of-the-box overlander. It comes with two locking differentials, disconnecting sway-bars for extra wheel articulation, and it comes on smaller 18’’ alloys, with a more aggressive all-terrain tyre (Yokohama Geolandar A/T G31). This is compared to the VX and VX Limited, which have 20’’ alloys and slightly softer rubber (Yokohama Geolandar X-CV G057).
Okay, so the Prado performs and drives well, but you haven’t answered why it’s so dang expensive?!
I could answer this with what isn’t expensive these days? But you may have a point.
The price does seem high compared to the Everest and the Tank 500, which does make the Prado seem less appealing on-paper. Although, there’s plenty of ways the Prado justifies that cost, some of which I’ve already mentioned.
Also, if we look at this more objectively, the new Prado isn’t actually much more expensive when compared with the outgoing-generation Prado.
In 2024, an old Prado GX cost $79,190 when new, the VX was $88,490, and the VX Limited was $100,790. Basically, the cost of the Prado has only increased about 6% across the range.
These days, software is a large cost centre for an automaker, and some of the outgoings are spent developing driver assistance systems, which are increasingly being mandated by governments and safety testing bodies. The Prado is no exception, coming with a full suite of safety features allowing it to gain a 5-star ANCAP safety score for 2025.
Don’t get me wrong, some of these safety systems are fantastic, but many more of them are a royal pain in the ass on account of poor real-world calibration. Fortunately, the Prado’s safety software is generally well calibrated. Better still, it isn’t overly intrusive, which cannot be said about the GWM Tank 500.
Even the ‘harder to get right’ software Toyota has been engineered well, including the Prado’s Lane-keep Assistance software and the Driver Attention Monitoring system too.
So yeah, good engineering has a high price tag.
2025 Toyota Land Cruiser Prado Adventure – Specifications
| Vehicle Type | 5-door Large SUV |
| Starting Price | $103,990 |
| Price as Tested | $104,990 |
| Engine | 2.8-litre 4-cylinder turbo diesel mild hybrid |
| Power, Torque (kW/Nm) | 150/500 |
| Transmission | 8-speed automatic |
| Spare Wheel | Full size |
| Kerb Weight (Kg) | 2,560 |
| Length x Width x Height (mm) | 4990 x 1980 x 1984 |
| Fuel tank capacity, (litres) | 110 |
| Fuel Economy, (L/100km) | Advertised Spec – Combined – 8.7 Real-World Test – Combined – 9.4 Low Usage: 0-6 / Medium Usage 6-12 / High Usage 12+ |
| Towing Capacity (Kg, unbraked/braked) | 750/3,500 |
| Turning circle (metres) | 12.0 Small: 6-10m / Medium 10-12m / Large 12m+ |
| Warranty | 5-year/200,000-km vehicle warranty 5-year 24/7 roadside assist |
| Safety information | ANCAP Rating – 5 stars Rightcar.govt.nz – 5 Stars – QTK261 |
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