It is the flagship. The Kakudu. The top-shelf toy in Toyota’s off-road family.
On paper it screams value. Diesel heart. Four-wheel drive. Seven seats. Piled with gadgets. You expect perfection at this price. The question isn’t if it works. It’s if it feels expensive.
We put the keys in the ignition. See what happens.
The price of admission
Prices just jumped. Again. Toyota threw a five-seat GXL into the mix, which changes the math slightly. But add in the dealer fees, the registration, the stamp duty, that little slice of “Toyota Tax,” and you are staring at an $8000 hit above the sticker.
You are looking at about $110,000 to park this in your driveway.
Is the new J250 worth the hike? It has heaps more tech than the old model. We will find out if that justifies the cash burn.
Interior: Function over feeling
Step inside and the luxury dream deflates a little.
Compared to the shiny Chinese imports flooding the market, the Prado feels plain. Stark. Black on black. No wood trim to show off your status. No bright chrome accents to catch the light. Just hard, well-made plastic.
It is a six-figure vehicle that doesn’t look it.
But it works. The 12.3-inch driver display is sharp, customizable, and easy to read. If you prefer head-up displays, there is one of those too. It’s brilliant.
The media screen is also 12.3 inches. Wireless CarPlay and Android Auto connect without fuss. The menus take a moment to learn, but it’s not frustrating. Better than some. Much better.
And yes, you still get buttons. Physical ones. Below the screen are dials for climate control. For heated seats. For ventilation. Even a steering wheel heater switch. There is a volume dial in a weird spot. A wireless charger sits nearby.
Off-roading gear? Check. Low-range transfer case. Center diff lock. But no rear locker. No front locker. If those matter to you, look elsewhere.
The gear shifter is a large, solid thing. Nice to hold. Near it sits the electric handbrake. Further down is the idle-stop cancel button—press that if you hate the mild-hybrid tech turning the engine off every time you stop.
The driver’s mirror can be conventional or a digital camera feed. Use the camera if the third row is packed with kids looking backward. Good idea. The sunvisor material? Cheap feeling. Extendable? No.
There is a cooler box in the center console. Very handy for ice cream or cold drinks on long trips.
Seating is okay. Front seats are electric. Lumbar support exists. I felt a weird bar at the base of the rest though. At 182cm, my back didn’t fully agree.
Back there
Sit behind the wheel in the second row? Fine. Legroom is adequate. Not generous. Taller than 180cm? You will feel it. And the middle rows do not slide forward. Because the third row needs that space. So packing large adults in the middle is… tight.
But the amenities are decent. Bottle holders. Map pockets. Heated and cooled vents. Separate climate control for the back. Even heating for the rear window seats. A nice touch.
ISOFIX anchors are there for the outer seats. Tethers for the middle. A flip-down armrest offers cupholders.
Getting to the third row requires some acrobatics. The middle row splits 60:40. The small part is on the curb side. Tuck that seat forward and climb up. It’s manageable, but it is a permanent fixture decision. Either use the third row and accept the limited middle seat, or keep the middle open.
Adults in the back? No. Not really. Tight knee room. Short toe room. Tight headroom. Shoulders are fine, but your legs are cramped. Good shoulder armrests and USB ports are the only saving grace.
Folding those seats is a pain. No electric button in the boot to drop them. You need to reach for levers. Short people will struggle. The mechanism feels fiddly. Rivals do this easier, for less money.
There is a plastic storage box behind the seats. It looks flimsy. Don’t pile heavy tools on it. It sits above the spare tire, keeping the load floor flat. A glass panel on the tailgate is a massive win. You can reach in for groceries without lifting the whole hatch. Clever.
Under the boot floor? A full-size spare.
Under the hood
Australia gets one engine. A four-cylinder diesel. It has been around since forever.
It comes with a 48V mild-hybrid system. Does it boost power? No. It cannot drive the car with electricity. But it smooths out the start-stop cycle. It takes the load off the starter and battery.
On a hot 30-degree day, with the A/C blasting, the restart was instant. But it still kicked the diesel to life with a jolt.
Watch your payload. Tow heavy stuff? Check the earlier Altitude review for the math. We did not tow this specific test car.
Driving the Kakudu
Drive it. You will notice the noise.
Low speeds are rough. Cold mornings are louder. This is an old diesel architecture. The hybrid system does little to quieten the crankcase. It just keeps it running when stopped.
Highways? Better. Wind noise drowns it out. But the engine remains vocal when pushing up a hill. The transmission handles eight gears. Smooth shifting mostly. Sometimes it downshifts aggressively on downhill braking to help engine brake. It works, but it screams while doing it.
At this price point, that level of cabin intrusion is surprising. You want silence. You get diesel rattle.
Steering? Perfect. Accurate. Light enough for parking, weighted enough for confidence. The 360-degree camera pops up if you get too close to a pole. Very useful.
Ride comfort is… adequate. It soaks up highway bumps nicely. But it gets wallowy on empty rear corners. Small urban curbs feel sharp thanks to the big wheels.
Safety tech is mostly invisible until you zone out. Then the driver monitor camera warns you. Annoying? A little. Helpful? Maybe.
The car is easy to live with. It is just loud.
Equipment breakdown
Toyota builds the Prado in tiers. Which one fits you?
Prado GX (Entry Level)
Five seats only. Fabric interiors. Manual tailgate. Rubber mats. It looks the part with dark grey wheels and “TOYOTA” grille lettering. Standard safety, but basic. No rear air vents. Wired CarPlay/Android Auto. It gets the job done, if the job is basic transport.
Prado GXL
Now you get five or seven seats. Heated and ventilated front chairs. Power tailgate. Wireless phone charging. Leather-accented wheel. The interior softens. Synthetic leather replaces cloth. This is the volume seller for most.
Prado VX
Step up to leather seats. Power passenger seat. A cooler box. The big jump is the tech: 14-speaker JBL system. Adaptive variable suspension. Five drive modes. It handles multi-terrain monitoring better than the base models. Wheels get bigger. Headlights get smarter.
Prado Altitude
Back to five seats. But now it is serious off-roader kit. 18-inch all-terrain tires. Matte grey wheels. The crown jewel here: the locking rear differential. The base models do not have this. The Kakudu does not have it. This does.
Prado Kakudu
This review subject. Seven seats. Top luxury spec. The visual upgrade package. But remember what is missing. No front locker. No rear locker. You get comfort over raw traction control in deep mud.
It is a trade-off. Do you want to crawl over rocks or drive comfortably to the ski resort? Toyota thinks the latter is more profitable.
What do you think?
