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Used Toyota Land Cruiser Prado in India: Good SUV for my grandparents?

14th March 2022, 15:51 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

I'm not considering cars like the Toyota Fortuner & Ford Endeavour because of their high popularity.

BHPian pranavarya74 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Greetings to the people of this forum.

I live in the rural parts of Loharu, Haryana and I basically belong to a landlord family. Up until now, we’ve owned two Mahindra Scorpios 2WD back-to-back (2008 and 2013) and we have been fairly impressed with their capabilities and they have served us well. The 2008 one we sold back in 2014 and because this area is mostly dry has excessive salt in groundwater, the car was badly rusted and the person who bought it pledged to restore it but soon he died in a car accident in that vehicle or so my information goes. The 2013 one is a white VLX with 1,10,000 km and now this one is badly rusted as well. It has had cosmetic work done to it 4 to 5 years ago and as of now, it doesn’t seem repairable. The A-pillar is rusted along with all the doors and floorboard and God knows about the rust spots under the plastic cladding. I also got all 4 control arms changed and that was eye-opening as all 4 were badly rusted with rust holes big enough to put your fingers through. The car was always worked on at authorised dealerships at regular intervals. But the car has troubles and we’re willing to retire it and are now looking for another SUV.

The search criteria so far have been directed towards imported Japanese Luxury SUVs. Specifically, Pajero SFX, Montero (post 2011). Land Cruiser Prado (150 Series) and Land Cruiser (100 series).

The search started a week ago and the Mitsubishis are out of the game entirely because of their spare parts availability. The car will be for my grandparents and will be driven by our drivers. I myself will be moving to Australia within the next 3 months for my studies but still, spare parts are still a concern. And also, it's hard to find a good Montero. Pajero SFXs can be found around the Chandigarh area or around Delhi NCR but I’m keeping that option in reserve in case other options are not viable.

Bringing me to LC Prado, I test drove one in Delhi yesterday and I have to say, man, is that something. I have driven Scorpio extensively and Fortuners and Endeavours occasionally but nothing comes close to it. The one I test drove was for sale with a dealer I found on OLX. The car is 2010 with 1,60,000 km. The mileage is on the higher side but still, I wanted to give it a try. On phone, the dealer admitted that the car was as original as it could be but on inspection, it wasn’t even close to it. All doors were repainted along with the bumpers, fenders, side skirts and bonnet. The dealer agreed to have repainted the bumpers and side skirts but had no idea about the rest. The rear door was not repainted so that the car doesn’t look repainted. Nice try. The Interior was okay, not good. Driver and passenger seat had leather tear along with visible dust spots on all windows and few panels were even loose. On the mechanical side of things, there was a visible oil drip from the oil pan, front shocks were leaking, no injector work was done which is necessary on the 1KD-FTV engines. EGR was definitely stuck open as the idle was rough. Brakes hadn’t been replaced and the dealer failed to show me any service records. While on the test drive, the car definitely didn’t show its age, not even a bit. If you told me, it was driven 50,000 km, I would have believed you. The brakes seemed sharp but with the age, I think they would be nearing replacement. There was a weird kick from the rear, similar to Scorpio which I felt was weird, but my diagnostics says, there was something wrong with the rear suspension too. The KDSS was working but the movement was too slow. The steering was definitely lighter than the Scorpio and Fortuners I have driven. The seating position makes you feel like a king, window sills are high but still, the view is good. It was peak rush hour in Gurugram so the test drive was short. The car was also driven through wet concrete which could be seen by dried concrete in the wheel wells. The tyres it was running on were old and dried out. I liked the car but this particular one wasn’t looked after and the dealer was quoting too high and wasn’t open to negotiations. The car is still for sale on OLX and the same car is being offered by three different dealers. My conclusion is don’t go for that car unless you can negotiate a fair bit and try to avoid that dealer.

I haven’t had any luck with any other cars but my mind is leaning towards Prado. Mainly because my father owns a 120 series Prado in Australia and he likes it a lot. In fact, the whole of Australia loves Prado.

Now here is where I need your help. If you know any dealer or person selling any of the aforementioned cars, please let me know. Your help will be highly appreciated. My preference will be a single owner with about 80,000 km. I also have preferences for colour and interior but I’m willing to overlook them as of now. Also please advise me on any other vehicle I should consider. The main selling points are reliability, robustness and occupant safety. Fortuner and Endeavour are not being considered only because of their popularity.

Below I’m mentioning a few issues I have researched of LC Prado (150 series):

Cracking of Injector seats
Inner guard cracking
Rust on door bottoms
Seepage in steering racks
EGR stuck open
Lower control arm bushings

Apart from these, if you know any issues I should consider please advise me and if anyone else is considering a Land Cruiser Prado, do visit Prado Point and check on FOURBY4DIESEL on YouTube. They can be your primary sources of information.

With this, I’ll conclude.

Here's what GTO had to say about the matter:

The sheer competence levels of cars from mainstream brands in the 20 - 40 lakh segment has drastically improved in the last ten years. I would any day buy a newer SUV officially sold in India than a 10-year old import with over 1 lakh km on the odometer. I would buy a Fortuner, Endeavour - even XUV700 - over an old Prado.
You seem to have made up your mind on the Prado and are eliminating the other cars for frivolous reasons.
For your grandparents, something like an Innova Crysta with captain seats will be thrice-as-superior as any of the other options you are considering.
You're off to Australia, but are going to leave the maintenance headaches of an old import to them.
I would suggest you to buy a used Prado in Australia since you love it so much, and get a more appropriate vehicle for your grandparents here.

Here's what BHPian Jaggu had to say about the matter:

This itself is reason enough not to venture out on the Prado route, very few genuine ones are out there and even if you find a genuine one, it would have run a minimum lakh or lakh and half. At this age and odo reading, no matter what, these vehicles will need some upkeep. Yes, Toyota dealers would be able to help you with even the older vehicles, but do you really want such a vehicle to be parked for your grandparents' use?
I would suggest you look at younger SUV type vehicles that are available in the market. Yes, a Prado does have a huge on-road presence, but even a new Safari or XUV would be a better pick and they come with a warranty.

Here's what BHPian Turbanator had to say about the matter:

I have been in this position and did check a lot of LC200s, Prados and whatnot. Most of these will have very high mileage and only 1 in 10 Prados, maybe a single owner. LC200, chances are that you may still find somewhere as the single owner, but these will be very high mileage cars.
Buy an Innova or Fortuner and forget everything. If you cannot, start looking at LC200, increase your budget to 60 Plus. You can try in Ludhiana or Chandigarh market. But again, the ones with a single owner and low mileage will be over 1 Cr plus. To give you an idea, I am getting a little more for my 2019 LC-200 than I originally paid to Toyota, single owner with less than 20K.

Here's what BHPian Thegermanbadger had to say about the matter:

Okay, so as an LC 120 owner, I would have told you to buy the car asap. Any LC - the 100, 120, 150 or 200. They are amazing.
But I feel that for your grandparents owning and driving it, might not be the right thing. It'll be a wiser choice to get a newer car. Parts can be a little hard to find sometimes and trust me Toyota after-sales has no clue what to do on these cars. They will just replace and charge you crazy amounts for even the mildest faults.
I know a few LCs out for sale, even a beautiful 100 with a CH number. A few 150s, too. 200s are in the 60 lakh-1cr plus range even with 1 lakh kms on the odo.
My car is a 1GR -FE 4.0 V6 and has done 1.6 lakh kms. Only thing I ever got replaced was tyres and a full service including all the oil changes. Drove it to over 10k feet, minus 15-degree Celsius temperature and over 600 kms nonstop. It did not even flinch. I have other cars like a BMW X3 and have had other fully imported SUVs from Japan, but the LC converted me like no religion ever could.
Attaching a picture of my 120 in some snow this February.