Is The TOYOTA LANDCRUISER Any GOOD? (LC5 'PRADO' Test Drive & Review)

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The Toyota Landcruiser is famous all over the world for being as tough as old boots. I've tracked down an unloved example to see if they're any good. In the UK it's simply called the LandCruiser, but in other parts of the world, this model is called the Prado. Thank you to the 4,763 people who commented and made me aware of this!

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[grahamc]

Always look forward to these reviews, bit of a bonus at the end there :)

[samirlrhoul]

2 Land Rovers, one 28000km, 3 oil leaks, the other 58000km, 6 oil leaks, electric problems and engine problem. 1 Land Cruiser, 185000km, 1 bulb replaced (I think).

[Anthony-lvbz]

I live in Kenya, mombasa and trust me, if you want to live a long healthy life, buy the land cruiser Prado. Great review!!

[ukvette]

Ultra reliable Land Cruiser, ours was a 2005, LC3.
Bought with 198000 miles.
It pulled our 7 meter caravan around every country in Europe for 4 years.
Eventually (regrettably) sold it, fault free with 287000 miles.
Best vehicle we ever owned.

[sashoxxx]

You are very spot on with your review, which is based on some short term experience with it. Which is hard, many people would struggle to realize how incredibly amazing that vehicle is in such short taste of it.
I still have mine, bought new 2005 LC (different package names here, but using your levels it appears to be an LC4) D-4D. It rolled over 1 million km's this summer.

Currently sitting at 1, 014, 000 km give or take. And I'll give a 'short' rundown on the essential:

- Engine wise: Valve covers have never been taken off, never leaked, why bother. Turbo is original. Every radiator - original. Oil, fuel, and steering pumps - original. The whole fuel system in fact has only had it's injectors replaced once @~400k km's. Mostly everything in that engine bay, except consumables of course, has never been changed. Had a new alternator as a whole oem unit put in fairly recently. Got a new steering rack ~600k km's. It's had a brake master-cylinder replacement at 1 point. Uhm, not much more comes to mind. A/C original - Working good. Virtually every hose is original as well, apart from the high pressure side of the steering rack, which gave before the rack did, and was not cheap!
Of course everything has always been serviced on time, and every fluid has been changed with oem within strict mileage. Oil changes 10k or less. Every filter always with oem. Not a single leak anywhere. Driveshaft... I shit you not, the driveshaft is on it's original joints. Being factory fitted with zerk oil ports, and being always greased at every few oil changes, the driveshaft has freaking 1 million kilometers on it and is all original. No play, no vibrations. In fact, the whole vehicle drives as smooth as butter.


- Transmission: Rebuilt at 900k. After literally letting it "die on its own first" and keeping it for nearly 100k km's worth of some hard punching between gearchanges, occasional slippage and other bugs it developed at around 800k - but it would still not die, it just got too annoying. And for everything I'm describing keep in mind that the vehicle has always been driven hard, basically it's entire lifetime, be it on the road, hauling, or offroading-which it has done a lot of, extremely capable on the hard stuff (I optioned it with the rear diff lock instead of the LSD).

- Interior and misc: Everything on the inside, except the seats which got swapped out for the cloth version long ago after the leather got cracked (the cloth is actually amazing, and will outlast everything) is in EXCEPTIONAL condition. Nothing is damaged, scratched, let alone broken or non-working. No rattles, no squeaks, absolutely smooth driving experience. Dash is not cracked (plenty do, but I guess it's due to poor maintenance/cleaning or sun damage). There is not a single button that is faded or disintegrated like some cars would at 100k. Obviously the steering wheel has been redone. Twice. But you get the picture.

- And here is where you are spot on too. The only troubled area for this tank - the rust. No body rust, although there is some - ON THE INTERIOR body panels around the rear wheel arches for some reason, but not underneath. But the frame is suffering at this point. It's time to be pulled and completely redone, and it will be fine. But still, they DO rust.

There's much more to say, but nobody would read, so that's my take-away on the BEST vehicle on the planet. Been in the family for the glorious 17 years now, and it will, I imagine, never leave.

[johnmandragon]

I am not an expert in off roaders but I hired a Land Cruiser Prado in Oman recently and did some proper off roading, well proper for me at was amazingly capable, did things that I couldn't believe. I got stuck once, in deep sand, but that was because I had no idea what I was doing.

Great car.

[bernardkavanagh]

Great and honest review, I'm on my fifth (19 reg) Landcruiser 80, 000 on the clock 12 years of trouble free motoring and 3 of them had 350, 000 never a penny spent outside of regular engine brakes tyres servicing. My livelihood deepens on these indestructible cars. As long as they make them, I'll keep buying them.

[antmast]

I have EXACTLY the same car, bought new in 2003 and now with 460.000km on the clock. A couple of years ago I had to buy a Hybrid CR-V to be able to access the cities in which Euro3 diesel are not allowed here in Italy, but I decided to keep the LC for as long as it lasts... which is probably longer than me! In 18 years of ownership (with regular servicing, though) I had no issues at all, only in the last few months I had to replace the alternator and one air spring. Plans for the future include more tough off road and a long trip to the Pamir Highway, as soon as Covid allows....

[garylow]

Absolutely fantastic review its like a old friend will never let you down it just keeps going!

[athollmcnicoll]

Good to see the old Landcruiser still running and I had a work colleague bought one from new and swore by it, so much so he drove it from Aberdeen to Newcastle every Sunday/Monday morning for work, never maintained it, never even washed it and like oyu said - it just did the job he bought it for Work!!

[leedavis]

Had 2 Toyota Landcruiser Best car ever.

[vwsyncro]

I like your reviews, they're honest and entertaining. I recently borrowed exactly this type of Landcruiser from a friend to haul a big trailer for a job. Same story: it was old, filthy, barely maintained, in short unloved....and after just 10 minutes behind the wheel I was absolutely loving it. It hauled a 2000+ kg trailer like it was nothing. Surprisingly underneath the thick layer of dust every gadget worked, including the air suspension and the diff lock which I'm sure never sees use. Very comfortable on bumpy roads, low noise on the highway. Nippy enough round town, that diesel and automatic just do the job. The handling is as you'd expect, but then again you're sitting high and far away from the peasants so there's never a need to rush and nobody's going to overlook a Landcruiser anyway. It makes exactly zero sense to own one here in the Netherlands unless you need it for work, the road tax alone would make you cry....but I dreaded handing back the keys to get back in my sensible economical middle class wagon. Come to think of it: my own car makes me feel at home. The Landcruiser made me feel like going on an adventure.

[johanburger]

I love your videos. I'm from South Africa and we have lots of Land Rovers and Cruisers. Here the Cruisers thrive, being very suited to the general conditions. When age and neglect settle in, Land Rovers tend to really struggle. Over here it's not supply and demand that determines the used vehicle price, but the reputation for reliability. Of course we also don't have such an issue with rust, which favours the Japanese...

[dankirby]

Lets be honest though. Land Rovers are a money pit plagued by electrical gremlins, suspension issues (air struts, air compressor, height sensors, random error codes linked to ABS and speed sensors) Doesn't matter if you only drive an LR around the city, they are unreliable on and off-road. Ive owned an LR3 and 2 RR Vogues L322. Never again. Owned an LC120, 1 x LC100, 1 x LC200 and went back to buying an LX470 (best car ever, period) They look good but LR's and RR's are junk.

[AJB]

Seen a few of your reviews now, all refreshingly interesting and factual. Nice style, subscribed!

[jaykayhk]

I personally bought one of these a few years ago, petrol version as we don't have the diesel here. Had 160K kms on the clock and owned by a local construction company so wasn't in best of condition. Kept a couple of years and not a single issue. In low range dragged an old mid 90s Bentley with seized brakes which freed them off nicely! Sold on for 3 times what I paid for it! Will watch the Q7 video soon, owned a V8 and Audi's don't do well in a sub tropical climate.

[JD-eqdp]

Another good honest review.
We used these in the Police back in early 2000s, Central Motorway Police Group in the Midlands. Initially the Colorado 4.0 petrol but they were very heavy on fuel. On a busy day you'd use 2 tankfuls Moved onto the 3.0 diesels. Great for towing, even getting 38 ton artics moving.
Absolutely bullet proof. Still going strong with 250, 000 miles on the clock.
👍

[adamkwiatek]

My favorite car reviewer sharing his thoughts on one of my favorite Toyotas. Today is a good day.

[slobw]

It's so easy to fall asleep so well to your monotonous sound, whenever I can't sleep, I turn on your video (audio only actually)

[Filipify]

The Prado is a beauty! Mostly 3.0 Diesels for sale in my region but there are some V6 and even V8. Literally just 2 of each