USED Toyota LandCruiser Prado (J120) - What goes wrong?

In the market for a used Toyota LandCruiser Prado (J120)? What goes wrong with them? How do they drive, what are they like to live with and should you buy a secondhand Prado? We do a deep dive to find out.

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Skip ahead:
00:00​​​​​​​ - Intro
00:19 - What is it?
03:25 - Exterior issues
06:53 - Interior issues
08:53 - Practicality and features
15:32 - Safety
16:24 - What's it like to drive?
18:36 - Mechanical issues?
23:55 - Should you buy it?

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#toyota #prado #4x4 #4x4offroad #offroad
#carreview #automobile #carexpert #carenthusiast

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[tj]

I love the shade thrown on smokers, it part of what makes these videos so great. Don’t change what works

[sambeazley]

Drove my v6 across the Simpson desert earlier this year. It felt like the perfect vehicle for the trip. The huge tank meant I had better fuel range than any of the modern diesels in the convoy. It was comfy and sure footed on the long outback dirt roads and didn’t have a single mechanical problem over the 5000km of dirt roads.

Honestly can’t think of a better 4x4 for the money, at least for me.

[marcop]

As an experienced 120 owner, I must say your research is spot on. Nice work.

[DarrenVincent-in]

I still see so many 120s on the road as I travel around Australia. I think that reflects how good they have been for cars now around 20 years old.

[yourfather]

These are everywhere here in Kenya with very many still on the road. Been waiting for this video for a while!

[peterbrett]

I've had my 2006 KZJ120 3L Deisel GXL 5 speed manual since new and this has been a great vehicle. I taught my 3 daughters to drive in her to the stage the girls always say, if you ever sell it, they are interested. Extensive touring once a year during holidays and just clicked over 230, 000km. Oil and filter every 5000km, diffs, gearbox and transfer every year before holidays. I have it setup for touring, i.e. draws, lithium battery with a roof top tent and it's on a 50mm lift with all terrain tyres. When this was new and close to stock other than AT types, bull bar and snorkel, I could get around the 10.5L/100km and 12.5L/100km towing the 5.1m aluminum boat on the highway, as it actually towed better than the vehicle it replaced which was an 80 series GLX. As it is setup now, we drove 7500km last Christmas holidays, including Fraser Island, and we averaged 15.5L/100km. Still very respectable for a constant 4wd with all the gear, and 150L tanks get you a long way between refills. Looking at replacing her with the new 2024 Prado if it every arrives but will be keep the 120 series for a couple of years to keep the new Prado new for longer. The biggest disappointment was the dash cracking when it was 7 years old. I could have had Toyota replace it under there warranty, which was parts only, but decided to replace it myself for about $700, as it was not difficult. The key point you made was a well serviced vehicle.

[carsella]

I had my piston crack in my 120 with a 1kd. It had 290, 000km. I’m not even mad because I was absolutely pushing it up a long hill while towing a caravan on a 40 degree day… and I had a tune on it. (all the conditions for cracking a piston).

The rest of the car is so bulletproof I chose to pay $10k to rebuild the motor with stronger pistons over getting a different car.

[cybermatstrikes]

My 2007 4.0L 120 used to get 11.8L/100km stock with 180 litres on board with E10. I'm about 15-16L now lifted and on 33" tyres and full bar work. No oil leaks from front to back with servicing with 350, 000km. Great car if looked after.

[agentleman]

This is BY FAR my favourite car review channel. And this here is the car I am looking at buying. Great to finally have this video! Thanks mate. (South Africa)

[Marvin.Darvin]

We bought a V6 2006 VX that had 130, 000 KM on it and we couldn't be happier with it!
We had a Captiva before that (we learned from our mistakes don't worry) and this car has given us 0 troubles.
We went on a road trip across two countries, a good 3, 000 KM for the entire trip, and we could have never asked for any better.
It does lack the driving experience of more premium alternatives and can look a bit dull at times, but the cost of maintenance and repairs as well as the availability of aftermarket accessories definitely makes up for that.
Cannot recommend it enough, however do make sure to have a pre-purchase inspection as there are abused examples out there (especially ones that actually do what they were designed for which is going off road).

[ozman]

Love this channel. Always seemed straight up, no BS and interesting. I can now baseline your reviews as the first new car I bought was a 2008 gxl (option pack 1) diesel. Fantastic 4x4. Not the best at anything but pretty good at everything. It did the CSR, Gibb River et al and had a generally tough life in the Pilbara. While I never had any issues with mine over 184k ownership (always over serviced) so much of what was in the review was spot on. I'll add that the tailgate handle can get dusted and fail to open (not great in the bush and with a cargo barrier) and also remind people that on a slope or with a wind (unless locked in place - and that can be hard due to dust build up) that thing will close so hard it'll buckle a little human in a very serious way. I have since had a 150 series and then a new Sahara. Apart from the overtaking ease of the 'real' Land Cruiser I still miss the 120 in many ways - the 180ltr tank for example. 10/10 for you guys on the honest reviews. Well done!

[olerudjord]

Your level of research, humor, structure of the information and just sheer entertainment is bar none - absolutely no other channel ticks all these boxes! ❤ And you guys even made me buy me a Honda CRV 2nd gen for helping with house renovating - what a golden nugget of a car!

So keep it up, and don’t change too much!

Cheers from Norway 🇳🇴

[aussie]

My late stepfather had this GXL in a 3 litre diesel and he LOVED it. Towing his caravan around Australia a number of times as well as using it for work as a builder. It ended up with about 300k on the clock when he passed away. I spent about 4 days detailing it to sell it and it looked amazing, the mechanic looked over it and replaced the belt, he said it was one of the best he’d ever seen. Stepfather never had any problems with it, I noticed it idled a bit rough but it improved after about 15 minutes. My brother also has one and he said the rough idle is normal.

[dstazz]

V6 2007 GX owner of 8yrs with 255, 000km on it, fastidiously maintained by us and it's been great to own. No rattles or creaks, NVH is excellent, still feels relatively "tight" for a 17yr old car.
Appreciate your review, Adam. You've nailed some of the issues we've experienced:
- Fuel consumption is about right at 15L/100, but the engine is just so smooth and powerful and we're both enthusiastic drivers. I'll take the few extra litres/100 for the practicality, power and relatively carefree motoring the car gives us.
- The charcoal grey paint is particularly poor (we've seen other examples around Newcastle with similar issues). The clear coat has gone on our bonnet, front third of the roof and along the windowsills. Quoted $10-15K to respray. No thanks.
- No dash cracking up until about 6mths ago; 2 x 3-4cm splits next to the smaller vents above the AC outlets next to the windows.
- We've had to replace the lower control arms at 210K kms, but I suspect this may be age-related.
- Steering feels a little "loose" and I'm aware of steering racks going at around the 180-250K range.
- The starter motor completely died recently out of nowhere.

Across 8yrs of ownership I'm still very happy with it despite the above issues which I would generally expect for a car of this age. It is very much a "turn the key and go" car.

[CallumCalzar]

CMI Toyota in Adelaide has a customer that’s done over 1, 000, 000 km in theirs. Properly unbeatable.

[TheDawg]

Great review video with plenty sharing their 120 Prado experiences in the comments.

I am aiming for 600, 000km+ and I will keep mine in the family.

2008 1KD Grande w/ 315, 000km
- Currently at Toyota having the peeling paint resprayed under warranty
- 10.5L/100km around town, 8.5-9.0L/100km highway (lift, bigger wheels, roof rack, steel bar, underbody armour)
- Handles well, feels safe and provides great driver visibility

[armandoaragon]

Owned a 5L J120. Had 240, 000km and it felt like it was barely broken in 😂 no rattles no noises just a cracked dashboard and lots of fun

[Baggmanau]

My 2007 1KD diesel has towed a 2 tonne caravan tens of thousands of km in all kinds of weather (in 4th, not 5th). A trans oil cooler is fitted. Injectors have been done every 140, 000km and now at 307, 000 the original gearbox and engine are still flawless. No oil needs to be added between services. If you do the oil every 10k, the injectors every 150k and keep the transmission cool, the life should be long and happy. I replaced the radiator at 14 years old because the plastic top and bottom tanks get old and brittle - no point waiting for them to fail - same goes for the tiny (cheap) MAPP filter as mentioned in the video.

[willoughby]

I had my 2004 120- with the 1KZ motor up until 250k km when I sold it. Not a single problem with it, and it went all over OZ and across the Simpson Desert with no problems. It was actually very easy in the Prado with its huge fuel tank. Only problems I had were the rust in the door seal as you mentioned, and the paint was just starting to fade a little on the flares. I convinced it would go on to do massive km no problem, if looked after. I can highly recommend a 120 Prado.

[james]

4WD's are a complete different beast compared to 'regular' cars they are much more complex from tip to tail. It's hard for non-4WD's owners to understand how much more they cost to maintain and repair. Any 'regular' car owner who buys their first 4WD no matter which brand, will be shocked no matter how reliable the brand.