Catalog? What's the best thing about the Prado? What is worth praising about the mid-term revision? What to complain about? What's the best way to get the most out of the Prado? Domestic vs Import? What's the best way to drive a new car? Talk about "2.7 vs 3.5 vs 4.0"
I've owned two Prados. The last one was a Middle East 2700 licensed in 2013 and sold in June 2020 after almost 6.5 years and 72,000 kilometers. The last one was a 2013 Prado, driven for almost 6.5 years and 72,000 km, sold in June 2020. The current one is a domestic 18 model TXL with 3.5 displacement, ordered in May 2020, picked up in August, and drove almost 10,000 km in 3 months. 2013 experience of buying 2700: I was looking for a Prado at that time, but I was shy and had a budget for buying a Middle East version of the 2700 only. Leather is the rear package, the seats do not have heating, headlights are manual, no sunroof, keyless entry and keyless start are missing, the key actually can not be folded, like a dagger. 2.7 engine and the RAV4 with 2.4 engine maximum power is 120KW, acceleration ability is a long cut. But soon I experienced the advantages of purebred off-road vehicles: over the pothole road can not have to slow down, the car is very Q-bomb, no longer hear the shock absorption compression in the end of the kind of iron "bang bang" sound; hang up the low four attack steep slopes can be directly on, do not have to reduce the gradient to go around the corner; suspension travel is particularly long, it is very difficult to meet the tires off the ground, and even without electronic limited slip, it is also possible to cross the road, and the car can be used as a vehicle. Even if there is no electronic limited slip is also very relaxed; non-load-bearing body with excellent sound insulation on the road noise filtering exceptionally clean. Overall, although there are some power and configuration regrets, but I am quite satisfied with this 2700, he can take me to any place I want to go, this conscientious old man in 7 years has not had any problems.The 2700 old white, had accompanied me across the mountains and the sea
The 2700 old white, had accompanied me across the mountains and the sea
I originally did not intend to change the car, until one day in May to brush the circle of friends, to see the Prado is about to be out of print in the country's news, only to give birth to go to change a good power, configuration of the new Prado idea, immediately went to a nearby 4S store, 20 minutes to understand the differences between the configuration of models, and the new Prado, the new Prado, the new Prado, and the new Prado. After a few minutes to understand the differences between the various configurations and models, I swiped my card and paid a deposit. At that time is 3.5L automatic VX rear hanging spare tire version, set the car the following month on the 2700 sold, and then a long waiting process, waiting for more than two months, the mood has experienced from full of expectations to doubt to disheartened, once felt hopeless, in early July when also went to order a superb alternative, but because of the heart, the superb has not been lifting the car household. Finally, on August 6 received a long-awaited phone call, said the car to, but I want the model did not match to, only medium TXL rear mounted spare tire version, asked me if I want to, the discount range to my continuation. Thanks to Anritsu Toyota to help me fulfill my dream, even if it is not the ideal VX model, I am satisfied. Since it is a national V model, you can only choose to settle in Chengdu by registering in a different place and then transferring to another place. The first registration I chose Xichang, the process is exceptionally difficult: first of all, halfway to Chengdu received a phone call because of torrential rain flooded the engine room, resulting in Xichang DMV network interruptions, I drove to the Hanyuan and had to turn back, followed by the Torch Festival Xichang released a week of vacation, driving across the region of the license plate on the expiration date and can not be reapplied for, and turn around to apply for a Shanghai license plate to go again, and then encountered mudslides broke Yaxi! Highway, traffic control unilateral release ...... a wave of three twists and turns, good thing more than wear, in the end finally succeeded on the license, looking back on the whole experience of buying a car, it is really not easy.The new Dabai will continue to accompany
The new Dabai will continue to accompany
Power: The most obvious change is that the power has a qualitative leap. Can no longer hear the once 2700 in the plateau L gear climbing that kind of hissing hissing sound. Configuration: in the RAV4 on the long absence of the many comfort configurations are back, but also more seat ventilation, the summer driving cool, that is a cool. The new Dabai equipped with active traction control system (A-TRC), active traction control system intervention is very timely when slipping, the chassis under the "arch arch" sound. Talking about the new transmission: the automatic gear has been replaced by a manual gear, and if you drive only in the city, you rarely use gears other than D, but in the mountains it's a different story. Relying on more than 4,000 kilometers of Tibetan trips, gradually the manual 6AT gearbox feel through. Mountain driving is best switched to S gear, in two cases it is necessary to use: 1. long downhill engine braking. Many drivers who lack mountain driving experience are D gear to the end, downhill all the way on the brakes, not to mention the cost of brakes, but also due to high temperatures lead to weakened braking performance or even failure, resulting in a major accident. 2. speed up to overtake. D mode, you need to step on the gas pedal to downshift, driving up more abrupt, S gear manual downshift can be avoided. How to quickly get back to S6 from S1 or S2?Share a tip: In S mode, push the gear knob up and hold it for a second and it's OK, and you don't have to push it several times.Picked up a super-feeling gear knob head to replace the original
Picked up a super-feeling gear knob head to replace the original
Original Tire Pressure Monitoring System, Intelligent Start/Stop Engine, and Dark Interior. These three features aren't standard across the board, but at least there's an option.? The original tire pressure monitoring system: a matter of driving safety, off-road vehicles often go unpaved roads, this road condition has three characteristics: one is easy to puncture the tire, the second is the bumps are very strong, the third is the driving noise, only based on the driver's perception is very difficult to detect the leakage of air in a timely manner.
Intelligent engine start-stop: Toyota's intelligent start-stop can be controlled according to the depth of your brakes. When you are waiting for a lever to lift, or on a stop-and-go road, you can apply the brakes shallowly so that the engine doesn't stop. 10,000 kilometers shows that it has saved 22.3 liters of gasoline, which is still worthwhile.
Dark interior: The mid- to late-model LC150 offers a choice of dark interiors, and dark interiors have become a sales staple. Off-road use is much worse than in a sedan, so go for a dark interior that's as stain-resistant as possible.
Rich vehicle information: wiper water tips, after starting/after refueling/after reset three fuel consumption information display, customization options, I will be the original default setting of the car press the air conditioning AUTO button after the power A/C will be linked to open this setting to change, so that the air conditioning power does not have to start and stop frequently.
Human-machine interaction system is too old-fashioned: the dashboard, car machine and other human-machine interaction equipment is too old-fashioned, and I feel that it is a generation behind.
Transmission D gear sliding is not as far as the previous 2700 sliding, it feels that the old 4AT transmission is not a hard connection in the throttle sliding, as if it is in neutral, very slippery, and the new 6AT transmission in the throttle sliding is in the state of hard connection, but also can clearly feel the stutter of the gear switching. KDSS failed to become the standard equipment Prado is an off-road vehicle, higher ground clearance leads to a high center of gravity, unpaved roads on the requirements of driving comfort leads to a softer suspension, tire flat ratio is high. These characteristics lead to poor road driving performance, cornering roll is very obvious. In order to solve the shortcomings of excessive cornering roll, Toyota developed this KDSS system. It is worth mentioning that KDSS is a comfort configuration, not a safety configuration, KDSS can reduce lateral sway, but can not improve the cornering limit, some people think that the model with KDSS is not easy to roll over, this cognition is wrong, with KDSS model center of gravity is not reduced, the roll moment does not change, the tire grip has not been changed, and inhibit the tire skidding system is not associated with KDSS. Related. Unfortunately, the main sales models of the Prado are not equipped with KDSS. The main domestic models TX, TXL, TXL-N, which together account for more than 90% of sales, do not come with KDSS, nor do the Middle East models. Domestic with KDSS are the VX and VX-NAVI versions. In fact, the most desirable configuration in the domestic models should be the VX, but the production is very small, and the VX-NAVI rear suspension has been changed to air suspension, which is not as durable and reliable as the normal suspension. Brake Assist and Adaptive Cruise Control failed to become standard across the range: it is only available on the top-of-the-range Middle East version, which is priced at $800,000 and offers no value for money. I predicted that this system would become a mainstream feature in passenger cars within the next decade, but it's a shame that this generation couldn't catch up after all.
Part 1? Safety equipment:? Reverse vision (TXL-N, VX and VX-N models ignored)? Necessity: ★★★★★ must buy the original camera, there are three benefits: the image will not be spent (a common problem after a long time of the sub-factory camera, there is a potential risk of spontaneous combustion), support for the direction of the track display, the camera is hidden within the spare tire cover, which is conducive to keeping clean.
Rearview mirror rain brow? Necessity: ★☆☆☆☆ can only prevent the upper part of the raindrops, and even if the mirrors are clean, the line of sight is still easy to be obscured by the water droplets on the windows.
Part 2? Entertainment equipped:?Carplay?Necessity: ★★★★☆? The most practical modification, modification highlights: the line from the center console interior to the handbrake next to the original USB socket below, although the module supports wireless, but I choose wired connection, the benefits of two: one is connected at the same time can be charged, and the second is the need for me to pick up the time, the two cell phone pick up who is better managed. Slots: the original car screen is 800 x 480 resolution is a little low, affecting the display effect. Relying on analog signals and the host for data transmission, the image is not true color, solid color background is okay, encountered the kind of rich layers of gradient image looks like a color spot. Also because of the analog signal, the sound can be heard when the sound is turned up and no music is played in the background noise.
Sound system upgrade? Speaker upgrade? Necessity: ★★★★☆ The non-destructive replacement upgrade program, two front doors: JBL's TY-SP11, 6.5 "bass/midrange speakers, two rear doors: TY-SP21, 6.5" coaxial speakers, the driver's desk in front of both sides: TY-SP32, 0.75" tweeters. Speakers, A-pillar tweeter model forgotten. After upgrading, the treble is much clearer, the bass is more powerful, the sound is more penetrating, and it is easier to distinguish between dozens of different instruments when listening to symphony music.
Host upgrade (VX-N and TXL-N models ignored)? Necessity: ★★★☆☆☆☆ Idle fish plucked a brand new original JBL navigation host dismantling parts. It is a fact that the original main unit is difficult to use the human-machine interaction, but the sound quality of music and radio is good, and it can set and display information about the vehicle, and the quality is quite stable, these advantages are incomparable to the sub-factory main unit, and with the carplay module, it can make the best use of its strengths and avoid the shortcomings. Since I upgraded the main unit + speakers at the same time, I can't tell how much the JBL navigation main unit improves the sound quality compared to the regular Panasonic main unit.? Part 3? Exterior and interior protection: With the experience of using the last car, the following protection was done to the exterior and interior: ? Car Jacket? Necessity: ★★★★ ☆ to go to the car friends must into the paste of the car coat, the boss amenable to several kinds of film, I chose to be able to machine cut the cheapest film, paste down less than 10,000 yuan. The effect is very satisfactory, think really do not need to paste the kind of tens of thousands of film. Why choose the machine cut: First, you do not have to remove the handle to remove the door, and secondly, relative to the hand cut cheaper and more time-saving. The disadvantage is that there is a gap of one centimeter wide at the door handle. Regarding the car coat, it is recommended that off-road vehicles or stick it, for three reasons: first, when crossing the easy to be scratched by branches; second, easy to stain asphalt, cement and other stubborn impurities, chemical cleaners are easy to hurt the paint; third, because often run out of the field to wash the car are looking for a roadside car wash, they are very rough techniques. With a car coat you can get whatever you want. Door handle cover:? Necessity: ★★★★★☆☆ Getting in and out of the car will touch, watches and other hard objects are very easy to scratch.
The host screen, host shell and air conditioning panel small screen film:? Necessity: ★★★☆☆☆☆ The description of defects on the host on the idle fish is generally the scratches on the exterior, especially the fingernail scratches around the volume knob. There is also a car wash to wipe the interior when the rag is not clean easy to wipe out scratches.? Armrest box front area covers:? Necessity: ★★★★★☆☆ Scratches are easily wiped out when washing the car, and items such as cell phones can easily fall and injure this area.
Steering wheel cover:? Necessity: ★★★☆☆☆☆? The part of the hand grip will get spots over time, so it's best to protect it and sacrifice some grip comfort.? Trunk rear guard? Necessity: ★☆☆☆☆? Trunk mat? Necessity: ★★★★☆☆ The original plush material is not easy to take care of. Split trunk mats are necessary and do not affect the use of the third row of seats.
Part IV? Other functional modifications:? Main driver's side storage box? Necessity: ★★★★★ It's great to put cell phones, cards, keys and other items. Especially after picking up carplay, there is no need to put your phone on the holder, it fits right underneath. (Picture above)? Center armrest storage box? Necessity: ★★★★★ You can divide the cooler into two layers, the lower layer for drinks and the upper storage box for small objects that are not well organized.
USB socket? Necessity: ★★★★ ☆ 18 Prado center position of the reserved socket is the latest square port, not the old model of the kind of long square port, so there are not many optional USB sockets, bought a little expensive dual-port USB socket with voltage regulator, support QC3.0 fast charging. When the power consumption is large, it does not support dual-port power supply at the same time. Installed together when installing the host, carplay.
European standard conversion plug? Necessity: ★★★★☆? Philips European standard conversion plug, the protruding part is very little, and the workmanship of the big factory parts is superior. The 100 watts AC power supplied with the original car can be put to good use. (There is a picture above.)? Data cable? Be sure to get one of those spiral retractable black data cables. Otherwise a few solid white data cables will make the car look cluttered.? Necessity: ★★★☆☆☆☆? Part 5? Other body components:? Reinforce the tailgate latch? Necessity: ★★★★☆ Because the tailgate is too heavy and opens sideways, if you often run on bad roads, it will rattle after a long time. My last Prado no longer rattles after I used this TRD original reinforcement, so I took this TRD latch over after I changed my car. It is also necessary to install it on the bottom bracket models.
Bottom mount spare tire hinge (bottom mount models ignore)? Necessity: ★★★★★☆☆ buy another pair of wheel tires can be equipped with a double spare tire, long-distance driving must, the original car this kind of highway tires in complex road damage probability is still very large, if you don't want to change the cross-country tires, take a spare tire when you go on a trip. Usually let the book bag empty, only with the bottom hanging spare tire, reduce the weight of the tailgate.? Trunk hanging loop (10 comes with its own loop, 18 is a groove)? Necessity: ★★★★★☆☆ Must have when installing mesh pockets to prevent luggage from sliding out. (Picture above)? Trailer Hook? Necessity: ★★★☆☆☆☆
Next, we talk about some of the topics that we always struggle with
The domestic Prado has just been in the hands of a short time, and the reliability and durability lacks time to be verified, so it's not easy to evaluate. But the domestic Toyota has owned two, 04 models of FAW Toyota Corolla, the quality is too good, until now only in the annual maintenance time to go to the 4S store, and the performance does not decay in the slightest. Parallel imported 2.7 Prado drove 7 years, in addition to a recall to replace the valve springs, and never repaired due to failure. According to Toyota's quality control, it is inferred that the quality of the domestic Prado is not comparable to the imported one. Visited the production of Prado Sichuan FAW Toyota plant, Toyota's supplier system is extremely closed, which largely guarantees the quality. Toyota's Denso, Aisin two major parts group monopolized the supply of major components, due to the production of Sichuan FAW Toyota is not large, a large number of parts are also imported, settled around the assembly plant for the supporting only to see the seat and interior fabrics to do Chengdu Toyota Spun Auto Parts Co.Tsurong Sanlian Haizi, Dege County, Sichuan
Tsurong Sanlian Haizi, Dege County, Sichuan
The biggest groove of the domestic 3.5 is the use of time-sharing four-wheel drive, daily driving is the use of rear-wheel drive, all-wheel drive, time-sharing I have been driving for a long time, my experience is that all-wheel drive is more foolproof, most of the road conditions, you just drive, time-sharing four-wheel drive off-road time you need to manually switch the H4, drive on paved roads and then cut back to H4. The two drive modes, H4F with AWD and H2 with FWD, are virtually indistinguishable from each other in daily paved road driving. There are three types of skidding: skidding when stepping on the gas, skidding when cornering, and skidding when braking. The four-wheel drive system can only solve the slippage when stepping on the gas, while the VSC and ABS systems are used to inhibit the latter two types of slippage. Time-sharing Prado in H2 rear-drive mode driving, such as mud, snow, ice, sandy roads, start acceleration will be more prone to slip than full-time four-wheel-drive models, the correct way to drive is to manually switch to H4, switching can be carried out in driving, on the trouble a little bit, but the advantage is that the daily driving more fuel-efficient.Four Girls Mountains
Four Girls Mountains
Just how weak is the Prado with its four-cylinder 2.7 engine? First the numbers: the 4.0 Prado is next to 9 seconds to break 100, and the 3.5 Prado is a bit quicker, testing at 8.5 seconds. The 2.7 before '16 is a 4-speed transmission, nearly 15 seconds to break the hundred, after '16 the 2.7 is a 6-speed, acceleration improved a little bit, nearly 14 seconds to break the hundred.2.7 model power is always a pity, even if you drive again Buddha.2.7 acceleration, almost weaker than all the small motor vehicles running on the road. If everyone is at full throttle, you definitely can't beat them. I drive more Buddhist, driving style pursuit of smooth and comfortable, but the lack of power means that you can not cleanly overtake, means that you can not leisurely attack slopes, so you will feel tired to drive, and secondly, the chance of accidents is relatively increased. Given that the 2.7 is criticized by many enthusiasts, why did Toyota fit this significantly weaker powertrain to the Prado? To save fuel? No. The 4-cylinder 2.7 is only more fuel efficient than the 6-cylinder at idle, and the rest of the way it consumes the same amount of fuel as the 4.0 and slightly more than the 3.5. To save money? There are quite a few engines for sale on a certain treasure, model 2TR 2.7 engine, model 1GR 4.0 engine, model 7GR 3.5 engine are very common, 2TR is indeed the cheapest, but compared with the most expensive 7GR price difference is only more than $10,000 (brand new), the difference in the price of the dismantled parts is less than a few thousand dollars. It's a bit of a cost saver, and although it saves 10,000 or 20,000 dollars, the MSRP drops by more than 100,000 dollars. Obviously simply to reduce the cost of this reason does not stand. Then why? In order to maximize profits! The price of such goods as cars is very transparent, and you can't just raise the price when you meet an iron fan who loves the family not to be poor. But each consumer of the same model of the value of the identity is not the same, some feel that spend 600,000 to buy value, there are some feel that more than 400,000 will not buy. Each consumer's internal pricing of goods, and the actual selling price of the difference between the Western economics called "consumer surplus", manufacturers will do everything possible to empty your every penny, drain your "consumer surplus". Relying on what, relying on the breakdown of a number of gear cost difference is very small, but the price difference is huge high, medium and low to. This method is used to the extreme chip maker INTEL, the same generation of CPU high-end models and low-end models of production costs are very different, but there are times the difference in selling price, such as Celeron and Pentium, i3, i5 and i7. For the automotive industry, according to market experience, the same model high and low-end models with the same selling price of the same model can be 1 times the difference between the existence of the gap. The Middle East bully 2700, sold 400,000, the Middle East 4000 top, can be sold nearly 800,000, Lexus GX460 this "labeled" 8-cylinder Prado, can be sold to 100,000 yuan. Cool Rouzer is also, the entry of the beggar's edition 4000 to the top of the 5700 price from 70-140 just pulled 1 times. Take Prado for example, there are usually such three types of potential customers: the first type of potential customers A: buy Prado psychological price is 600,000; the second type of potential customers B: buy Prado psychological price is 500,000; the third type of potential customers C: buy Prado psychological price is 400,000. How can the manufacturer maximize profits? If only one configuration is offered: at a production cost of $380,000, how is it priced? Priced at no more than $400k, ABC will buy it, priced in the $400-500k range, AB will buy it, priced in the $500-600k range, only A will buy it. Pricing? Sales? Profit? |Pricing? Pricing? Sales? Pricing: $390,000? 3 units at $30,000? |?500,000?2 units at $240,000?400,000?3 units at $60,000? |?520,000?1 unit 140,000?420,000?2 units 80,000? |?550,000?1 unit 170,000?450,000?2 units 140,000? |?600,000?1 unit 220,000 yields the highest profit when priced at 500,000, with 1 unit sold for a profit of 240,000 dollars. If two segmented configurations are offered: low: production cost of 360,000, high: production cost of 420,000; low priced at 400,000, sold to B and C, sales of 2 units, profit of 80,000; high priced at 600,000, sold to A, sales of 1 unit, profit of 180,000; the total profit of 260,000 yuan. If three segmented configurations are offered: low: production cost $360,000, medium: production cost $380,000, and high: production cost $420,000 low pricing $400,000, sell to C, sell 1 unit, profit $40,000 medium pricing $500,000, sell to B, sell 1 unit, profit $120,000 high pricing $600,000, sell to A, sell 1 unit, profit $180,000? Total profit of 340k. Obviously, the configuration level more rich, manufacturers can get the higher the profit, but too many configurations will increase the difficulty of production management, inventory management, so weighed down a car to distinguish between the grades of the configuration will be in the 4-8 or so. How to set up the configuration is a big question. For manufacturers, the best configuration program, must be able to buy different configurations of the customer to form a number of incompatible faction, each other cursing each other stupid, irreconcilable contradictions, can never form a consistent program, that is, only a configuration is worth buying. Must let customer A willingly pay for the high configuration, let B pay for the middle configuration, let C pay for the low configuration. If you let A buy the middle/low configuration, let B buy the low configuration, or let C feel that the low configuration is too beggarly to switch to another brand, it is a loss for the manufacturer. Specifically how to set? Must meet the following two points: 1. Must have it feel cool, the lack of it is not so much as to produce the idea of abandonment; 2. Not easy to be modified later. At this stage, in line with China's national conditions, and at the same time follow the above principles of different configurations usually have: power, sunroof, keyless entry, one-touch start, light groups, automatic sensor headlights, rain-sensing windshield wipers, power seats, heating/ventilation, electric tailgate, high-level speakers, cruise control, lane-keeping function, and so on. Examples of differentiated features that do not follow the above principles: automatic/manual (contrary to 1), manual gearboxes are almost extinct in the country after 2010. Navigation, reverse vision, body color stripes, SUV side pedals, etc. (contrary to 2), if you rely only on these as a differentiating configuration, many car owners will purchase the next level of configuration before modification. Therefore, providing several powertrains with significantly different power is the usual trick of almost all car companies in differentiating configurations. Therefore, there will be 2.7 vs 4.0, 2.7 vs 3.5 debate on the forum, there is really no standard answer, "there is rice or 6-cylinder engine" is actually a correct nonsense.