Toyota Prado 2003 Problems

Cracking of the dash is a relatively common one in the Prado, and Toyota has in the past come to the party with at least some of the cost of repairs. It seems now that they are refusing to deal on the basis that cars like yours are too old to care about. Yours is 11 years old, and has done 200,000 km, so you can’t expect Toyota to pay all the cost of repairs, but I would press them for part compensation.

It’s damned annoying, and looks terrible, but if the cracks are cosmetic only and don’t affect the function of the airbags or anything else in the dash area there’s not much you can do about it. The car is well out of warranty and Toyota would say, I’m sure, that it is simply wear and tear.

Fitting a free-flow exhaust system will generally improve your fuel economy and 10 percent is possible.

Start by checking the basics that control the fuel and spark, such as the coil, plugs and plug leads on the spark side, and the fuel pump on the fuel side.

There’s not much you can do, it has to be fixed and that requires a replacement computer. A secondhand computer might well do the trick, but it is, after all, secondhand and there’s no guarantee with it. I would be tempted to go for the new part, which would come with a warranty and give you some peace of mind.

In this case I would be tempted to go for the older car with the fewer kilometres, as long as you were sure the odometer reading is correct.

Yes, I do think that's a reasonable outcome and I would recommend you take the offer and have your car repaired.