Toyota Prado Problems

I doubt that you have a turbo problem, but you need to have a mechanic check to be sure. A mechanic would be able to find the cause of your problem and fix it.

Even though Toyota’s warranty has expired you have some rights under the consumer affairs laws if you can show that the radio is unfit for purpose. Contact your state consumer affairs department and ask them for their advice on what action you might take.

On such a new car there should be nothing major to be concerned about, and you’re on a good thing with the Prado, which makes it even less likely that it would have an issue. Simply make sure that it has been serviced according to Toyota’s recommendations, and that it hasn’t been crashed.

Those are quite high kilometres for this model Prado, but all things considered, the price seems pretty reasonable. It will all depend on the overall condition of the vehicle, how it’s been used and how it’s been serviced. Make sure it hasn’t been battered to death underneath through off-road use and make sure the service handbook is up to date and not full of gaps where services have been skipped.

While the vast majority of Prado sales were automatics, there’s a core of die-hard manual enthusiasts out there, so there will always be a demand for the vehicle you’re looking at. The other thing that affects resale value is the accessories attached to the vehicle. But beware a Prado bearing a winch, mud tyres, lifted suspension and side-rails; it’s probably spent a lot of time off road.

It would seem the engine has lost some of its performance. Have the engine, in particular the fuel system checked. It could be that the fuel-injectors are worn.

The short answer when it comes to differences between the two is "not much". The Prado (or 150-Series in Toyota-speak) has now been on sale in much the same form for more than a decade now. As such, it’s been refreshed and facelift no less than three times, making the ones you’re talking about the Series 4 version.

The thing is, the last major refresh was carried out in late 2017, and since the car continued to dominate its market segment, Toyotas hasn’t really seen the need since to carry out any further refinements or make other changes to the specification of the GXL version.

So, again, the short answer is that there’s very little to choose a 2019 model over a 2018 car. Both were quite wisely updated in the 2017 re-hash, with the GXL gaining pre-collision warning and autonomous braking, active cruise-control, lane-departure warning, LED lighting and a rear differential lock on automatic versions.

The best way to pick which is which is to look at the build-plate in the engine bay as that will give you the definitive answer. Don’t necessarily take the seller’s word for the car’s year of build as the date of first registration is not the same as the build date. Since the trade uses the actual build date when it come to valuing a car, you should too. In fact, that’s the other difference between a 2018 and a 2019 Prado; the price.

This does seem to be a bit of a problem with Prados of this vintage, Steven. Sometimes the screen goes blank, other times the touch-screen won’t respond to input. Or, as in your case, the radio just doesn’t want to wake up when the ignition is turned on.

There are specialists out there who deal with these specific problems and seem to get really good results. Clearly, since the problem is a known one, some people have taken the time to conjure up a fix. There’s sure to be a specialist repairer near you in Queensland.

A car with a little extra ground clearance is great for camping as it often allows you to get a little farther away from the masses in their caravans who tend to huddle around the shower block at bush campsites.

The Subaru Outback is a good, solid choice and if you can find an independent workshop to service it, you’ll avoid the cost of dealership prices. And you’re right, the all-wheel-drive would be great for gravel roads. Another vehicle to look at would be a late-model Ford territory diesel which is big and clever inside and has the option of all-wheel-drive. The diesel engine is a plus on the bush where that fuel is more readily available (in really remote areas) and gives you more range for big holidays in the mulga.

Don’t rule out things like the Mitsubishi Pajero, either, which won’t be as around-town friendly, but is a proven quantity and is absolutely tremendous off-road. The same goes for a Toyota Prado or Nissan Pathfinder prior to the current model (which is a bit less hard-core adventure).

Carefully read your insurance policy to see if it specifically covers mechanical failures. They rarely do. Normally you have to take action against the person who supplied with the crook fuel, or the fuel company involved.

I’m inclined to think your tyre store might be right, Anthony, and heavy vehicles like the Prado, especially if they’ve been used of-road can, in fact, damage their own rims to the point where the wheels aren’t perfectly round any longer. It would have been pretty obvious to the people fitting the tyres when the new tyres were balanced; the out-of-round rims would have made balancing them almost impossible. Don’t be fooled by the fact that the wobble happens at speed, because that’s simply a function of the harmonics in the wonky wheels building up to the point where you can feel it.

However, to answer your second question, yes, there are some other things to check before rushing out and buying new rims. Is the vehicle lifted on its suspension? If so, there’s a very good chance the wheel alignment settings (particularly the castor angle) can be thrown out. This needs to be corrected to maintain the vehicle’s stability at speed, and a wheel-wobble can sometimes show up as a symptom.

How are the suspension linkages and bushes generally? Worn bushes can easily cause a vehicle to wobble at speed, as can bent bits and pieces from off-road use. Another thing that can throw a wobble into the equation is an out-of-balance tail-shaft or worn CV joints and universal joints in the driveline (of which there is plenty in an all-wheel-drive Prado).

But if it is your wheel rims at fault, there’s probably not much else you can do but replace them. Sometimes a steel rim can be re-rolled or trued, but alloy wheels (which is probably what you have) are often throwaways once they’re bent out of shape.