Is Toyota about to make a massive mistake with the 2022 LandCruiser Prado? Reports long-awaited new model won't actually be all that new | Opinion

Just as we're all starting to grow accustomed to the mountain of change that the LandCruiser 300 Series ushered in, it's already time to turn our attention to its smaller sibling, the Prado.

And the news there, at least according to reports out of Japan, isn't quite so exciting.

While the LC300 stole headlines with its new engines, new power outputs, new platform, new off-road kit and new cabin technology (not to mention the new prices...), the earliest reports about the new LandCruiser Prado aren't quite so exciting.

In fact, reports out of Japan have us a little worried about the incoming Toyota LandCruiser Prado, with news the long-awaited replacement for one of our most popular off-road SUV will miss out on all the best stuff from the new LC300.

That's the word from Japanese media, where reports are now surfacing that, while the new model is expected to get an early mark with a 2022 launch date, plenty of what arrives on the new model won't actually be all that new.

According to the web sleuths at Japan's Creative311, the new Prado is expected to surface next year, but while the new LC300 debuts a ladder-frame version of Toyota's lauded TNGA platform, its smaller sibling will need to persevere with its current decade-old architecture.

If true, that would be insane. We understood the LC300's platform to be scaleable - because surely a version of it will eventually underpins vehicles like thew Fortuner, too - so to not adopt it for the Prado would seem a mistake.

We know the benefits of the new architecture, with its use in the LC300 both reducing weight and adding stiffness - both things you'd think Prado customers would be happy with.

And the news doesn't stop there, with seperate Japanese reports pointing to the new Prado also adopting a newer version of the same 2.8-litre turbo-diesel - billed as a "clean diesel" as its predecessor, at least initially.

While the LC300 has been offered with a bevy of powerful new engine choices - and with more still to come - they seemingly won't be offered, at least initially, in the Prado. Instead, a twin-turbo version of a 2.8-litre diesel will be fitted.

Sure, it will undoubtedly make more power - and use less fuel - but we would need to see some real innovation to get properly excited about a new model that has any carryover parts from its 12-year-old predecessor.

Now, it must be pointed out here that Toyota is yet to officially unveil any information about the new Prado, and the Japanese rumour mill is spitting out all sorts of information, including that that the thumping 3.3-litre diesel from the LC300 will be detuned and fitted to the Prado in the future.

And unlike with the 300 Series, confirmable information has been harder to come by so far with the Prado. So unfortunately for now we'll have to watch this space.

But if the reports prove accurate, Toyota will likely have some explaining to do.