Toyota Land Cruiser Prado 2021 review: Kakadu

The exterior of the Prado really explains its purpose. It’s a muscled up hunk of machinery that you can take practically anywhere. Kind of like the car version of Channing Tatum, but a little less good looking. It positively screams strength, and sports a rather dated square-ish shape that actually suits the functionality of this car. 

The exterior of the Prado really explains its purpose.

As this is the top spec, the interiors look much more luxe than you’d expect for a large 4WD. There are leather accented seats that are power adjustable, heated, and ventilated up front, and a premium, wood-look steering wheel that I can attest is comfortable even when driving for hours.

As this is the top spec, the interiors look much more luxe than you’d expect for a large 4WD.

There’s a modern, well designed centre console area and everything is within hands reach. 

There’s a step to get up into the car which is super useful. The front seats are power adjustable, heated and cooling and the middle row is also heated. There’s a full size spare tyre on the outside of the boot which means the boot opens sideways - no big deal if you’re on a road trip, but if you’re in Westfield you’ll have to drive nose first into parks. 

There’s a full size spare tyre on the outside of the boot.

The storage was particularly helpful with two cupholders in the front, a small slot to hold your phone, plus a large cooled centre storage bin that we found extremely useful as we were travelling for a while and snacks for the kids could be kept cold on the road. Plus there are bottle holders in each door. 

There are two cupholders each in the second and third rows, and my kids used the pockets on the backs of the front seat to store iPads and puzzle books. 

The pockets on the backs of the front seat are useful storage for kids.

One thing that is lacking is the number of USB ports. There’s one in the front … and that’s it, but there is a 12-volt point in the front and the middle which you can plug an adaptor in. There’s also a standard power outlet in the boot, but that's not ideal when you're on the move with your family and all their stuff.

There’s also tri-zone climate control in this car and the children liked being in charge of their own air. 

Space in the front is good, there’s enough leg and head room to sit for hours on end even for tall people, it feels very spacious inside the cabin.

My children, aged 7 and 9, also had loads of room in the back, they fit in here quite comfortably with a large backpack each that housed their entertainment for the road and a pillow across the middle armrest for sleeping. 

There is a third row in this Prado, though we didn’t need it over these two weeks it is a great thing to have if you’ve got more children, obviously, but also as spare back seats during school or sporting activities, being able to drive around other kids is a good thing - sometimes. 

The back row is spacious as far as third rows go, and you can move the middle row forward to give the back more leg room if you need it.

The back row is spacious as far as third rows go.

With the third row in use there is 104 litres of cargo space which is enough for some grocery bags or school bags. With the third row down (553L boot capacity), which is how I used it, we managed to fit in two weeks worth of gear, including a number of suitcases, an esky, beach bags, inflatables and more. 

You’ll also get a double pram in here easily. 

Driving on the open road is a lot different to driving around suburbia, but the Prado Kakadu handled both quite well. It’s got a 2.8-litre turbo diesel engine - which has been upgraded with a bit more oomph for 2021 (now 150kW/500Nm) - and it has good power, so you can get up hills easily. It has enough kick to overtake when you need to on highways. 

I found it travelled best in Sport S+ mode. It was a lot smoother in this mode when going high speeds on long roads, and without it it felt a little less sure of itself. So if you’re doing things like going to work or on the school run stick to eco mode, but if you’re on a long journey, indulge in Sport S+. I think it uses more fuel, but it’s worth it.

The Prado Kakadu has a 2.8-litre turbo diesel engine.

It’s a 4WD so it has better traction on loose surfaces and there’s more info on this in an Adventure review on the CarsGuide website.

I do think it handles like a big car - it’s not very agile and the steering is not super precise. It feels heavy on the take off also. You can feel the bulk of the car as soon as you get behind the wheel.  

The Prado Kakadu handles like a big car - it’s not very agile and the steering is not super precise.

You get used to this the more you drive it but you always feel it when parking. Leave enough room and you’ll get in the park fine, but it has a very low res reverse parking camera that blacks out some areas for some strange reason, and it has a 360-degree surround view but it’s all quite blurry. If you were going to request improvements for next year, this would be near the top of the list. 

The Toyota LandCruiser Prado Kakadu 2021 model costs $87,030 before on road costs and extras. Fuel consumption is a claimed 7.9L/100km and we did an average of 10.6L/100km with both highway and suburban driving. 

The Prado has a five-year/unlimited km warranty.

The Prado has a five-year/unlimited km warranty (extendable to seven years for powertrain if serviced on time), and servicing is required every six months/10,000km - more regular than most SUVs.