TOYOTA has given the venerable, four-year old 150 Series LandCruiser Prado a mid-life facelift, with a new nose design, extra equipment and a moderate price hike.

At the same time, the Japanese company has trimmed back the existing range of variants to eleven, having ditched the slow-selling three-door version.

Music to the ears of the so-called ‘grey nomads’ who buy the Prado in droves to tow their caravans, Toyota has also fitted a trailer sway control system to all models, while the equally prolific school-run crowd will appreciate the improved third-row access brought about by changing the folding angle of the middle bench.

However, the key mechanicals – separate chassis, live axle, familiar 202kW/380Nm petrol and 127kW/410Nm diesel engines and transmissions – are unchanged, and the 2500kg towing capacity still lags behind some newer rivals, both the utilitarian (Colorado 7 and Isuzu’s new MU-X) and the car-like (Ford’s Territory and the Jeep Grand Cherokee).

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