There’s one advantage that the Toyota Land Cruiser has against its rival, the Nissan Patrol: a diesel engine option. While the Patrol only comes as a gas-guzzling premium SUV, the Land Cruiser can be had with either a petrol or an oil-burning mill.
To be exact, there are two diesel engines available—the V8 on the LC200 and the in-line-four on the Prado. The latter, however, may be a bit lacking in oomph for some people, as it produces significantly lower figures compared with the former. The diesel Prado may be the more affordable variant, but it’s much less potent, producing only 410Nm of torque versus the LC200’s 615Nm.
That’s now in the past, though, as Toyota has just introduced a new 2.8-liter turbodiesel engine for its popular SUV. This new powerplant, thanks to a larger turbocharger, now produces 201hp and 500Nm of torque. It’s still not as brawny as the Patrol, but it comes pretty close. In terms of output, it also puts the Prado on a par with most midsize SUVs on the market.
If that’s not enticing enough for you, this smaller-displacement engine is pretty efficient, too. Toyota says it can achieve 11.2km/L in mixed driving conditions.
This new turbodiesel engine was revealed alongside the new Prado TX ‘L Package Black Edition.’ This is a blacked-out version of the Prado, featuring jet- and piano-black elements for exterior features such as the grille, foglamp bezels, roof rails, side mirrors, tailgate garnish, and aluminum wheels. The interior gets the same treatment, with the cabin clad in black material and trim all around.
The sad part here is that both the new turbodiesel powerplant and the Black Edition Prado were launched in Japan, so we have no idea if Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) will bring these into our market. But what do you think? Should TMP make it happen? Let us know in the comments.
