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Vehicle Tests > 4WD Comparison - Battle Cruisers
4WD Comparison - Battle Cruisers
The claimed output for the Prado's V6 is 179kW of power with 376Nm of torque while the 200's V8 claims 202kW/410Nm.
What is interesting is that the V8 makes its maximum torque 400rpm lower than the V6 (3400rpm vs 3800) yet its maximum power is achieved 2000rpm higher, at 5400rpm, suggesting that it is more flexible, which it is.
What is more telling however is the fact that the Prado is over 500kg lighter than the 200. And, pedal to the metal that extra weight more than cancels out the V8's power advantage with the Prado smarter off the line and stronger in most general driving conditions up to and even beyond freeway speeds.
As speed builds and aerodynamic drag rather than weight increasingly becomes the factor to overcome, the V8's extra power starts to tell. The 200 has slightly more frontal area than the Prado but it has a better drag coefficient, so the overall air resistance is similar.
This advantage is however not one you'd experience at legal speeds in Australia now that the NT has been 'slowed down'. What the V8 does deliver at normal touring speeds is a level of refinement, effortlessness and sensual delight that the V6 can't match. The V6 is still refined, smooth and quiet in general driving but ask more of it and it looks for lower gears more often and it doesn't sound or feel as good as the V8 when asked to rev.
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Despite this the Prado still uses less fuel. Put that down to the extra weight of the 200. ADR fuel figures are 13.8 litres/100km for the V6 and 14.5 for the V8 while our testing saw the V6 use 15.2 and the V8 getting thirsty at 18.6. Rubbing salt into this wound is the fact that the Prado has a 180-litre fuel tank while the 200 has 138 litres. That gives the Prado a 1150 to 1250km touring range and the 200 a 700 to 900km range.
Both gearboxes offer the same inherent shift quality, as you would expect, but the 200 has a parallel gate 'tip-shift' arrangement for 'manual' control where the Prado has a dogleg gate that takes a little longer to learn but still works well.
On-Road Dynamics
Both 200 and Prado are built on a separate chassis and have all-coil suspension, the front via double wishbones and the rear via a five-link live axle. At the Grande spec level, the Prado's suspension has driver-selectable height adjustment and variable damping, not that variable damping seems to produce any great change in handling or ride characteristics over its range of adjustment. On the other hand the 200, like all 200s bar the GXL diesel, has KDSS, a fully automatic hydro-mechanical system that effectively stiffens the anti-roll bars for on-road use but 'loosens' them for off-road use.
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What is interesting is that the V8 makes its maximum torque 400rpm lower than the V6 (3400rpm vs 3800) yet its maximum power is achieved 2000rpm higher, at 5400rpm, suggesting that it is more flexible, which it is.
What is more telling however is the fact that the Prado is over 500kg lighter than the 200. And, pedal to the metal that extra weight more than cancels out the V8's power advantage with the Prado smarter off the line and stronger in most general driving conditions up to and even beyond freeway speeds.
As speed builds and aerodynamic drag rather than weight increasingly becomes the factor to overcome, the V8's extra power starts to tell. The 200 has slightly more frontal area than the Prado but it has a better drag coefficient, so the overall air resistance is similar.
This advantage is however not one you'd experience at legal speeds in Australia now that the NT has been 'slowed down'. What the V8 does deliver at normal touring speeds is a level of refinement, effortlessness and sensual delight that the V6 can't match. The V6 is still refined, smooth and quiet in general driving but ask more of it and it looks for lower gears more often and it doesn't sound or feel as good as the V8 when asked to rev.
read on below advertisement
Despite this the Prado still uses less fuel. Put that down to the extra weight of the 200. ADR fuel figures are 13.8 litres/100km for the V6 and 14.5 for the V8 while our testing saw the V6 use 15.2 and the V8 getting thirsty at 18.6. Rubbing salt into this wound is the fact that the Prado has a 180-litre fuel tank while the 200 has 138 litres. That gives the Prado a 1150 to 1250km touring range and the 200 a 700 to 900km range.
Both gearboxes offer the same inherent shift quality, as you would expect, but the 200 has a parallel gate 'tip-shift' arrangement for 'manual' control where the Prado has a dogleg gate that takes a little longer to learn but still works well.
On-Road Dynamics
Both 200 and Prado are built on a separate chassis and have all-coil suspension, the front via double wishbones and the rear via a five-link live axle. At the Grande spec level, the Prado's suspension has driver-selectable height adjustment and variable damping, not that variable damping seems to produce any great change in handling or ride characteristics over its range of adjustment. On the other hand the 200, like all 200s bar the GXL diesel, has KDSS, a fully automatic hydro-mechanical system that effectively stiffens the anti-roll bars for on-road use but 'loosens' them for off-road use.
next page »
