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Platform-sharing big hitters, but the Toyota Prado and Lexus GX550 feature very different diesel and petrol hearts. We pitch them against each other to see which is king.
The Toyota Prado 250 Series and Lexus GX550 were two of the most significant new car releases last year.
They ooze Aussieness and have proved much in-demand, with waiting lists to match. Both are large SUVs with unquestionable off-road ability, 3500kg towing might, boxy good looks and hefty price tags.
A comparison between these 4×4 cousins was inevitable. They both hail from the Toyota Corporation megacompany and are based on the same ladder frame chassis, but with very different drivetrains and cabins.
It boils down to how flashy you like your serious off-road giant. They can be viewed as the posh (GX550) or pragmatic (Prado) choice.
If you’re a buyer tossing up between the two, there’s much to consider, starting with your finances. The Prado starts from $72,500, but if you’re cross-shopping a Lexus GX550 (starting from $116,000), you’re likelier picking pricier Prados, namely the range-topping Kakadu ($99,990).
There’s still a hefty $16,000 difference between the entry-level GX550 Luxury and the peak Prado, but as we’re at over $100k drive-away, what’s a few extra grand between mates?
While it would have been ideal to compare the Luxury and Kakadu, we’d chosen the excellent Overtrail, rather than the Sports Luxury ($128,200) as the best GX in our upcoming Car of the Year test. So Prado Kakadu vs GX Overtrail it is.
After all, the core difference between the two is what powers them. A four-cylinder turbo-diesel for the Toyota, and hulking twin-turbo V6 petrol in the Lexus.
This wasn’t going to be an off-road comparison – our full reviews of each model covered those aspects, and both Prado and GX550 have proved incredibly impressive and capable in the dirt. Our test was to compare each car from a value, equipment, interior and drive perspective.
Both SUVs look impressively rugged – there are no losers in the style stakes here, although you’ll pick the Toyota for outright retro loveliness.
That said, there’s something beguiling about a typically luxe-packed and chrome heavy Lexus seen on all-terrain tyres and black body trim. It says “I’m richæ, but also “I want to go exploring”.
The Lexus GX is a tiny bit longer (5015mm versus 4990mm), but width, height and wheelbase are identical. Both are built on the TNGA-F ladder-frame chassis shared with big brother LandCruiser 300 Series.
Prado has a 2.8L four-cylinder turbo-diesel mild hybrid outputting 150kW/500Nm mated to an eight-speed auto. A full-time 4WD system with low range, centre locking differential and rear Torsen limited slip differential complete the package.
It’s all very different with the Lexus GX550. Its 3.4-litre V6 twin-turbo petrol (with no hybridisation) has 260kW and chunky 650Nm, is mated to a ten-speed auto gearbox and is also a full-time 4WD with low range and locking centre diff.
The Overtrail is the only GX550 with a rear locking differential. For one on the Prado, you must buy an Altitude. Both get Downhill Assist Control and Crawl Control with five speed settings, but be aware the GX550 Luxury and Sports Luxury (on-road orientated) grades lack these.
Adaptive variable suspension is shared by both, although our GX550 Overtrail adds the Toyota/Lexus Electronic-Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System (E-KDSS) — you only find this on Prado Altitude.
Weights and payloads are similar. A Prado ranges from 2495kg-2595kg, and the GX550 2515kg-2575kg. Payload isn’t great in either: 580kg-615kg the Toyota, and 595kg-625kg the Lexus. Both our trims tow 3500kg, although the range-topping GX550 Sports Luxury is limited to 3130kg.
As the Kakadu’s the flagship Prado, and the GX550 Overtrail is a Lexus, inclusions are mighty.
Interestingly, the Prado has a few goodies missing on our mid-grade GX550. Namely a panoramic sunroof (the Lexus has just a small opening sunroof), HDMI port, seven USB-C ports (the Lexus has one fewer), heated and cooled rear seats and a heated steering wheel. Go Toyota.
Both cars score LED headlights and taillights, power tailgate, separate opening tailgate glass, 12.3-inch digital driver display, wireless and wired Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, sat nav, DAB+ digital radio, connected services, tri-zone climate control, memory seats with plentiful power adjustment, and a refrigerated centre console cool box.
The seats and their leather-accented upholstery look and feel very similar between Toyota and Lexus. Certainly there’s no ‘wow’ on the seating front once hopping out of the rather fancy Prado Kakadu and into the Lex’. For real sumptuousness, you must shop higher up the Lexus tree.
Where the GX550 moves ahead is with an imposing 14.0-inch central touchscreen, which is posher than Toyota’s 12.3-inch effort.
The Lexus also adds more class with choice of Tsuyasumi or Oak front centre console trim; the Prado’s feels more plasticky, or utilitarian. Audio’s impressive in both: JBL for Toyota, Pioneer for Lexus.
The GX550 has black as the only standard colour, then adds $1750 for white or $4200 for other colours. Premium paint on the Prado costs only $675 more.
Beyond absolutely everything else, the drive experience will have you chucking your extra $20k at the Lexus dealership.
The new Prado is a massive improvement over the old 150 Series, but its carryover 2.8L turbo-diesel engine is pragmatic to the extreme. Sure, it’s quite economical and a (fairly) trusted old soul, but you’re not pinning the throttle and experiencing driving joy.
Prado is refined for a ladder-frame chassis large SUV, but still jitters along on urban roads with its solid axle rear suspension.
Electronic steering has impressive feel and response for this type of 4×4, the eight-speed auto’s a smoothie, and the adaptive dampers do an excellent job when roads get rougher.
At highway cruising speed, the diesel engine is damn quiet and purrs along at low revs, while control through corners isn’t half bad, with body roll there but not vomit-inducing. It feels like a tough, dependable, capable rig.
But the Lexus is a car you want to drive. Lots. Fire it up and there’s the immediate muscle so lacking in a workmanlike diesel four-pot. It’s a lusty, eager V6; put the shoe in and it makes a decent rorty note, and there’s torque for days. It just pulls and pulls, hauling this Lexus giant along at a superb rate.
The GX550 absolutely munches the Prado performance-wise. Our testing saw it crack 100km/h in just over six seconds, which is hot hatch territory.
The Prado, meanwhile, feels every inch of its 2.5 tonnes as the four-cylinder diesel labours to 100km/h in around ten seconds, and makes a racket doing so.
The Lexus has lovely bonnet bulges at each outer edge, adding to the muscular view through your windscreen, but also helping you place the front wheels.
I really tried, but could barely tell the difference in cabin insulation between the two cars, or how slickly the gearboxes shuffled cogs, despite our Lexus’ ten-speed auto. Basically, both performed well.
But the Lexus was the corner champ. Our Overtrail’s e-KDSS system electronically adjusts the anti-roll bars to limit the rocking.
This doesn’t suddenly turn it into an M-Performance BMW X5 in the handling stakes, but it does bring great faith in how this big unit sticks in a corner; handy with how rapidly the GX 550 gathers speed.
Biggest shock was how little of a limiting factor the Overtrail’s all-terrain rubber was. Not only isn’t there any obvious increase in tyre roar, but corner grip doesn’t fall off a cliff either.
They squeal a bit when pushed, but so did the Prado’s highway rubber. I’ll caveat that by stating we didn’t do any wet weather testing, which would be a sterner test for the Lexus’ all-terrains.
Although on-road manners made most of our test, a brief dirt road trial was included. Both cars’ traction and stability control mopped up slides with aplomb, but the Lexus’ chunkier boots ensured it found a bit more grip than the Toyota.
It’s a proper experience driving the Lexus. There’s an old-school, large displacement torque-rich joy here. But the GX550 chugs down unleaded, reminding such fun and muscle isn’t for free. Dropping $200 filling up to see just over 500km range showing is a punch in the guts.
But this Lexus is the sort of car that helps you justify the hits. Pleasure and pain is an intoxicating blend, but if you’re only going to drive a GX550 in town, make peace with around 17L/100km and regular fuel stops.
Both Prado and GX550 can be bought as a five or seven seater depending on grade; it just so happened ours differed as the Kakadu’s a three-row-only and the GX550 Overtrail’s the only to come with just two rows.
Being so closely related, up front the dimensions and visibility are damn near identical, with upright windscreens and deep side windows – it’s a lofty and clear view out of each.
You know you’re in the flagship Prado, but here’s where there’s a real difference to the user experience. The Toyota retains a rugged, solid and workmanlike edge, albeit decorated with a lovely finish, nice materials and oodles of fancy features.
But hop straight into the Lexus and – no surprise here – you experience more prestige. They smell different.
The Prado’s scent could be mistaken for a Corolla with your eyes closed, but the GX550 has the whiff of wealth inside. How do they do it? I’d have thought it was the leatherette trim, but they feel close to identical, aside from the Lexus’ Ultrasuede seat highlights to go with the faux leather.
The Prado’s climate control and centre console buttons are easy to use and smartly positioned, sticking to Toyota’s user-friendly remit.
The GX550 with its bigger screen and reliance on more things controlled digitally (such as fan speed) means it presents better as there are fewer buttons. But honestly, the Toyota is easier to operate.
In some areas, Lexus ups the specialness. Of course there’s the fancier badge on the steering wheel, but little things like an animated temperature dial, angled centre console panel with wood-like trim, and curves for the central armrest. Small attention to detail can mean plenty.
The Prado Kakadu wins in the second row seating. It’s lighter under the panoramic roof, while the Lexus’ glass above stops at the front row. Plus it feels weird a Toyota having heated and ventilated rear seats when the posher sister car Lexus goes without.
Both cars lose versatility points by not having sliding second row seating, recline’s not fantastic, nor is centre seat comfort.
But the Lexus wins massively in the boot, and not just because the Toyota has a third row of seats (which are ample sized, if hardly huge).
The Prado must keep its 48v mild hybrid battery under the boot floor (the Lexus has none of this paraphernalia), and — as the full-size spare wheel’s under the car — the floor is very high.
The Prado has numerous awkward gaps for kit to fall into, and then the third row seats can’t fold flat into the floor, leaving more compromises. Adding a cheap-feeling plastic box to a level of the folded seats is poor compensation. A five-seat Prado is far better, but even then, the boot floor is annoyingly high.
No such worries in the Lex‘. There’s a cavernous space of 1063L with a lovely low boot floor, expanding to 2000L with the second row seats rolled forward. And even in the seven-seat version, the chairs fold completely flat into the floor, giving you a much lower floor than the Prado.
A five-seat Prado is 954L and 1895L respectively, while our seven-chair Kakadu’s 906L and 1829L (a three-row Lexus is 949L and 1875L). And numbers aren’t everything. If you’re loading these cars, you really want the sensible boot dimensions of the Lexus.
While the Prado scored a maximum five star ANCAP rating, the Lexus GX has yet to be tested.
With the same core structure and similar driver assist kit, one might assume the GX550 would nail a five star result too. This big Lexus isn’t sold in Europe so NCAP there hasn’t tested it, nor has America’s IIHS ratings body.
Sharing similar tech, both SUVs feature impressive 360-degree parking cameras, blind spot monitor and adaptive cruise control calibration. Lane trace assist – which tries to keep you in the centre of the road – seemed better behaved on the Toyota, but the Lexus still proved tolerable.
On our brief unsealed road test I slammed brakes on and both cars’ ABS systems pulled them up in decent space. Not 911 GT3 RS style, but considering the mass and bulk of these SUVs, both feel stable and safe. But boy do those noses dive.
Both vehicles are loaded with active and passive safety gear, with these the key highlights:
Toyota Prado Kakadu safety inclusions:
Lexus GX550 Overtrail safety inclusions:
Neither is cheap, but the big Lexus is a proper wallet stinger.
The V6 drinks at a rate of 12.3L/100km combined, and in town I was seeing 17L/100km. If you consider it only drinks premium unleaded, and its 80L fuel tank is small for a large SUV, fuel stops are regular and pricey.
If you’re towing something heavy or spending all your time in the urban snarl, consider buying shares in a fuel company.
The Prado feels veritably frugal by comparison. The V-Active mild hybrid doesn’t bring great fuel saving gains (unlike Toyota’s petrol parallel hybrid offerings), but 7.6L/100km combined is fair, and our extended test out of town saw 8L/100km.
The Toyota’s 110L fuel tank is way down on the previous generation’s 150L, but with a full tank you’ll still see well over 1000km range.
In the real world, you may travel twice the distance without a fuel stop as you will in the V6 GX550. There’s an additional 17.4L AdBlue tank too (for emissions reasons) in the Toyota, which you’ll need to refill every 8500km or so, depending on use.
Both cars bring chunky service costs as they’re demanded every six months or 10,000km. This seems reasonable if you’re doing a lot of heavy towing or off-roading, but dealer visits every half year is excessive if you’re town based.
The Prado is $3900 for ten services or five years, and the GX550 over $2k more at $5950 for the same.
But buying a GX gains entry to Lexus’ fancy Encore program. This means three-years roadside assist (it’s $99 per year with Toyota) and a free service loan car.
Warranty for both cars is five-years/unlimited kilometres.
I’m convinced the choice between a Prado and a GX550 will be pretty easy for most in the market. If you’re off adventuring regularly, towing long distances or off-roading, the high-spec Prado Kakadu is absolutely the best choice here.
The Toyota’s features, capabilities and impressive enough luxury will satisfy fussy buyers, and the frugal engine means there’ll be mighty mileage between fuel stops, even with that 110L fuel tank.
But the Lexus GX550 is a special car. You want to own a Toyota Prado, but you’d love to own a GX550, especially in rugged Overtrail guise – our pick from the range.
There’s something fabulous about a sumptuous Lexus having the off-road chops of a go-anywhere Prado – Bear Grylls dressed like George Clooney at a gala dinner.
The GX550 feels decadent and altogether naughty. You know a diesel or a hybrid petrol in it would make economical and environmental sense, but then so would ordering a kale smoothie rather than a Corpse Reviver cocktail. And life feels too short for that sometimes.
The Lexus is a car you want to drive and be seen in. But good grief, those petrol and servicing bills mean it’s the reserve of those with decent cashflow.
In truth, both cars impress with their striking style, features and abilities. The Prado’s dog’s dinner of a boot could drive you to the Lexus, then that V6 performance will keep you there. But make sure your wallet’s fat.
| Good points | Needs work |
| Appealing retro looks | Purchase price and servicing costs |
| Decent on-road refinement | Awkward boot design space |
| Trusted and frugal diesel engine | GVM and payload concerns for towers |
| Roughly double the Lexus’ range | Engine’s a bit gutless |
| Luxury cabin inclusions | Needs AdBlue |
| Adaptive suspension and rear LSD | Needs a petrol hybrid version |
| Good points | Needs work |
| Imposing, rugged good looks | V6 is incredibly thirsty |
| Characterful and muscled turbo V6 | 80L fuel tank is far too small |
| Adaptive damping and e-KDSS | $5950 for five years servicing |
| Serious off-road chops | Middle seats don’t slide |
| Massive 14-inch touchscreen | Needs a diesel/hybrid option |
| Large and sensible 1063L boot space | Mighty waiting list |
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