VX-L returns as flagship Toyota Land Cruiser Prado trim grade

Toyota has made the first adjustment to the Land Cruiser Prado line-up by introducing a new flagship variant in place of the discontinued First Edition.

VX-R vs VX-L

Quietly loaded onto the brand’s website, the revived VX-L takes up station above the VX-R as the mentioned replacement for the First Edition, whose allocation of 300 units sold out before sales officially started last year.

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Compared to the VX-R, the VX-L swaps the black cladding on the bumpers and around the wheel arches for colour coded items, the 18-inch alloy wheels for 20-inches, and the black mirror caps for colour coded ones.

Finally, the black door mouldings depart in favour of colour items as well.

Added spec

Glancing at the specification sheet, the VX-L takes leave of the centre locking differential while keeping the rear, though it does get illuminated side-steps not offered on the VX-R.

Also standard, and therefore bespoke to it, is a 14-speaker sound system, paddle shifters for the eight-speed automatic gearbox and three additional driving modes: Comfort, Sport S+ and Custom.

Items retained from the VX-R are the pair of 12.3-inch displays, the wireless smartphone charger, dual-zone climate control, split tailgate, heated steering wheel, Adaptive LED headlights, leather upholstery, heated and electric front seats, push-button start and keyless entry, digital rearview mirror plus the heated second row.

On the safety and driver assistance side, the VX-L is unchanged from the VX-R and, as such, comes with the following as standard:

• tyre pressure monitor;
• front and rear parking sensors;
• reverse camera;
• Head-Up Display;
• Adaptive Cruise Control;
• Rear Cross Traffic Alert;
• Lane Trace Assist;
• Downhill Assist Control;
• Hill Start Assist;
• Lane Keep Assist;
• Trailer Sway Control;
• Safe Exit Alert

Unchanged

Up front, the 2.8 GD-6 turbodiesel produces an as-is 150kW/500Nm, transferred to all four wheels through the mentioned automatic ‘box.

Aside from the low range transfer ‘box, the VX-L retains further use of the Multi-Terrain Select system, the Crawl Control function and the transparent chassis-view camera.

Comparatively, the VX-L offers 10 mm more ground clearance than the VX-R for a total of 215 mm, which has also resulted in the approach angle changing from 31° to 32°.

Overall height also increases by 10 mm to 1 935 mm, though the claimed tow rating is unchanged at 3 500 kg.

Colours and price

Finally, Toyota has reduced the colour choices for the VX-L from five to three, the options in question being Attitude Black, Platinum White Pearl and Avant-Garde Bronze Metallic.

As with the VX.R and range-starting TX, the VX-L’s price tag includes a three-year/100 000 km warranty as well as a nine-service/90 000 km service plan.

• Land Cruiser Prado 2.8 GD-6 TX – R1 342 200
• Land Cruiser Prado 2.8 GD-6 VX-R – R1 500 200
• Land Cruiser Prado 2.8 GD-6 VX-L – R1 513 300

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