GENUINELY new Toyota drivetrains are few and far between. Tweaking known-good designs to keep them relevant rather than regularly reinventing the wheel has served the Japanese company and its customers well by maintaining a reputation for dependability and providing a fuss-free ownership experience.

So a ground-up, clean-sheet turbo-diesel for the sales sledgehammer LandCruiser Prado is big news and paired with a new six-speed automatic transmission, it will keep this trusty go-anywhere family wagon going for years to come – if Toyota’s lengthy model life-cycles are anything to go by.

Competition for the 150 Series Prado just got hotter with the arrival of Ford’s impressive Everest, so we spent a week with a the top-spec Kakadu – which also gains rear cross-traffic alert safety tech in this update – to see how well the new engine fares.

Click here for the full review...