fido666

I just had my 2002 Prado VX serviced, it has only done a little over 80,000kms. It was serviced at the Toyota dealer we bought it from and they charged us $1430 :o . Of that there was $381 just for replacing the break pads. As if that's not bad enough they say the thermostat needs replacing but they don't have the part, bring it back next week. Had it done and got charged another $239 . That's $1670 all up! I understand that 80,000K is a major service but does that seem like a ripoff? It must be their way of recovering the cost of providing a "free" car wash service I guess. I suppose I should be grateful, they very generously didn't charge me for the labour to replace the wiper blades (but they did charge for the blades), probably saved a $100 there ;) . We've had the car serviced there since we bought it in late 2003, it's not like they haven't made plenty of money out of us over the years. Sorry had to vent

Thanks for the welcome Kenshin X :) Have already found the Prado group but haven't managed to track down a manual for the radio yet (mine went MIA, I suspect while the car was being serviced).

I have personally owned the following Toyotas:- 1985 Corolla Seca hatch (new), ended up selling it to my nephew who had it till about a year ago (legendary reliability). 1990 Celica Coupe (used), the pop-up headlight model (gee I loved that car). Only sold it due to age & impracticality. 1997 Landcruiser GXL (new), sold it when I moved to my current location as we didn't need 2 cars anymore. 1998 Celica SX Coupe (new), liked it but it wasn't as good as the '90 model (too much cheap plastic & hard seats). 2002 Prado VX (used), only 10 months old when we bought it & still has <90K on the clock. Lovely to drive compared to the Landy, not so truck like. In between had a Ford Maverick whose engine cooked after a service, lazy mechanic didn't replace 2 hoses and they cracked. Would love to buy a newer Prado but don't have the funds sadly. Cheers, Fido666

Hi folks, My Prado's radio manual has gone MIA and my efforts to replace it via the dealer have failed. It's the 6 disc CD changer in-dash model, I believe they are made by Fujitsu Ten but not sure. If anyone can help me track one down I'd be grateful, even if it's just a scanned copy. Cheers, Fido666

Hi there, I'm from Melbourne, Australia and own a 2002 Toyota Prado VX currently, we bought it 2nd-hand when it was only 10 months old. It has only a bit over 80,000K and still going strong so I'm happy. It's not the 1st Toyota we've owned and won't be the last, have always been happy with the reliability. Others I have owned are 1985 Corolla Seca (bought new), 1990 Celica Coupe (bought 2nd-hand), 1997 Landcruiser GL (bought new), 1998 Celica Coupe (bought new). The 1990 Celica was my favourite car of them all but alas just got too old and impractical so had to go. The 1985 Corolla got sold to my nephew and he drove it till just a year ago, so the ever-reliable Corolla lived up to it's heritage :D Cheers, Fido666