One Look Inside And You Will Know Why
The 2010 Prado has been redesigned to project a more belligerent masculine look. Its new found dynamism is anchored on its flowing but more aggressive design, highlighted by a protruding forward and rear fenders with three dimensional grille and angular headlights. This "Intelligent and Modern" outline as Toyota designers calls it, projects the rugged contemporary feel and wider stance of an SUV from the outside but provides spacious and luxurious accommodations inside. Leather interiors with wood grain trappings blends well with Prado's modern fashionable new look giving it a more expensive feel. The New Prado's improved interiors, instrumentation and modern gadgetry deliver added passenger ease and convenience. Driver and front passenger are provided an extraordinary amount of moving space. There is ample legroom on the middle seats even with the front seats pulled back to its fullest. The innovative flush-with-floor device on its third row seats is mechanically activated with just a touch of a button. This allows the rear bench to be folded down flat on the floor, rather than against the sides, resulting to more storage space. In terms of equipment, the new Prado gives stiff competition to other SUV's in the market.
Italeri Land Rover with Azimut ADV SWB conversion set. Last week I got the newish Azimut hard cab and short wheel base conversion set for the Land Rover. It was designed for the Tamiya "Pink Panther" kit, which was a Series 2 long wheel base version used by the British Special Air Service in the 1960s for desert operations. Tamiya's kit is still pretty common, but there are so many bits of little use for civilian vehicles that I decided to use one of the reissued and retooled Italeri Series 3 British Army long wheel base kits. Azimut's kit contains the cab roof and rear wall, doors, windscreen, civilian rear cross-member, short wheel base rear wings and a shortened rear chassis section. You also get a sheet of acetate for the windows. The instructions are clear, but use the Italeri drawings for some reason, but the conversion details are very clear and I think it would be difficult for a competent modeller to ruin it. Cutting the cargo bed and chassis down didn't present any problems for me, although, as usual, I superglued myself to the chassis! I also used the Italeri civilian cross-member as the resin one was a bit rough in my kit. I also used the Italeri doors and windscreen as they didn't need replacing, Unlike my military Series 3 Land Rovers I opted to stick with Italeri's tyres. They aren't perfect but they will further differentiate it from the green and black ones. Rovers I've seen sport them. Once complete the model really looks the part and is certainly a pleasant change from the military ones on my workbench. At the moment it is built up into painting sub-assemblies, waiting for decent weather to give it a blast or two. I will just have to keep my eyes open.
Although you will find previous iterations of Toyota's venerable Land Cruiser in every corner of the world, the most recent generation was not made available to Canadians. At least not in the two varities by which it is served to Americans. 76,490.) The new LX570 may well have an even higher Canadian price, what with its extra heaping of V8 capacity and consequent horsepower and torque. In truth, the Lexus LX is a very luxxed up version of an already very luxurious vehicle. Although the Land Cruiser built its reputation - and maintains its reputation - on off-road credentials and its ability to traverse the African safari, it is no longer the light and maneuverable 'Cruiser' it once was. 56,860 for the privilege of owning this piece of gargantuan sub-Lexus metal. And the latest Land Cruiser will be even more expensive. 7,025 for an all-around more capable, more powerful, and more indulgent Land Cruiser. Its engine gains a litre in capacity and now produces 381 horsepower. Added off-road ability comes in the form of 'crawl control', which will enable you to simply steer as the vehicle maintains the proper low speed to crawl over boulders. 10 airbags, 14 speakers, 401 lb-ft of torque, for those who enjoy numbers.
The baby Land Rover鈥檚 version makes 240 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and 250 lb-ft of torque at 3,200 rpm. For those keeping track, that鈥檚 an increase of 10 ponies and 16 lb-ft, respectively, over the outgoing six-cylinder. Fuel economy increases to 17/24 mpg, which is a big bump over the old six but still shy of the more svelte Evoque's 20/28 mpg. The engine is coupled to a six-speed automatic transmission with normal and sport modes plus a manual-style gate. Befitting the Land Rover badge, it is all coupled to a full-time four-wheel drive system with a Haldex rear differential that automatically splits power between the rear wheels. Heavily biased to the front wheels under normal conditions, power nearly instantly transfers rearward when needed. The LR2鈥檚 Terrain Response system remains one of the core features of the entire Land Rover brand, even though this little 'ute does without a two-speed transfer case. Now operated by a button controller on the center console, Terrain Response varies engine, transmission, traction and dynamic stability controls as well as changing settings for general driving, grass/gravel/snow, mud and sandy terrains.
A while ago, I looked into the carbon footprint of manufacturing a car, and found the GREET model (short for "Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation"), a lifecycle analysis developed by a team at Argonne National Lab. For a "vanilla" car weighing 3330 lbs (think a Honda Accord sedan), they arrive at 8.5 tonnes CO2 for the Vehicle-cycle Energy. That's 8500 kg or about 18,800 lbs of carbon dioxide (or CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas). Driving this vanilla car for 160,000 miles at an efficiency of 24.8mpg (both typical numbers for cars in the US) emits 68.4 tonnes CO2 from burning the gasoline. That's a "well-to-wheel" number, and includes the energy required to pump the oil out of the ground, refine it, and transport it to your local gas station. So in its lifetime this vanilla car causes 76.9 tonnes of CO2 emissions, of which 8.5 tonnes, or 11%, accounts for its manufacture.
