Hello from Philly and here is my YouTube Channel

[king.cong.1119]

Hi all, it is great to find this forum, a great alternative to iH8te Mud that focusing on LC250.
I am a biomedical engineer who loves cars/trucks and offroading/overlanding.
I have been following lc250 and gx550 for almost a year now and safe to say I will be getting either one of them when the time comes (Lexus TX is another strong contender in my book because it is a great vehicle for daily and hauling family around).

My Current households vehicles:
2020 Toyota Tundra w/43k miles on the odo (2 inch lifted with 37s and all the great stuff that makes it less daily friendly)

2013 Subaru Outback (owned new and has been great except showing some small problems with aging 130k miles currently my trusted daily)
2024 Tesla Model 3 RWD (bough for my daily commute but my wife loves it so much and she is not letting me have it which works out for me since now I have options for a lc250 when/if the outback stops rolling)

My parent drives a 2018 or 2019 Toyota Prado (lc150) and I love that thing, especially the color and the sparetire mounted on the rear door.

Last, I go offroading frequently in my local offroad parks and document my offroading & modification journey on my YouTube Channel.
My YouTube channel's name is 4WD is Life (link: https://www.youtube.com/@4WDisLife)
If you like some offroading contents of tundra and other toyota/ford/jeep/Land Rover etc, feel free to give me a follow and say hi.

Thank you and have a great one!

 

[APIOQM]

Welcome! Love the color of that Prado

 

[LC-120]

I like your fleet. It is very similar to mine. Please consider for the daily commute the Grand Highlander 2.5 Hybrid also. Way cheaper, much better efficiency.

 

[RTkraken808]

I like your fleet. It is very similar to mine. Please consider for the daily commute the Grand Highlander 2.5 Hybrid also. Way cheaper, much better efficiency.

I assume you have one?

Curious, if your having issues with fuel tank? I’ve noticed an issue with DTE and early low fuel tank notices in a large number of GHhybrid owners not being able to fully fill or empty the tank and thus limit tank range…

This and miss on the safety rating pushed me away from that vehicle as a daily driver replacement. Not sure what to consider other than all the boxes being checked by the LC.

 

[KAHammer]

How is the insurance for GH in USA compared to for eg Honda pilot ? The gh and regular highlander shave considerable insurance premiums which negate a large part of the fuel savings . Also the gh 2.5 hybrid has an almost nonexistent awd system so snow performance wouldnt be as good . I’ve seriously considered it

 

[king.cong.1119]

I like your fleet. It is very similar to mine. Please consider for the daily commute the Grand Highlander 2.5 Hybrid also. Way cheaper, much better efficiency.

Thank you! and YES, I was all over GH until recently saw a TX on the road and just could not stop loving the look of the TX, with the base tx350 it is still within my budge, similar to a base LC250, but yes, if I want to save 10k usd, the GH would be just fine.

 

[king.cong.1119]

How is the insurance for GH in USA compared to for eg Honda pilot ? The gh and regular highlander shave considerable insurance premiums which negate a large part of the fuel savings . Also the gh 2.5 hybrid has an almost nonexistent awd system so snow performance wouldnt be as good . I’ve seriously considered it

please clarify the level of "non-existence" , is it crv awd bad? or is it similar with say rav4 and highlander awd systems? I would think it is still kind of useful so you don't get stuck in the snowy driveway easily? I tend to think any kind of awd system is better than 2wd and if it gets too bad I'd just drive the truck.

 

[KAHammer]

please clarify the level of "non-existence" , is it crv awd bad? or is it similar with say rav4 and highlander awd systems? I would think it is still kind of useful so you don't get stuck in the snowy driveway easily? I tend to think any kind of awd system is better than 2wd and if it gets too bad I'd just drive the truck.

hi the regular hybrids just has an on demand system with lower power from battery. similar to some Toyota hybrids. IE it just kick in to rear wheels if slip detected.
nothing like the subaru systems, torque vectoring honda/acura systems, advanced Toyota systems in GH hybrid max, or full time 4wd coming to LC250 etc

 

[LC-120]

Thank you! and YES, I was all over GH until recently saw a TX on the road and just could not stop loving the look of the TX, with the base tx350 it is still within my budge, similar to a base LC250, but yes, if I want to save 10k usd, the GH would be just fine.

I think GH is the only car available with TWO different Hybrid powertrains. 2.5 and 2,4T. Regarding the 2.5 the difference will be way more than 10k. And I see no problem on snow. People are amazed about the claimed 27mpg efficiency of the Land Cruiser 250. GH offers much more space and can do 35 mpg on the highway ! wow !

All together size, efficiency, confort, load capacity (people and cargo), PRICE..... GH 2.5 Hybrid AWD is an amazing on-road car..

I own a Landcruiser Prado 120, an Outback, an EV and a French coupe (detective Colombo style... updated).

 

[FarooqMCSE]

Hi King Cong, welcome, how did you get a Prado 2018? Do you live in Japan? or is it sold in other non US countries?

 

[king.cong.1119]

Hi King Cong, welcome, how did you get a Prado 2018? Do you live in Japan? or is it sold in other non US countries?

Thank you, and my parents live in China, they have all kinds of prados over there, similar with JDM offerings.

 

[Dragoon]

Nice group of vehicles! Welcome to the forum!

 

[FarooqMCSE]

Hi King Cong, thanks for sharing info about Prado. Prado is a Spanish word meaning meadow or lawn on low ground. There is a popular museum in Madrid, Spain. We have a Prado Park and lake on 16700 Euclid Ave, a Prado Golf Course at 6555 Pine Ave, and another 25 places called Prado in Southern California, in San Bernardino county. Was wondering how Japanese adopted this name? My USPS mailman's name is Prado. Can we park a Prado on prado?

 

[king.cong.1119]

Been MIA for the past of couple of days, I got a great offer for my Tundra from a local toyota dealer, sold it for a newer CPO tacoma with 27k miles on it.