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You don’t have to be a Japanese citizen picked up from a Japanese university and employed by Toyota for 20 years to know that they have made a small mistake here. C’mon, the Honda CR-V is outselling everything else in its league in India, and Toyota – the inventor of the invertebrate breed of SUVs – decide to bring on a big behemoth that costs more than double? Am I being too nosy here or is that a decision of the PPDOTAHFDC (Product Planning Division of Toyota and Honda For Developing Countries)? Is it that Toyota don’t want to play spoilsport at the CR-V’s party so that the famed H gives the Corolla a bit of a lead time before launching the Civic? I am sorry, I do smell more than a proverbial rat here – tell me why couldn’t Toyota bring in the RAV4, which would have been a big hit straight away?
But who cares, the big Prado walked away with the Business Standard Motoring Import Car Of The Year 2005 award and the jury included me. So there. I hold nothing against the Prado – actually, it was one of the most no-nonsense automobiles we got to drive last year.
Look at it. Compared to the big momma UN-issue Land Cruiser, which incidentally looks permanently pregnant, the Prado is hep and attractive. Yes, its narrower track is meant to tackle Wall Street rather than wadi-bashing, but this helps in the looks department. I particularly liked the characterful frontal treatment – this machine screams SUV and the effect is oh-so-complete with a Jeep-like seven-slat grille. Pardon the exuberance of auto designers who are taking ‘peeled-up’ headlamps to hitherto unknown levels of unattractiveness though. In profile, the Prado is actually pretty, thanks to sculpted wheel arches – the last time plastic looked good was when PET bottles were first introduced – and the greenhouse that gets a kinked D-pillar. The rear three-quarters would have looked alright too – alas, they went and sourced the taillamps from a toy car maker in China. Or Taiwan. The Indian-spec cars get chromed out rear-view mirrors which do not go well with the rest of the machine. The 17-inch six-spoke alloys only just about fill up the arches, but they look damn good. Overall, the Prado is intimidating enough without being Hummer-esque and funky without looking like a soft-roader.
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