Toyota Prado

Toyota Australia insists it has solved the diesel particulate filter dramas that saw thousands of HiLux utes blow thick clouds of white smoke in traffic – but it has urged more customers to come forward if their vehicles are still experiencing symptoms. Toyota diesel particulate filter (DPF) faults affect approximately 250,000 examples of the HiLux ute and Prado and Fortuner four-wheel drives equipped with a 2.8-litre turbo diesel engine manufactured from 2015 to 2018.

A class action lawsuit against Australia's best-selling car has been filed in the Federal Court, over issues with the diesel particulate filter in 2015-18 Toyota HiLux, Prado and Fortuner models fitted with a 2.8-litre turbo-diesel engine. Originally announced in December, the lawsuit could involve more than 250,000 vehicles. The case against Toyota Australia alleges the diesel particulate filter fitted to the 2.8-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder HiLux, Prado and Fortuner is defective.

The Toyota LandCruiser Prado - Australia's biggest-selling large SUV - has been given a swathe of price cuts yet picked up way more safety equipment and some offroad-focused tweaks to boot.

It's hardly a secret at this point that SUVs are the driving force behind the Australian new vehicle market - even though the top two vehicles are actually utes. In 2017, these (often nominally) higher-riding options have in fact eclipsed sales of regular passenger vehicles - by which we mean sedans, hatches, wagons, people-movers and sports cars.