Toyota Prado 150
The Toyota Prado as a Touring Vehicle
The Prado is About the Most common Touring 4wd seen in the Australian Outback these days. Its easy to see why. Its Rear cargo area is accessed by a single barn door that holds about 1m x 700mm of touring gear. The Roof is 2.3m long and is pre installed with roof rack bolts to suit Roof rail type roof rack systems (3 pairs of M8 Inset bolts - quite sufficient for fairly heavy loads). The Prado has punchy yet fuel-efficient engines throught the range, A Good Low range gearbox and some varients have dual Fuel tanks giving them a Long cruising range. They have a commanding seating position and are comfortable drive. The Prado is considered reliable and its reasonably capable offroad with minimal modifications making it super popular - resale prices on the Prado are high too - so they tend to be a smart way to go if your budget concious.
Tough Touring Roof Racks for Prado 150
Challenges with the Toyota Prado
The Toyota Prado has a fairly Narrow Roof line - Like all Wagons - The first touring challenge with the Prado is where to carry firewood / water and dirty touring gear.
Rear Swing away Carriers can be handy for carrying water /wood and chainsaws as well as hanging a spare tyre. The crew at tough touring have had a lot of experience trying to find room for that elusive second spare tyre on 4wd wagons, and have found that carrying spare inner-tubes can be an excellent emergency spare tyre solution if the vehicle doesn't have the room. (Just make sure you practice changing a tube so you have the right tools to do it on the track).
If your going to be Running a Hard shell roof top tent - Choose a tent that can double as dry storage on the roof and can carry your bedding and maybee even chairs etc. The Roof of the tent is also important as an energy provider to power fridges, lights and saw - RTT are perfect for permanent fixing of Solar power and Awnings.
Tough Touring manufactures Prado 150 roof top tent rack, - and the Prado 120 Roof top tent rack ) If your going to mount a hard shell RTT - We build the LOWEST / Strongest rack on the market - Our RTT Racks are able to carry over 200Kgs on the Prado. More on them here - PRADO 150 RTT RACK
You can then opt to mount your awning either on the tent or beside it on either rack... Tough Touring makes Awning to Tent Brackets and Solar Panel Mounts for most of the top 5 Hard Shell Tent brands to provide the ideal touring set up for the Prado . Getting as much of the touring gear fitted up top on the tent or rack is the key - Shovel, Garbage bag, Firewood, Max tracks , Tent or Swags, Mattresses, Sleeping bags , Awning, Chainsaw etc ... Using the Roof racks to their Max is the go as space inside the prado is going to fill up quickly.
ROOF TOP TENT FITTING - TOUGH TOURING ROOF RACKS FOR THE PRADO
Awning issues on the Prado:
Most roof racks run right back to the barn door hinge, which means that the Rain gets in!
The Tough Touring roof rack for Prado 120 and The Prado 150 roof rack sits 80mm further forward than any other rack on the market so that pole less wing awnings cover the gap and stop the rain getting in.
Standard Roof Racks are too High / too narrow and usually too heavy:
The Tough Touring Racks are just 32Kgs. They lower the tent to sit sut 10-20mm off the Prado's roof skin - Helping to lower the centre of gravity and thus reducing body roll. The Lower stance looks better and helps reduce wind noise and allows a better height for reaching awnings etc as well.
More on the Tough Touring Prado 150 roof rack here
Prado 120 Rack listed here
As a Mid Sized 4wd Wagon, the Prodo 120 and 150 are a challenge to find much internal storage space for batteries in the rear - So the Go is to Maximise Power INPUT via DC DC charging combined with Large Solar panels for renewable power.
We built 4 Portable Power Box variations of 12Volt Dual Battery Kits that will charge at Around 65AMPS PER HOUR while driving in sunlight to suit the prado. We made these boxes portable - so when you get home you can take them out and go back to 'town' mode and get the camping gear out of the car.
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Poleless Wing awnings Wing Awnings to suit the Toyota Prado 120 and 150
The Prado has no issues with running poleless awnings as there is no fouling on rear wind fairings or doors - as it has a barn door. We like the Ostrich wing for its versatility and strengh for the Prado 120 and 150 varients. Wall Kits can be added to the Ostrich wing as it comes pre-fitted with Oversized Zippers and Integrated poles. With A couple of walls Up the Ostrich will provide all weather ground shelter for 4 undercover in Double Swags or provide excellent shade /rain cover in only 15 seconds of set up time.
Tough Touring makes Awning to rack brackets for most common rack and Awning combinations on the Prado 120 and 150.
See more information on the Brackets to fit awnings to the Prado and your roof racks here >
What are our Picks of the best rooftop tents for the Prado and Why?
1. Bundutec Bundutop Standard Size 1350 x 2100:
For ultimate touring performance and comfort, the Bundutop offers 4-way airflow, ease of use (set up and pack up at push of a button) privacy, skirt protection from moisture on walls as well as ample internal space to store Bedding / Clothes and lighweight camp chairs - Its Our choice for the Best Combination of Space to weight and comfort suited to longer term touring in the Prado due to its limited space.
The Bundutop scores a 48 out of 50 in the key ingredients of a long-term touring tent's most important attributes. Its straight-lift design gives it unrivalled performance with regards to airflow and Comfortable Dry Accommodation in Wind and Rain. It sits solid in strong wind, fast to set up (Push the Button), It Can be fitted with Up to 400W of solar panel using our kits - it is probably impossible to beat for the hard-core tourer travelling with a Prado due to all the above combined with a short 2.1m footprint and only 76Kgs Mattress in.
Its Square sides are perfect for mounting recovery gear, shovels axles and Pole Less awnings using our Awning to tent brackets...
A silent roof top tent with small footprint and big on bad weather comfort. Simple, tough and sleek. If it is snowing sideways outside - you won't care when you're inside this tent. We've Included the Stealth here because its low side profile looks the best on the Prado, and its shape is really quiet on the roof. (Just about zero wind noise).
The Stealth is heavy at 110kgs also, (And it needs to be fitted to a rack) On The Plus - They weigh the Stealth with its inlcuded / Built in ladder - which is a MAJOR plus as you don't have to store the ladder in the Car!
You can't carry any more than a 160W solar panel on a stealth. There is no load carrying capacity and attaching shovels and Max trax etc is also a write off as the sides are Bevelled...
The Eezi Awn Stealth shown on the Black PRado here is fitted to a Tough Touring Rack - Installed so as to be removable easily with a hoist after trips... in our opinion the best looking tent in the market on the Prado. More on the Stealth here - 'Eezi Awn Stealth'
A New Load Bearing Hard Shell roof top tent with small footprint and big on bad weather comfort. It features automatically setting up its surrounding Rain awning and is Simple, tough and Lightweight. This tent has a huge internal closed storage space inside - and Is our Pick of the Clamshell Designs for the Prado.
At Just 85 Kgs it comes in 20 Kgs Lighter than all the competition, while still being able to carry 100Kgs of luggage on top.
Its automatic Skirt gives all weather protection over the windows, and you don't have to stand on the roof to fit any poles.
The Square sides allow fitment of shovels, max trax and Pole Less awnings without issue and internally a 100mm mattress should do the job for a comfortable night. Poor weather wind and rain performance is excellent - topped only by the Bundutop in rain, and the stealth in wind - putting it into top 3 in all categories. We are waiting on Version 3 of this tent to see if Bundutec can get these out in suitable volumes.
Aussie manufacturing at its finest. This is another High Lift Clamshell with Huge Internal space, Its 2.35m Long roof load has a roof rack at the rear for carrying gear , whilst the front of the tent roof drops down to also allow you to run a solar panel without the overhanging gear striking the panel. The Innerspring mattress provides superior comfort and Oversized window/doorways provide excellent airflow. It Uses RIDGID Poles in its set up to give it respectable wind performance in exposed areas
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It is super comfortable in hot or cold weather. It is on its own for quality and Insulated comfort.
The Boss Tent Competes closely with Camp King and Alucab designs, However its been further refined and improved with considerable weight savings, Rigid Poles and additional insulation as well as perhaps the best canvas work we've ever seen.
Definitely check this one out if you are after and value quality. Again, size and weight are to be watched - at 105kg the Boss also requires a roof rack with Crossbars for fittment - Expect 180Kgs on the roof once you add a rack and pole less awning.
Set up and Pack can be challenging with no tailgate on the prado.
The Bush Company Tents get included on the list as a potential top 5 for the Prado because of their load-bearing design and Value for money. These are a quality well built tent.
For 4 Up Touring in the prado - The Bush co tent's can be used as a roof rack to carry swags, tents, bunkers, firewood, jerry cans etc - A real asset in the space poor Prado wagon.
These Tents could have placed higher however their large Awning and sprung steel pole combination does not fair well in strong wind. (The Alucab Gen 3 also runs sprung steel poles and suffers the same fate) The Awning on the Bush Co is fortunately removable if you camp in exposed areas.
Like Many High Lifting clam Shell tents, (Camp King, Boss, Alucab Gen 3) Setting and Packing up will require some agility to attach the heavy duty sprung steel poles. Their Long 2.3m Chassis takes up the entire Prado roof - and getting the Sprung steel poles to flex into the opened tent some 10 feet off the ground is difficult with the prado's lack of a Tailgate to stand on) Internal Space in the Tent when closed is Minimal. Some Models (Alpha) Feature double skinned canvas which for Australian Climates is un-necessary and adds twice the zippers to negotiate to get in and out of the tent. A great tent none - the - less.