Advice on factory accessories or aftermarket

[icefall Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close icefall]

Hi All,

I'm new to PradoPoint and have also never owned a car good enough to be part of a forum.
From what I've seen and read so far the website and forum look great.

Hopefully by next Monday I'll be a very proud owner of a new graphite 150 GXL TD auto. (still the old spec)

The only thing i want to put on it straight away is a tow bar. I'm leaning towards a HR mainly because
the bumper bar won't get cut and it's a bit cheaper. Toyota quoted me $840 fitted. HR $640 fitted.
Other than cost are they pretty much as good as each other?

Also I had the dreaded protection pack sales pitch laid on me pretty thick, is it worthwhile getting any of it?
I'll also have to get window tinting too. What's the go with privacy glass?

Cheers

[fido666 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close fido666]

Firstly, welcome to the forum!

I had a HR towbar on the old 95 Series Prado, got it thrown in by the dealer to sweeten the deal. They probably gave me a HR because it was cheaper. Have a Toyota one on the new (to me) 150 Series Prado and can't really tell them apart, the HR had a metal collar around the hitch the Toyota one is plastic LOL.

I got the protection pack on the old Prado didn't bother this time. If you want fabric protection buy a can of Scotchguard, Aerospace Protectant (from Autobarn) for the vinyl. Rustproofing you could get done elsewhere for cheaper, I haven't bothered.

Mine came with Motor One tint on the windows already, again you can get this done elsewhere for less.

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

Yes to HR
No to protection wank

[Marcus73 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Marcus73]

Yes to HR
No to protection wank

Agreed.
As mentioned everything can be sourced elsewhere a lot cheaper. Dealerships make huge margins on their protection packs, hence why they push them so hard.

[icefall Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close icefall]

I picked up the prado on Monday. Very impressive truck, a lot different to the ford escape lol. Ended up putting on a HR tow bar. Looking forward to getting her on the sand for Xmas holidays. I didn't go ahead with the protection pack from Toyota rather spend what money I do have left over on tint, bar and racks. Thanks for the comments

[RareSense Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close RareSense]

Congratulations on your buy! I have no doubt it will be a great beast, I wish you many fun, safe and happy motoring miles. All the best

[meatman61 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close meatman61]

Another consideration to take into account, is the luxury car tax. I think from memory, it cuts in at $60K in here in SA. Even if you are going for some Factory extras(not given in as a free deal sweetner by the salesman/lady), it very likely will be a better option to purchase them as not part of your car purchase.

[Madkore Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Madkore]

From what I've read on here, privacy tint does not provide any UV protection, so you will need tint on top of it.

Thats provided you want UV protection which I imagine is half the reason of getting tint - we all know the other half of the reason for tint is to look gangster...