nugundam93,

sorry, haven't tried out a prado yet hehehe :D

vicoyski,

since we just drove on pavement, locking the center differential or engaging low range was out of the question. you'll wreck the drivetrain if you do this on a high-traction surface, which pavement is. but anyway, there are four settings for the transfer case:

H --> 4wd, center differential unlocked, in other words. this is the setting to use on pavement.
HL --> 4wd, center differential locked, torque is split 50/50 to the front and rear axles, high-range. this is for off-pavement use only. this is exactly the same as engaging 4wd on part-time 4wd vehicles.
N --> neutral.
LL --> 4wd, center diff locked, low-range. for more difficult situations off-road.

it's impossible to tell how accurate the info display was, but the fuel economy computer showed a mileage of 5.2 km/L for the 2.7L gas variant. of course, this was for a hard-driven demo unit, so the figure is not representative.

about the seat-pushing torque, well, not really. however, the power delivery is smooth and linear from the bottom-end up. there was just a small hint of turbo lag, i recall, although our drive was very brief to tell for sure.