Most anticipated new 4WDs coming soon to Australia! From the 2024 Toyota Prado to the Kia Tasman ute and Ineos Quartermaster, here are the coolest 4x4s arriving soon

It’s an exciting year for those of us who prefer a healthy chunk of our driving action to take place in the dirty stuff.

All-wheel drive and four-wheel-drive vehicles have well and truly captured the imagination and the hard-earned dollars of the Australian car-buying public over recent years as 4WDs especially continue to top the sales charts.

And this year is shaping up to be a mammoth 12 months if you’re into off-road adventure machines.

Read More About Toyota Landcruiser Prado

2024 Ineos Quartermaster dual cab chassis revealed: Hardcore, hard-working 4x4 set to challenge Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series, Ford Ranger and Mitsubishi Triton 2025 Kia Tasman ute: Powertrains, towing, launch timing and everything else we know so far about crucial Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger rival 2024 Toyota LandCruiser Prado range locked in for Australia with 48V diesel powertrain to take on Isuzu MU-X and Ford Everest

There are plenty of notable new 4WD releases this year – including the all-new Mitsubishi Triton (already here), revised Isuzu D-Max and MU-X (coming soon), the Lexus GX and even a petrol-electric BYD ute, to name a few – but in this yarn I’m throwing the spotlight on three 4WDs that I reckon will shake up the market.

Toyota LandCruiser Prado

First up, the new-generation Prado combines big onboard tech advancements (aimed at making your time off-road more safe, more fun and even more action-packed), new retro-cool styling and now the same latest-generation TGNA-F body-on-frame platform as its 300 Series big brother, which Toyota reckons "is 50 per cent more rigid than the current-generation Prado, helping to increase overall vehicle rigidity by 30 per cent".

This Prado, the first all-new version in 14 years, will feature five powertrains globally, however, Australia will get just the one, for now: a 48-volt version of the current model's 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine (150kW and 500Nm), with identical power and torque outputs as the existing engine.

The engine we'll get from launch, shared with the upcoming HiLux, has decent outputs and should in theory yield positives in terms of fuel consumption. The new mild-hybrid engine will be matched to a new eight-speed torque-converter automatic transmission.

The new-generation Prado features a new retro-cool styling.

The next-gen Prado will have full-time all-wheel drive, a low-range transfer case, a centre diff lock, and an electronic locking rear diff.

It will also get an electronic front swaybar disconnect – the first time such a bit of tech has been engineered into a Toyota. This button-operated swaybar disconnect system is aimed at improving wheel travel while you're 4WDing.

The electronic swaybar disconnect function works on a similar principle and methodology to the swaybar disconnect in the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon and that system works very well during very difficult off-roading.

The new Prado will be available in GX, GXL, VX, Kakadu and Altitude grades.

The new Prado will reportedly have 210mm of ground clearance as well as approach, departure and ramp-over angles of 31 degrees, 21 degrees and 25 degrees respectively, and those figures are about normal for 4WD wagons of this size.

It will be available in GX, GXL, VX, Kakadu and Altitude grades.

Expect to pay at least a few grand more than you do for the current line-up, which includes from $62,830 (for the base-spec GX, excluding on-road costs) through to $87,468 (for the current top-spec Kakadu, excluding on-road costs).

The 2024 Toyota LandCruiser Prado is expected to land in Australia in mid-2024.

Ineos Grenadier Quartermaster

The Ineos Grenadier Quartermaster is part of a new wave of old-school-style 4WDs that mix a chunky traditional-style appearance with plenty of substance, namely a ladder-frame chassis, live axles front and rear, permanent four-wheel drive, and front, centre and rear locking differentials.

The dual-cab Quartermaster comes off the Ineos Grenadier platform, which is an in-your-face, trademark-appeal-smashing homage to the Land Rover Defender with other styling influences from the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen, the Land Rover Discovery, and even a touch of Suzuki Jimny and Mitsubishi Pajero.

This ute will be powered by a 3.0-litre straight-six turbo-petrol (210kW/450Nm) or a 3.0-litre straight-six twin-turbo diesel (183kW/550Nm), borrowed from BMW, teamed with an eight-speed ZF auto.

The 2024 Ineos Grenadier Quartermaster range starts from 2,000, excluding on-road costs.

It will also be, on paper at least, very off-road-capable, with 264mm of ground clearance, 800mm wading depth, and it’s equipped with the aforementioned inclusion of live axles front and rear, permanent four-wheel drive, front, centre and rear locking differentials, and a ladder-frame chassis.

Expect to pay: The 2024 Ineos Grenadier Quartermaster range starts at the recently unveiled cab chassis variant (from $102,000 excluding on-road costs) , then there’s the tub-equipped version (tipped to cost from $110,000, excluding on-road costs), while the Quartermaster Trialmaster edition (off-road grade) and a luxury Fieldmaster edition are expected to each cost from about $123,000 (excluding on-roads).

The 2024 Ineos Grenadier Quartermaster is available to order locally and is set to land in Australia by mid-2024.

The Ineos Grenadier Quartermaster is part of a new wave of old-school-style 4WDs.

Kia Tasman

Kia, a company hitherto not known at all for its hardcore 4WDs, is set to unleash its very first dual-cab ute on the Aussie market to take on the Toyota HiLux, Ford Ranger, Isuzu D-Max, Mitsubishi Triton et al.

This is a crucial vehicle for Kia and the carmaker has to do an absolute spot-on job, but it's anyone's guess if a Kia ute will be on the wrong side of ordinary or actually pretty good.

Word is the final product will be built on a ladder-frame chassis (as it should be) with ute market benchmarks that are absolutely essential to the Tasman's competitiveness in the Aussie market: one-tonne (or more) payload, a 3.5-tonne braked towing capacity, a big enough tub to cop a Euro pallet, and decent off-road capability (including low-range 4WD and a rear diff-lock, at least).

Kia will likely opt for a go-to ute powertrain – a four-cylinder turbo-diesel – but a rumoured baseline engine for the Tasman line-up is the Staria’s 2.2-litre turbo-diesel (130kW/430Nm), matched with an eight-speed automatic transmission.

Kia is set to unleash its very first dual-cab ute on the Aussie market. (Image: Thanos Pappas)

That seems the wrong way to go and underdone to me, because Kia should aim for 500Nm of torque to go head-to-head with the likes of top sellers, the HiLux and Ranger.

The Korean giant has trademarked the name ‘Tasman’ in Australia, but the ute’s actual moniker has not yet been officially confirmed – we’re going to call it the Tasman anyway.

The Tasman line-up will likely include everything from a base-spec single-cab cab chassis ute through to a top-spec tub-equipped version. There may even be a special edition Raptor-style variant. Speculate all you want...Kia has reportedly been quietly developing the Tasman since 2020 and trips to Australia have included ride and handling tuning on our roads and tracks, so pre-production prep seems at least somewhere near on-point.

Pricing is an unknown quantity at time of writing but if Kia is looking to take on the ute market’s big dogs – HiLux and Ranger et al – expect to pay anywhere from $45,000 (for a base-spec 4WD single-cab cab chassis, excluding on-road costs) through to $75,000 and up (for a top-spec dual-cab ute, excluding on-road costs).

The 2024 Kia Tasman is set to land in Australia in 2025.