I have a ranger. My mate who I camp with has a Prado. The Prado is much shorter in length and wheelbase and is much easier to drive and park in the city. The ranger pretty much requires reverse parking everywhere I go due to the wheelbase (400mm longer wheelbase than a 200 series).
The two feel similar on the road - the Utes are good these days. Mine has ome suspension though. A Prado Kakadu with the kdss suspension would belt the ranger. We would both rather the ranger for towing - longer wheelbase, bigger torque, rear leaves makes it stable and a no brainer not to mention the bigger tow capacity. The Prado still tows well though. Out on the blacksoil roads with big vans on his Prado gets thrown a bit. The short rear overhang of the ranger and the big lever out the front makes it very stable for towing.
Offroad, the intuitive hdc, diff lock and wheelbase also tip in the ranger's favour. His prados hill descent control is pretty woeful and is a start stop affair. I leave mine on all day and it knows when to help. If you are buying an auto and do some half decent offroad, hdc/tc is worth looking into IMHO.
If I didn't need a ute for work, a td auto Prado would be high on my list of things to look at for resale if nothing else. They are a nice car. The observations above are just nit picking from time spent in both. They both have good and bad points.
