The Prowl I remember was fleshed out quite well in the comics.
He was so bent on logic at times it verged on coldness.
He was a bit war hawkish too.
One instance that springs to mind:
Even though he was depicted as Prime right hand man, I remember in "Crisis of Command" he opposed Prime very strongly.
The issue was on the newly freed/reassembled Prime with Matrix returned to him feeling pressure from several of the others lead in the discussion by Prowl who felt that it would a critical must to use the Matrix to create a bunch of massive Autobots who would be Decepticon killers to engage and destroy the earth-based Decepticons for once and for all.
Prime had the problem with Prowl's plan that most of Earth's population would be liable for heavy casualaties and opposed
Prowl at risk of losing his followers confidence.
It was this thinking though, and this thread that would eventually lead to the construction of the Special teams:
The Aerialbots and Protectobots.