Beaten by the Ford Ranger in monthly sales couldn’t have been easy for Toyota who are accustomed to ruling the city and farmlands with the venerable Toyota Hilux. Revealed in Thailand, the eighth generation of the Toyota Hilux has been revealed in the bare metal – we’d seen leaked images before and the official product hasn’t deviated too far from them.
This is good. Chrome is kept to a minimum (always a concern) and straight lines still cut a formidable presence. No stretched and curved panels but a neat and compressed styling package with a good mix of modern and macho that will take little getting used to. The new Toyota Hilux is 90mm longer from nose to tail and 20mm wider which will be great for interior comfort but less so when wedged at the apex of a donga.
Overcoming such obstacles will be Toyota’s 2.8-litre D-4D engine with 130kW/450Nm and a –welcome to the new-age- six-speed manual. Lower down there’s a 2.4-litre turbodiesel with 110kW and 400Nm. Petrol options are just as diverse with a 2.7-litre four-cylinder and a 4.0-litre V6 with 207kW. Some torque outputs do depend on the gearbox with manual versions getting less.
Drive will be slightly improved thanks to revised leaf springs and thicker stabiliser bars but it’s the exceptional towing capacity and payload which will be on the minds of potential customers.
Where the Hilux lost out to rivals like the Mazda BT-50 and Ford Ranger was the interior and more car-like ergonomics have been introduced. Among the most noticeable is the dial for 4×2 and 4×4 modes – replacing the second shifter – and a large touchscreen system. Shoulder room is up by 19mm and those seated in the back will stretch into an additional 35mm of knee room.
The Toyota Hilux will arrive in South Africa in early 2016 and that’s when we’ll know more details on pricing and model specification.
