Toyota Hilux Review

Your Dad made the right decision. The back row is not suitable for family at all. Though these (Hilux) are marketed as lifestyle truck here in India, they basically are hauling loads truck ( when compared to Toyota Tundra in USA, Hilux looks a construction double cab). Plus the lack of clarity what will happen to diesel vehicles few years down the road, nation wide.

The USP of buying one is simple

A. Either your lifestyle demands it, like having a villa in mountains, or a farm for to and fro products, equipments, or an enthusiastic off-roader ( though many options available at half the cost)

Or

B. You have tons of money to spend in surplus and like to show that too ( sorry if I sound offensive to anyone here, having tons to splurge is not bad, provided you have it )

thanks Touringlawyer, I wish you many happy miles to Hartola, it makes sense in your case. Congratulations again.

While the Hilux is expensive in India and Toyota priced it incorrectly, each market is different. The Corolla, which is a taxi everywhere else, was positioned as premium D segment sedan here and Mercedes's flagship seller the E class is a Taxi elsewhere.

The back row is the biggest deal breaker in this otherwise fabulous combo. Though, the Fortuner & Endeavour at home can take care of highway duties for family, but the Hilux is too big for city driving. Also, the fact that it would have ended up being my daily drive did not help the case much for this beauty.

Firstly congratulations on the new Hilux!
I am actually looking to buy a 7 seater and then your post got my interest! I also have a puppy and want him to travel in comfort when we as a family ( we are 4 people) travel.

How does the Hilux work out for your puppies is it comfortable?

Also on similar lines how good is the Thar in this aspect?

Fantastic decision
You will cherish that engine gearbox combo for life.Both our garages are very similar.
Happy for you.

Now let's go back to the Jimny thread.

Thanks Ice. Hilux has always been very much an aspirational machine for me too. And as I've mentioned earlier, perhaps the last automobile I have bought, unless at some point in time, maybe later next decade, combustion engines become outdated (per force maybe as they might stop selling diesel). Lets see how that goes.

As for ISUZU, I have an outright bias against them for the treatment they give to India and the Indian market / consumers / automobile enthusiasts. They launch vehicles in India which are 1-2 generations behind the machines they launch in other countries. And that too for years with no visibility or commitment to bring the latest machines here. That's outright nonsense. Sorry for the strong words. I hope ISUZU is reading this. Indian demography and market necessitate, in my opinion, that all businesses rush to India, and these jokers give us such bad treatment. I'm so pissed. Look at the abysmal number MUX sells; if Toyota can play this smartly for a little longer, I'm sure the Vcross can be relegated to a thing of the past too.

Hey Higgs, thanks. It's just been 3 days. I have a trip to Uttarakhand coming up next week. Will let you know how the experience is for the babies. So far as Thar is concerned, for your family of 4 people and 1 puppy, I wouldn't advise it. No chance at all. There is just no space in it for a family of 4 to travel (outstation, more specifically, with luggage). With a puppy in there, even more unfeasible. Though it's just me (one human) and 2 dogs in my case, I needed a 5 door setup because it makes the ingress for my 'old' baby easier, and she is more important to me than any amount of money in the bank, so that's the reason. Plus of course, I have always wanted the Hilux. And with that humongous discount on offer, it was a no brainer for me.

Does the Hilux have an Electric power steering (EPAS) or is it a Hydraulic power steering (HPAS)? My impression is that it is an HPAS unit, but the specifications sheet doesn't state anything about the steering boost type. Some of the general Hilux posts in other forums seem to indicate that it is an EPAS unit.

Given the propensity of our policy makers to throw the baby out with the bath water, I am pretty sure diesels will face the axe soon. At least as far as PVs are concerned.

Also, I am pretty sure that the carbon footprint of scrapping a car in perfect working order and manufacturing one to take its place is much higher than letting the former run.

But there’s no money to be made in that, is there?

Far as ISUZU is concerned, I share your sentiment. They’ve such a beautiful V-cross abroad. I think that for Isuzu bosses, the cart comes before the horse. And they did not see sense in getting the new models into India because the pick-up market isn’t developed.

They had the perfect thing going too. Two of my friends bought the V-cross 2.4(?) and I was seeing them everywhere. Both the cars exist in perfect working condition even today. Isuzu wouldn’t have done crazy numbers, but it’d have done relatively well given our love for big cars. But the company decided to jack up the prices to where they are today (and have been for at least three years now), and not get an updated product to the country either.

You enjoy your tank sir. I am sure it’ll be an absolute delight.

One interesting thing to watch for in near future ( especially next year), what does Toyota do with Hilux in India. I am looking forward to understand their Indian strategy with regards to this truck. Will they be opening more line ups as available world wide, or will they shut the shop for pickups here. Of all the Toyota models available in India, I think the lowest numbers selling per month is Hilux, percentage wise, else someone will point number wise is LC , that is a different breed altogether. Here in Gurgaon I have seen more vellfire than Hilux on road.

Is it only the cost which is not giving Hilux the kind of sales volume in India it should have had. I think it is more than price of the vehicle, the infrastructure we have here, and our lifestyle, even in US if you look now the pickups are not preferred choice in most of the cities, on country side with their wide open stretch, no roads it is a different story altogether.

Still I will be watching future of Hilux in India over next year.

I’m not sure which type of steering is in Hilux but I believe it should be EPAS.

I have test driven both off-road & on-road (highway road) and it’s quiet opposite experience from our Crysta’s (HPAS).

I have driven it easily as against Crysta’s.

The Hilux gets hydraulic power steering with variable flow control which is same as what facelifted Fortuner got. This unit is a bit lighter compared to pre-facelift hydraulic unit. Its not as light as say EPS but better than plain hydraulics.

HPS is mentioned in the first para under Steering in the review.

Plus, there’s the fluid reservoir with the cap that states power steering fluid.

First off, congrats to everyone who has managed to buy this car with these dealer discounts. This, ironically brings the vehicle's price to where it should realistically be! Needless to say, us folks who bought this vehicle last year, feel disappointed and a let down by Toyota. Have any of the older buyers been able to get a discount on the accessories?

20k update

I've completed >20,000 kms on the odo, and 3 free services. Since everyone is sharing the positives of this car (and there are so many), I'll try and share a few of the real life problems I have faced as I have been using this as a daily + recreational drive:

1. Blind spots: The A pillars coupled with the side visors (right side especially) create a pretty solid blind spot, especially while turning.
   
   
   
   
   I literally have to crane my neck to look at my left blind spot mirror, which you can see, is completely obscured by the visor.
   
   
   
   I like to sit high to have a good visibility down the road and on either side, and at my elevation the rear-view mirror also creates a bit of a blind spot.
   
   
   
   
2. Parking sensors: While going off-road, vegetation can constantly trigger the parking sensor and this becomes an irritant, so I normally switch it off. If you forget to switch it back on when you hit the tarmac, as I once did, it can cost you. The low near-forward visibility caused me to bump into a well concealed parking pole!
   
   
   
   The parking sensors are must when you're back in civilisation; they're especially useful when you are navigating traffic as well.
   
   
3. Engine bay protection: Rats absolutely love Toyota rubber beading! Unfortunately, I did the 3M rat repellant coating in the engine bay a day too late.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Rear bumper: The Hilux has a solid metal rear bumper, but it is a bit strange in that the bottom part hangs below the chassis and there is a gap between the chassis and the bumper so that the wiring of the parking sensors is exposed. While reversing on a trail, I had a freak event where a fallen tree branch, kicked up by the rear right tyre, wedged right into this gap and damaged a parking sensor from inside the bumper.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Articulation: If you have installed the wheel house cladding, beware the rear articulation! Once fully articulated the rear tyre can fall below the level of this cladding, and then this can happen when you are doing the tyre rotation:
   
   
   
   
6. Sidesteps: Even with OE sidesteps, this car is a challenge for senior citizens to get into. With aftermarket rock sliders, it becomes outright difficult. One more issue is that the OE scuff plates have a rather flimsy rubber lining along the sides, and due to the height of the vehicle, most people tend to slide their feet off the sides and onto the side-step, and this wears off the rubber lining.
7. Rear seating: The rear seats are definitely not comfortable for long hauls. The lack of leg room and the stiff upright seating means that anything longer than a 3-4 hour journey, and your passengers will start feeling it. Woe betide the rear seat passengers if there are 3 of them on an 8 hour highway journey! This is primarily a 2 man ute, with extra seating in the rear cabin only for short runs.
8. Car cover: Because of the pick-up design and sheer size of the vehicle, putting the car cover on is akin to pitching a tent, and initially one will struggle trying to do this single-handed. After some time though, one can do it in under a minute.
9. Rear left fender flare: Keep an eye out for that always. I have had a couple of incidents where I scraped it, fortunately the Line X coating saved (Line-X: An indestructible coating that you can apply to anything!) the day.
10. Ad-blue: The ad-blue tank of the Hilux has a capacity of 17litres, whereas the Fortuner has a 12 litre ad-blue tank. Most Toyota technicians do not know this, and end up doing the ad-blue top up assuming Fortuner specs.
11. User manual: This feeds in from the previous point. The user manual is absolutely pathetic. No hard-copy, very low in component specific information, and generically aggregated across all international Hilux versions. You literally have to scour the internet to find out more detailed information about this vehicle.

Utility of mods done so far

1. Tyres: I had swapped out to stock spec BFG KO2s as soon as I got the car and I can swear by them. Excellent in mud/slush, no flats till date, and lots of crushed and twisted nails!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   However, one gripe with these tyres is the woeful lack of traction on wet / slippery surfaces.
   
   
2. Underbody protection: I installed Metalhouse underbody protection, which has take some solid knocks over time, and done it's job.
   
   
   
   
3. Rock Sliders: These have not been of much use so far.
   
   
   
   I had them replaced after I scraped my OE side steps a few times over some rocks and realised I needed something more solid. They have definitely made ingress and egress (especially for senior citizens) much more difficult.
   
   
4. Heavy duty load lid: I had mentioned this earlier here. This has really been of great use to me. Some more use cases:
   
   
   
   
   
   And here is the heaviest payload ever taken by the lid: 400kgs of carpet grass on top!
   
   
   

The additional weight added to my vehicle is as follows:

1. Underbody protection:15kgs
2. Rock sliders: 30kgs (15kg each x 2)
3. Tyres: 25kgs (5 kgs per tyre x 5)
4. Load lid: 50kgs

All in all, the car is heavier by around ~120kgs over the stock setup. The load lid at the back has definitely reduced the bounciness from the leaf spring suspension a lot. With this additional weight, I am getting a mileage of around 13 kmpl on the highway, and around 8-9 kmpl in city traffic.

Parking is not a problem!



Some pics from recent excursions:

That heavy load lid is a nifty addition to any pickup. Out of curiosity though, don't you get pulled over by the cops for transportation of heavy loads? Since they may think you are dodging excise?

Excellent write up! This is how one ought to use a pick up, also a proper off road beast at that

Very intrigued by the loads and the way you secured them. They look like lashing ropes/straps, could you share some product details as I am looking to secure my bicycle in my boot (humble sedan here) with suitable straps via the tie down hoops provided