Toyota Hilux

ramirez

ramirez

ramirez

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Hi all, ive reached a point now where i'm bored of coupes and looking for something bigger that works better for my hobbies (mountain biking, drumming etc.)

Just seen top gear again and it reminded me how solid toyota hiluxes are - so can anyone who has one, had one or even know about them help out?

What engines do they have? The 2.4 diesel looks to be the most popular, what are these like on fuel when on motorway? What trannies do they have? Are they all permanent 4x4 or switchable?

Above all I need a reliable truck type vehicle and I do like the look of hiluxes. Can you get a reasonable one for £2000? (not bothered about age, just condition really)
 
Mate had one with jacked suspension and a rover V8 - when it worked it was a lot of fun but wasn't too reliable. It was converted to LPG too.
 
In what way is a 4x4 any better than an estate for transporting bikes / drumkits ?

What about an Audi A4 / S4 Avant or something similar ? Unless you actually go offroad of course, which i doubt, or you'd have a 4x4 already ;)
 
jellybeard999 said:
In what way is a 4x4 any better than an estate for transporting bikes / drumkits ?
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Erm a hell of a lot, ever heard of mud? I doubt many people would like to stick a fully muddy bike in the back of their car... Having said that I assume the op is also looking for the 'cool' factor to go along with the space.

4x4 pickups are still agricultural and industrial vehicles so expect rubbish looking and cheap interiors and a pretty noisy and slightly walloier ride (in comparison to most normal cars). And it will also drive like a tank, not brilliant if you want to drive it every day.
 
Amp34 said:
Erm a hell of a lot, ever heard of mud? I doubt many people would like to stick a fully muddy bike in the back of their car... Having said that I assume the op is mainly looking for the 'cool' factor to go along with the space.

4x4 pickups are still agricultural and industrial vehicles so expect rubbish looking and cheap interiors and a pretty noisy and slightly walloier ride (in comparison to most normal cars).
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Its no different cleaning mud from the inside of a 4x4 to an estate :confused:
And if he's actually driving on mud, how's he gotten by so far


[TW]Fox said:
What is an Audi S4 doing in a thread about £2k cars?

Honestly and people pick on ME for recommending stuff? :p
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Missed the budget :o I still stick by my theory that 98% of 4x4 owners would be better off with estates :rolleyes:
 
jellybeard999 said:
Missed the budget :o I still stick by my theory that 98% of 4x4 owners would be better off with estates :rolleyes:
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Problem is estates and even people carriers don't have enough space in the boot for families if they do things like camp. But I agree with you that a lot of 4x4 drivers don't need the 4x4. But remember a lot of smaller 4x4 are just as economical as estates and some have a smaller footprint too.

jellybeard999 said:
Its no different cleaning mud from the inside of a 4x4 to an estate
And if he's actually driving on mud, how's he gotten by so far
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EH? :confused:

He won't have to clean the mud out of the back of a Hilux pickup. And if he does it is a lot easier to hose out the back of a pickup than clean the boot of an estate.

Why is he driving on mud? When you do mountain biking you usually leave the car in a car park and then go off up a trail, get covered in mud and go back to the car park to drive home. Cycling on mud? Yep, but not driving. :confused:
 
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The other options could be the Mitsubushi Warrior or the L200, both likely to be available in your price range and pretty good cars to boot. :)
 
optimus said:
.What about the Nissan Navara? More options as standard,
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I think that has only been around for a few years though and so can't be had for around the asking, may be wrong tough. :)
 
Ramriez i have looked into these a fair bit due to my desire for one and my friends having two each! All of them are MK3s and they swear by them. Now where to start. . .

The 2.4D is pretty popular, by no means is it the most powerful engine, we're talking sub 100 bhp here, but it is a workhouse and for that it just goes on and on, a lot of these engines run to 250,000 miles easily, although lacking in bhp they do have a lot of grunt, personally i have seen one tow around 5 tons of weight (lwb Citroen Relay and a 3.5t Catering Trailer). The other option is the 2.2L petrol which is an example of the Toyota 22R lump, a very capable engine that with a bit of tinkering will provide a decent economy and some power to play with.

The Hilux isn't a permenant 4x4 vehicle, infact the 4x4 capability they posses is designed for real offroading by this i mean it's not suitabile to drive round in 4x4 all the time. Drive can be changed from Low Ratio 4x4 to High Ratio 4x4 and finally High ratio 2WD. If you are thinking of properly offroading one of these trucks and they are quite capable the 2.4D is pretty much the one to go for, pretty much run forever when fitted with a snorkel they can also get very very wet and still keep on going (good for the recent floods eh?)

To pickup a reasonable MK3 a budget of 1.5-2k is pretty much all you need, yes milage will be high but well like i said these engines just keep on going. Aftermarket parts are available in abundace such as rear cages, bull bars, rear bars, hundreds of lights, winches, snorkels, suspension lifts, body lifts, different diffs etc.

And finally a little about my mate pauls truck, going on over 15 years old now and yet this thing does skip a beat, the rear end has been bobtailled (removed roughly a foot), the tires are now 33" muds, overal lift is around 6", he has Detroit Locker diffs front and rear along with snorkel kit roll bars on the bed etc. This Hilux i have seen pull about 5tons for a few miles, hit vairous objects and in the end it just keeps on going. . . .
 
roboffer said:
This thread reminded me on an Isuzu Trooper I saw in a garage I was at the other week.

Clicky

Retro chic complete with Recaro seats :cool:
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Ugh, Not normally one to complain about wheels, but those Range Rover wheels are the suck on that Isuzu.
 
Amp34 said:
The other options could be the Mitsubushi Warrior or the L200, both likely to be available in your price range and pretty good cars to boot. :)
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For 2 grand? Are you sure? :confused:
 
whitecrook said:
Ugh, Not normally one to complain about wheels, but those Range Rover wheels are the suck on that Isuzu.
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Which "Range Rover" wheels? Those are Isuzu wheels...


Hi-lux's just keep on going, they're not the quickest of trucks and they don't provide a high level of comfort but they fulfill the needs of most farmers for many years. Just watch out for the tin worm.
 
lovely stuff, so we've identified they aren't that quick (which doesnt bother me.) What are they like on fuel?

also presumably if they have no centre diff, 4WD is only really for rough road?

To answer few questions above, I'm pretty set on the pickup as we do have a large drum kit which won't fit in any estate car easily - although saying that if the hilux surf has a lot of room then that might work. I don't drive offroad at the moment for biking, but my friends who I have to get lifts off do :)

Im attracted to the bulletproofness of the hilux, it won't get driven much either as I cycle to work every day.
 
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