Toyota Hilux was launched in India last month, and it is now the second pickup available in the Indian market after the much-adored Isuzu D-Max V-Cross. The new behemoth of a pickup truck from Toyota is one of the seven vehicles it offers and is touted as a lifestyle product. Toyota Hilux shares the same underpinnings as the Fortuner and the Innova Crysta. With 4WD as standard, it will make it easy to take the pickup truck for offroad adventures. Let us have a look at the boons and the banes of the Toyota Hilux.
◼ Boon: Off-road capabilities
The new lifestyle pickup truck from Toyota gets a water-wading depth of up to 700mm and has a ground clearance of 217mm. Alongside, Toyota Hilux also has 4WD as standard across all its variants making it a serious off-roader.
◼ Boon: Toyota reliability
This goes without saying that the Hilux is a highly reliable vehicle owing to its Toyota badge. It is common knowledge that Toyota over-engineers its vehicles to make it stand the test of time.
◼ Boon and Bane: Size
It can be considered as a bane and a boon of the Toyota Hilux. Measuring a massive 5,325mm in length, it is slightly longer than the V-Cross. Many would find the size to intimidate other road users, while many would also find it hard to maneuver and park this mammoth of a vehicle in urban areas.
◼ Bane: Price
With its price starting at Rs. 33.99 lakhs for the Standard 4×4 Manual variant, the Toyota Hilux is not what you’d call an affordable vehicle. It’s almost Rs. 2 lakhs more expensive than the Fortuner, with which it shares its platform, and is slightly less practical too. However, being a lifestyle vehicle, some may not find it hard to justify the expensive price tag.
◼ Boon: Safety and Features
Toyota has equipped the Hilux with many safety features like seven airbags, stability control, traction control, along with highly important off-road features like Hill Assist and Downhill Assist Electronic controls. Toyota Hilux also achieved a 5-star crash safety rating from ASEAN NCAP.
Additionally, it gets features like LED headlamps and taillamps, an 8-inch touchscreen, with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, leather seats, and cruise control. But it does miss out on some features like a 360-degree camera, sunroof, that buyers expect when they shell out more than Rs. 30 lakhs for a car.
◼ Bane: Lack of petrol engine
Toyota has offered the Hilux with only one engine — the 2.8-litre turbo diesel — that is mated to either a 6-speed manual or a 6-speed automatic transmission. The engine, which is also available on the Fortuner and the Innova Crysta, produces 204hp along with 420Nm of torque with manual gearbox and 500Nm of torque with the automatic gearbox.
However, looking at today’s scenario in most urban cities — frankly, that’s where the majority of the sales are going to happen — owning a Petrol-powered car makes more sense as it gives more validity. With NGTs ruling of capping the life of diesel-powered vehicles at 10 years in many cities like Delhi NCR, it may prove to be a wee bit less for a lifestyle pickup truck.
[Featured Image Credit: Toyota]
Satvik Khare