COMMENT
Steve Cropley
MY WEEK IN CARS
Hilux is sometimes inconveniently big, but it’s achingly capable
MONDAY
I spent the week indulging my love of double-cab pick-ups with the daddy of the lot, the legendary Toyota Hilux, which has proved its toughness so often that it’s almost boring. The chief fascination is its endearing combination of refinement and crudity. On one hand, you’ve got a comfortable, elevated driving position, a well-finished cabin full of robust equipment, mountains of torque from one of the mightiest (2.7-litre) four-pot diesels going and a creamy six-speed auto ’box. Tyre and bump noise are amazingly low, courtesy of the old-tech body-on-frame construction, which insulates you almost completely from the road, and wind noise is also well contained. On the other, you have its sometimes unwieldy 5.3-metre length, ordinary steering and a jolting ride that results from the one-tonne carrying capacity that most owners never use.