Toyota Hilux 3.0 D-4D Doublecab 4x4
Feedback on ownership experience
after 12 months and 22 000 km
Hi fellow travellers!
A. Background:
Having driven VW Microbuses (one Syncro) for a period spanning 13 years and a Range Rover Classic for 7+ years, it was unfortunately time for a replacement of a different nature. The family thoroughly enjoyed the space and comfort of the buses, but the principal driver was unhappy about its inability to traverse terrain he wanted to venture onto / into! The 1983 four door Range Rover (one of the first 4 door versions) is considered unreliable for overlanding and is used for weekend trips and venturing into mountains and rough terrain within a radius of 3 hours from home to facilitate recovery. This is not a reflection on the build quality of the vehicle, but rather on the maintenance regime (or lack thereof) as applied to a 3rd vehicle in the household.
Enter a station wagon / double cab option with 4x4 and low range ability a must have!
The vehicles considered included the following:
1. Station Wagons: Toyota Landcruiser GX petrol, Nissan Patrol diesel
2. Double cabin pickups: Nissan Navara diesel, Isuzu diesel, Toyota Hilux diesel
3. Others: looked at the Landrover Defender 110 and Toyota Landcruiser Pickup (contemplating a doublecab conversion).
Through a process of elimination (took about 6 months to prioritise criteria and weightings), I finally decided to purchase the Toyota Hilux in its latest guise, namely the D-4D 3 litre turbodiesel doublecab Raider 4x4.
Once I narrowed the choice down to the Toyota, I did my homework and during my research asked the following questions: (I have yet to receive satisfactory answers to most of them):
A1 Why did Toyota stick to 15 inch rims when most of the competition has evolved to 16 inches and in some instances 17 inches? The end result looks as if someone specified the incorrect tyre and rim size. There are these really odd size small tyres in the large wheel arches!
A2 Why did Toyota decide on such an awkward tyre size? A 255/70/15 is not standard equipment on any other popular LDV and is not a commonly stocked tyre size at any dealer in Southern Africa.
A3 Why is the ground clearance of the bakkie lower than that of the Prado and significantly lower than the previous generation and the opposition?
A4 The rollbar is only bolted to the front and side of the loadbox and the feet rest on the floor / wheel arch of the loadbox. Is this adequate in terms of providing strength and support in the event of a rollover, or is the rollbar merely there for cosmetic purposes?
A5 Why did Toyota stick to drum brakes on the rear wheels? Especially if the Southern African dust, mud and sandy terrain is taken into account.
A6 Is the sump guard (3 pieces of thin metal sheeting) strong enough to withstand rough terrain knocks (particularly when taking the low clearance into account)?
A7 Why is the dashboard instrumentation display not able to display both odo and trip-meter at the same time? Makes it difficult to see trip distance readings compared to overall distance.
A8 Why are there 3 circular clusters for the instrumentation binnacle? It is difficult to get into and clean!
A9 Why is there no outside temperature display? (OK it's a nice to have, but very useful and the Fortuner has it!)
A10 Why is the space behind the rear bench seat not accessible? (The upright section cannot fold forward).
B. Purchasing / Specification Issues and changes
to original supplied equipment:
I took delivery of the bakkie on 17 November 2005 (order was placed on 31 May 2005).
The following were issues I had to deal with to get the bakkie to fulfil its intended role as long distance holiday transport, overland / offroad travelling vehicle and tow vehicle for the boat:
B1 Loadbox Area Protection: It is a bakkie after all and therefore I opted for a poly urethane coating to protect the loadbox (went with Rainbow - heavy duty industrial coating). Metallic paint jobs do not take kindly to loadbox scratches. Liquid spills now clean quickly and easily as most nooks and crannies have been closed up.
B2 Rollbar vs Canopy: I was not convinced that the roll bar was sufficiently well anchored to provide protection should the bakkie roll. The rollbar is anchored by bolts fitted to the top of the loadbox area. Are those bolts not going to tear out when needed? I therefore ordered the vehicle without the rollbar and opted to fit a strengthened canopy instead. The Beekman legend canopy (with brake light, inside rooflight, sliding windows, tinted, vent and colour coded) is really a good simple and sturdy design and has so far handled off road conditions very well, bearing in mind it carries a roofrack and rooftop tent.
B3 Sidesteps: The standard sidesteps, consisting of 2 flat aluminium treadplates, mounted on each side of the vehicle between the front and rear wheelarches and fixed to the body and not the chassis, were replaced with the Toyota stainless steel pipe-type side mounted steps. This was done in the misguided thinking that the new ones will provide better protection and better breakover angle clearance. The clearance certainly did improve, however the fittings did not survive the first clay hill encounter. The support brackets bent! Burnco Rock sliders that bolt onto the chassis are the way to go …
B4 Suspension: To increase the front ride height I had to fit an Old Man Emu suspension system to the bakkie. The front was replaced with a light duty OME coil and shock setup to gain extra clearance. In its standard trim the front suspension is unable to clear a brick lying in the road! The added bonus of the change was a better ride quality when empty. The change to OME provided 50mm of additional front ground.
The rear suspension was initially changed to an OME medium duty set of leaf springs and shocks. This was replaced with a heavy duty OME leaf spring and shock setup after the first long trip. The Toyota specification states that the standard double cab bakkie can handle (GVM - Tara) = (2770-1799) = 971 kg. I beg to differ after my first holiday experience! There is no way that the standard suspension can handle that kind of load. It would appear that the bakkie was set-up with a city driving low load configuration in mind. In addition a recent query by a friend who owns a similar vehicle revealed that Toyota reckons the Hilux is good for 1140 kg. This is certainly not borne out by practical experience! Confucius reigns!
Altering the rear suspension did not change the differential clearance amount (steady at 235mm after fitting of the tyres). However it did raise the body when empty (by 40mm). The real benefit is the lack of sagging when fully loaded! Now at least the body is almost level when loaded.
B5 Tyres: The tyres were changed to a more aggressive offroad type and the size was changed to 31 x 10.5 x 15". This improved ground clearance and offroad traction with the added bonus that it improved the side appearance due to the larger diameter rubber in the wheelarch (BFGoodrich A/T's rule, except on wet tar roads … be warned). In addition I am now able to obtain replacement tyres in most parts of Southern Africa as the 31” is a standard American specification. The tyre changes provided just short of 25mm of additional ground clearance. The increase in diameter from 738 to 787mm equates to 6,7 %, but the change did not affect gearing unduly, at pull away in 1st gear it is not noticeable, but 5th gear driving is not recommended below 70 – 80 km/h. The speedo accuracy has improved from 7.5% (CAR road test Aug 2005) to 2.08% overread. This fact becomes important when comparing fuel consumption figures,
B6 Sump Guard: Due to the low clearance (standard = 212 mm, according to Toyota spec sheet) I cannot even clear a brick (height = 222 mm), let alone venture onto offroad terrain. To prevent the constant worrying about sump and ancillary equipment damage, the Toyota protection (consisting of 3 thin metal plates resembling tin cans) was removed and replaced with a 3mm thick LA Sport steel bash plate. Bought me serious peace of mind and has already paid for itself on sharp entry angle sand dunes!
B7 Towbar: The Toyota specified towbar would have entailed another significant drop in exit angle clearance. The decision was therefore made to replace the rear bumper with an integrated rear bumper / towbar combination from Burnco. This resulted in an improved exit angle and a very sturdy towbar with a removable drawbar. In addition, the support hole for a spare wheel carrier is part of the bumper as is the hi-lift jacking points. Interestingly, there is no wiring loom part available from Toyota for the electrical plumbing of the towbar. This is in contrast to the previous version of the Hilux (KZ-TE family) for which Toyota did sell a kit.
B8 Seat Cover Material: The Toyota seat cover material is susceptible to the build up of static electricity with the resultant shock being sustained when touching a metallic part such as the door! As the vehicle is used to carry a family of 5 (including 3 sets of grubby children hands & feet) on holiday and off-road conditions where dirty seats are a given, it was decided to cover the seats with a cotton/canvas cover. The House of Henry seat covers enables relatively quick removal, washing and refitting. No more dirty seats and as an added bonus, no more static electric shocks!
B9 Nudge Bar: Once again the Toyota part is not fit for the purpose I wanted it. I was looking to fit a nudge bar purely as a means to mount the spotlights. The Toyota version was too low, did not have a flat section to be able to mount the lights onto and detracted from my hard won ground clearance! A TJM nudge bar solved the above mentioned problems and is indeed proving to be a sturdy support for the lights! The bottom of the bar contains a flat protective steel cover plate that dented when I encountered the 2nd dune! It has now been permanently removed. The plastic Toyota bumper is flexible and absorbs the odd sand dune knock quite well.
B10 Roofrack: We are living in Africa !!! The design of the Hilux roof is such that no available practical fittings are able to support and tie down a rack onto the roof. That is, if you are unwilling to drill holes in your roof. I wanted a sturdy support system for the roofrack and was therefore forced to fit a rail onto the roof so that the rack can be bolted to the rail. This implied drilling holes in my roof to tie down the rail! Questions start forming about where and how Toyota does its South African market research? Or is it a case of Japanese ownership dictating to the local market … ?
C. Driving impressions and ownership feedback:
C1 The build quality is not in the VW league. The quality, fit and permanency of the plastic trim could be improved. I am currently missing some grab handle covers that popped off in the Richtersveld. When this was pointed out to the factory representative during the 20 000 km service, the response was that it must have been damaged by the roofrack fitter! It would seem that Toyota is no longer willing to stand by the perceived quality of their vehicles. In addition I mount my GPS either via the supplied sticky plastic mount or I use presstick. Due to the roughness of the dashboard finish this has proved to be a mistake. There are marks left by presstick I am unable to get off - don’t wanna use solvents for fear of damaging the dash! Be warned on how you fix anything to the top of the dash!
The plastic trim around the rear fenders are very prone to stone chipping, but I prefer to be able to remove, respray and refit them than have the same damage on the actual metal loadbox panels. You win some and you lose some …
C2 The airflow to the rear bench seat of the vehicle is pathetic, having so far resulted in 3 occasions of children vomiting (fortunately with sufficient pre-warning to enable the window to be opened with little mess inside the car). Now I know why the driver has the electric window controls at his right hand fingertips! … and we have learnt to travel long distance with the sliding window open to create a natural flow path and therefore allow air to pass through to the rear passengers. The noise is intrusive, but preferable to sick children!
C3 The air-conditioning is wonderful for the front seat occupants. It is pathetic for rear seat passengers. When the temperature is acceptable for the rear occupants, the front ones are freezing their butts off!
C4 I have 3 children, which means that we use all three rear seat safety belts. The middle one unfortunately is only a lap belt. I consider this a safety risk, particularly as there are competitors in this market with 3 inertia reel belts in the rear. It negates the practicality of having the biggest rear bench seat in its class.
C5 The bodywork is rather thin and prone to denting. In some cases, larger dents e.g. on the wheelarch in the loadbox area, have been dealt with successfully by forcing out the dent from the reverse side (by hand from within the wheelarch).
C6 The fitting of the canopy enables the vehicle to be used as a station wagon. The rear compartment is not used for carting dirt, rubbish or commercial freight, but is used to transport the family camping equipment, clothes, water and food. The canopy was specified with a vent in the roof, serving two purposes. Firstly to provide positive pressure in the load area to eliminate dust entry as far as possible and secondly to allow heat to escape when parked in the sun. It does both jobs admirably, bar the dust entry at the tailgate, due to large gaps between the body and tailgate. These had to be sealed with automotive rubber linings.
C7 Ride and handling is fantastic for a Toyota doublecab! The front OME suspension is great for soaking up bumps and gives a softer ride than the original coils and shocks (even on tar roads), without wallowing. The rear heavy duty OME suspension is remarkably bounce-free when empty. It actually feels like a firm sports car and not an empty bakkie with a one ton load rating. Gone are the days of an Ama-Dubbel-Hop-hold-on-for-dear-life ride! Fully laden it still sags a bit in the rear (up to a point), but handles irregularities in the road (read dongas and Botswana corrugations) very well. Certainly one of the better improvements.
C8 Brake feel is perceived to be rather pathetic for this type of vehicle. Certainly the suspension changes play a role in the front/rear brake balance bias, so that when empty it relies more on front braking power than rear. Although equipped with ABS, I would still argue that the brake pedal "feel" is too vague and requires quite a bit of effort (read stand on pedal a la Land Rover) to bring about short stopping distances. I would have preferred larger discs in front and a set of disc brakes on the rear wheels.
C9 The engine is a jewel! I have always been a fan of a big four cylinder engine as opposed to a small six or five. It is smoother than my wife's VW Touran 1.9 Tdi and having the full torque value available from a theoretical 1400 RPM is great. In practice the engine pulls really well from approximately 1800 RPM. It makes for relaxed travelling over deep/loose sand terrain. Not sure yet what it will do on mountainous / rocky terrain requiring low range 1st gear low rev lugging capability, as the vehicle is nearly 5,3m long and is a turbo-diesel. I prefer to use the Range Rover V8 on terrain such as offroad mountain slopes!
C10 The bakkie enjoys stretching its legs and long distance travelling is comfortably done at speeds of 120 to 130 km/h (GPS confirmed readings). It drives and handles like a big sedan at these speeds (except for the already mentioned braking issue). The driving position is definitely in the comfortable car category, which is amazing for a light commercial vehicle. Toyota got this one right - I can drive a full day without feeling tired.
C11 Towing an offroad trailer or boat is accomplished with ease. The drivetrain combination is excellent with 4th gear being a direct drive and very handy for mountain passes. 5th gear is an overdrive and is not recommended for speeds below 80 km/h. 120 km/h is achieved at approximately 2400 RPM, partly due to the larger diameter tyres.
C12 The big load box is great when catering for the needs of one man and 4 women (Yup, I'm hopelessly outnumbered …). 3+ weeks in Botswana was handled really well, I only had to leave the hairdryer at home …
C13 I have now had wheel studs that broke off on 3 occasions. Due to the design and fixing mechanism through the brake disc it is actually a bolt and not a plain stud. The first bolt that broke I ascribed to an overzealous fitter at a tyre fitment centre, although the owner did inform me that he thought it was rather strange that it broke as they are used to dealing with SUV and 4x4 vehicles and have not often come across such a failure. The second bolt and nut was found missing at Grunau on the way to Botswana. After the trip I replaced all 12 front bolts for fear of further damage and potential disaster. A month later another one broke off and 2 more stretched beyond repair at another tyre fitment centre when the wheels were rotated and balanced. According to initial results my torque wrench (which I supplied to the fitment centre on the last occasion) seems to have been out of specification and overtightened the nuts. I had the torque wrench calibrated and sure enough there was a discrepancy of 20 Nm at 100Nm. So at 120Nm the Toyota bolts stretched beyond their plastic limit. Questions do arise why the bolts seem so sensitive to stretching! Will watch this one carefully! Interestingly I found out that the Toyota Tazz and the Hilux share the same bolts (Tazz has 4, Hilux has 6).
C14 Average fuel consumption is still steadily improving with a 20 000-km average of 12,77 l/100 km or 7,83 km/l. This is more than acceptable considering that 50% of travelling was on gravel and offroad terrain whilst heavily laden (read 2x RTT's, 150 litres of diesel, 80 litres of water etc etc). It is however nowhere near the Car fuel index of 10,6 l/100km or 9,43 km/l. Due to the larger tyres the speedo overreads by only 2 %, therefore my consumption figures are conservative and more accurate than those of the standard vehicle. Reworking my actual consumption back to the original error margin, it still only returns 12,16 l/100km or 8,22 km/l. My conclusion is therefore that the higher ground clearance, canopy, bigger, wider and more aggressive treadpattern tyres and the extra weight of all accessories account for the difference.
D Summary of modifications and gadgets:
The intention is that this vehicle will hopefully last a good number of years and trips, therefore the decision was taken to opt for good reputation, well manufactured commercial components to kit out the Hilux. (As opposed to the previous vehicles kitting out practice of "lap & plak" and adding homemade components as and when needed). This Toyota (my first nogal - yeah, yeah, got the change of religion speech from the Cape Landrover Club …) was to be our pride and joy and the springboard for photography. Therefore we did not want worries about kit leaving us in the lurch in the middle of nowhere. This influenced the following changes:
D1 Tyres changed from 255/70/15 to 31x10.5x15 BFGoodrich A/T's.
D2 Steel valves fitted to alloy rims. Great for tubeless tyres and poor terrain such as mud.
D3 Front suspension changed to OME light duty coils and shocks.
D4 Rear suspension changed to OME medium duty leaf springs and shocks. The leaf springs were upgraded to heavy duty after the first trip.
D5 Rainbow heavy duty polyurethane coating in loadbox. Great for cleaning liquid spills.
D6 House of Henry cotton seatcovers fitted. Magic when you have 3 kids - Wash and wear!
D7 Strengthened Beekman Legend super canopy with vent fitted.
D8 Frontrunner 70 liter 2nd diesel fuel tank installed. (Gravity feed to main tank)
D9 LA Sport protective skid plate fitted as sump and ancillary component protection.
D10 TJM nudge bar fitted and KC Daylighter 6" stainless steel spotlights fitted. The nudge bar works well for fastening a seedscreen.
D11 National Luna 2nd Battery management system fitted.
D12 80 A/h Haze Gelcel battery fitted under bonnet, with two sets of leads to loadbox. One set of 16mm² cable for the 3rd battery (102 A/h Deltec high cycle) and one set of 8mm² for the fridge. The battery is a perfect fit with no movement required of any standard Toyota components / wiring.
D13 Brad Harrison plug points : 1 under bonnet next to 2nd battery, 1 in loadbox for fridge, 1 in rear bumper for external use. This is in addition to the Toyota cigarette and 12V plug points in the cabin. One large BH plug fitted in loadbox to connect 3rd battery.
D14 Burnco rear bumper / towbar combination with removable drawbar fitted.
D15 Hannibal roofracks fitted onto cabin roof and canopy roof. Rear rack has slot for aluminium table.
D16 Hannibal (1.4m) and old Karoo (1.2m) rooftop tents fitted to roofracks.
D17 Hannibal canvass awning (legless) fitted to left hand side (passenger side) of roofracks. Front mounting is on the front of the bakkie roofrack while the rear mounting is on the rear of the canopy roofrack. The fold out design accommodates enough movement to handle the loadbox / cab flex. The critical issue here is to ensure that the mounting points are spaced correctly so as to not stretch the awning or crunch the roofracks.
D18 29 Mhz radio fitted with an external speaker in the centre console. (The radio fits very nicely out of sight - contact me for details) The antenna is fitted permanently to top right hand rear side of cabin (between the 2 rooftop tents).
D19 1300mm long by 1100mm wide retractable loadbox platform slide by JTF Manufacturing with a 500kg payload. There is an internal (underslung) space where an aluminium table slides in. The slide is able to handle a point load of 100kg.
D20 80 liter stainless steel watertank fitted behind cabin (first 200mm of loadbox, hence the platform is only 1300mm) with a heavy duty clear pipe fitted with a ball valve used as a tap to regulate the water flow. Tank has a fuel filler cap, which is not 100% waterproof, but does allow for breathing when using the tap. The tank did crack on the first heavy offroad trip and the design is being changed to accommodate what seems to be major loadbox flex. The tank is now being fitted on rubber mountings.
D21 Platform contains an Engel 65 liter stainless steel fridge and storage drawer unit. Behind the fridge and drawer unit there is space for 3 ammo boxes or alternatively a 3m canvas dome tent and some loose stuff.
D22 Split level platform fitted at loadbox -canopy meeting height (aluminium angle frame fitted with carpeted 10mm plywood). This covers 75% of the load area (100 % minus cut out for fridge) and provides for packing space above the retractable platform on the loadbox floor area. Fantastic for easy access to bottom stored equipment without having to unpack everything on top. Heavy stuff on the bottom, clothes, chairs and light stuff on top.
D23 Both the lower retractable platform and the upper fixed frame contain interlocking aluminium extrusions riveted to the sides. Ratchet straps that contain the same profile in reverse slide into these extrusions to form a really nice mechanism for strapping loose stuff down. A huge plus if you venture on terrible/no road terrain.
D24 2 aluminium saddle boxes fastened on top of wheelarches. The 3rd one fitted to the left rear of the loadbox next to the fridge is large enough to handle the braaigrid, toilet seat, kiddies fold-up chair and braai tools. The 2 wheelarch saddle boxes contain recovery gear, toolbox, spare oil and fuel filters, tyre repair kit including tubes and then has space for a bag of potatoes etc.
D25 Engel temperature gauge fitted to centre console to indicate in cabin temperature and freezer temperature. Nice to know that the beers remain cold … oh and the meat! By the way, the Engel can take 1,5 sheep, 15 kg of sausage plus some bits (sliced meats, bacon, butter etc) and a couple of tins of beer/cooldrink.
D26 The drawer system is my gift to SWAMBO. The front has 4 drawers – 1 large drawer to house a number 4 flatbottom pot that is high enough to handle bottles of oil, sauces, braaisalt etc standing upright. Drawer above the large one is a flat one designed to accommodate all cutlery and kitchen utensils, small salt & pepper pots and herb bottles etc. The 2 right hand drawers are similar in size and are able to accommodate tins of food, cooldrink & beer, packets of soups, breakfast bars etc etc. The real benefit of the system are the 2 drawers fitted on the side behind the front facing ones. They are only accessible when the load platform is extended and are therefore perfect for hiding things that should ideally remain out of sight! For example, each one takes a case of beer tins …
E.
Future modifications still being contemplated:
E1 ARB front bumper (currently the only one available that is certified as airbag compliant).
E2 Winch
E3 HF and/or VHF radio units or combo
E4 Flexible solar panels
E5 Tyre pressure monitor
E6 Rock Sliders
E7 Spare Wheel Carrier (the holes are already in the bumper)
E8 1st Spare wheel (underslung below 2nd tank) lock.
And there you have it!
So far so good.
Does not have the same personality and sound that the V8 has, but I sleep peacefully at night, not having to worry about things mechanical.
An absolute overloading joy for a family of 5.
Will post some images of the mods in due course - the photos are lying on the back-up HDD at home! Will maak 'n plan soon.
Any queries, you are welcome to ask.
Cheers
Herbie Hellström (Herbie.Hellstrom [at] telkomsa.net