What’s So Special About The Toyota Hilux?

The Toyota Hilux has been declared the world’s best-selling car. What’s behind our love affair with this rugged jack-of-all-trades?
Parking moguls, Indigo UK, used data compiled by Best Selling Cars Blog to give us the most popular cars in the world. According to the data, the most popular car in the world was none other than the used Toyota Hilux for sale. The Japanese manufacturer produced the best-selling car in 25 countries. As the world’s favourite car manufacturer in general, Toyota took the top spot. They have 11 best-selling models in 54 different countries.

It’s little surprise that South Africa was included on the list of used Toyota Hilux aficionado’s. We’ve all felt that sudden rush of terror as we’ve looked up into the rearview mirror to find a Toyota Hilux with a Free State license plate roaring up on us. Even the folks over at Top Gear are huge admirers. You may remember, they once attempted to destroy a 1988 diesel model by crashing it into a tree, assaulting it with a wrecking ball, submerging it in the ocean, setting it on fire and eventually – well, you’ll see.

You can watch their futile attempts for yourself in Part One, Part Two and Part Three. The Toyota Hilux, or Truck Norris, as those witty Randfonteiners call it, is certainly one mean machine. Built to survive and designed to last, there’s little wonder why the world loves them.

Toyota Hilux – The Poster Child For Indestructibility

Robustness. Reliability. Peerless off-road capability. Value for money. These are some of the attributes people love about the Hilux. They’re the Nokia 3310’s of the automobile world. Not only that, but it’s widely regarded as impeccable on-road, too, as well as safe. It’s efficient, lighter on fuel than you would think and incredibly user-friendly. It’s the ideal vehicle for hard-working people such as farmers or builders, but the level of luxury customization can afford also makes it appealing to everybody who simply appreciates a good ride.

They’ve always been built as body-on-frame vehicles, meaning that the body is fitted on top of the firm steel frame construction. This makes it stronger than most modern cars, where the body and frame are one. It has strength – able to carry anywhere from 860kg up to 1405kg in the tray itself. Underneath, 4x4 versions come with a number of heavy-duty protection plates shielding the major components. It’s pretty difficult to assail the invincible reputation of this vehicle. The launch of the Toyota Hilux in 1968, however, happened to coincide with a form of Third World conflict the world had never seen before.
The Hilux is so frighteningly dependable it even has a war named after it. No kidding. It’s called the Toyota War. In the final phase of the conflict between Chad and Libya, a Chadian army equipped primarily with Hilux’s outmaneuvered, outdrove and indeed outgunned a far greater Libyan force armed with aircraft and tanks.
If you want to be in the driver’s seat of a mean machine like the Toyota Hilux - test drive one at Group 1 Used Cars. We know you want to.

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