TRD Hilux 4000SL vs. LS3 HSV Maloo R8 Review

In the dry, it’s fine, in fact it’s fun and so long as you’re not on a winding road you’ll no doubt enjoy the brutish power on tap, but if you find yourself with an empty tray on a rainy day then the lack of ESP, TCS, EBD and EBA will see maintaining course about as difficult as attempting brain surgery with your right foot.

TRD HiLux is indeed still somewhat useful as a workhorse and maintains its application as a utility vehicle rather well, but when it comes to offering a credibly sporty drive, either on or off road, that healthily tractable and flawless delivery has been left by the wayside.

Fuel economy is said to be a semi-respectable 12.9 litres per 100km which although achievable, is highly unlikely to be maintained given the uncontrollable temptation to stab the right foot over and again. Lest I mention the 15.8 litre average we managed for the best part of last week.

Improving the handling of sport utility vehicles without compromising carrying capacity is an impossibly incongruous task and in this instance swapping the standard shock absorbers for superb Bilstein monotubes and re-tuning the springs to slightly reduce ride height, was supposed to give the TRD HiLux a flatter roll axis, better distributed front to rear balance and crisper handling dynamics, it just hasn’t happened. The handling is simply too stiff to put weight on the wheels and unless loaded, driving the TRD is one long drift session.

 

Upgraded front brakes with increased disc diametre and four pot calipers stop TRD HiLux with confidence and provide a progressive feel to the pedal with decent levels of feed back and rapid response on initiation, surprising when you consider there’s drums up back. Fade resistance has been greatly improved and when hauling up the stoppers time and again through twisty alpine roads I was impressed at just how sure the brakes felt, even after being given a considerably hard time.

Next page…