2012 Toyota Hilux preview | CarAdvice

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2012 Toyota Hilux preview

By Karl Peskett |
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CarAdvice has been able to secure a 2012 Toyota Hilux to give you a preview of the soon-to-be-released model.

This is the base dual-cab 4×4 model with the continuing 3.0-litre diesel automatic, and inside it’s much of the same. You now get steering wheel audio controls included in the redesigned steering wheel, as well as a new stereo head unit which includes USB input at the base.

Voice recognition will be a boon for those who need to make phone calls on the run, too.

The air conditioning controls are now knobs instead of fiddly dials, no doubt making it easier for workers with gloves on.

While the interior quality hasn’t improved with plenty of hard plastic still abounding, upgrades to the seats and door trims have made it a nicer place to sit. The padding seems to be thicker and more bolstering is on offer.

The rear seats are still snug, though, with Volkswagen’s Amarok easily staying best-in-class for rear seat comfort.

Under the bonnet, the 3.0-litre diesel remains in service, and underneath the Hilux appears to be almost the same as the previous model. Certainly the sheet metal for the sides is exactly the same as previous, while the front bonnet is the only panel changed.

Front and rear light assemblies as well as the bumper and grille have been changed for a more pleasing look.

The qualities that make the Hilux the best selling dual-cab 4×4 ute – its rugged and solid build, its dependable drivetrain and its tough undercarriage – all seem to be still there. But with competition hotting up and most of the car being a carry-over, has Toyota done enough to keep buyers interested?

We’ll bring you a full drive report as soon as possible.

 


 

  • Nath746

    Toyota, Please update the engine, and that steering wheel looks like it came straight from the Aurion. Hardly an update, keeping everything except the front lights…

    • Steve

      Cut + Paste the 2011 review and save yourself some time CA.

    • The Truth

      I have a feeling Toyota know there is no point doing anything significant to the current Hilux package, as they just can’t match what’s on offer from VW & the up coming Ford T6 Ranger. Whatever they do, they will not be able to match those for performance and inclusion with the current model they have. But Hilux sales means too much to Toyota to do nothing, and I’m sure they are already working on a completely new package … the question is .. just when will that be released ?

  • jr

    Meaningless facelift

  • Jimsim

    Still destroys Amarok in reliability. Lets see how many hilux’s make it past 250,000kms compared to Amarok… Easy answer that one.

    • Andrew M

      How many Amroks have fallen to bits already??

      Dunno, since you have an easy answer to how much of a POS the Amrok is perhaps you could prove some reliability stats

    • hugespud

      Pitty about the clutches and the expensive injectors that we go through at work with these things.

      • Phil

        You know, “expensive” injectors that may or may not be failing on Amoraks right now would not actually be expensive……they would be free…….they have a warranty you know…..

        • Golfschwein

          He’s talking about the Hiluxes, Phil. Injector and clutch woes have become a known quantity, it seems. I’ve seen separate references to it here from other users.

  • Ima Hogg

    No stereo Controlls on the steering wheel at the moment. Even that Great Wall has them.

    • The other Brad

      Actually.. it looks like there are stereo controls. The wheel looks identical to the Aurion steering wheel. The 4 buttons to the left of the center of the wheel control volume/stations/tracks (on the Aurion).

    • Phil

      Copied and pasted from the article you are commenting on Hogg…..

      “You now get steering wheel audio controls included in the redesigned steering wheel”

      • Ima Hogg

        No I meant before it had none. Not now. I would have thought it would have had it before the update

  • Rumps

    Of course the Hilux will be more reliable for now after all they’ve had generations of the cars, the Amarok hasn’t been on sale for even a year yet. But give it time, I think the Amarok will prevail.

    • Robert Ryan

      Australia is one of three major markets for the Amarok. Argentina and South Africa being the other two. In both Argentina(where the Amarok is built) and South Africa, the sales have been pretty poor. VW has to realistically look at what they did wrong with the Amarok.

      • mch62

        Give it more power and torque!!!

        • Toxic_horse

          More Torque!! have you driven one of these?
          Torque is one thing these are not lacking , in the Deisel anyway.

      • Rumps

        What they did wrong would be the price, and also the image. The problem I guess is that being a VW is projects a very premium image and of course that might drive away (excuse the pun) the potential buyers towards the Hilux and the Triton.

        Also price-wise, $65,000 and even $68,000 for a top spec Ultimate isn’t cheap, not even the base is cheap.

  • Matt

    The VW hasn’t even been out for a year and your complaining about reliability? Toyota are still selling a 30year old car at new prices, just look at the air con switch lol. Bang for buck amarok any day…

    • Golfschwein

      Tee hee. Not to mention the very nifty eighties-style slide control for the air vent. It’s only just prominent enough.

  • KD

    Gotta love the finish of the “insert new air conditioning controls here” panel.
    SHOCKING!

  • http://caradvice OSU811

    No word on if they have finally replaced the old 4 speed auto in the diesel with the 5sp???

    • Gibbo

      Judging by the photo of the instrument panel, I’d say it still has the 4 speed auto – to the right of the speedo is the gear indicator which reads d 3 2 L.

  • nickdl

    Now I know why Toyota tinted the windows of the show car so dark that you couldn’t see the interior. Because it’s exactly the same as the old one!!!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1435885244 Yani Hendriawan

    it looks terrible

  • Sonic

    Only Toyota can make a new car look more boring than the last.

  • Andrew M

    Why is Toyota one of if not the richest auto company in the world??

    Becuase they keep dishing the same thing time and time again to keep their R&D spend down.

    They wold want to watch they dont come too complacent as the market now prefers individuality and emphasis on a specs sheet.

    A lot of the other manufacturers are also starting to shake the fleet barrel which was once the Hilux’s bread and butter.

    • Phil

      Well at least their commercials have changed somewhat since the 1980s which is more than you could say for Mitsubishi’s Express van which hasn’t changed.

      • Phil

        Actually I’m wrong. The Landcruiser 79 hasn’t changed. It’s basically the same as it was in…well 1979.

    • Lukaas

      AndrewM

      Stats showed recently showing Toyota spending over 2+ Billion on R&D which is on par with VW show you do more whining than researching.

      And also, you’ve heard of dont fix it if its not broken…. well I think in this case, Toyota’s motto is… dont change it if the customers are happy with it.

      So many people want Toyota to put so many changes, but the buyers are happy with it. Sure this can mean these buyers are going by reputation or past experience… but it also means that the majority KNOW what they want to pay for.

      When Amarok or some other UTE/Pick up set sales records with some fancy feature or great specs pushing Hilux out… then and only then it would make sense BUSINESS wise to up the ante.

      Real car enthusiasts wouldnt care about a Pick-Up like the Hilux anyways, these are WORK cars and WORK/tradies input says they are happy with Hiluxes (mostly).

  • Grr

    So they’ve used the front grill off a landcruiser and the steering wheel off an Aurion – Big fail toyota! stop the cosmetic stuff and just pump out a completely new one. Amarok is looking better and better each day!

  • Sven

    Any one who buys this…has got no sense… common sense that is..

    Toyota has the ability to bring out a updated model, that makes the previous model look better.

  • Scotto

    The SR already had steering wheel controls and Bluetooth.

  • Robbo

    Needs more grey plastic :-P

  • Altezza

    That air condition control fascia, the colour was not matched to the rest of dashboard interior colour. Even worst than Great Wall. Truly shocking for a Toyota!

  • nugsdad

    Sorry was going to leave comment but fell asleep before I got to the bottom of the article

    • a

      Either you’re lying or you really read the article if you managed to get to the bottom and posted the above message.

  • Y

    It’s pricing structure is dirt cheap when purchased as a fleet car and grossly overpriced when purchased as a private car. This is to keep the resale value up to attract droves of fleet buyers. U’ve got to have rocks in ur heads to buy it privately.

  • Trav

    hugely disappointing, it’s the same bloody car as it has been for years and years, nothing has improved, the competition has moved ahead, people blind to the toyota badge need to shop around and try the superior dual cab utes on offer.

  • Golfschwein

    If I had to, I wouldn’t. I’d go Ranger or Amorok, too.

  • Grr

    Lazy, Lazy, Lazy Toyota!
    Do they only employ desingers that know how to Copy & Paste??

  • Μr Gaspo

    You would only buy it for reliability.

  • paulb

    Hilux is worthy of its hard won legend status in Australia.But the competition is already tough with Triton,Navara,Amarok.The exciting Ranger and BT50 just around the corner.

  • Don Quay

    Let’s see what we have here-
    - 4 speed auto, most others have 6 speed
    - lap belt in rear, most others have lap/sash belts
    - old tech diesel, outclassed by all competitors
    - 2 airbags only (please correct me if wrong) most
    others have six bags
    - ESC not available on all (any?) models, most
    competitors have it available or standard
    - top of the market prices

    Move along, nothing worth seeing here.

    • farmer

      the current SR5 has ESC and i think the SR might be getting it as well.

      The diesel engine is good we have 2 farm utes (first of this model) that have done close to 200,000 and no prob at all. Tourque comes on early but it should of been upgraded to the same as Prado along with a 5 sp auto.

      We have had hilux’s for yrs cause they are so good but the new ranger is looking better everyday….

  • Brayden Cresswell

    That Interior………

  • Runuts

    Guys guys guys stop your petty talks about stuff I don’t know anything about. This car is a bottom of the range hilux the top of the range hilux comes with a tonne more features than offered on current hilux including sat nav, auto climate controls, stability control, brake force distribution, and 6 air bags and upgraded brakes on the outside the car is completely different from the windscreen faward with new bonnet grille larger bonnet scoop new head lights grille and bumper inside the seats are changed as well as a new dash and instrument cluster there will be a all new hilux with in 3 years. Those people put there who have driven a Toyota hilux will understand the quality and reliability of a hilux can not be beaten along with pure enjoyment to drive. The diesel engine has plenty of power from the word go unlike other car companies that offer huge numbers of torque but only make them at high revs which is useless. But quite simply u can either afford a hilux so u buy one and get the best ute on market or u get on here and whinge about it cause u can’t afford one

    • Con the Construction worker

      Exactly Runuts, we have dozens of Hiluxs’ at work on our fleet for reliability, quality and resale. Until the current spec Navara, every 2nd one had injector and clutch problems, and major fleet companies weren’t impressed (know of even government organisations who will not deal with Nissan again). Ranger and BT-50 are woful, Triton very cheap and nasty off-road. Up to my 3rd 4×4 T/D SR, last one had over 200 thousand kms when work swapped over and hadn’t missed a beat given the shit we put them through!

  • MRL

    Sorry, but grafting the front end of a 90′s Cressida Grande onto the front of an 8 year-old ute isn’t going to fool anyone Toyota.

    With the next-gen Hilux still over 3 years away, the Amarok already on sale, the T6 Ranger coming in a month or so, and the GMI-700 Colorado coming in Q1 (along with it’s RT-7 Isuzu brother), the Hilux doesn’t stand a chance of keeping it’s market share.

    • Graeme

      Gee MRL you seem to be all over this one !

      Could you not afford a Hilux ? Oh i guess you have a Tata in the garage.

      • MRL

        I’ve owned two current-gen Hilux’s – I bought the first one in 2005 when it first launched, then another in 2008 when the previous facelift came out. That’s now due for replacement too, but it definitely won’t be with another Hilux this time – I’ve already spent close to $100,000 on this generation, no way I’m forking out another $50k for the same thing with a Cressida front-end on it ;)

        For all those quoting the Hilux’s “legendary reliablilty”, that was all lost when the current platform launched – now they’re just the same as anything else on the market – after 100,000KM’s (right when the warranty expires) everything starts to go on them.

        They don’t build them like they used to..

  • Al

    Disappointing that there is very little change to these utes but that is only because I would like to have something new to play with. Lets face it, the hilux is a tried and tested design. The motor is made to run at levels that do not create stress on the motor, which is why they are still running in 300000km. If you want blistering speed, buy a V8 with Nitro. I can get up and going in the hilux fast enough do do all things safe enough for my needs and I travel about 120k a year in a SR from city to the outback. The towing capacity is rated in a realistic manner. 2.5t I believe this new one is? What do you want to tow that is over 2.5 and still believe it is safe in a ute?

    I think in 3 yrs we will still see the Hilux sitting on top of the market share pile unless one of the others come out with something really special, and even if they do it will take a long time to prove they are not all flash in the pants but can keep on providing reliable service for many years as the Hilux has done for so long.

    • Graeme

      Great comment Al – you know the facts its a pity these knobs out there have no idea !!

  • Graeme

    All these people who state the Amorock is better than the Hilux. Do you own a Amorock ? Or is it too expensive ? All in all the Toyota product is the highest selling ute in the world and will continue to be for a long time. Thats right get on the VW band wagon but when it comes down it it (ie actual sales) the Amorock will sell no more than 200 units per month in Australia. Wow thats setting the sales figures a light !!! Watch this space and you will find the Toyota product has a lower list price than the previous model and watch the sales figures go through the roof !! Get a grip folks the Amorok is just a ute with torque it will not last in the bush !!!