We love it when manufacturers do an in-house hot rod, and oddly enough it is Toyota who, for the second time in nearly a year, who have shocked us with something we totally dig. First was last year’s SEMA knockout, a Toyota Camry with a flip body packing a supercharged V8 raided from a Tundra, and now it is this truck, a Hilux. This is the version of the small Toyota truck we don’t get in America, but the rest of the world does, and it’s reputation for durability was in place long before TopGear all but killed a 1988 version. They have done it all, from traversing the Arctic to running up next to an erupting volcano (both of those are also TG stunts), to being the main vehicles for an Australian precision driving team, to being one of the most common trucks used as a “technical” (see also: gun truck). One other element the Hilux has been good in: motorsports, having taken seven South African rally titles and placing well in the Dakar Rally since 2012. So when Toyota created the 1,000,000th Hilux from the South African plant, a plan was hatched to make it one bad mother. The truck, a D4-D model, had the diesel engine yanked and instead the 5.0L V8 from a Lexus IS-F. Tuned up to 449 horsepower and sounding properly angry, the engine provides the proper amount of motivation needed for a truck that is meant to be a slightly more streetable version of the Dakar truck. Adjustable off-road shocks, lower gears, and Dakar-spec Power Brakes discs add to the Hilux’s character. Picture 100 MPH on dirt with no problems whatsoever…that’s what Toyota just built.
