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Retro
Top Gear’s 12 greatest Toyota Hilux adventures
A new Toyota Hilux is upon us, so we’re looking back at our long history with the unkillable truck
The time we cruised through Japan with a 22in lifted one
For a country that’s given the world some iconic off-roaders, opportunities to actually get your tyres muddy in densely-populated Japan are few and far between. That doesn’t stop the country’s four-wheeling enthusiasts from enjoying their machines, though, as we found out last year when we spent a night with a group of modified 4x4s in Sendai, including a Hilux with a ludicrous 22-inch lift. That’s over half a metre, metric fans.
Advertisement - Page continues belowThe time Freddie rolled through Thailand in one
In 2022, in response to the growing UK popularity of pickups, TG TV headed to their spiritual home to see what all the fuss was about: Thailand. Freddie’s transport of choice was a Hilux with a similarly outrageous lift. Unfortunately, his trip was cut short when he came down with an illness that was still in the news quite a lot at the time, but we have little doubt the Hilux would have aced the hay-hauling challenge thrown at the other trucks later.
The time we visited the place that prepares them for the world’s toughest jobs
The legendarily toughness of the Hilux and its Land Cruiser sibling mean they’re relied on by people operating in the most hostile environments on the planet. Conflict zones, mines, remote wildlife reserves – you name it, there’s probably a white Hilux plying its trade in it, and it turns out that most of these stripped-out workhorse trucks come from one remarkable dealership in, of all places, Gibraltar. TG paid a visit in 2022 to see behind the scenes.
Advertisement - Page continues belowThe time we used one to hunt shipwrecks
Speaking of hostile environments, they don’t get much more hostile than Namibia’s Skeleton Coast, where temperatures soar in the day and plummet at night and the only evidence of humanity’s influence are the dozens of hulking shipwrecks that litter the shore. Well, those, and in 2016, a solitary red Hilux that was TG’s faithful transport through this vast, astonishing wilderness.
The time we drove a 6x6 one through central London
Back in 2013, our friends at Arctic Trucks handed us the keys to a 6x6 Hilux they’d prepared for an upcoming expedition to the South Pole, led by then 19-year-old climate researcher Parker Liautaud. Clearly, it had been built specifically for one of the toughest jobs a vehicle can tackle, so how did we put it through its paces? By trundling through Westminster. Look, in our defence, it’s not that easy to just pop to the Antarctic to road test a pickup.
The time we took one to meet Hungarian cowboys
In 2012, to see if adventure was still possible in a continent as seemingly tamed and endlessly documented as Europe, we took a Hilux and pointed it east from Britain, a good 1,300 miles to the Puszta, a vast area of open grassland in eastern Hungary. What we found were cowboys, not in the 19th century western US, but in 2010s Europe. Out there, in one of the last parts of the continent that felt truly untouched, the Hilux felt like an indispensable companion.
The time we gave our long-termer back to Toyota in less-than-standard form
The Hilux we took to Hungary wasn’t just any Hilux – it was one TG Magazine had been running as a long-termer, and which Toyota (possibly foolishly) agreed to us turning into a proper overlander. That saw it kitted out with knobbly tyres, off-road shocks, a winch, a roof tent and more. Of course, in the 13 years since, overland builds like this have skyrocketed in popularity. Just call us trailblazers.
Advertisement - Page continues belowThe time we ripped round the deserts of the UAE in one
It was also 2012 when we caught wind of the fact that the team at Arctic Trucks, having conquered very cold places with the Hilux, was now modifying it to excel in very hot ones too. Shortly afterwards, we were charging around a particularly remote corner of the UAE in one of AT’s desert-spec ‘Xtreme’ Hiluxes, along with a Land Cruiser and FJ Cruiser. Guess what – it was right at home. Once we worked out how not to get it stuck. Ahem.
The time James literally drove one up an erupting volcano
In early 2010, before an unpronounceable Icelandic volcano temporarily sent the skies above Europe back to the 19th century, and its eruption was in its infant stages, TG TV decided to send James May, accompanied by a certain balloon-tyred Hilux, to see how close he could get. Why? Erm… science. Yeah, that’s why. If nothing else, it proved once again that there was seemingly nothing the Hilux couldn’t do.
Advertisement - Page continues belowThe time we drove one to the North Pole
Of course, the Hilux that drove up a volcano had already been quite a bit further north than Iceland, because it had been part of the convoy that helped Jeremy and James make history by becoming the first people to reach the magnetic North Pole in a regular car. If by ‘regular’ you mean ‘kitted out with 38in snow tyres, winches and auxiliary fuel tanks’. Still, a car! At the North Pole!
The time Jeremy turned one into a boat
You’ve already seen that the Hilux can tackle searing deserts, arctic tundras and erupting volcanoes with a shrug of the shoulders, but what about a small reservoir in Staffordshire? Amazingly, the gentle waters of Rudyard Lake nearly proved to be the undoing of Jezza’s amphibious ‘Toyboata’ when some exuberant sailing left it inverted, but not even a dunking like this could kill the Hilux.
The time we did everything in our power to kill one… and failed
Long before we started larking about with it, Toyota had been championing the Hilux’s durability, so in 2003, TG TV decided to put its claims to the test. Cue the purchase of a £1,000 Hilux, which we proceeded to drown, set fire to, drop a caravan on, smack with a wrecking ball and generally crash into the city of Bristol. Oh yeah, then we parked it on top of a tower block. Which was about to be blown up. You know the rest – despite looking decidedly second-hand at the end, the Hilux took it all on the chin, earning itself a permanent display in the TG studio.
