Boosted Falcon

Ladies & Kents,

So I've ended up in a new Hilux after years of Ford ownership.

It's an SR HiRider with a premium bullbar, tow pack, tub liner, and an SR5 sport bar that's been powdercoated (got it for free - an SR5 buyer had opted for a canopy).

Why a 4x2? I don't see myself ever needing a 4x4 for my interests/destinations, but I do need a dual cab for work/life and I do need clearance. I'll be driving this for the next 10 years or until it breaks (unbreakable?) so resale isn't an issue.

Possible future additions include tint, spotties, diff lock, tub power socket, rear spotlight for tub. Maybe a mount for a .50cal in the tub and "TOYOTA" in arabic on the tailgate? Will see how I go.

Pics below:





















\m/ MetalFerrin \m/









Yes, Toyotas still come with 80s digital graphics <TRON>





Cheers

Dave

تويوتا

Nice upgrade sir! I tip my hat at thee! 4x2, so it'll cut hoops at Deni? Get the decal on the back first though! So diesel? What do these things go like? Also, seeing as it's a Toyota, rename title to McFrylux.

The only thing I have questioned Toyota about it the black steel wheels. What tha?

MCFRY!
Fujitsu-san!

Haha, not going to Deni, I might bump into Frost. Anyhoo it goes better than the old 3.0TD, & although I've done 300kms of mixed driving I'm averaging 8.3L/100km so far.

Yeah the black steelies only work on white WorkMates and (IMO) my SR's setup, a bit of a brave move by Toyota on that front.

Makes me sad... Ranger for life yo

^^^ haha, so many have asked "why not Ranger?" - mainly Boosted kents & AFF djents

Staff discount at Toyota - for purchase, accessories, & future - kind of helped seal the deal. So many people hate the stockies though

If I had no set budget I would've gone an XLT. But coming back from an OS holiday, paying for a deck the size of my house to be built whilst OS, then getting a new car once back in Oz kind of drained the coffers.

Actually I take that back on the XLT. If I had no set budget I would've gotten a motherflippin' Dodge Ram.

If anyone has Q's regarding the Hilux (vs the Ranger - from my experiences with both), I'm happy to give pros & cons for both, I'm not at all biased

My long serving, Hilux worshipping supervisor underground bought a Ranger after seeing all the photos of mine, then driving both Xtra cabs back to back.. f.cker even got it the same colour as mine

That sounds like you two can drive in to night shift together in convoy <3

Pictured: night shift

What happens underground, stays underground.

lol, underground right in the mineshaft.

My night shifts are kind of quiet, I feel I should sign up to an app like "BOILR" & search for Operators that are near me. Searching for "Miners" could get me in trouble...

Deep, deep in the hole..

I came for the comments and they delivered lol

Looks good Dave, the "Toyota" in Arabic idea is

Thread of the year!

Cheers phalluhs!

The good wife scored some IPF900 spotties for cheap last week, & I swapped a couple of slabs for her auto elec friend to hook them up out-of-hours. I opted for an aftermarket switch rather than the official one. Toyota's idea of an official switch is a square flick button to be drilled into a round blank plastic pad. It would've looked like an aftermarket LPG setup from the 90s. Anyhoo the aftermarket one fits perfectly into a rectangular blank where there are existing buttons (T/C, idle up, etc), & the only way you can tell it is aftermarket is the backlighting is green rather than factory blue.

I'll take photos tomorrow when the ute's back - it's getting tint today through another contact of Jen's.

It's still typically averaging 8.3L/100kms, but dropped to 7.7 on a hwy trip yesterday.

My only regret to date with this ve-hic-le is not getting [MCFLUX] personal plates - I just got A-series re-issue Vic plates that were probably last seen on a Kingswood.

Next time you fill up, work out your fuel consumption by k's traveled to litre's used. That's bloody good if it's anywhere down near that.

Roughly 720-750kms to 60L, so low 8's L/100kms.

I still need to figure out why I'm only filling to ~60L.

That's amazing.

That consumption fits within the official figures yet many people - journalists & forum members - state they've experienced consumption in the double digits? Maybe this is the case for auto 4x4s? Yet consumption figures for auto 4x4 3.2 Rangers amongst forum members vary from double digits to low 7's.

Here's photos of the tint & spotties:







The spotties really do add a 3rd level of lighting. Low beam does what you'd expect, high beam throws light fairly well out to the sides but doesn't really punch out into the distance. The spotties fill this hole nicely. I'll try to take some photos with my decent camera one night.

Not bad! Just need some wheels
They do look better with that bull bar.. the stock bumper with that new front end is horrible!

Dunno if you've seen.. people are cranking decent power out of these little diesels, into the low 12's 1/4 mile too!

Cheers Parfrey! Low 12s? I just can't picture it!

Commando wrote:Roughly 720-750kms to 60L, so low 8's L/100kms.

I still need to figure out why I'm only filling to ~60L.

So the average fuel consumption is continuing to drop, down to 8.0L/100kms now. Light throttle & no AC most of the time, country road driving.

As for the 60L fill issue, I've been told that the factory tank has a weird bottom-half shape to it, leaving about ~15L of crevices/low points. The fuel needle float is calibrated for the top 60-65L of the tank where the shape is consistent. This could get annoying on long trips, having to guess he fuel left in the tank when the needle's on E & the DTE is zero... So for now I'm just filling when I hit zero.

My 2012 triton 4x4 4cyl turbo diesel auto gets 10-10.5 that's combined


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So I've been using the tub a bit.



Pushing the friendship with legal loads.



Baby got back(yard)

With the shed half-full, plus this load, it looks like winter might be sorted already!

Love loading them up.

Look like she takes it from behind like a champ!

Hi,

Nice Hilux. I was wondering if I could ask you more about the 4x2 option. I will shortly be looking for a dual cab myself. Mainly for daily duties, I need a ute, the towing ability (for track car) and something to take our camper away with. Worst I figure it will see will be mild off road duties to get too and from free camp sites which I think that a properly and carefully driven 4x2 should be able to take care of.

How far have you gone with yours? Any issues with only having 4x2?

Thanks

G'day,

I'll start with the negatives:
* The number one let-down with the Hilux 4x2 Hi-Rider is it's a pegga. This embarrassed me at FarmWorld last year when it pegged its was across the hill slope & I was forced to park with the other 2WDs, and once I nearly got bogged in a slushy grass carpark at a winter footy ground. Those are the only two times though where I've needed a lockable (or limited slip) diff.
* The 60L needle range is annoying considering it's an 80L tank, I've taken it to maybe 100kms beyond "empty" & it took 67L.
* The DPF clean, when it activates, shits me, but only because I reset the fuel consumption with every tank & watch the fuel consumption rolling graph as I'm driving. You see the consumption go down, down, down then all of a sudden the DPF clean starts, it spikes & plateaus for 5-40 minutes & you just watch the average consumption go up, up, up, before DPF stops and the average gradually drops again. I think it does a DPF clean roughly once every 500kms.
* I'm still convinced the SR's suspension is a bit harsher than the father-in-law's 2013 SR5, and outside of town probably a tad harsher than a Ranger XLT.
* The touch-screen's Toyota navigation stuff is a bit shit, but I only have an SR & they have something that's halfway between static maps & proper navigation. I also have an older iphone which isn't the best for pairing with vehicle bluetooth/USB in general. If the touch screen could hook up to Google or Apple it would be A+. The touch screen in general is pretty good, excellent sound quality & easy to use.

Pros:
* They get the same suspension as the 4x4
* Can tow like a champ
* It bashes through the paddocks/undergrowth at home with no dramas.
* I have not had a single mechanical or electrical problem with the Hilux.
* Highway average drops to low 7's (before the DPF kicks in), long-term all-round average is 8.2L/100km.

I haven't had a chance to take it camping yet. The tub (behind the wheel arches) is large enough for a double swag but I'd need to make up a half-stand with legs for the rest of the double swag to sit over the tailgate.

I've towed trailerloads of soil, gravel, rubbish, and have chucked bins, firewood & furniture in the tub. The only way you can tell you're towing something is when you hit the brakes.

I have driven it on some fairly rough tracks. Clearance is the same as a 4WD, its biggest issue would be getting bogged the same way a pegga car can get bogged. If funds allow, then in the future I may spend some coin on an e-locker diff.

The dogs love the tub, I tie them to the headboard and they sit on a Bunnings rubber ute mat I cut to shape. The SR5 bar helps with the dogs, but hinders if you wish to load stuff in the tub.

I've recently topped 30,000kms. 95% of the time is to/from work, but I've driven it in Melbourne traffic & it's good on long roadtrips for comfort. It has cupholders everywhere & a chiller compartment above the glovebox.

I am the only person I know of who has a 4x2 Hi-Rider, so that tells me that if I needed to sell it I might be in for a hard time. Having said that I've seen quite a few Ranger XL/XLT Hi-Riders around, and a mate has an XL Hi-Rider workhorse with a diff lock (air locker?). In direct comparison against an XL the SR is far comfier/better-appointed, but as a workhorse I think the Ranger's diff lock is a better thing to have. His 2.2 is a slug, my 2.8 shits all over it.

I hope that answers all your questions, feel free to hit me up with more questions if you have any

Cheers

Dave

Holy shit this thing makes mine look fairly fey:

Thank you for that. Sounds like with an LSD or a locker it would be a pretty good thing. there are some guys taking 2wd utes fairly far, seems like it would do what I need.

Keep the updates coming. Will keep an eye out for how you go.

I honestly think that if these had an LSD/locker there wouldn't be many places they couldn't go.

If I end up camping soon I'll try to take some en-route pics of the tracks I can tackle. One day a couple of months back I was scheduled for night shift, but I must've shit the bed as I was wide awake by mid-arvo with SFA to do between then & night shift. So I left for work early & on my way to work I detoured into the pine plantations and bashed around, hitting massive potholes or felled trees at speed. The Hilux took it all like a champ. As long as there's grip for the pegga it will go anywhere/through anything.

Some other thoughts I've had:
* Toyota in practice don't slash RRP of new cars - a $40k car as Dealership A will also remain at $40k at Dealership B. But keep an eye out on particular Toyota-wide specials that they do where they either knock a few grand off a specific model for a month or toss in a bunch of accessories for free. Your only bargaining power between competing Toyota dealerships would be either with a trade-in, what accessories they're willing to throw in, or what finance deal you can get.
* The 2.8 puts out about 1/3 less CO2 than the Ranger's 3.2, which (for those who care) adds up over the lifetime of the car.
* The 4x2 Hi-Rider option is only available for SR & SR5 models. Manual or auto, 2.8L TD only, dual cab only.
* There was $4k difference between the Hi-Rider & 4x4 SR dual cabs.
* Normally dual cab Hi-Rider SRs & Workmate 4x4s RRP for the same. Note the Workmate has a 2.4TD.
- New Workmate 2.4TD = 110kw / 343nm
- New SR/SR5 2.8TD = 130kw / 420nm
- Old 3.0TD = 120kw / 343nm
- I think Toyota's 2.7 petrol carries over from the old model (Workmate only), and the 4.0V6 is only available in auto SR5's (except Hi-Rider).

With the new 2.8 vs the old 3.0, I've taken both my 2.8 SR & my F.I.L's 3.0 SR5 (both manuals) for a strap, & the SR canes the SR5. Also with gearing, the old 5th matches the new 5th for revs, with 6th knocking another 400rpm off at 100.

The fuel economy has always been done in Economy mode, which must alter the throttle response & the fuel consumption. I'll try a few tankfuls under Normal mode, which is noticeably more responsive than Economy, to see where its average fuel consumption winds up. I won't bother with Power mode as it's far too eager to lunge forwards under light throttle (leaving little in reserve past half throttle), and I only use it when towing heavy loads.

The 2005-2015 Hiluxes look & feel agricultural inside & I can see where they've lost ground to new generation Rangers & their ilk. They have lost ground to make up with the new Hiluxes, but the new models are actually modern on the inside. My opinion is the Workmate/SR interiors are of much better quality than the Ranger XL/XLS, and while the SR5/SR5+ interiors are well-appointed the XLT/Wilktraks beat them out with extra tech/gizmos. You should take a Hilux for a test drive & compare it against other dual cabs on the market.

Hopefully I can chuck some pics up of the Hilux doing interesting things, because it'll mean I'm actually doing interesting things rather than just going to/from work in it.

Cheers

Dave

That will be great. I will be keen to see how it goes. I really think I am leaning towards one of these as a 4x2. As long as it can fulfil the camping roll.