As if you need to ask. This is Top Gear royalty, a status earned through its remarkable ability to repeatedly cheat death, as it did in a series of cruel and gratuitous punishments on TGTV more than 20 years ago. Now in its ninth generation, this new Toyota Hilux soldiers on like the previous eight — still unstoppable, and still flatly refusing to break down.
Yep, the Hilux is dining out on that reputation to this day, and rightly so. Why else do you think the third tier trim is called Invincible? Although this latest version is more about incremental improvements to the comfort and tech offering than surviving a new type of telly-based torture.
What’s changed?
Same basic packaging as before, same suspension set-up before, but the interior has been given the Land Cruiser treatment and the exterior has had a significant makeover. We’ll let you judge the slimmer headlights and mesh grille for yourself.
Inside Toyota has grabbed all the low-hanging fruit it could get its hands on: the front seats feature new padding and thicker upholstery, and the steering wheel has been redesigned for additional comfort with thinner spokes and – hallelujah! – reach adjustment. Electronic power steering is available for the first time on a Hilux to reduce the risk of kickback and increase the weighting at speed for better road manners.
The dashboard welcomes a cooled storage cubby and hidden cupholders on the flanks, while the screens have swelled to 12.3in apiece running Toyota’s latest (rubbish) Smart Connect system.
Underneath, the side rails of the frame have been thickened and front crossmembers fiddled with to account for the EPS and front diff. The front suspension consists of independent double wishbones with MacPherson struts, while the rear gets rigid rear axle leaf springs. No change there then, except the suspension towers welcome an extra fitting point to deal with the increased front axle load, the damping has been tuned to reduce impacts, the anti-roll bar is more rigid, and the front spring rates are new.
Meanwhile, there are new mounts for the engine and cabin and more spot-weld points to help reduce vibration and improve responsiveness. The electronic parking brake is new, and the new brake actuator is said to be more durable. And breathe.
So nothing fundamentally different then?
Not massively. The 2.8-litre 4cyl diesel engine with 48v mild hybrid assistance is your only option and like before it’s good for 201bhp at 3,400rpm and 369lb ft between 1,600 and 2,800rpm. Having said that, Toyota claims it’s marginally quieter and smoother than before, with fuel economy creeping up to 28.8-29.1mpg and CO2 falling slightly to 254-258g/km. No manual this time – it’s a six-speed auto only now.
It’ll accelerate from 0-62mph in 11.9 seconds, which is nearly three whole seconds slower than the electric one.
Woah, woah, woah… electric one?!
Did we not mention that? The toughest, most robust pick-up ever to roam the earth now comes with a planet-friendly zero emissions powertrain (and there’s a hydrogen one in the works for 2028). Check out the filled-in grille, 17in aero wheels and lack of wheelarch mouldings in the grey Hilux below…
Like the diesel it’s body-on-frame, but the 59.2kWh (54kWh usable) water-cooled battery has been slotted into a newly designed subframe with reinforced side rails and an extra crossmember at the back to protect it from torsional forces. An undercover guards against knocks from below, though ground clearance falls from 309mm in the diesel to 212mm here, and the break-over angle drops to 20 degrees.
The front and rear motors produce 110 and 173bhp each, but total 193bhp combined; torque amounts to 152 and 199lb ft apiece. Permanent all-wheel drive is fully variable front-to-rear, replicating the diesel’s two-, four-wheel drive and low-range ‘box. Both axles are reinforced and fitted with undercovers.
A traditional propshaft would’ve compromised the size of the battery and reduced range, so Toyota has fitted a de Dion rigid axle with leaf springs at the back. Wheel articulation of 500mm, a wading depth of 700mm, and approach and departure angles of 29 and 24 degrees are identical to the diesel; at 1,845mm tall, it’s 20mm shorter.
Toyota insists it went through the same rigorous testing as the regular pick-up, though we’re yet to see the footage of it being hoisted onto a high-rise stuffed with explosives.
There’s an elephant in the room. You’ve not mentioned the range.
Ah yes. It’s, um, 159 miles WLTP. Whichever way you cut it, that’s pants.
Basically, the reason it exists is that Toyota has been getting more and more calls from forestry, airport and ferry terminal types for a zero-emissions option; single-location jobs that only involve a tiny amount of driving. And with corporate bods fretting more and more about their carbon footprint, contracts are increasingly contingent on ZEVs. So Toyota has entered the fray. Non-business interest is likely to be negligible.
The irony is that a chunky kerbweight (2,420-2,625kg, compared to 2,175-2,375kg for the diesel) means a payload of just 715kg, way down on the one-tonne threshold needed to count as a commercial vehicle and therefore a VAT write-off. Oops. Though it does qualify for the £5,000 Plug-In Van Grant and it attracts the lowest Benefit-in-Kind rate. So there’s that.
Load space is identical to the diesel, but it’ll only tow up to 1,600kg versus 3,500kg (braked) for the combustion one. It’s double cab only regardless of powertrain, though a tax-friendly two-seat configuration is set to join the five-seater later in the year.
I dread to think what it costs…
Ready? It’s priced from £57,845, not including the PIVG discount. That compares to £42,845 for the base-level diesel, or £48,545 for the like-for-like Icon model. Invincible X – which is the top daddy of Hilux trims – is £54,095. All of those numbers include VAT, so knock off 20 per cent if you’re reading this with a company hat on. Click on the Buying tab for more on prices.
The Hilux’s arch nemesis is the more measured Ford Ranger, although it faces competition from the agricultural Isuzu D-Max and posher VW Amarok. The Ranger has gone down the plug-in route for its CO2-limiting kicks, while the D-Max has an EV version that’s a tad more expensive but crucially hits the one-tonne payload mark. The Maxus eTerron 9 is pricier still, but far more potent and rangey.
We loved the Hilux before, and we love it now. Toyota’s immortal pick-up truck is just as rugged and adventurous as it ever was, monstering its way through rough ground like Erling Haaland sprinting towards a team of Under 9s. Only now the interior is more up-to-date and it makes life easier in many subtle but important ways.
Having said that, Toyota hasn’t shown much ambition for this Mk9 and while the electric one no doubt serves a purpose for a niche audience, it’s hard to reconcile the Hilux’s go-anywhere nature when anywhere carries the asterisk of ‘within 150 miles’. The EV’s ride is also markedly worse. Good job you won’t be going far in it then.
Toyota also hasn’t addressed its technology problem: the Smart Connect infotainment system that appears throughout its line-up is sub-par and irritating to use. Bet it wouldn’t survive a wrecking ball to the face, either.