The first reaction many would say (including me initially) is OVERKILL seeing people wearing diver watches when in reality that they’ve never been ‘diving’ even on the kitchen sink. Same goes to overly large fridges and the same thing goes to pickup trucks. Now why is that?
The last pickup that rocked my mind was none other than the Nissan Navara 2.5 turbo-diesel! With four of my mates on board, at around 4.00am I still remember, that bad boy trucker easily climbing up an undisclosed construction up hill with surface covered with anything but muds without even flinching. And once we’re done with our so called myth busted experiment, we took it out for a short sprint having a bad taste beng-up Vios for early breakfast. I was so sure that kid driver must have gone straight to mommy to cry over the river hehehe
But Navara isn’t the once I’d like to rant over err no but the Toyota Hilux 2.5 turbo diesel is. It’s commonly known that Toyota Hilux is the favorite transport of choice of unker Pua Chu Kang and of course the Talibans. It’s one of the very few that can take you almost anywhere anytime with up-time reliability probably surpass well almost anything. Now this beast is my parents’ favorite mode of transport and definitely I've had a plenty of go in it :)
Considering that I’ve been driving lots of hatchbacks for quite sometimes, getting into the Hilux makes me feels like a midget trying to tame a Godzilla, not a GTR Godzilla but Godzilla size Godzilla....
Not just this, this thing is just almost impossible to be parking friendly, not just to the driver but the covered car park as well. This is the first time I went to covered shopping car park fearing that I will scrap the upper concrete and almost none of the parking space I’ve been that can actually fit this thing.
Don’t bother to talk about driving dynamics because it excels straight As on the wrong side of the road. Yes the steering feels exactly like maneuvering a sinking boat and it rides crushingly horrid. Probably things work better off road doesn’t swell right on road unlike a Range Rover.
That’s not it, apart from Avanza, I truly think the interior built quality especially the material used for this Hilux is mimicking a lot like the Viva. No, I'm not kidding. Toyota of today is no longer the Toyota of yesteryears that’s for sure.
But once I started to actually drive this beast, just like the Navara, this Godzilla really moves! The figure did say 144bhp and 343nm. Given the mass of nudging 2 tonnes and yes it does feels like it on the move, though not Navara level, the way it pulls reminded me of my old Satria GTi when it was standard. On Auto still! It gives me goose bumps first time I drive it. And I can count how many times I get this 1) shotgun ride with friend’s 300+hp fwd Satria GTi boosting along Persiaran Surian when the surface was wet 2) Flat out the Pocong along Ulu Yam with no inch to spare on the throttle 3) almost sliding into a ravine at old Gombak road 4) Witnessing my mechanic doing wheell on tricked Wrangler powered by 2JZ…..that’s it I think.
And, it was during this recent raya season that this truck transported my family from KL to Jitra within 4 hours including a stop for breakfast driven by my MOM! Scary to believe yes but it’s true because my brother who took Air Asia flight only needs to wait about ½ hour for them to pick him up at Alor Setar airport which they themselves dropped him at the KL Sentral station for hitching a bus ride to LCCT 4 hours back then.
People say diesel fed engine save fuel right? But that’s not the case for this Hilux, I think, because it needs RM90 worth of diesel to reach there. Hell that’s RM20 more than what my Pocong needs on Ron97 fuel for the same range and same cruising speed.
Even with so many flaws from what I’ve seen, I still like it in fact I think it’s a cool car for common people can afford. Given that traffic jams are getting crazier by the day, I think it would be a good idea to have one so that I can sneak out from it through dividers and slope contours. You can’t hardly say pointless to have 4wd on city roads can’t you? And of course it has given vertically challenge people like to feel like 6”3' :)
The last pickup that rocked my mind was none other than the Nissan Navara 2.5 turbo-diesel! With four of my mates on board, at around 4.00am I still remember, that bad boy trucker easily climbing up an undisclosed construction up hill with surface covered with anything but muds without even flinching. And once we’re done with our so called myth busted experiment, we took it out for a short sprint having a bad taste beng-up Vios for early breakfast. I was so sure that kid driver must have gone straight to mommy to cry over the river hehehe
But Navara isn’t the once I’d like to rant over err no but the Toyota Hilux 2.5 turbo diesel is. It’s commonly known that Toyota Hilux is the favorite transport of choice of unker Pua Chu Kang and of course the Talibans. It’s one of the very few that can take you almost anywhere anytime with up-time reliability probably surpass well almost anything. Now this beast is my parents’ favorite mode of transport and definitely I've had a plenty of go in it :)
Considering that I’ve been driving lots of hatchbacks for quite sometimes, getting into the Hilux makes me feels like a midget trying to tame a Godzilla, not a GTR Godzilla but Godzilla size Godzilla....
Not just this, this thing is just almost impossible to be parking friendly, not just to the driver but the covered car park as well. This is the first time I went to covered shopping car park fearing that I will scrap the upper concrete and almost none of the parking space I’ve been that can actually fit this thing.
Don’t bother to talk about driving dynamics because it excels straight As on the wrong side of the road. Yes the steering feels exactly like maneuvering a sinking boat and it rides crushingly horrid. Probably things work better off road doesn’t swell right on road unlike a Range Rover.
That’s not it, apart from Avanza, I truly think the interior built quality especially the material used for this Hilux is mimicking a lot like the Viva. No, I'm not kidding. Toyota of today is no longer the Toyota of yesteryears that’s for sure.
But once I started to actually drive this beast, just like the Navara, this Godzilla really moves! The figure did say 144bhp and 343nm. Given the mass of nudging 2 tonnes and yes it does feels like it on the move, though not Navara level, the way it pulls reminded me of my old Satria GTi when it was standard. On Auto still! It gives me goose bumps first time I drive it. And I can count how many times I get this 1) shotgun ride with friend’s 300+hp fwd Satria GTi boosting along Persiaran Surian when the surface was wet 2) Flat out the Pocong along Ulu Yam with no inch to spare on the throttle 3) almost sliding into a ravine at old Gombak road 4) Witnessing my mechanic doing wheell on tricked Wrangler powered by 2JZ…..that’s it I think.
And, it was during this recent raya season that this truck transported my family from KL to Jitra within 4 hours including a stop for breakfast driven by my MOM! Scary to believe yes but it’s true because my brother who took Air Asia flight only needs to wait about ½ hour for them to pick him up at Alor Setar airport which they themselves dropped him at the KL Sentral station for hitching a bus ride to LCCT 4 hours back then.
People say diesel fed engine save fuel right? But that’s not the case for this Hilux, I think, because it needs RM90 worth of diesel to reach there. Hell that’s RM20 more than what my Pocong needs on Ron97 fuel for the same range and same cruising speed.
Even with so many flaws from what I’ve seen, I still like it in fact I think it’s a cool car for common people can afford. Given that traffic jams are getting crazier by the day, I think it would be a good idea to have one so that I can sneak out from it through dividers and slope contours. You can’t hardly say pointless to have 4wd on city roads can’t you? And of course it has given vertically challenge people like to feel like 6”3' :)
Adik ku yang mereng besides the Beast
