Toyota Built a Hilux F, and It Is Awesome
It seems that everyone on the planet knows about the Toyota Hilux. It doesn’t matter if it isn’t sold in the country you currently reside in, because Top Gear made it famous, and so the name Hilux will always carry a moniker of the most rugged truck on the planet, bar none. Toyota thinks the truck is pretty nifty as well, and that’s why when the millionth Hilux was delivered to South Africa in July, there was cause for celebration, and celebrate they did with a heaping spoonful of V8 goodness.
For the celebration, Toyota’s engineers whipped up a very different Hilux than usual. Instead of the diesel sipping engine normally found in front, Toyota dropped a Lexus IS F V8 motor into it and made it absolutely awesome.
Essentially, Toyota wanted to make a street legal Dakar spec racing Hilux, so naturally they dropped in the IS F’s 5.0L V8, added some aftermarket bolt-ons, lifted it with some trick suspension pieces, and sent it on its awesome way. All in all, this Hilux F makes 449 horsepower and can conquer the dunes like a rock skipping across a pond.
Now if only Toyota would bring one to the states for us to test out.
