The Toyota Hilux is the first pickup to get a hybrid version, with its top-end Invincible X double-cab truck getting battery backup for the first time.
Before you get too excited about the best pickups finally catching up with passenger cars from the 2000s, it is the mildest of systems that only provides a bit of support to the traditional massive diesel engine. This is hardly a Toyota Prius powertrain slotted into a pickup body.
There will still be benefits to the new system, however, with the 48V battery providing a useful amount of backup to the engine, making it a bit quieter, smoother and easier to drive, Toyota says.
It offers a boost to off-roading ability at low speeds, not least by reducing the engine idling speed from 720rpm to just 600rom. It also offers assistance when you are setting off and braking, making the driving experience more composed and smoother. It replaces a conventional starter motor, and helps improve the stop-start system in urban traffic. Fully charged, it provides an extra 16hp of power and 65Nm of torque. The overall power of the system remains at 204hp, though, so the truck’s main stats don’t change.
More off-road modes
The hybrid system also brings another first for the Toyota Hilux, as it is the first of its kind to feature the Multi-Terrain Select system, which allows you to tweak various settings for different scenarios.
The six modes are Sand, Mud, Rock, Dirt, Deep Snow and Auto, and each offers a slightly different setting for the drive force, suspension and brake pressure, optimising it for the various under-wheel situations.
Sand, Mud, Rock and Auto are all available when the Hilux is in low-range L4 setting, while all bar the Rock mode are available when it is in high-ratio H4 transmission range. Auto is, as the name suggests, able to use sensors around the vehicle to monitor the road conditions and adjust the various settings.
Sand mode moderates the power, providing more or less depending on whether the vehicle is in high or low gearing, to ensure you don’t get stuck in low-traction conditions. Mud mode will actively encourage wheel spinning to help maintain progress on low-grip surfaces. Rock mode, however, works to suppress tyre slippage and will move power to the other wheels should two tyres lose contact with the ground.
Fundamentals remain the same
The basic elements of the Toyota Hilux remain unchanged, although the hybrid system is only offered on the automatic version of the highest Invicible X trim. It will not replace the plain diesel model, however – that will still be available with the manual gearbox.
The Toyota Hilux 48V hybrid is on sale now, with pricing starting at £41,432 (not including VAT).
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