Ute Advice

Replacing a legend of any sort is a tall order. But when the legend in question is Chevrolet’s celebrated small block V8 engine (which ran from 1954 to 2003 in Gen 1 and Gen 2 forms, powering everything from Corvettes to pick-ups) then any engine family attempting to replace it has enormous boots to fill.

There’s a famous advertising catch-cry in North America: `Yeah, it’s got a Hemi’. And that five-word phrase was enough to gain the attention of performance-car lovers in no uncertain terms.

Despite much of our motoring history being dominated by six-cylinder engines, it’s no secret Australians love a V8 engine.

When you think Ford Ranger, you don’t exactly think performance vehicle, but that hasn’t stopped some owners from treating the mid-size ute as such, especially its formidable Raptor flagship, which is actually a lot slower than most realise.

After safety, a vehicle's fuel-efficiency is one of the major factors in a car buyer's decision-making process.

It looks like we're going to be stuck on our island continent for a little while. Not that it's really a problem because between the exceptional beauty of places like the Victorian High Country and the remote paradises of northern Australia, we have pretty much everything we need for a great escape right here. 

In 2020, the Toyota Tacoma celebrates 25 years as one of the United States’ most popular pick ups.

If Santa isn't going to be parking a new set of wheels in your Christmas stocking, then it's time to take matters into your own hands.

The Holden Colorado may have departed from showrooms, but you can still breath new life into the Lion brand’s venerable ute thanks to a wide range of aftermarket parts and accessories. 

There’s nothing too top secret about how the Toyota HiLux got its name way back in 1968. But there is a degree of irony involved. From a 2020 perspective, anyway.According to Toyota’s official source on such matters, HiLux is simply the merging of the words `High’ and `Luxury’. So where’s the irony? Everywhere you look, because that original N10 model of 1968 was anything but high or luxurious.Based on the Hino Briska (Toyota took over Hino in 1967, the year before the first HiLux) the N10 was also actually assembled at the Hino plant and it (the car, not the plant) was small. At 4.3 metres long and 1.5 metres high, it was about the same size as a current-model Toyota Corolla, so hardly the hulking, 5.3-metre long behemoth we now know as a HiLux. You could forget about four-wheel drive back in 1968, too; the HiLux was a rear-drive two-door pickup or nothing.And luxury? Well, given that the N10 was still the subject of vinyl floor coverings, a column-gearshift and a shapeless bench seat, it’s fair to say that limousine duties were not part of its design brief either.What the HiLux did provide Toyota with, however, was a franchise that not only replaced the old-fashioned Stout ute range, but also allowed the Corona and Crown brands to revert to being passenger cars rather than having a foot in both passenger and commercial camps. Yep, it seems odd, but both the RT40 Corona and MS45 Crown models were available as utilities at the same time as the HiLux launched.Oh, and don’t make the mistake of thinking, even though it’s the dominant body style these days, that the HiLux was Toyota’s first dual-cab ute. Because it wasn’t, and the Corona, Corona Mark 2, Crown and Stout could be had in dual-cab form…after a fashion. And significantly, all before the HiLux arrived in single-cab form.Back then, The Stout was available in a three-door layout (two doors on the passenger’s side) as could the Crown. The Corona dual-cab was available in two and three-door variants and, like the others, featured a fairly tight rear bench seat that was accessed by the split-bench front seat in the two-door version. Naturally, the tub on these dual-cabs was shorter, but that’s something with which dual-cab ute owners still grapple.The all-new HiLux that is hitting Toyota showrooms about now might not owe much to the original concept, but at least these days, it truly lives up to the origins of the name.