Articles by David Morley

Just as not all cars are created equal, neither are SUVs all the same. That's never more true than when you're dealing with a second-hand SUV. Because it's the used SUV that will - after a few years and several thousand kilometres - show up any inherent problems and any other quirks.

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.

Ask any Toyota LandCruiser nut, and they'll know what the 1HD FTE engine is. They might even have a tattoo of that engine code!

The short answer is Crossover Utility Vehicle (CUV). Of course, it’s not that simple, nor are there any hard and fast rules associated with the term, because that’s not how marketing works.

It wasn’t the first Toyota LandCruiser aimed at families, but the 60 Series was a game changer in Australia.

Think the 100 Series and 105 Series are the same? Think again.

When people of a certain age hear the words 'Toyota LandCruiser', the venerable 40 Series is the vehicle that springs to mind.

There’s no doubt that it was the Toyota 40 Series that really put the LandCruiser badge on the map in Australia. But by 1984, the world had moved on and even purchasers of these simple and rugged machines were demanding more. Toyota had already split its focus to arrive at the family-wagon line-up (the 55 Series and later 60 Series) to cope with private owners, but for its fleet and trade customers, it took the successful elements of the 40 Series, went back to the drawing board and sketched up the 70 Series family of vehicles. And of those, the 75 Series was the smash hit.There was still a market for the short-wheelbase (BJ and FJ70) and mid-wheelbase (BJ and FJ73) but as kids got bigger, caravans got heavier, holidays got more elaborate and expectations got higher, bigger was definitely better in four-wheel-drives. Which is why the long-wheelbase 75 Series was the star of the LandCruiser workhorse line-up virtually from the word go.The 75 Series tag was applied to all the long-wheelbase variants including the pick-up, cab-chassis and the Troop Carrier. That said, the 75 name was dropped for those vehicles in 1999 when Toyota facelifted the model. Suddenly, what had been a 75 Series pick up or cab-chassis was now a 79 Series, and a 75 Series Troop Carrier became a 78 Series. Yes, it’s largely academic, although those later cars were much improved with coil-sprung front suspension and longer leaf springs at the rear for much better ride quality. Technically, though, the 75 Series only ran from 1984 to 1999, even though the 70 Series family as a whole is still soldiering on largely unchanged.Like all LandCruisers, the 75 Series was built on a separate ladder chassis with the body mounted on top. It’s a crude way of building a car (even in 1984) but it’s also a good way to make the end result super strong and capable of taking its share of rough treatment without getting bent out of shape (literally). Compared with the 40 Series it replaced, the 75 (as did all 70 Series cars) got a chassis with boxed members making it even stronger and more flex resistant than before.Styling wasn’t a radical departure from the 40 Series either but the dashboard was a huge step forward with a proper padded section and much more modern (and easier to read) gauges. The rest of the interior was still pretty bare though with vinyl seats and floor coverings but, back then, that’s how folks wanted it. The cabin on the pick-up and cab-chassis was a strict three-seater with none of the extra-cab or king-cab thing going on. The dual-cab 79 Series was still many years off, too. The Troopy, meanwhile, could be had in three-, six- or 11-seat layouts with a front bench, a front and rear bench or a front bench and jump seats running lengthways in the back respectively. Folks in the rear of the 11-seat version did it pretty hard, especially as they were sitting side-saddle.The four-wheel-drive system is resolutely old-school. Forget viscous couplings, centre differentials and full-time AWD, the 75 Series got a part-time system with a transfer-case to give two distinct sets of gear ratios. On the bitumen, the vehicle ran in two-wheel-drive. If the track got a bit greasy, you could select high-range four-wheel-drive. And then, when you were hopping over boulders and climbing cliff faces in the scrub (which, incidentally, the Cruiser was very good at) you selected low-range 4x4 and let those super low ratios do their thing. You could also forget about rotary-dials and electronic switches to shift between those modes, too; the 75 Series subscribed to the old mantra that a proper off-roader has a minimum of two gear-sticks.Initially, the 75 Series was available with two engines, a choice of petrol or diesel. The petrol six-cylinder was the 3F with a claimed (but possibly very optimistic) 110kW of power while the diesel alternative was the familiar old 2H with even less poke (76kW to be precise). Both were tied to a four-speed manual transmission and both offered performance that was, er, relaxed. The diesel in particular didn’t actually accelerate; it accrued speed like you or I accrue sick leave.Ride quality with the leaf springs at both ends was on the jouncy side, too, so perhaps it was just as well the 75 was no slingshot. The live axles also contributed to a fair bit of unsprung mass and the way they walked around at highway speeds meant you had your hands full making little steering corrections to keep the vehicle on the straight and narrow. A 75 Series with wear in the suspension and steering is a proper handful.But all that was forgotten when the outskirts turned to the mulga, and the Cruiser was suddenly in its element. It could tackle the toughest tracks with the best of them and soon became the default vehicle for anybody who wanted to go seriously off-road. It’s no accident that the majority of off-road wheel-tracks in this country are 1415mm apart (the exact width of the 75’s track measurement).Toyota gave the 75 Series the diesel engine it deserved in 1990 with the arrival of the 96kW, 4.2-litre 1HZ. Although it lacked the grunt of a modern turbo-diesel, the overhead camshaft design was smooth, flexible and, provided you had optioned the factory snorkel kit, would run under water. And it would do so with just basic maintenance for somewhere in the region of a million kilometres.  A five-speed manual also turned up at the same time.In 1993 the last real facelift arrived before the 75 became the 78 and 79, and at that time, Toyota finally replaced the old 3F petrol with the 1FZ-FE. It was simply a better thing and although it was still a six-cylinder, it was now 4.5-litres in size and made a thumping 158kW of power. It had a fine thirst, however, and you can expect any petrol 75 Series to use at least 15 or 16 litres per 100km on the highway (more if you have a roof rack fitted) while a diesel is a little more frugal at around 12L/100km for the same journey. Both these later engines are excellent off-road, but the main difference is on-road work where the petrol has a much higher cruising speed (well, the later 1FZ-FE, anyway).Toyota also used the 1993 upgrade to fit the LandCruiser with four-wheel-disc brakes which was a good thing in one way; namely stopping power and the fact that disc brakes don’t suffer the same fade problems as drums when you’ve just dunked them in a creek or river crossing. But the downside was that the park-brake moved to a drum-within-disc design and was so prone to getting out of adjustment, it’s become a standing joke among the Cruiser community. It’s no coincidence that 75 Series owners never park their vehicle in neutral.

The Toyota Troopy name is one you may have heard, but questioned. Here's an explainer.

Toyota’s 70 Series of vehicles is a long-running range that makes up the workhorse end of the LandCruiser line-up. Within the series is a variety of engines, body styles and purposes, so it’s best to think of the 70 Series as a family of vehicles rather than a specific car.The 70 Series replaced Toyota’s 40 Series way back in 1984 and has been in showrooms ever since. By then, Toyota had broadened the LandCruiser’s design brief to include family-friendly station-wagons (the 55 Series and later 60 Series) with more comfort, leaving the 40 Series vehicles as the pure workhorses in the range. And that’s the role the 70 Series took over.Back in 1984 when the 70 Series first landed here, the FJ70 (petrol) and BJ70 (diesel) tags related to the short-wheelbase LandCruisers; the BJ73 and FJ73 were mid-wheelbase cars, while the 75 Series cars were the long wheelbase models. Breaking that down even further, the short and mid-wheelbase chassis was available as a two-door wagon/van with a hardtop and a version with a removable fibreglass roof section. The long-wheelbase models consisted of a single-cab pick-up, a cab-chassis and an 11-seater station-wagon called a Troop Carrier. Both the cab-chassis and Troopy are much more familiar sights in this country. There was also a coil-sprung version of the short-wheelbase with (lighter-duty) HiLux running gear called the Bundera (RJ70).The Bundera’s coil springs aside, there was still a lot of 40 Series technology in the 70. That included the body-on-chassis construction (although the 70 got a more robust, boxed chassis design) leaf springs at both ends and live axles front and rear. It also retained the part-time four-wheel-drive system with 2WD, 4WD high-range and 4WD low-range.Engine-wise, the long-wheelbase cars used a carry-over diesel engine, the 76kW, four-litre non-turbo diesel (2H) or the four-litre petrol with 110kW (3F). Four-speed gearboxes were your lot. The 3F petrol six-cylinder was available in the short and mid-wheelbase cars and the top-of-the-range Bundera (the Deluxe), but if you wanted a diesel shorty or middie or didn’t need the bigger six-cylinder, Toyota offered a range of diesel, turbo-diesel and petrol four-cylinder powerplants.It didn’t take long for the cab-chassis and Troop Carrier to become the clear preference for Aussie buyers, mainly because the LWB models had a decent payload (1000kg) were big inside, rugged and reliable and absolutely brilliant off-road. Popular factory options included snorkels, locking differentials and long-range fuel tanks to took the total fuel payload to 180 litres.By 1990, Toyota finally gave the 70 Series the diesel engine it had always deserved when the non-turbocharged 1HZ was added to the line-up. A single overhead camshaft, 96kW and a reputation for being a million-kilometre engine soon cemented the 1HZ’s place in the scheme of things.By 1993, the consumers had voted and Toyota dropped the short-wheelbase models, having dumped the Bundera and mid-wheelbase cars three years earlier. That left the long-wheelbase versions to battle on with a new option of the addition of the 158kW 1FZ-FE six-cylinder petrol engine to help their cause. By now, the standard gearbox was a five-speed manual but Toyota had still not engineered the 70 Series for an automatic transmission. It still hasn’t.The first really big engineering change arrived in 1999 when Toyota finally did something about the crude leaf suspension at either end. At the front, the 70’s still-live axle got coil springs. At the same time, Toyota also fitted longer rear springs which doesn’t sound like much but did make for a smoother ride. Combined with the coil-sprung front end, the vehicle was suddenly a much nicer thing to ride in. To mark the upgrade, the Troop Carrier now became known as the 78 Series and the cab-chassis the 79 Series. A couple of years later, Toyota tapped into the growing recreational off-roader market and offered the 78 and 79 with a modern turbo-diesel; the 4.2-litre, 122kW 1HD-FTE. This was a game-changer because it suddenly gave buyers a diesel option that didn’t need three weeks notice to overtake a road-train and was much better at towing a camper-trailer.Many carmakers would have called the upgrade of 2007 a brand-new model, but Toyota knew that the reputation and goodwill embodied in the 70 Series name was too good to throw away on a 'new' idea. So, for that year, the biggest change in 70 Series history took place.Gone were all three diesel and petrol six-cylinder diesels and in their place came a brand-spanking turbo-diesel V8, and that’s about as exotic as it gets in the bush. Measuring 4.5-litres and good for 151kW of power, the V8 was torquey and under-stressed. And with the right exhaust system it sounded fabulous. Electronic control of the V8 also made it possible for the vehicle to meet Euro 4 emissions targets.The 76 Series wagon was introduced at this point; a five-door conventional wagon without the Troopy’s high roof, plenty of glass area and the same driveline and suspension, including the live axles on which hard-core off-roaders place so much value. It’s a good looking truck and great for families who want something a bit more rugged looking than the 200 Series station-wagon Toyota also offers.These days, the 70 Series soldiers on with the same range with the addition of a dual-cab pick-up that was designed to appeal to companies involved in the recent mining boom. Safety has also been upgraded thanks to air-bags and ABS brakes (although only the single-cab scores five stars for safety) and the five-speed manual gearbox finally got a taller fifth gear for the 2017 model year.But it hasn’t all been progress. There’s no doubt the move to coil springs at the front was a good move, but the switch to five-stud wheels (from six-stud) in the late 90s suddenly meant that everybody who had specced their trailer or van or camper-trailer to use the same rims, suddenly had to double the number of spare tyres they carried for remote-area work.The shift to the V8 was not without its fraught moments early on, either. Some early examples of the V8 liked to drink oil, and owners grumbled about the placement of the alternator (low down in the engine bay – not good for water crossings) and starter motor (in the vee of the engine, below the intake and injection gear).But possibly the biggest moan over the years has been the different track front to rear on 78 and 79 Series Cruisers. The bulkier V8 engine forced Toyota to widen the engine bay and, therefore the front track. Suddenly, that meant that those bush tracks formed by a million other LandCruisers were now the wrong width for the new model. More importantly, the rear track stayed the same as before, so now the rear wheels didn’t follow in the tracks made by the fronts. In sandy country, this made for harder going as the rears couldn’t ride on the sand packed down by the front tyres.But really, these are minor gripes and shouldn’t make the fact that the 70 Series has survived so long in a relatively unchanged form any less amazing in such a tough market.Wondering what the body-type model codes are for the current LandCruiser 70 Series line-up? This should help:LC76 - Five-door wagonLC78 - Troop Carrier / TroopyLC79 - Cab-chassis