Toyota HiLux 2006 News

A Federal Court case has been launched against unscrupulous importers of bogus brake pads as Toyota tries to locate the dodgy parts.

Toyota HiLux tops the list of Australia’s most stolen cars

Toyota issues its seventh recall in six months, doubles up on one from last year.

Toyota has issued a global safety recall on 6.58 million vehicles, with the impact hitting the popular Hilux ute, RAV4 SUV and Yaris small car.Statements issued by Toyota Australia today said that 179,000 of the Hiluxes built between April 2004 and December 2009 have been recalled for a defect that could see a cable between the steering wheel and  column sustain damage when the wheel is turned, activating the airbag warning light and preventing the driver's airbag from deployingA separate safety recall on 118,600 of the Yaris hatches and sedans built between June 2005 and May 2010 is to fix a defective seat track spring on the driver's and front passenger's seats. The statement says the spring can break and become stuck, giving the false impression that the seat is properly locked in place.In the meantime, the Yaris can still be driven but if there is any difficulty in locking the seats in position, owners should contact a dealer to arrange an inspection. The repairs will take about 1.5 hours for the five-door hatch and sedan, and about three hours for the three-door hatch in which the front passenger seat will also have to be removed.The number of RAV4s being recalled is not yet confirmed. Toyota says neither of the problems with the Hilux and Yaris have resulted in any accidents or injuries in Australia. Vehicle owners are being contacted by Toyota, but can get more information on the brand's campaign helpline on 1800 643 242. 

There has been a rash of locally developed high-performance off-roaders such as the Ford Territory FPV F6 and Toyota's HiLux TRD. Now Holden Special Vehicles is looking to get in on the act.

The countdown has begun for Toyota's push into Ford and Holden's heartland. The new TRD contenders will be in showrooms within four months and the Aurion V6 and HiLux have been out for final verification work, as they are prepared for battle against SS Commodores and XR Falcons. More signs are also pointing to a V6 RAV4, that shares its 3.5-litre engine with the Aurion, becoming the third TRD model. The two confirmed starters are familiar to anyone who has been to a major motor show this year, but still the HiLux looked impressive when photographed last week. The TRD operation is now moving from test and development into full-scale assembly work being done in Melbourne by Prodrive, which also holds the rights to fast Ford road cars in Australia. The Aurion will be out first and, even though the HiLux is confirmed for November, Toyota Australia is still trying to keep full details secret. The car is likely to be available from September; the press preview drive is scheduled for late August. “The car is coming in the third quarter. At this stage, that's all I can say,” Toyota spokesman Mike Breen says. “It's all done. It's ready to go. You have basically seen it at the motor shows. It's supercharged V6 et cetera.” The first TRD Aurions have already been ordered, Queensland police taking 11 for highway patrol work. They will join a batch of regular Aurion Sportivo V6s already in police paint. The HiLux is more subdued than that unveiled at the Melbourne Motor Show in March, but still promises plenty of go with a similar supercharged engine. “The HiLux is in November,” Breen says. “It is undergoing final testing. It's the 4.0-litre petrol engine, supercharged.” Toyota has confirmed the TRD Aurion is quicker than expected, using a new Eaton twin-vortices supercharger packaged in Melbourne by Harrop Engineering. “Total engine performance is one of the key positives of the TRD Aurion package,” TRD Australia chief engineer Stephen Castles says. “The TVS unit has performed really well and definitely helped deliver the engine performance we need.” Work on the engine has also been done by the Orbital Engine Company in Perth, which focused on testing and component development.  

Both, if confirmed for the 10-day show at Brisbane's Convention Centre, are expected to be dual cabs and neither are far from the production lines.For the motoring world has discovered, rediscovered in some cases, the versatility of the four-door ute with either two- or four-wheel-drive. The big differences in the 21st century interpretations of the dual cab (aka crew cab or double cab) are the attention to a family's comforts plus a little more performance for the weekend jollies.The first dual cabs, back into the days of Nissan's Bluebird utes, were basic affairs and more for the local mob of railway fettlers than mum and the kids. These were hose-out machines, plenty of vinyl and painted steel panels inside.They were neither fast nor furious machines, but pluggers with some torque for lugging loads. Engine noise and differential howls determined top speeds.Today there is a growing band of stylish, more comfortable dual cabs which manage to retain a work ethic. These are two- and four-wheel-drive utes, Japanese-designed and often Thai-built.There's the ageing Ford Courier, Mazda Bravo and Mitsubishi Triton. There is the middle-aged Holden Rodeo plus the newer Toyota HiLux and Nissan Navara.All now arrive with a petrol V6 engine option.In the case of the Holden, around since 2003, there is now a new V6 — the 3.6 litre Alloytec engine as found in the Commodore. The move adds some fresh appeal to the Rodeo mob.Here it is tailored for commercial applications, delivering 157kW at 5300rpm (10kW more than the old 3.5 litre V6) and 313Nm at 2800rpm. There is flatter torque curve than in the passenger cars, plus the option of an upgraded four-speed automatic or new five-speed manual transmission..Top of the heap is the LT crew cab machine, driven here with new V6 and four-speed automatic. In black, the Holden Rodeo is certainly a handsome machine, even if it is not quite as radical in styling as some rivals which have arrived since 2003; setting off the paintwork here is a new alloy wheel design.It is a nice, flexible ute with good road manners and a modern, comfortable interior with six-stack CD player bonus.There remains some rear end bounce without a load and sometimes the Holden feels a little narrow-tracked but it holds itself well among the current crop.There are indications fuel consumption should be better than the outgoing engine, and the Alloytec V6 is never found wanting in day-to-day conditions.The automatic transmission is smooth but there are some questions about the indistinct gate on the shift lever; reverse was sometimes hard to place and, moving off, this driver often grabbed third rather than drive.But for $36,490 this is a stylish and useful machine, even while there remains that workhorse rear end.