Super Charged TRD Hilux

[timewaster]

Found this on the ExploreOz site, had to check I wasn't taking our signman's thunder as there is a member at eo with the same name.
http://www.caradvice.com.au/9915/2008-trd-hilux-unveiled/

Christian.

[Hilux Max]

Not as crash hot as it looks so dont get too excited. Yeah the supercharged engine is nice but the rest of it lets it down. The front bumper styling is also OK.

Heres a pic of the engine -



Its gonna be selling for around the 70 grand mark, so personally I reckon you gotta be nuts to dish out for it.

I do like the leather trim on the seats thou the rest of the interior styling is also a letdown. For that sort of money you'd expect alot more quality and nicer additions to it.

The rear sports bar is just a painted SR5 unit, so hit a few times with a steam cleaner and watch that black paint come off.

The Mags I reckon look "pox", thou they are 17inches in diameter, I think off the top of me head the tyres are 265/65x17 which 'technically equates to 30.56 inches in diameter, thou they do look bigger than that especially in the front guards.

They used Bilstein shocks, and because of the slight increase in height of the tyres, they dropped the suspension slightly to retain the same centre of gravity as a standard SR5, due to lawsuit because of rollovers in the USA.

TRD was held back alot in what they could do "finance wise" and they couldnt get the vehicles at a wholesale price (so Ive been told) which is why the vehicle won't be competitively priced.

each to their own at the end of the day, personally, Id love to see someone get one and fit a 4" snake racing kit, and squeeze in some 35's......

Oh, and they only come out in auto.

[shane308]

well after reading that im even happier with my diesel SR5, surely theres not to many people that will pay an extra 20k plus over an SR5 just for s/charger and leather

[Hilux Max]

spot on mate. thats why there are over 300 TRD Aurions sitting around a car yard waiting to be sold. they've only sold 8 of them nation wide....shocking.


Mind you the Aurion is a fantastic vehicle to drive and if you ever get the chance to take one for a spin you should try it out, dont let the front wheel drive put you off.

Its the final price of both vehicles that will be the demise unfortunately of this TRD experiment.

That, and senior execs not wanting to listen to what the grass roots wants, technicians engineers and customers included.

[Mike.]

i saw the trd at the brisbane motorshow and it looked like a sr5 with a front bumper, leather seats and a supercharger put in. It still had the standard side panels on the door and there wasnt anything that fancy

you could buy the new sr5 and do all that and still have 15k left over instead of paying out.

personally i think the trd cars are a bit of a stuff up. I think they tried to make them more of a name like "i have the trd hilux you only have the sr5"

[camwill69]

Dito to Mike's comments. I saw the Hilux at the Brisbane show as well and was very diapointed. The interior had no flow to it as Mike said, with the standard SR5 door cards made it look like they just stuck some leather in it. Apart from that it's an SR5 with a super charge, front bar,wheels,bilsteins and painted over chrome.

Not for me thanks.

Regards,
Camwill69

[Stu-k]

They would have to upgrade the brakes/driveline at least

[10K]

I agree with everyones comments... seems an awful lot of money for what little your getting.

Does anybody know how much power it will have, and what kind of revs it will develop the power at?

The standard V6 has heaps of grunt anyway, and you could put a nice set of extractors and a exhaust and probably have a similar amount of power? I can't imagine this motor producing anymore than 240kw??

Otherwise most S/C kits are about $8000-10000 installed with exhaust, intercooler and around 250-300kw... I'd bet a lot more than the TRD will have.

To compete Toyota has to offer a upgraded brake package, better interiors and some accessories that aren't just painted.

Having said all of this I don't doubt that these will sell quite well, much better than the Aurion. Aussies don't want a front wheel drive car which is that big with loads of power. I'd bet if the Aurion was RWD it would sell like hotcakes.

For $70K you could buy an SR and kit it out with good suspension, wheels and tyres, supercharger kit, bullbar, winch and lights, dual batteries, LR tank, leather interior, roll bar and still have enough change to upgrade the stereo, put in a GPS and drive a long way on a good holiday.

Time will tell if the TRD Hilux is a sucess!!

Cheers
Matt

[Hilux Max]

spot on 10K, I told some of the TRD blokes meself that you could get the same amount of power that the supercharged engine is going to produce with a different exhaust, mild intake mods, and ecu upgrade and have heaps of money left over. But then again, the fact that its supercharged is the selling point.

they Buggered it up I reckon.

[10K]

Out of interest I spoke with Sydney City toyota today, some interesting stuff indeed!

They are not sure, but are of the opinion that the TRD Hilux will come in two spec levels, as with the Aurion TRD model.

The S and the SL. The SL is a 'luxury' model and will have the leather seats, maybe Sat Nav and a sunroof?

The pricing difference on the Aurion S and SL is about $7000, with the S coming in around $65000, and the SL at $72000. The top of tyhe line normal Aurion is about $50000.

The sales guy was pretty sure that the pricing would be on par with the Aurion, so you would guess between $60-65000 for the TRD Hilux S, and about $7000 more for the SL. The SL will only be available in the grey, and the S in white, red and black... appartantly!


They have confirmed orders for the Hilux's, but can't sell the aurion for love, nor 4.9% finance!! This guy had 4 deposits already... without driving it, or knowing the final spec!

The first deliveries of the TRD Hilux's should be in April.

Maybe MMAAXX can confirm this information with his TRD buddies, and tell them to fire up while they are at it and put out a decent TRD Hilux, and maybe a Turbo Diesel model!

I reckon that kind of money is crazy for such a low spec vehicle. Give me a SR and $30000 anyday!

Cherrs
Matt

[Hilux Max]

I agree with the last sentence 10K.

I fired up at TRD as Ive mentioned before early last year when they I was involved in a "feedback consultation" group thingy with toyota employees to gauge interest in the TRD and what they think should stay and what should go before they finalise specs and all.

I filled out 3 pages of changes I thought they should do and reasons why with my contact details at the bottom should they wish to consult me further.

Unfortunately, the final spec isnt far removed from their original idea....which is sad really, and unfortunately the TRD technicians and designers hands were tied.

Mainly due to budgets available to them.

Have heard that if they do sell, then there "may" be a diesel version down the pipeline.

in the beginning it was a choice of three different types of hilux's they were considering to build.

The first one was a single cab 4x2 with a smooth tub, 19" mags and spoiler kit to go against the XR6 turbo, cant remember the 2nd version and the third one was this one.

I tell ya what, the leather seats in them are very nice, but I havent seen any yet with a sunroof.

[camwill69]

Just had a look at the TRD web site and the same guy that designed the Hilux must have designed the web page. Not real user friendly.

It would have to be the worst web site I have ever visited. Bugger all info on the TRD Hilux and the info for the Aurion is hard to navigate.

You are so correct 10K. $30K can go a long way to building a hot Lux.

The only thing I did find is that the price diff between the S and the SL is only $4510 not $7000. But still can not see where that money goes.

Regards,
Camwill69