The invitation was enticing. We were going to the Red island — the rather primitive, yet quaint Nosy Be island, situated on the northern-most tip of Madagascar, where extensive soil erosion makes it clear why it is referred to by its colour.
To celebrate 35 years of its Hilux range, Toyota held the launch of its special-edition Hilux Legend35 on the island.
The company has left the styling of the turbo-charged, three-litre diesel KZ-TE model largely untouched. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it — and Toyota has proof of the model’s reliability in sales figures. Launched in 1969 with a rather feeble 1,5-litre motor, the range has grown and been improved significantly over the years, becoming stronger and more driveable.
In March international sales of the Hilux topped 12-million vehicles, with current annual worldwide production running at more than 450 000 vehicles. In June total Hilux sales in South Africa were 640 869, with 12 901 of those recorded in the first six months of this year.
The latest model certainly makes a statement, especially with “Legend35” stencilled on its stainless steel front nudge-bar.
Other external niceties in the range include stainless steel side-steps, a silver-finish radio/CD player, stainless steel rear-step bumper, with its pre-wired tow-bar fitting, plus the tasteful decals that clearly identify it as a legend.
Safety features of the Raider Legend35 models include front air bags and an anti-lock braking system on top-of-the-line Double Cab 4×4 models — firsts for this market segment. It also has central locking and electric windows all round.
The Hilux 3,0 KZ-TE protested little at a route that took us up relatively steep inclines and down the other side. Four-wheel drive with difflock simply wasn’t needed at this stage.
When the four-wheel drive in low range was utilised, it made driving even easier.
But this wasn’t the only feature. Those large 15-inch alloy rims, fitted with chunky 245/75 series tyres, provided an incredibly smooth ride, and showed little sign of traction loss during the entire day’s driving. Add to this the standard leather seating, and you’d be forgiven for forgetting that you were driving a vehicle from one of South Africa’s most successful bakkie ranges, rather than in a luxury sedan.
Sadly, Nosy Be island is lacking when it comes to wildlife — a few African Hoopoes greeted us at the hotel, one drongo chirruped its whereabouts briefly, and the all- famous lemurs were conspicuous by their absence. Just one beautiful specimen was spotted tethered to a table in a remote village.
A brief boat trip the following day brought us to a tiny village, where Toyota had enlisted the help of the local community with the cleaning of the 2700i normally aspirated, petrol derivatives.
The company had, in turn, provided several boreholes and thus fresh drinking water for the inhabitants.
The roads were better here, but ahead of us lay numerous bridges in a condition that was far from satisfactory.
Toyota’s off-road gurus saw to it that wooden planks were carried on the generous loading areas of the double cabs, to add to the weakest points of each bridge.
Our vehicle put a wheel wrong on one occasion, which resulted in two planks gingerly supporting a half submerged front wheel, but after engaging the four-wheel drive in low range and using the 108kW/235Nm available power upfront, a little huffing and puffing soon saw us on our way again.
Probably the only drawback is that the front hubs have to be locked manually and one has to disembark from the vehicle to do so.
But you’ll engage them before reaching conditions where four-wheel drive traction is necessary. No doubt Toyota will introduce the auto-locking variety in the next generation of Hiluxes.
The 2700i is a lot peppier in acceleration stakes versus the diesel version, and the buyer faces a tough choice.
Whereas the petrol version is a little more car-like in its driving characteristics, the diesel offers tree-trunk-pulling torque, and an easier driving style, thanks to gear changes at far lower revolutions a minute.
My gut feeling is that the diesel will steal the limelight, even if the fumes prove a little irritating at times.
There are seven Legend35 options available, the extras adding about R8 723 to the price of the standard range (of about R198 113).