Friday, March 29, 2024

Toyota Hilux Surf

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Brief history of Toyota Hilux Surf

Hilux Surf was first introduced in year 1984, a production of Toyota. Toyota Hilux Surf is more of a road transportation type of automobile. The car is the modified version of the existing model Hillux. Instead of creating entirely new vehicle, few medications were made in Hilux and new model was launched as Toyota Hilux Surf.

The first generation of Hilux Surf was created by adding fiber glass top which can be changed. This was a feature which distinguished Hilux Surf from Hilux. The production took place between years 1984 – 1989. The Hilux Surf had dash board features similar to Hilux. The changes in Hilux Surf were seen in the rear side of the vehicle. The model had some drawbacks which resulted in some problems later on. In order to overcome these drawbacks, some major changes were made in year 1986. To make more room in the engine region and to drive at good speed on highways, the frontal axle was changed to front suspension axle which was independent. The first generation Hilux Surf was similar to that of Hilux pickup.

The second generation of Toyota Hilux Surf was introduced in year 1989. This model was created from year 1989 to 1995. The automobile was again designed but the main model was kept same as Hilux pickup. In this model, the entire body was solid steel, which was different then Hilux pickup which had top made of fiberglass. The second generation Toyota Hilux Surf was five doors automobile. Rear coiled spring suspension system was introduced in this generation. A three door model was launched in year 1990 to 1992, but they did not catch the attention and were discontinued from production.

The tail gate doors generally opened upwards with the window glass closed. In second generation of Hilux Surf in order to open the tail gate, the window glass was needed to retracted, and then the tail gate was opened. In year 1992, there were some minor changes made to Surf to update the model. New Aero headlamps were introduced and the single front side bumper was introduced. During this period the body of the vehicle was widened with huge wheel bases. These changes separated Hilux Surf from Hilux pickup automobile.

The third generation Toyota Hilux Surf had similar looks of second generation Hilux surf, but these were changed with major changes made in the looks of the Surf. The exterior body and chassis received huge make over, which separated it from the second generation car. In this generation of car, the body design was more inspired from land cruiser and nothing was taken from the Hilux pickup model. The changes of third generation Surf were:
• Spacious interiors
• Long wheel base
• More cargo space
• Twin airbags
• Coiled spring suspension system
• Lift up tail gate
• ABS brakes
• Rack pinion steering

Introducing central differential feature made four wheel drive possible even on hard surfaces.

The fourth generation Hilux Surf model is more modern and advanced, but still retained some similarity with third generation. The model was introduced in year 2003 till now. It contains basic idea of Land Cruiser Prado type of model.

In 2009, the fifth generation of Hilux Surf was introduced and it was a big hit worldwide. The model is popular in both types of travel, off road and normal city roads.

Hilux Surf is well known for its sturdiness and reliability. The Toyota Hilux Surf is also referred as indestructible car by its owners. It can sustain very well in rough use and abuse. The car has successfully passed all the crash tests and has proved to be one sturdy vehicle to drive off road and in city.

31 COMMENTS

  1. the old Hilux surf is a very useless car, not on the road esp gravel roads. I dont know about the new one.

  2. Well, its a good start in writing articles about Automobiles. But in this day and age it would be nice to include fuel consumption and carbon emissions for the later generations. And try to stick to standard engineering terminologies. Like, what do you mean by “….. the frontal axle was changed to front suspension axle which was independent”?. Is it not simply that ‘the front Axle was replaced with independent suspension?’. But don’t despair. Keep going. Its nice to break away from politics.

  3. Agreed , Wikipedia has articles on most of our popular cars like the Toyota Mark 2 , but it would be great to have local reviews and opinions, including the vehicles’ reliability and the availiability of spares . For example the UKs’ favourite cars are very different from cars in the USA .

  4. The Latest ISUZU 4×4 is much better compared to the latest TOYOTA 4×4. These TOYOTA guys are sometimes stupid, most of these vehicles like MARKII, CHASER, CRESTA, VISTA etc the engines are just the same, what differs is the body appearance & fuel consumptions. Even NISSAN NAVARA is much better than the latest TOYOTA.

  5. For The IZUZU Rodeo has a big loadbay and generous equipment, while its diesel engine is comparatively smooth.

    Against The bouncy ride and plasticky interior are disappointing, and the Rodeo comes with the bare minimum of safety kit.
    NAVARA

    For As a pick-up, the Navara’s large load bay and composed handling are key attributes. The Double Cab can seat five in comfort, too.

    Against There’s a fidgety ride and we have some reliability concerns. The rear of the King Cab version is very cramped. These are from UK ” What Car ” so I don’t know what I think . I will just have to try them myself ………

  6. its true the first and second generation surfs are not stable on the road esp’ the tar which is bumby and has pot holes. it can easily lose balance if you are too fast and you heat some bump. but i like it in the offroad. it has done well for me esp if adequately loaded. this feature of counter weights to balance the car is also on these new Toyota Hilux D4. Thats why most mishaps along Kitwe-Ndola dual carraige way are these Toyota Hilux. I should think the fifth generation surfs which have 1KZ engine which is same as the one in Toyota Prado are more stable on the road and more reliable. the other important feature this article is missing is the issue of the turbo and intercooler. the second generation surf has turbo but no intercooler so they get so hot easily and you cant go so fast on

  7. cont’d…. the intercooler cools the hot air that is recycled to the engine via the turbo charger. this feature enhences the power of the engine especially uphill. so the latest surf should be a good vehicle as articulated. i agree with one blogger who also mentioned that these articles should give more details on these vehicle as regards, size of the engine vs fuel consumption and emissions etc.

  8. Toyota Hilux Surf is more of a road transportation type of automobile.

    As opposed to a rail, water or air type of transportation?

  9. Every car is good and performs well when it is new! let it just move on Zambian roads for some time: to mongu, Solwezi, Kasama, chipata, then you will see!!!

  10. All the PF cadres have no contributions. I thought Kaponya do have some Bush Mechanics experience?  

  11. wow!! keep it up LT.You shld atleast cover a vehicle a day,you keep some of us more glued to your web site.One thing am realy sure of is that NISSAN vehicle are more comfortable than Toyota vehicles. however, nissan spaires are difficult to find and NISSAN vehicles dont go well with fake parts they require geniune parts.NISSAN vehicles have a long life span than toyota.In terms of speed NISSAN vehicles have good speeds. the most feared NISSAN when it comes to speed is NISSAN SKYLINE,TOYOTA TUDRA V8 engine is most feared when it comes to speed tho it cant btter than nissan.

  12. Very informative and respectable LT. Please start the preservation of our culture topics and solidify Zambia as belonging to Jesus and no skirt wearing roman or greek gods and all is well. It is nice to read about cars, and the weather at times mwe politics have me on edge.

  13. Good to have this article for a change!!!! Pliz sum1 help me. I bought a Toyota Vista Ardeo station wagon D4 99 model. This is the worst car of ma lifer. When the engine warms up problems start. When I slow down to less than 10km/h the engine just cuts off!!!! tried to change plugs service it to no avail. Somebody help me before I burn this stupid useless car.

  14. Just fix the roads. Most vehicles now are very reliable. Go to countries like Botswana which have such Japanese vehicles,they look better and last long. Those cars come to Zambia in perfect condition but about more than 10 years old. But within two years you will have changed shocks more than two times. We must as well start manufacturing special cars for Zambia.  

  15. Expect nothing new as you read this publication because the new one has been medicated as in the text of first paragraph.

  16. #22…that is a well documented problem with those cars including Nadia D4, Premio D4…change the HT Coils…toyota zambia can do that for you for around K9m..good luck!

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