Official news of the new Cruiser’s bent six oil burner points to a new bakkie king
Now that Toyota has revealed the specification of its all-new 3.3-litre turbodiesel V6 in its highly-anticipated new Land Cruiser 300 Series set for global launch later in the year, the focus has now shifted to how and when that new engine will find its way into the Hilux. Regular readers would have followed our coverage on this matter, but now with all the info about the new mill in the public sphere, speculation on its bakkie future is rife.
Is a 230 kW 690 Nm biturbo diesel Hilux on the cards?
With 230 kW of power on tap alongside and 690 Nm of torque, the new engine will no doubt prove a fly in the ointment of the forthcoming made over Ford Ranger diesel V6’s expected 185 kilowatt 600-odd Newton metres. That also compares favourably to the existing Volkswagen Amarok 3-litre V6 turbodiesel’s 200 kW and 580 Nm and the similarly endowed but already extinct Mercedes-Benz X-Class’ 190 kW 550 Nm lump
The new V6 is now almost certainly expected to top the next-generation Toyota Hilux range as at least a Gazoo Racing flagship model. Further speculation out of Australia, where the new 3-litre turbodiesel V6 Cruiser 300 was almost exclusively conceived and developed, points to the engine being offered in both single and biturbo in both the next Hilux and the new generation Prado. Both of which are pencilled in for a 2024 reveal.
The new V6 arrives too late in both the current Hilux and Prado’s life cycles for it to be engineered into those models, leaving those vehicles to soldier on with the recently upgraded and now most effective 150 kW 500 Nm 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbodiesel. But Toyota is known to want to leverage Hilux’s Dakar Rally-winning pedigree in a flagship Gazoo Racing model set to compete toe-to-toe with the next Ranger Raptor.
A Dakar inspired Gazoo Hilux to tackle Ranger Raptor
So a new V6 turbodiesel boost over and above Dakar-like suspension, chassis, underbody protection and ground clearance, is now said to be a certainty come the next Hilux generation in 2024. Likely to once again be built in Durban, the über-Hilux will compete with both the Pretoria-built Ranger and forthcoming Amarok V6s.
The game may well step up to another level with the Ford Ranger also expected to gain a 230 kW 540 Nm biturbo petrol V6 in some markets, so with the VW sharing the same platform and Toyota already having compatible firepower in that area, who knows what will come next?
And with established contenders like Nissan (which already had a biturbo V6 Navara ten years ago), Isuzu, Mazda and others such as Peugeot, Renault, never mind Kia and Hyundai toeing the bakkie water with a 205 kW 588 Nm 2.7-litre straight six in their arsenal, it is unlikely that just Toyota, Ford and Volkswagen will be left to play alone in the lucrative flagship pickup niche. All we can add, is bring it on!
