Toyota Hilux review: A reliable and durable work vehicle – not an SUV substitute

LET’S get one thing straight from the start: The Hilux is a work vehicle.

Yet you see them with chrome side steps and go-faster stripes.

Here, we’ve got the top-of-the-range Invincible X.

It has decorative wheel arches and a fancy grille surround. It rolls on high-fashion black alloys.

That’s wrong. Like steel-toecap work boots accessorised with pink laces and flowery stencils. A Hilux should be kept plain and simple.

But people jolly up their Hiluxes to use them as SUV substitutes. It’s all to do with the HM Revenue & Customs. Get a pick-up truck on a company-car scheme and you pay far less benefit-in-kind tax than an SUV. Get one through your small business and you can claim the VAT.

But you don’t have to drive a Hilux further than the end of the street to learn HMRC is right: No way is the Hilux an SUV.

It is legendarily tough. It has driven to the North and South Poles, and every hostile place between. It has a chassis like the Forth Bridge. Its engine and transmission would keep a bulldozer powered up. But all that strength makes it heavy.

Jab the accelerator or whirl the steering and something does happen,  eventually.

Meanwhile, the suspension and tyres are built to absorb spectacular off-road knocks. Finesse is way down the priority list. So in town, the heavy axles shudder away beneath you.

In the countryside, all four wheels wobble about in unrelated directions.

On the motorway, you are constantly correcting the steering to keep in lane.

The new 2.8-litre engine has lots of muscle for towing, but it’s noisy. Of course, other pick-ups suffer all these issues in normal road driving, if mostly to a slightly lesser extent. But they don’t have such a strict work ethic.

If all this still doesn’t put you off using the Hilux as a family car, try the cabin. Yes, the driver gets loads of equipment in this Invincible X trim.

But much of it is an afterthought, with the switches scattered haphazardly under the dash. Rear-seat legroom is limited by the height of the chassis frame.

The only vehicle that combines the strength of a Hilux with the smoothness of a road-biased SUV is the Land Rover Defender Hard Top.

But a LWB three-seater is eight grand more than the top Hilux.

I’m not knocking the Hilux. It’s known for almost unbelievable reliability, durability and un-stoppable cross-country ability.

Get one in the lower trim levels and it’s a brilliant, honest vehicle. Just don’t imagine the fancy Invincible X trim means you can use this epic truck as an SUV.

You might as well carve the Sunday roast with a chainsaw.