Upgraded to Toyota Hilux from VW Jetta: Here's why I bought the pickup

I eliminated the Fortuner SUV as I would never need 7 seats and my heart wanted something unique.

BHPian Dhruv Shetty recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hilux owner here. Here is why I bought it:

I travel a lot with my cycles, both locally within Bangalore and out of station fairly frequently. Locally about 2 times a week at least to take my bike to the outskirts, out-of-station trips are about once a month. My wife and I own 5 bikes together 2 MTB, 1 gravel and 2 road bikes.

When it was time to replace my 2013 Jetta TDI MT (as I own 8th Gen Honda Accord V6, I found that the Jetta is inferior in all attributes except fuel efficiency). I wanted something that
would suit the life of adventure. Desired attributes were:

1. Offroading capabilities, I don't want to worry about poor road conditions in remote locations. Not really interested in off-roading otherwise
2. Transport 2 adults + kids + bikes + other gear. Will never need 7 seats only cargo capacity
3. Maximum reliability, I don't want to think twice about going anywhere.

The above requirements left me with the Fortuner, V-Cross, and Hilux. I eliminated the Fortuner as I would never need 7 seats and my heart wanted something unique.

My top contender was the V Cross as it was cheaper. During the drive I was disappointed with the power, it felt significantly weaker than the Jetta and had quite a bit of turbo lag. My wife found the body movements to be excessive. But we booked it thinking that if we want a pickup we need to live with the compromises. During this time we test-drove the Hilux and were pleasantly surprised and really found the premium over the V Cross to be worth it contrary to popular opinion. Here is why:

1. The power difference is a lot in the real world. I really feel it is faster than my Jetta TDI in real driving conditions due to the 500Nm of torque. The combination of size and power is unnatural
2. The body movements are much more contained in the Hilux my wife was happy with the ride. We just found that the rear was just a little stiffer than the Fortuner.
3. The price differential against the Fortuner is reasonable for what is on offer
4. Lastly a few minor points, Toyota has a larger service network and the V Cross is 1 generation behind the global model, additional equipment in the Hilux

I have had the vehicle for 4 months now and just recently completed a 27 days road trip to Bhutan my observations so far (skipping some points already known about the Fortuner):

1. AC and heat rejection glass are excellent, you would know if it is 25C or 45C outside
2. My wife suffers from motion sickness, 10min in a taxi on a ghat road can make her puke. For some reason she never had motion sickness in the Hilux, I really don't know why. Now this is her favourite car.
3. Very capable highway cruiser, 1000km in a day didn't tire me all
4. After loading cargo with a gross vehicle weight of 2.8 tonnes, the ride becomes excellent and still, you will fly fast with almost all vehicles on the road with a dab on the throttle

Having said all the above I would just say I am lucky that Toyota decided to launch the Hilux here because it makes sense for very few use cases in India.

Concluding with a picture.

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