Another evening, another deep rabbit hole for me, this time on the fertile fields of the Ritchie Brothers equipment auction site. Wherever you may be in the world, there’s probably an RB auction site somewhere in the area; I pass right by one every time I head down to Denver. They auction anything to do with equipment and vehicles for construction, farming, oil industry, and whatever else may come up. Somehow I ended up perusing the offerings for their upcoming auction in Dubai and came across a great specimen to illustrate the “it’ll last forever” reputation of the Toyota Hilux, this 2007 version with almost a million kilometers on the clock.
To those of you in the US that never cottoned on to Jimmy Carter’s metric push, that would translate to exactly 573,140.4 miles, or a very good ranking in one of Tom Halter’s mileage marathon posts.
Of course with that mileage, the obvious assumption is that it must be a diesel, however this is not so. This 7th generation Hilux truck is powered by a 2.7liter 4-cylinder gasoline engine (2TR-FE) producing 160hp and 181lb-ft of torque, backed by a 5-speed manual transmission. A little perplexing is the fact that the engine bay including the firewall is an orange color but the truck is white on the outside and in the door jambs and does not appear to have been repainted. I didn’t post every picture that was available on the site but based on the additional pictures this is definitely the engine bay of this truck.
These trucks were made all over the place, the auction information says this one is from Thailand which does produce them, but the Arabic script on the door tag makes me think that perhaps it was produced in the Pakistani plant instead? (I understand Pakistanis speak Urdu, not Arabic, but they do use Arabic script). Or perhaps the tag is dependent on where the vehicle is destined to be sold? If only I had a genie and could use one of my three wishes to find out…
I initially assumed that Crystal Rapid tires were a Chinese brand, but further digging indicates that Crystal is HQ’d in Dubai, however they have a China office as well, where the production facilities are likely located. That stamped steel wheel design looks very Toyota, and I wouldn’t doubt it if North America had the same style on a version of the Tacoma.
Half a million miles of dust and a boatload of hard-wearing plastics, just another day in Hilux-land. Simple and durable but still appearing to have a large screen with a CD player in the dashboard. Lots of button blanks though, some are probably where seat heater controls would go on Finnish models, and others are obviously for all sorts of other options that weren’t purchased with this truck.
They make a big point of saying that they can’t guarantee the mileage is correct but I’m feeling pretty good about this one, once you commit to buying something with this size number on it, who cares if it’s perhaps low. I know they are kilometers and not miles but still, that’s big.
Pretty typical Toyota pickup interior here, the hose or sweep out rubber floors are nice to have in this sandy corner of the world, I’ll bet.
That shiftknob is worn down to be as smooth as a baby’s bottom. And a manual transfer case too.
The rear seems to be more spacious than what we got in the Tacoma, even now.
That’s a well-worn bedliner, this truck hasn’t just been to the mall, it’s been worked.
I’m guessing this Hilux will still sell for a pretty penny, or rather a pretty dirham over there in Dubai. It’s not a bad-looking little truck, but looks are the least important part of the equation here. Whoever spec’d and bought this one certainly got their money’s worth. Sure, we don’t know what is and isn’t original anymore, but if it did need repair it always had enough intrinsic value to make it worthwhile and carries the manufacturer’s banner proudly on the tailgate.
Pre-Publication Update: I wrote this on Tuesday night, the auction was over by the next day, and this vehicle had sold for the equivalent of $4,500. Other items in the auction including vehicles with normal mileage sold for what I would consider reasonable and accurate auction prices, so this price for this one represents a fantastic return and helps to illustrate the point of how highly regarded these vehicles are.
Related Reading:
Johannes introduces us to the 8th (next) generation of Toyota Hilux
Nice folks at Ritchie, my local guy here in the North East was always very helpful and extremely professional. This is the kind of vehicle that Woody Allen’s main character in a Sleeper remake would find in a cave 200 years after the apocalypse and start right up
Australia’s no 1 selling vehicle, mostly dual cab like this one.
A tax-deductible family car for tradesmen, businesses etc
Still, $4.500 sounds like a lot for a 12 year old ute with a million ks…
Here’s an AWD Toyota, almost as much of a unicorn in the US as a late model Hilux, with a claimed one million miles. Not sure I believe that though, maybe an added zero. https://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/d/san-carlos-rare-1988-camry-le-all-wheel/6964080463.html
Also, a 20 year old Hilux 22RE with 488K miles for $3400 US.https://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/d/fair-oaks-89-toyota-pick-up-4×4/6970068367.html
That it sold for any money at all says a lot about them, probably another half million left in it before major repairs will send it for scarap.
Down here I have seen old TOYOTA hilux pick ups from 1970s with 20R engine with over 2 million kms on original engine.
Just wondering, with the caution tape on the back, if this may have seen commercial duty in its past.
What a sturdy truck. I know Toyota is proud of their hard living trucks, but I doubt they predicted that many would achieve this many klicks.
Oddly enough, I never knew that Ritchie Brothers was a worldwide company — I know it just from its I-70 location in Ohio, which I drive by occasionally. Now that I know, I think I’ll delve down the rabbit hole of their website at some point.
Looking up other Hiluxes with similar VINs (beginning with MR0FX22G), it seems like several websites indicate that they’re built in Thailand, so I assume that’s correct. Maybe Toyota fits Arabic VIN plates for vehicles destined for the Middle East, regardless of where they’re produced? I have no idea, but this was sure interesting to look at.
Had we Americans made the “metric push” 40 years ago, we wouldn’t have to have it explained or translated to us today.
What do countries who use kilometers instead of miles call mileage? Kilometerage?
They call it liters per 100km if measuring fuel consumption.
About the futile attempt of metrification in the US, I have never understood to this day why Americans continue with most complicated measurement system, especially for cooking.
I lived in the US for many years before moving back to Germany thirteen years ago. I had gotten accustomed to the metric system when preparing meals or baking goodies ever since.
When I found out about the American food store in Munich, I went there and bought Aunt Jemina pancake mix. Yet, the recipe would yield at least fourteen pancakes: too much for one person like me. I wanted to reduce the amount for four pancakes, but the US system with fractions and mind-bending names and their corresponding amount was way more difficult than I thought. Despite the “helpful” ratio of 4-2-2-8 (4 quarts=1 gallon; 2 pints=1 quart; 2 cups=1 pint; 8 ounces=1 cup), US system failed me.
To make the long story short, it took me good 15 minutes to figure out the right ratio of mix and water for four pancakes. And lot of expermenting to determine right amount of water at first. Germans use the scale, rather than measuring cup, to measure the dry ingredients. That’s what made everything vexing for me.
Had the United States gone metric, it would take me less than a minute to figure out reduced amount.
But if it was easy, there would be no sense of accomplishment when you ate your American pancakes. 🙂 And don’t the instructions that promise 14 pancakes only yield about 7 or 8 anyway? I love problems that can be solved by eating more pancakes.
The cooking challenges are a vast conspiracy that keeps our fast food industry in business. 😀
And here i am trying to buy a Hilux with under 40k miles out of concern that it will run me out of the roads in kenya when it hits 300k miles?!
Shoot, miles, it turns out, should not be a concern.
But…the Internet told me a crew cab/short bed pickup is useless for “real work”!
The predominant high-mileage (kilometrage) Toyota model here is not the HiLux (too rare) but the Land Cruiser, of course always diesel powered.
Like this 2002 Land Cruiser 90-series with 803,000 km on the clock.
These trucks are absolutely indestructible. I spent a lot of time behind the wheel of several exactly like this in various parts of Afghanistan. Reminds you of exactly how simple, honest vehicles like these and Corollas are very popular in developing nations: they’re inexpensive but not cheap and built tough to take a beating.
In the United States we receive vehicles from all over the globe, the labels under the hood and in the door jamb are printed for the country the vehicle is sold in, NOT for where it was built.