I wounder how many of us intended to take our 4x4 trucks utes in extreme off road , let alone extreme off road towing.. which where the hilux come in.
So tests are subjective to end use...
We tow with our 2.2L 4x4 SSanyoung, do road trips include long stretches of single lane rutted gravel roads.. love the 4x4.
Will be pulling boat out on beach launches.. go shopping, to the movies.. to work... daily driver.
1st thing looked at was comfort, ride, cabin noise...which it met far better than most..including the triton and several other brands failed here( even higher end brands) and all the other similar speced , price range..
The steering turning circle.. test drive in tight supermarket car parks when busy.. several failed here..
A lot of brand failed baddly here for us.
The what it can tow, and how well..
i.e our big horn is rated 3.5T but go up a hill with 1800 on the hitch is slow.. SSangyoug hardly feel it on the newer models.. now rated 3.5T.
Not as fast going of a big steep hill as a hilux and compared to most the others in ball park a a few km/hr.
Again a couple brands just failed here
Long term reliability and servicing out to 300K.
Again proven record since 2014..
Fancy electronics, its a bit archaic, but hell been driving wind up windows cars daily for the last 50yrs.. and one with push down slide windows..
Lot tests mentioned tend to wander on the highway. (a major issue)..well fixed that, got the caster taken out to the top of factory spec at 1st service.. magic.. was just at the very bottom..
Others didnt meet what we wanted in comfort / ride and even issues like if at a oil change the oil is fully drained and not immediately refilled..causes engine failure down the line.
Test results are relative to the tester , and very rarely give the story in between the lines.
What I did not or dont like.
1/ position of the indicator switch.. got used to it now
2/ the side step too narrow.. still annoys a bit.
3/ At nigh a reflection of the dash on the drivers side window.. got used to it now.
3/ The big pillar.. but all vehicles have that now..
4/ that can turn off engine not in park, and have to turn on ign to the move into park.. realty gets up my nose.
5/ cruise on off buttons should be reversed.