The Toyota Hilux Legend 55. Picture: Jim Freeman
There are signs that you are getting on in years; discovering you were already on the verge of becoming a teenager when the venerable Toyota Hilux bakkie made its local debut is one of them.
Being someone who uses motor vehicles rather than is besotted by them for their history, I had to turn to Google to determine the relevance of the Legend 55 designation to the Sand Beige-coloured double cab that was delivered to my home a few weeks ago.
I found it referred to “a 2025-26 special edition celebrating 55 years of the Hilux in South Africa, featuring distinct styling, improved comfort and a 2.8 GD-6 engine with 150kW/500Nm.
Priced from R728 000 to over R1 million, it is a final, well-equipped iteration of the eighth generation Hilux.
I’m neither an anorak nor petrolhead but this doesn’t mean I’m clueless when it comes to the eternal debates conducted on barstools or around braais about which are the best bakkies and off-roaders for difficult southern African conditions.
Indeed, as someone who lived in Namibia for several years and spends a lot of time in the bush, it would be impossible to avoid such passionate discussion.
Everyone has their favourite brand and one’s partiality to one or another has everything to do with those with which they were most comfortable or familiar in their formative motoring years.
In Namibia, you were either a Land Rover (old-style Defender) or Toyota (Hilux or Land Cruiser) fan.
You held your view and from it you could not be budged… think Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, Castle Lager or Black Label.
There was no such thing as “horses for courses” while, in truth, a Hilux was a bulletproof farm or business workhorse and the Landie, especially the long wheelbase version, was the precursor of today’s ubiquitous all-terrain sports utility vehicle.
Along came the double cab and the game changed.
Those who swore by Toyota – I count myself among their number, except when it comes to Fortuner – felt vindicated.
The reliability and comfort gaps have narrowed over the decades but I still experience a warm fuzzy feeling in my nether regions when I take collection of a Toyota Hilux double cab 4×4 – especially one that is diesel-powered.
I love that engine clatter of a diesel on start-up. As a motoring toppie, it promises raw power and indestructibility.
Toyota has given Hilux the Legend designation every five years over the past decade and a half but, to me, production of the Legend 55 felt more of a marketing ploy to spec up and sell old stock before introduction of the ninth generation Hilux later this year.
It is the marque that is legendary, not the model.
Nonetheless, the model tested was everything one would want a Hilux to be; a bakkie that is as honest as a South African summer’s day is long.
It is also enjoyable to drive on the highway – admit it, you don’t really buy a double cab for anything else but to go on holiday and, accordingly, you expect high levels of luxury and driver assistance.
The six-speed automatic transmission was smooth and road noise was negligible.
It sounds ridiculous but having a lockable sliding tonneau cover is essential for protecting your load while driving gravel roads or through urban areas where people might be light-fingered.
By the same token, the Legend 55 is completely reliable when venturing into less-than-ideal driving environments.
I went from the sublime to the horrendous, stopping at Maanschijn boutique winery outside Hermanus before heading to Stanford to study the aftermath of recent veld fires.
I drove by the Panthera Africa big cat sanctuary that was badly damaged, but from which most of the animals were successfully evacuated.
It was easy enough to dodge the stumps that jutted from the ground – hallelujah for the bash plate under the vehicle – but that entailed venturing into sand that extreme heat had turned into knee-deep powder.
The Legend 55 handled the terrain with the same easy aplomb it would the Namib or Kalahari deserts.
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