WHILE it finished last year as the king of the new vehicles sales market, the Toyota HiLux’s reputation for market dominance is less of a dictatorship than it once was – its opposition has closed the gap.

Ford’s Ranger rattled its cage with only 4x2 sales getting the HiLux over the line Volkswagen has since stepped into the ring with a beefy V6 to top its twin-turbo four-cylinder Amarok range and Mitsubishi upgraded its Triton line-up without a massive change in price.

Holden has also charged back into contention with a Colorado that competes on more than just price, with notable opposition remaining from Mazda, Nissan and Isuzu, all of which means the pick-up segment is even more competitive than ever.

The vast majority of sales are automatic but if you want 3500kg braked towing capacity in a new HiLux you’ll need to operate three pedals, so we did just that.

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