2018 Toyota Hilux: What's new?

The pickup segment of the Philippines has witnessed a fresh new interest from the automobile industry, and especially, from Toyota. Its flagship pickup, the 2018 Toyota Hilux now arrives with a fresh look and a new name as well - Toyota Hilux Conquest. The latest generation of the Hilux gets a more robust look and features a number of upgrades both from the outside and the inside. The Hilux Conquest is available with two powerful diesel engine variants. Let’s look at some of the important upgrades in the new 2018 Toyota Hilux.

The interior of the Toyota Hilux Conquest has got a number of changes. It gets updated Optitron gauges along with a newly designed automatic gear shifter. The pickup is as spacious as its predecessor and can comfortably host five adults. The dashboard also equips a touchscreen infotainment system now that supports USB, AUX, Bluetooth, and Radio. The 2018 Toyota Hilux also gets smart entry and keyless start features.

Instead of a large radiator front grille, the grille of the 2018 Toyota Hilux looks to be borrowed from the Toyota Tacoma. It also gets projector LED headlamps with LED daytime running lights, which replaces its predecessor’s multi-reflector large headlamps. Changes can also be noticed in the fog light bezels and the lower air intake, both of which gets a black finishing. The black theme can also be seen on the side mirrors, sports bar and the door handles. The new rear of the 2018 Toyota Hilux comes imprinted with its name “Conquest”. It also gets new side steps for easy entry and exit of the passengers.

Talking about its engines, the 2018 Toyota Hilux Conquest comes with two diesel engines, just like its previous iterations. These engines come with a comparatively lower capacity but can generate higher power than the ongoing model. The 2.4-litre 2GD-FTV engine can generate a maximum power of 150 PS along with a peak torque of 400 Nm. The engine can either be mated to a six-speed automatic transmission or a six-speed manual transmission system. The 2.4-litre engine, when mated to the manual transmission generates a peak torque of 343 Nm.

The 2.4-litre variant can be seen as an upgrade to the 2.5-litre variant of the ongoing model which comes with two power tunes option - 102 PS at 3,600 rpm along with the peak torque of 200 Nm at 1,400-3,400 rpm or 144 PS at 3,400 rpm with a peak torque of 343 Nm between 1,600 and 2,800 rpm.

Talking about the daddy engines, the ongoing model comes with a 3-litre diesel engine that can chunk out a maximum horsepower of 163PS at 3,400 rpm and a peak torque of 343 Nm between 1,400 and 3,200 rpm. Both the engines of the ongoing model can be mated to either a 4-speed automatic transmission or a 5-speed manual gearbox. However, the bigger engine of the 2018 Toyota Hilux Conquest is a 2.8-litre 1GD-FTV that delivers a maximum power of 177 PS and a peak torque of 450 Nm (the peak torque goes down to 420 Nm when mated with the manual gearbox).

The latest generation of the Hilux has come with a number of impressive upgrades, however, we were actually expecting a lot more from it. But, we guess you don’t always get everything. The 2018 Toyota Hilux Conquest is available in four different variants along with two engine options. The price of the base variant of the pickup is Php 1,311,000, whereas, the top variant is to cost something around Php 1,745,000.