Hilux vs Land Cruiser Off-Road Test — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:00] Which is the best off-road? The new toy for Hilux or the new toy for Land Cruiser T50? Well we're going to find out by comparing them in a series of off-road challenges starting with a Nothill Drag Race. I'm Al Watson, you're watching CarWag.

[00:15] Right these car sucts are very similar so they have the same engine with similar power output, similar torque, similar gearboxes and similar weight so this is about 100 kilos lighter. That has a bit more tech on it, it has a detachable anti-roll bar, they both have rear diff lockers.

[00:29] This though is considerably less expensive than that. This is just over £40,000. That is £80,000. Anyway, let's race up the hill and see which one wins. 3, 2, 1, go!

[00:43] This is quick off the line. Oh, he's got a good launch! I'm going to have to keep it nailed.

[00:59] Wow. Wow. How? What? Yours is slightly heavier but not by much. What happened, son? I'm much, much heavier than you and you've got a better start because you're lighter.

[01:13] That's it really. It's nothing to do with the weight. It's only 100 kilos. It's nothing to do with the weight. It's a lot. 100 kilos is quite a bit. Different tyres.

[01:25] Formal protest! Am I on road tyres? And what have I got all season? You're all season, yeah. There you go. So not just the weight then, Sam. Tyre choice. Oh, I might be in it now. You've got more tech than me.

[01:37] So, this is going to be interesting. The way this works, right, if you win a challenge, you get two points. If you come last, you get one point. If you don't complete the challenge, you get no points. The truck with the most points at the end wins. So this has two points. One point.

[01:49] Alex is in the lead. In this next challenge, we're going to see how manoeuvrable these two vehicles are. So we're going to drive into this course through the woods, going around a tree, over some bumps and ruts, try not to bottom out, and then over this dip, once again try not to bottom out.

[02:03] We'll be getting time by Graham, he'll be looking out to see if we do any damage to our vehicles. If we do, we'll be disqualified, because we can't just fly around here and try and beat the clock, putting our cars at risk, because no one's going to do that in real life.

[02:15] So we've got to be cautious, but quick. I'm going to go fast, because I won the last challenge, and to give Sam a chance to see what I do, and then try to beat him. Let's go. I've blocked his shot, he's over here down by my house

[02:37] Oh, oh baby, oh!

[02:54] This is where I could get into trouble if I bottom out. Make you go fast?

[03:08] No, I didn't bottom out at all. No. Clean run. Was it quick though? You decide. Oh yes! 21.38, that's pretty quick isn't it? That was pretty quick. Okay, Sam's time.

[03:20] It's going to be tough one to beat that. It is. Jan good luck, I'm not going to tell you the time but you're going to need to go quickly but if you bottom out you'll be disqualified do not damage your truck at the last bit

[03:32] so what about the massive bottoming out you did in the middle of the... oh that's fine is it? yeah of course it is

[03:50] oh oh oh hello I was going quite quickly through that. Come on you.

[04:03] This is a bit, now this is fast, it's going to be close.

[04:20] he mustn't bottom out here he hasn't, he hasn't

[04:36] let's have a look what he got I'm going to show you sir he didn't bottom out did I win?

[04:48] What do I do Graham? Come on! Wow, two points to the Land Cruiser, one point to this. So four square, three points each.

[05:00] Let's move on to the next challenge with everything to play for. This next challenge will test each car's chassis articulation and the ground clearance and their traction because we going to drive up these rocky steps and then turn around and come back down Graham will be directing us if we bottom out with disqualified I going to go first I in low range mode I got my red diff lock on and I also in rock mode in the stability system or whatever it is This has 310 millimetres

[05:26] of ground clearance which is pretty decent. It's got quite a long wheelbase which doesn't help when off-roading.

[05:40] Ok, nice, clear, bit more, assertion coming Brake now, hold it there No, stop there Graham, don't you worry, we're down four livers now Ok, keep your brake, bit more, steady, go ahead

[05:59] Oh, I'm getting ticked with these fingers, I love it I've set up parking sensors, I don't know where they are, I could turn them off Make it smooth mate, make it smooth.

[06:15] A little bit of air, make it nice and smooth, get some momentum up. There we are, it's a walking nice lift.

[06:28] Keep the momentum up, make it smooth. Okay then Graham, the up the slope, steady, smooth, no wheel spin, do you have a wheel in the air? I couldn't see anything this side.

[06:41] Okay, let's go back down then. Okay, you want to have a go down? Do you reckon it will go down? It's going to be tight, the gravity on the vehicle is the other way round, so when you're powering up the front's lifted, going down you're going to be burying the nose a bit more, I've got a feeling it will catch the step going down.

[06:57] Do you think I should or should not do it? Matt, on the next one you could try going up the actual track, that would be good as well. We don't need to hear from Sam. Well, we'll see how you do in a moment mate, but Graham thinks I shouldn't go down the slope, that's his call, so I'm not going to do it. He'll be making the same judgement on your car maybe. Let's see how you get up, so you can get up as smoothly as that.

[07:13] I mean, am I allowed to take three days like you did? Yes, absolutely, that is fine. Just make sure you don't spin up any wheels, because you'll lose points, and I'll have won. Well, I've disconnected my sway bar, I've got all my diffs engaged, so the best of luck to you sir.

[07:28] Graham, at your leisure sir, I'll just go get this done for you, ok? As you're gonna do. Sir, that has less ground clearance, the bridge wheelbase is shorter.

[07:45] Oh, don't spin any... Oh, he's spinning a wheel! Oh, scrabble, scrabble! It's because I'm on semi-slicks Matt, that's the problem.

[07:57] You know I'm on racing tyres, you're on off-road tyres. That's right, I'm trying to do supply the Land Cruiser with slicks. It's like it's on Pilot Sport Cup 2's isn't it. It's telling me to brake!

[08:09] It's alright we're back again, we're ok.

[08:22] That was quicker than you.

[08:38] That was quicker than I. You went up the left-hand side of the grass. I went up the actual course, but it's fine. No, Graham decides where you go, and he chooses the best route for you. Graham, will you go ahead and skip back down this?

[08:50] If you want to go down? Yeah. Will it go down without switching? I think it'll go down without switching. No, don't take that, Graham! Wait, wait, wait, before we do that, which one went up there the best? Which one went up there? Bollocks, didn't it? Okay, Sam, Sam, Sam.

[09:02] Sam, Sam, listen, this is the rules. This, at the moment, is 2-1 to the highlights, right? What you can do is if you go down, you get an extra point, so it's two each. But if you go down and you bottom out, you lose the point that you got for coming up.

[09:18] How about if I go down, I win it's two points and you didn't finish the course so you disqualified? Graham decided that I couldn't finish the course. Irrelevant, formal protest. If I go down it, that was the course and I finished it, you didn't, disqualified.

[09:31] That wasn't the course, the course was never that, the course was just go up it. But you can get a point back by going down it and I'm buckling going down it. You take your leave it Sam, those are the rules that I've just made up right now. I'm going down, if you could move out the way please.

[09:43] No you have to, I can't move, I need to watch from here. Unbelievable. And if you touch the camera or touch my card then you just, you like, forfeit the whole challenge. Unbelievable. You're a child! Where are you going?

[09:57] You haven't got all day. Actual child. I'll see you at the bottom, Matt. You'll probably have to sit the long way. Okay, fine. I'm gonna go watch it at the bottom. Won't be the first bottom you've watched. I'm always watching your bottom. It's actually got a bit faster recently. What's going on?

[10:16] Oh that's it.

[10:28] Oh no What wrong with you I on wheel base Get out of my sight, I don't want to see you out You're not having a good day are you?

[10:41] Graham, are we sure I just can't go down it? We're about to do two then Ok so, two points for this, one point for that but then the bonus points for going down, two points which means five points each, it's still a draw.

[10:55] Sorry, no, what maths is going on here? How many points did you just get for this? I got two. Right, and how many points did I get? Two. Sorry, why do I get the same amount of points as you for that?

[11:07] Because the challenge is to go up it. I gave you the option of earning an extra point by going down it, which you earned. Graham, at some point you're going to have to step in. This went up better. Did it? Bollocks!

[11:19] So we're going to have to start deducting marks. if you keep moaning and complaining ok let's just move on to the next challenge the next challenge is all about traction and power we're going to have a drag race whichever car wins gets two points

[11:32] whoever comes second gets one this will separate the two cars out and we'll have a clear leader go go go go win the lead come on

[11:51] It's going to catch up? No, there's no chance this is the highlight. Oh, it's smashing me to pieces.

[12:06] Frustrating. What are you into your half down? Go on, there's got to be something to this speed. I mean I'm carrying a lot of weight ballast and I didn't have the opportunity to warm up my slicks so that was the issue I had there.

[12:20] Alright, we are driving on the tyres that the cars are soldered. So, that means 2 points to the Hilux and 1 point to the Land Cruiser. That means that the total scores now are 7 points to the Hilux, 6 to the Land Cruiser.

[12:35] Now we have another drag race, this one downhill, but the objective is not to win, it's to lose. Well, to come last anyway, because you're testing each truck's hill descent control. That means that whichever vehicle goes down the slope the slowest wins.

[12:48] I think they're identical because surely it's the same system but let's find out well that didn't work

[13:09] F***ing hell I'm not gonna lie that's a loss I want to see if it does it this time, but I think because it didn't engage, even though I pressed the button and it was flashing, I can't win.

[13:21] Yeah, my hill descent control is just flashing away. It's like it's not engaging. Well, put it in low box and make your bed, Mr Watson. Sorry. It's in low. We've got the rear diff lock on. I just don't know what it's doing.

[13:34] Turn the rear diff lock on. Oh my God. Why would you have it that you don't have hill descent control with the diff lock on, Graham? Why would they choose that? Ah, no idea. Toyota. Who knows?

[13:46] I would imagine you need all four wheels to be able to roll independently for the electronics to figure out wheel speeds. Management, I would have thought. You can yawn, but I'm right. Anyway, when I beat you in this, it's going to be all square and then when this trots up the hill, you're done.

[14:02] Just a quick question from our regular in-house Land Rover expert slash fanboy. You can have your diff locks in with a Land Rover and it'll still do all this in control, won't it? Because we can't put both the diff locks in on its own, you have no physical means of collecting them.

[14:17] That's not made anything any clearer, has it? It goes down as well, Sam. Were you in low range with the diff locks? Close is an understatement, yeah. It definitely went down the hill. Okay, so we can have another go. Start afresh.

[14:31] Let me unlock my diff because I pressed the button and now I can't get the diff unlocked, if that makes sense. There we go, we're on, we're on. You ready? Yeah, ready Graham. Yeah, we're on.

[14:43] Oh, that's slower. There we go. This is not a proper, wow.

[14:57] Oh, no. What happened to you? What happened, Sam? I was gonna win, I tried to get out. When I opened the door it released the hill descent. I was back in now, we're okay.

[15:10] Yours was going super slow. Do you want to just do it again? I mean, in some ways we could say you're disqualified. Sam, I've got an idea. Shall we just do all of that again? Yeah, consumer advice,

[15:23] if you try to exit your vehicle when in hill descent, it will not, well it will allow it, but the car will take off. So it won't be a safe thing to do. So wait a minute, so it didn't cause it to lock of its brakes and stop the car. It decided that someone's trying to get out while the car's moving, let's go even faster.

[15:39] That is exactly what it did Okay let try again What What Toyota you need to have a word first of all you should be able to use hill descent control and stuff with a disc lock on you should it shouldn be

[15:52] on the width of man that you can do that i just don't know what's going on other manufacturers allow it and that is not a good idea someone opens the door when you're going down the hill it's probably better for the car to stop moving rather than to accelerate There we go! Yeah, I mean that is, when it's working...

[16:23] That is really, this is quite slow, but that... Are you still moving Sam?

[16:36] I mean I am moving very slowly Hey why don't you try to get out?

[16:49] See that's what happened, I tried to get out and this happened No don't get out! If you accept I've won you're ready for me to open the door and that's what happens you ready now I want to see how slow it can go down here because this is just taking forever

[17:11] well done Sam well done all righty then so that means two points to the Land Cruiser and one point to the Hilux so that means then the total scores so far are eight points each it's a dead

[17:25] keep going to the last challenge so it's all down to this one let's do it okay this is it then the decider so the challenge is to drive up this rocky and slippery slope with as much finesse as possible we need to get up there smoothly without any wheel spin and obviously without stopping whichever car

[17:40] does it the best graham will be deciding and he'll be awarding the overall victory to i'm going to go first i've got my disc locks on i'm in low range mode wish me luck here we go Smooth and steady is what it's all about.

[18:09] The constant power of the hill. That is really good, I'm quite pleased with that.

[18:24] I don't know how he can beat me, he can just draw with me I'm sure. This is where the tyres that it's come on could go against it. And you can decide whether you think it's down to tyres or not. But here we go, let's see. Come on.

[18:37] I'll make him want to actually accelerate really hard and run me over.

[18:49] come on, good travel, come on, better slip there, I heard it, come on, come on, that's

[19:08] throttle control, not a skid, that was good as well, well done, well done, well done, I think it might be the house

[19:24] No the tyres mate, the tyres Ha ha ha Tell me I didn't destroy you You didn't destroy me How beautiful was that thing that we came up there Pretty much exactly the same

[19:37] This is it I burned your wheel spin Oh listen I know what he's going to say You're on road tyres, they're slightly more aggressive so this is going to be better

[19:49] So, two points for the Land Cruiser, one point for the Hilux. You thought you were going to win that. That's how it comes with those tyres! I did think I was going to win that. And it comes with these tyres!

[20:02] I thought you were going to win that as well. Isn't it a draw? No. And I went up better. Shut up! No I did not.

[20:14] Why can't you just accept that you're going to win? Why does it have an even bigger gap? Yes! Yes! So, the winner is the Toyota Hilux, and in second place, because Sam argued,

[20:26] is the Land Cruiser. And there we have it. Things that Sam's arguing kind of annoyed Graham there, and so... Actually, to be fair, these vehicles were so closely matched.

[20:38] I'm going to let you decide which one do you think performed best overall off-road. Let us know in the comments below. If you want to see a Toyota Land Cruiser go up against some of its key competitors, click on that video window there. It could surprise you.

[20:51] And as ever, if you enjoyed this video, please make sure you give it a like. We really, really appreciate it if you would. And if you haven't done so already, subscribe to this channel. And as ever, thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.