Hilux Baby Ute a Champ

February 12th, 2024

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I think plenty of people would love to get their mitts on Toyota’s cute baby Hilux.  Due to the Champ’s very no frills disposition, the cost of buying a new Toyota Champ Hilux would only be around $20k if you could buy one here in Australia.  However, we’ll have to wait and see if the new Hilux Champ actually makes it down under.

Toyota have launched the new Hilux Champ in Thailand, and it was a vehicle that featured, for the first time, at the recent Japan Mobility Show.  At this show, it was displayed in numerous configurations to show just how versatile the little Champ can be, and so it was demonstrated as an off-road vehicle, a coffee van, and even as an ambulance. 

The Champ workhorse has plenty of variety in the way it can be built up, so, for example, there are long wheel-base (3085 mm) and short wheel-base (2750 mm) variants with two different cargo trays offered.  There are numerous holes for bolting down whatever you like to the cargo tray, so you could easily use this as a camper, a stock carrier for the farm, or even as a coffee van. The Champ’s payload for the cargo deck is around the 1-tonne mark.

You can also opt for any of three engines to power the little Champ.  Five-speed manual and six-speed automatic gearboxes are available to link with your specific engine of choice.  A rather nice 2.4-litre turbo diesel is good for 110 kW of power and 400 Nm of torque.  This would be an economical engine with loads of grunt for performing any demanding tasks with relative ease.  A 2.0-litre petrol has 102 kW and 183 Nm of torque, while a bigger 2.7-litre petrol produces 122 kW and 245 Nm of torque. 

Luxury isn’t the Champ’s forte, so even electric windows are found only on the higher-spec models (not that this is a bad thing – I kind of miss having roll-down windows that work when the key’s out sometimes).  The seats are upholstered in black vinyl, and there are a few safety features like seat belts, a strong structure, and two airbags.  There is no infotainment system on-board when sold new; however it does come with two speakers, for which you can access, probably via the driver’s instrument panel. 

The new Toyota Hilux Champ takes me back to the solid and reliable little 2WD Hilux and Nissan Navara utes of the eighties and early nineties.  These were no frills workhorses, but they were very dependable and robust work companions. And yes, I wouldn’t mind having one.