 |
| ROADTESTS |
| Toyota Hilux 2,7i 4x2 Double cab |
 | Motoring | | | SAC Toyota Hilux 2,7i has grin factor | | There is no bakkie in this country with better speed and endurance credentials than Toyota's Hilux 2,7i - and that is official. | | Between October 3 and 6 this year, Toyota set South Africa's first ratified speed and distance records for commercial vehicles around the Gerotek High Speed Oval. | | Eight of their bakkies - representing a cross section of the Hilux range - were driven absolutely flat out for 72 hours, setting 89 records en route. | | | |
| At the end of it all, the showpiece of the run was an average speed of more than 160 km/h over 72 hours and 10 000 km - both records set by a standard Hilux 2,7i. |
| Now, the performance specialists at Steve's Auto Clinic knew all about the Hilux 2,7's hardy nature, before Toyota started planning their record run. | | In fact, gasflowing standard Hilux 2,7i cylinder heads is probably SAC Engineering's most popular petrol bakkie conversion. | | Called the stage 1, this takes the standard vehicle's 75 kW on the rear wheels to around 90 kW at a cost of around R5 000. | | The price includes a Wildcat exhaust branch, stainless steel free flow exhaust and airfilter. | | Now, there is much, much more. | |  | |
| After some experimenting, SAC's Nelspruit franchise holders, Dart mechanics, have come up with a way to jump the 2,7i's grunt to around 100 kW at the wheels. |
| Now, the performance specialists at Steve's Auto Clinic knew all about the Hilux 2,7's hardy nature, before Toyota started planning their record run. |
| In fact, gasflowing standard Hilux 2,7i cylinder heads is probably SAC Engineering's most popular petrol bakkie conversion. |
| Called the stage 1, this takes the standard vehicle's 75 kW on the rear wheels to around 90 kW at a cost of around R5 000. |
| The price includes a Wildcat exhaust branch, stainless steel free flow exhaust and airfilter. |
| Now, there is much, much more. |
| After some experimenting, SAC's Nelspruit franchise holders, Dart mechanics, have come up with a way to jump the 2,7i's grunt to around 100 kW at the wheels. |
| Their conversion centres around a big valve cylinder head, with the inlet valves increased in size to allow better breathing. |
| Adding to the valve transplant is a gas flowed intake manifold, a modified throttle body, SAC Performance camshaft and a Unichip piggyback engine management computer with appropriately calibrated parameters. |
| SAC Engineering can complete the conversion in five working days and it comes at a price of R8 000. |
| That might seem rather steep, but a standard Hilux 4x2 Double Cab Raider costs over R190 000 these days. |
| Thus, the conversion will add about seven percent to the vehicle's price - and it renders a performance enhancement of much more than 7 %. |
| We use the 4x2 Double Cab Raider as and example, for that is the model that SAC Engineering supplied to testing specialist Adrian Burford of Roadworks CC, for an independent evaluation. |
| In the case of this SAC development mule, power increased from 78 to 105 kW, with torque climbing from 177 to 122 Nm. |
| Playing at Gerotek, Adrian found that the Big Valve bakkie's top speed went from 172 km/h to 184 km/h, with a full 1.5 seconds lopped of the 0 -100 km/h sprint. |
| This equates to improvements of six and 11 percent respectively. The SAC bakkie takes 13.1 seconds to accelerate from 80 - 120 km/h in fourth gear, versus 14.1 seconds in the standard vehicle. |
| Seen differently, the SAC bakkie needs about 30 meters less than its standard counterpart to pass another vehicle from 80 km/h, and will spend a second less in the danger zone on the wrong side of the road. |
| Now, following Mr Burford's ultra professional evaluation, SAC's marketing man, Mark Jones offered us the opportunity to drive their stage 2 Big Valve Hilux 4x2 Double Cab Raider. |
| We could stay all serious and point out that the conversion's focus is on reliability and driveability, while retaining the high levels of refinement inherent in the standard Hilux 2,7i. |
| But, the vehicle brought out the hooligans in this publication's staff. Bloody hell, this thing is fun to drive. |
| It has a raspy exhaust tone, which shouts "race car" and it feels a lot faster and quicker than the official figures indicate. |
| It happily revs to 6 500 rpm, at which point it goes like a bastard, sound like Mark Cronje's off-road racer and intimidates the hell out of people in Golfs and the like. |
| It has a "grin factor" that cannot be gauged in percentages, and looked the part in SAC's colour scheme. |
| We fell in love and hated the man who took it back after a short seven days. |
| The conversion is available from eight SAC outlets in South Africa. |
| |
| Click Here to get an SAC consultant to advise you! |
| Click here for more about our conversions |
| Performance / power conversions, modifications, engine upgrades available for Alfa, Audi, BMW, Chev, Chrysler, Colt, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Isuzu, Jeep, Kia, Mazda, Mercedes, Mini, Nissan, Opel, Toyota, VW and more... |
