Johannesburg - Toyota's 4-litre V6 engine is no stranger to RG Motorsport's Randburg-based workshop, with the tuning firm having super-charged over 100 of these brawny engines in various Prados, FJ Cruisers, Fortuners and Hiluxes.
Now it's the turn of Toyota's new eighth-generation Hilux and this latest conversion is sure to make it one of the baddest bakkies around. The engine conversion sees maximum outputs rise from 175kW and 376Nm to 327kW and 545Nm, making it just 8kW shy of the Lexus V8-powered one-off Hilux that Toyota SA built last year.
Tested by Stigworx at Gerotek in Gauteng, the new RG Motorsport Hilux screeched from 0-100km/h in just 7.1 seconds, versus 10.37 seconds for the standard version and the overtaking acceleration figures are even more impressive, the RG Hilux surging from 80 to 120km/h in only 4.28s, versus 7.21s for the showroom-spec bakkie.
The V2 supercharger has its own lubrication and radiator systems, the latter allowing the intake temperatures to be kept low, which aids both performance and reliability.
On that note, the engine conversion comes with a minimum six month / 20 000km warranty and comes at a total cost of R105 000, which means having one of the meanest Hilux bakkies in town will set you back R603 900 for a 4x2 and R693 900 if you want a 4x4.
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