More than 20 years after Top Gear tried to destroy a Toyota Hilux, the infamous caravan stunt has made a comeback. This time, however, it is an electric bakkie taking the hit.
Photo: Toyota
In one of the British motoring show’s most memorable experiments, a red 1988 Toyota Hilux was subjected to a series of increasingly extreme challenges. It was hit with a wrecking ball, submerged in the sea and left on the roof of a building that was subsequently demolished. A caravan was also dropped onto it. Somehow, the fourth-generation single-cab survived the ordeal and became a firm favourite among motoring fans.
Now, Toyota UK has revisited the caravan stunt with the new Hilux BEV, its battery-electric bakkie. The experiment took place at Bentwaters airfield in Suffolk, England, where a 760 kg caravan was lifted 9.1 metres above the ground before being dropped onto the vehicle’s roof.
Watch the caravan drop below.
According to Toyota UK, the impact left the Hilux BEV with what it described as modest bodywork damage. Engineers inspected the vehicle afterwards, and the electric bakkie reportedly powered up immediately and drove away.
Of course, dropping a caravan onto a vehicle is hardly a conventional durability test, but the stunt offers a nostalgic nod to the original Top Gear experiment. It also raises an interesting question: does the Hilux’s reputation for taking a beating carry over to its electric incarnation?
Originally written by Marius Boonzaier for Carmag.
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