Upgrades should add value to your bakkie, not void warranties. These official Toyota Hilux accessories do just that, enhancing future resale value.
The 9th-gen Toyota Hilux will be the most important vehicle introduced this year. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t great run-out deals and upgrade options (including official Hilux accessories) for the legendary 8th-gen model.
Toyota has, for decades, set the standards for manufacturing quality. That’s why the Hilux has remained South Africa’s best-selling vehicle for as long as most of us can remember.
But why would you want one of the very last Hilux units? Because these are possibly the best-built 8th-gen Hilux bakkies you can buy. The system and supply chain that creates these bakkies is mature, with all the quality standards at their highest level of development after years of feedback and improvement.
Read more: Hilux Legend 55, Ranger Tremor … or wait for new Hilux?
So, you want to spend the smart money and buy an 8th-gen Hilux, but make it the perfect bakkie for your needs? You’ll need to choose the best Hilux accessories that won’t void your warranty or affect your future resale value. They should add value to the real-world South African double-cab ownership experience. That’s why we’ve listed only official Toyota Hilux accessories.
Rubber floor mats
Toyota has designed and built the Hilux to work hard for a living, but many of the double-cab models serve as family vehicles. Yet, kids can be as hard on a Hilux’s interior carpets and trim as the hardiest construction crews.
If you don’t want muddy trainers and sports shoes imprinting dirt and prematurely wearing out the carpet fabric of your Hilux, there’s a solution: the official Toyota rubber floor mats. They are shaped and cut to fit perfectly in the Hilux’s floor sections without snagging pedals.
A small investment that lasts virtually forever, these rubber floor mats add significant value over time. They might just be the most under-appreciated Hilux accessories. Because when you do eventually sell or trade-in your Hilux, and its carpets still look like new, you’ll get a much better price.
Hood assist
Hilux owners rarely have to open their bakkies’ bonnets. Toyota’s most popular model is renowned for its mechanical durability, especially its engines.
But Hilux bakkies are often involved in recovery or assisting others. And that means some Hilux owners, like farmers, wildlife managers and technical service crews, have to open their bakkie bonnets often to help other drivers in need. Why? Jump-starting assistance, for example. Or operating an air compressor to adjust air pressure if a vehicle is stuck in sand, when your Hilux needs to air down for more traction, or to help recover another vehicle.
The official Hilux hood assist (yes, Toyota South Africa lists it as ‘hood assist’ instead of ‘bonnet assist’), is the solution. It’s features two gas-charged struts that make it easier to lift the Hilux’s heavy steel bonnet and close it gently, without violently dropping it onto the securing latches.
Headlamp protector
South African bakkie drivers know the anxiety of stone-chip damage. Whether it’s caused by roadworks or following in convoy on a long dirt road in the Karoo, headlamp cracking due to stones happens.
The best way to avoid an expensive headlamp replacement is to get an official Hilux headlamp protector. Sure, it looks a bit weird, but it will save you a lot of money, especially if you own a Hilux and do a lot of dirt-road driving.
Snorkel
The snorkel is one of the most misunderstood bakkie accessories in the market but a useful upgrade.
They serve several purposes. The most obvious is allowing confident water fording and river crossing abilities. With the snorkel’s huge air-intake clearance, even if you are going beyond the official wading limits of a Hilux, you know airflow to the engine is going to be fine without the risk of stalling and your Hilux becoming a river barge.
The other big wins with snorkels are dirt-road driving and dune driving in extreme heat. The snorkel allows your Hilux engine to draw intake air from a less dusty zone than the front grille, which is directly in the dust cloud when following other vehicles on dirt roads.
In extremely hot dune-driving conditions, surface sand temperatures generate significant secondary radiation. Having a snorkel drawing slightly cooler ambient air further away from the sand’s surface is useful.
Cattle rails
A wraparound cattle rail setup transforms your Hilux bakkie’s ability to carry high-volume loads. But why cattle rails instead of a canopy? Well, the latter has a roof limiting vertical loading height.
Cattle rails were developed for the farming community because animals can easily leap off an open load bed. Most farm animals are also too tall to fit under a canopy’s roof.
On a Hilux, cattle rails prevent animals from falling out or disembarking during transit. Or stacked feed bales from tumbling over the load bed sides when driving on a rugged dirt road or rounding those tight 90-degree corners between grazing camps that are a feature of a commercial farm’s layout.
Many of the most ardent Hilux owners are farmers and for them, a cattle rail on a leisure-spec double cab is not a statement. It’s a need. Cattle rails might increase wind noise and diesel consumption (a little), but they are very useful to rural Hilux owners.
