Have to diagree with you Have to disagree with you i bought a 2004 mazda 4x4 freestyle cab turbo deisel i popped the turbo gasket at 7000 ks only coz i pushed it but was under warranty anyway but now 147000 km later has been trouble free and my mate bagged me for not buying a hilux
My buddy bought a brand new v6 hilux think it was 07 or 08 cant remember at 1500 ks they had to take top half of the engine off some problems inside they reckon they fixed it but was never the same went back to the dealers 3 times at 25000 ks he flicked the pos he will never buy another one he said
Hilux arnt what they used to be and if you havnt owned other deisel powered cars how would you know how good or bad they are
my bravo will be 10 years old next year havnt had a spanner on it yet bar oil and filters
Japanese V6 petrol and auto (V6 auto Hilux) vs Thai diesel and auto (Diesel auto Hilux). I know which one i'd always buy! My clams about the diesel Hilux and modern diesel reliability weren't from my experience, it is from the handful of service managers I know: 1 x Mazda, 1 x Toyota and 1 x Subaru. The engines are not as reliable as the older units as the manufacturers are pushing the envelope with them, hence the higher failure rates. Your mate's V6 Hilux is the only one i've ever heard of with problems. Clutch problems, yes, but not the engine itself. I've had two, both have been trouble free as you'd expect for a Japanese Toyota engine and auto transmission.
Before i'd driven a V6 auto Hilux i'd only ever driven a V6 manual and they are awful, it was only by chance I drove a used auto one when I was at a Mazda dealer looking at buying a 2009/2010 Mazda BT-50 probably the same as yours. I really liked the 3.0L diesel in the BT-50, it was by far the best of the diesel lot to drive. I was set on a DX+ Freestyle cab, had it all priced ready to go. It was at that stage a friend who was an ex Mazda service manager told me knowing my driveway and what I tow if I was getting one to get an auto, otherwise i'd be replacing the clutch inside 10,000kM and would probably be up for a normal replacement flywheel and clutch (not dual mass). But Mazda didn't sell the DX+ Freestyle cab in an auto, and I wasn't paying $10k more for an SDX just to get an auto and some ugly silver flares on a white car. So I left p!ssed off, walking back to the car via a Toyota dealership where I drove the auto V6 Hilux for the first time and bought one that week as a 1 month regoed demo for less than the cost of the SDX Mazda extra cab, There was nothing wrong with that series BT-50, they were good, cheap (at DX+ level), and reliable as you'd expect an older series to evolve into. But as far as comparing that SDX auto Freestyle cab with an SR5 V6 auto dual cab Hilux for the same money, the Hilux wins hands down in driveability, comfort, power, towing ability plus resale should probably be similar (i'll probably sell it inside 80,000kM unless it cops a GenIV V8 conversion). If Mazda had made a DX+ auto Freestyle cab, like you i'd probably be driving one now and would never have known about the V6 auto Hilux. Or to be truthful, I may not actually be driving anything as the curtain airbag in the Hilux saved me from a pretty nasty head injury, not sure that if i'd had the same accident n the Mazda if i'd be here today, as you never know how a different car might behave in the same accident!
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