King of the Toy-Haulers
Work hard all week. Check. Look forward to the weekend. Check. Join the Friday exodus out of town. Check.
But how do we take our fave toys with us, and what do we drive? A turbo-diesel double cab 4x4 ute of course, aka ‘the Swiss Army Knife’ of the current vehicle fleet.
We take a look at alternatives at a spec level and price point to suit all tastes and budgets.
We assembled three strong options across spec level and price point for the title of top toy-hauler, whether your toys of choice are mountain bikes, quads, jet skis, motocrossers or UTVs, and took them out on a variety of road surfaces including a neat little rat run that enables commuters to flee Auckland southward without using too much of the motorway.
More of the route later, though, first the vehicles.
Three’s company
Mitsubishi’s Triton in its recently-refreshed and award-winning 4WD GLX-R Diesel format, double cab auto, priced at a frankly amazing (currently on special offer) $41,990 +ORC.
Toyota’s evergreen Hilux SR5 Cruiser Diesel double cab auto with a ‘no-more-topay’ Toyota Driveaway Price of $56,990.
And the Ford Ranger Raptor, 4WD Diesel double cab auto with a RRP of $84,990.
So why the Raptor and not the XLT or Wildtrack? After all, it’s a little like bringing a handgun to a knife fight, isn’t it? In our defence, the Raptor gives us that spread of offerings to suit all capabilities and budgets. It’s also NZ4WD’s 4WD Ute of The Year this year. And if given the choice, wouldn’t you jump at the Raptor?
Especially in all-black wheels and bodywork and even more so with the S mode selected.
In the end, horses are for courses and this gave us three very capable haulers to test. These are the vehicles our tradies (bless ‘em) are buying or aspiring to; families all want for the Saturday sports run and we would jump for when it’s time to join the Friday afternoon commute to our favourite camping spot, river, lake or beach. The message is: you really can take it all with you.
Keeping it safe when you do requires the addition of a rear canopy, and there are any number of options there, ranging from the standard sliding closure to a full size canopy that creates massive storage and security. None of these three came with canopies, but none of them
