Toyota Hilux vs BMW X1 [2010-2012]

I'm smitten by pickup trucks and their versatility. So, there's no second guessing what I chose when the Toyota Hilux made it to the line-up of the fourth edition of CarWale's annual off-road day. In fact, it was the only massive pickup amongst SUVs here. To cope with the bulk, it has a 2.8-litre turbo diesel engine producing 200bhp and 500Nm of torque. All this power is routed through a six-speed torque converter automatic to the four-wheel-drive system. The latter gets High (H4) and Low (L4) range paired with electronic 2WD/4WD control. Despite the length, it has good approach (29.22degree) and departure (26.36degree) angles and runs on stock Bridgestone tyres (265/60 R18). Let's see how it performed.

December 2010 was a great month for BMW as it unveiled a product that was its cheapest yet, the X1. But, the trust in BMW ensured buyers did not look down upon it; instead they jumped at it. The result was massive bookings and a long wait of several months to drive one out of the showrooms. Sceptics however, say it’s common for any new car to witness such response; first few months are after all called the honeymoon period for a new car for a reason. The question then is, is the X1 as good as one expects a BMW to be? Is it fun to drive? And do its booming sales, actually make it worth owning? To find out, we drove the baby BMW, the X1.

To celebrate what we have left, we gather a bunch of true-blue 4x4s every year and give them hell!