Toyota Hilux vs Mercedes-Benz B-Class [2012-2015]

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.

After moving about elegantly in the B-Class for around a month Ninad offered me the car and I gleefully accepted. I was a little worried on how it will fare in my hands, will my first Mercedes-Benz long term car experience shine or wither away? While I did remember a brief drive during one of our photo shoot sessions that left me impressed with it, at the other end I honestly didn’t know how it would fare as an everyday commuter.

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