HOLA from COLOMBIA S.A.

Hello. My name is James. My wife and I live on a farm in the mountains north of the City of Medellin Colombia. We recently bought a Toyota Hilux 4x4 Hi Rider. This is my 4th toy 4wd ('87 pickup, '95 pickup, '98 Tacoma). The Hilux isn't a Tacoma, but it does use the same interior, dash, and gauges as my '98. The body dimensions are almost the same as a Tacoma, but the frame and running gear are rated 1 ton capacity. Front suspension is torsion bar, and the frame is boxed and is much stronger than the Tacoma's. The engine is a 2RZ-FE, 2.4 litre (150hp). This truck has a dual-fuel conversion and runs on gasoline or CNG (Compressed Natural Gas). CNG is a no-brainer here, as gasoline costs about $2.75 USD/gal, while CNG is only $0.40 USD/cu. meter. The power is down slightly when running "gaas", but it's only noticeable on long uphill pulls.

Any vehicle not built in Colombia has a 35% import duty added to the price, so Toyotas are more expensive here than in the states. We looked at a LOT of trucks before buying this one. I wanted a 2003 - 2005 Crew Cab (doble-cabina) because it's my favorite body style. All of the roads around our area are unpaved, so buying a new truck and having the roads beat it to death wasn't an option.
This truck was exactly what we were looking for: 4x4, doble cabina, gasoline y gas, and fully-optioned Hi Rider package. Most importantly, it was a one-owner truck with only 87000km on the clock, and was in perfect condition.

I want to beef up the suspension to better handle our roads, but don't have any idea what is available aftermarket for the front torsion bar suspension mine has. I checked the TRD site, but there's nothing. The Hilux is sold in Australia and Thailand, as well as South America, and there are a lot of online Toyota aftermarket stores in Thailand. But shipping to Colombia ??? I've seen a couple of Toyota off road businesses in Medellin, so I guess I'll be getting to know them.

The members on this forum seem to be the best informed of any on the forums I checked out, and I'm looking forward to getting advice and helping whenever I can.

- JAMES

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Nice truck

 

Nice Hilux James

 

Welcome!

 

Welcome to the club!Clean truck!