I believe that a group of car enthusiasts born in the 1980s should have an impact on the round of SUV boom that suddenly broke out in China around 2003. At that time, a large number of low-end SUVs with particularly serious homogenization suddenly appeared in the domestic SUV market. The typical feature of this type of model is that the price is around 100,000 yuan, and it adopts the body of Nanhai Fudi, the chassis of Isuzu, and the engine of Toyota 491. Naturally, there is no way out for this type of car.
After the big waves wash away the sand, the only one left in the SUV market of about 100,000 yuan is the Great Wall Cypher that did not follow the trend. At that time, this light-looking off-road vehicle was really a beautiful scenery on the road. Along with the great sales of the Great Wall Cypher, Great Wall Motors has also officially found its first pot of gold in the SUV market. This also paved the way for Great Wall to launch Haval and this series of SUV strategies later.
So, in the following text, let’s talk about Cypher. However, it is not the Great Wall Cypher, but its predecessor, the Toyota Hilux Surf.
From the naming, we can clearly see the relationship between this Toyota Hilux Surf and the classic Toyota Hilux. In 1984, Toyota officially launched the Hilux Surf based on the fourth-generation Toyota Hilux pickup. In the North American market, the new car is named Toyota Hilux 4Runner. Yes, you read that right, it is the predecessor of the Toyota 4Runner based on the Toyota Tacoma in the North American market. As for why 4Runner and Hilux parted ways later, we will talk about it later.
First Generation Toyota Hilux Surf: A real pickup case.
Back to the first-generation Toyota Hilux Surf. In fact, strictly speaking, the first-generation Toyota Hilux Surf can not be regarded as a newly developed car, but can only be regarded as a modification of the upper part on the basis of the N60 series Hilux at that time. The products launched, more precisely, are improved products based on the single-row Hilux. Its improvements can be roughly summarized as adding a rear seat, adding a removable fiberglass roof, and of course, including the complete fusion of the cargo box and the cab to form a one-piece side wall. Therefore, the shape of the whole vehicle is a standard two-door hardcore off-road vehicle.
And this kind of design is also very in line with a trend of hardcore SUVs in the North American market at that time, such as the Chevrolet K5 Blazer and Ford Bronco at the same time. Thanks to the long body advantage of the Hilux series, the body length of Toyota Hilux Surf is much longer than its competitors. So even with the two-door design, you can still see the standard rear window design and the small trunk window design on the Toyota Hilux Surf. Under the effect of the fiberglass roof, the side image of the vehicle is also divided into a two-color design. After removing the glass fiber reinforced plastic roof at the rear, the pickup truck image of the first generation Toyota Hilux Surf is very obvious. However, due to the use of integral side panels, it is still somewhat different from the Hilux after removing the roof. The overall vehicle posture of Hilux Surf will be lighter.
However, the first-generation Toyota Hilux Surf did not take into account that the rear axle springs need to bear the additional weight of the rear seat and the fiberglass roof, which made most of the early models have collapsed buttocks.
The Toyota Hilux Surf, which was first launched in the North American market in 1984, is equipped with a black or white fiberglass roof as standard, matched with a 2.4L carburetor engine and a four-wheel drive system. Models produced after 1985 used an electronically injected 2.4L engine, internally code-named 22R-EC. Its maximum output power has also been increased from 100 horsepower in the carbureted version to 116 horsepower. The first-generation Toyota Hilux Surf front axle of this period was still a non-independent hard axle design.
In 1986, the first-generation Toyota Hilux Surf underwent a minor facelift. The front axle became an independent suspension structure, and the track was also increased by three inches. These changes have effectively improved the driving stability and comfort of the first-generation Toyota Hilux Surf, and the new independent suspension design has also increased the cabin space. This also made it possible for a V6-powered model to be introduced in 1987. However, the use of independent suspension also weakened the off-road capability of the first-generation facelifted Toyota Hilux Surf to a certain extent.
In terms of appearance, this time the facelift model has re-adjusted the design of the air intake grille, changing from the original three-stage to two-stage. The fiberglass roof of the top version of the model also provides blue, red, and gold colors. However, the normal version of the model is still a white and black design.
In the North American market, the facelifted Toyota Hilux Surf also offered a 2.4-liter turbocharged power version in 1986, matching it with an automatic transmission. Most of the supercharged models come standard with SR5 kits and heavy-duty rear axle differentials. This kit was subsequently applied to the V6 models.
In late 1987, the first-generation Toyota Hilux Surf offered an all-new 3.0-liter V6 with a heavy-duty rear differential and a new transmission. The transfer case adopts a chain drive design, which is less noisy than the traditional transfer case with gears before, but the durability of the later feedback is not as good as that of the gear-driven transfer case.
It is worth noting that due to the pickup attributes of the Toyota Hilux Surf itself, the models imported to the US market between 1984 and 1986 did not have rear seats installed, which also allowed it to be imported into North America as a truck market, avoiding some tariffs.
The second-generation Toyota Hilux Surf: the prototype of the Great Wall Cypher was born.
By 1989, the first-generation Toyota Hilux Surf had officially passed into history, and in its place was its second-generation model. It is the prototype of the Great Wall Cypher that we are familiar with, and its internal code is N120/N130 series.
Like the first-generation Toyota Hilux Surf, the second-generation Toyota Hilux Surf is also based on the Hilux pickup, but unlike the first-generation model, the second-generation Toyota Hilux Surf has canceled the fiberglass car The design of the roof is replaced by the traditional body form. According to different positioning, the second-generation Toyota Hilux Surf provides two-door and four-door body structures. No matter which model it is, the part before the B-pillar maintains the same design as the Hilux pickup. However, compared to the hot-selling four-door models, two-door models are very rare.
In order to improve the sagging butt problem that the leaf spring suspension of the first-generation model was prone to, on the second-generation Toyota Hilux Surf, the rear axle was replaced with a new set of coil spring rear suspension, but unfortunately, this time the improvement was still unsuccessful However, the second-generation Toyota Hilux Surf also still has the problem of collapsed buttocks.
In terms of styling, the second-generation Toyota Hilux Surf retains the same design style as the first-generation model. It is based on a pickup truck and has a very considerable rear suspension size, which makes its small trunk window become It is very impressive, and this detail also extends up to the position of the roof, which makes the space permeability of the rear seats particularly good. The straight roof and the high visual center of gravity effect under the non-load-bearing body structure also make the second-generation Toyota Hilux Surf have a stronger sense of lightness and off-road vehicle flavor. Especially the undercarriage of the vehicle seems to be a rhythm that can easily transform into a monster truck at any time.
On the second-generation Toyota Hilux Surf, the rear windshield can also be lifted and lowered electrically. This configuration is very thoughtful even now. Models of the same period are equipped with an openable rear windshield. The best usage scenarios for this configuration should be playing and carrying long and bulky items. The multifunctional attributes of pickup trucks are presented at this time.
In terms of power, the second-generation Toyota Hilux Surf is still equipped with a 2.4L inline four-cylinder engine and a 3.0L V6 power. In terms of drive form, it provides rear-wheel drive and part-time four-wheel drive. Among them, the 2.4L power model The transfer case is still geared, while the 3.0L version is still chain driven. The front suspension also adopts the independent suspension after the improvement of the first generation model.
In the Japanese market, the second-generation Toyota Hilux Surf has added a series of diesel power, including a 2.4L turbocharged diesel power internally code-named 2L-TE I4 and a 3.0L turbocharged internal code-named 1KZ-TE I4 Diesel engines. In the later period, there are still small batches of models equipped with 2.8L diesel, 3.0L diesel and 2.0L naturally aspirated gasoline power.
In 1991, the second-generation Toyota Hilux Surf ushered in a minor facelift, with improvements including a one-piece front bumper and combined headlights. At the same time, a wide-body kit appeared in the model structure of the facelifted model, matching it with wider fenders and larger tires.
In the late 1980s, the safety collision regulations in North America were not perfect, so the first-generation Toyota Hilux Surf and the early second-generation Toyota Hilux Surf had shortcomings in side collisions, but with the increasing regulations Strictly speaking, on models after 1994, anti-collision structures appeared on the front and rear doors, and in 1995, dual front airbags were added.
After the suspension of production in the North American market, the second-generation Toyota Hilux Surf also came to China through technology transfer, which is the Cypher we are familiar with. While the Great Wall Cypher inherited the Toyota Hilux Surf technology, it also naturally inherited the name of the Surf, and this car has also become a generation of famous cars.
For the sake of space, the first issue of the history of Toyota Hilux Surf is here first. The reason why the second-generation model was chosen as a watershed is that since the third-generation model, the reputation of Toyota Hilux Surf has been gradually surpassed by 4Runner, and the positioning of this car has also changed.
