Saturday, 31 October 2026

Ramble about the 2022 Rogue

 


I believe at the start of 2022 Toyota was selling a different Hilux Rogue and Luxxy Trucksie is significantly different to those early 2022 Rogues.

For those that don't know the late 2022-2025 Hilux Rogue and the Hilux GR sport have a 145mm (roughly 6 inch) wider track than other Hiluxes and an approximately 20mm (roughly an inch) extra lift.

For convenience I am going to call her a "2023 Rogue" or "widetrack Rogue", because that's how most people identify this variant of the Rogue.

According to the federal Road Vehicle Descriptor her variant code is GUN126R-DTTHXQ-M0.

So I'm a happy chappie. I've been wanting a 4WD for a while, and been researching them for a couple of years. Earlier this year I had back surgery after which my chronic back and leg pain got a whole lot better, so this seemed like a good time. 

As far as I know - and I am by no means an expert - these 2023 Rogues and the GR Sports are the only Hiluxes that came with the wider track - at least in Australia.

The Rogue came with the same engine as the rest of the N80 Hiluxes as did the GR Sport, but the GR Sport's engine has been tuned to deliver approx 10% more power and torque - 165Kw and 550nm as opposed to the 150KW and 500nm of the rest of the 2.8L dieso N80s, including the Rogue.

The Rogue and the GR Sport have longer axles, CVs etc to accomodate their wider track and their shock absorbers are located outboard of the chassis rails, giving them that wider stance.  With other Hiluxes the shock absorber is inside the chassis. As such many of the standard N80 parts related to the final drive and the chassis won't fit the Rogue of GR Sport.

Luckily the Rogue seems to be one of the more popular models on the Aussie roads, so I don't expect to have too many issues getting parts.

Although the new N90 (released late 2025) Hiluxes has a Rogue in the range and a Rugged X to replace the GR Sport neither of those models has the wider track. For some reason Toyota elected to revert to a single track width range. Apart from the interior trim and the stereo/head unit and external accesories (tub liner, tub rolloer, bars there really doesn't seem to be any real difference betweent the top of the line 2026 models and the 2026 SR5. Sure those distinctions are nice, but there doesn't seem to be any difference in dynamics/performance/off roadability. I guess Toyota is saving those differences for a mid life update.

So for now the late 2022-2025 Rogue and thte GR Sport are somewhat unique amongst Hiluxes, being both a little higher and considerably wider than all other models.

It was widely reported in the Aussie motoring media that the 2022 Rogue was probably the best driving and handling Hilux ever up until the N90 series. Apparently the N90 series feel much better on the road at least from the SR5 model and up. I'm not sure how the N90s compare to the N80 2022 Rogue and GR Sport, but a number of reveiwers suggested that unless people really needed something the N90s offered the N80 2022 Rogur or GR Sport might be a better option - that 145mm wider track and suspension tune featuring prominently in their discussion.

Suffice it to say I think the 2022 Rogue is probably a reasonably desirable Hilux - if you desire Hiluxes.
I certainly found it desirable.

It wasn't my intention to get a Rogue, I was more looking at an SR5 or an SR if I were to get a Hilux at all. But my inner tight ass made it more likely that I would have bought a Mitsi Triton - probably GLS, a GWM XSR or maybe Tank 300 PHEV.
But I saw Luxxy on carsales.com.au and the tightass bargain hunter in me saw a lot of value in her.

Luxxy's previous owner M was an experienced 4WDer and a qualified mechanic who I understand had worked at a major national 4WD engineering and retail firm as a fitter and I believe is a fleet operations manager for companies that operate fleets.
In short he knows a lot more about vehciles than most of us will, and he is a mad keen 4WD driver.

M spent a fair bit of coin on Luxxy, fitting her out to be what we in 'Straya call a tourer.
Essentially a vehicle fitted for travelling most places and camping or towing a caravan/camper trailer, but capable of going most places on or off road/track, but not specifically designed for hard wheeling.

So the vehicle I am buying will be essentially M's dream build. And in my opinion, M has mighty fine taste - although I would have preferred red. So what did M do to her?

He built this beautiful vehicle, his dream build based on his decades of  4WD and touring experience.
Then his life situation changed and Luxxy would be sitting unused in his driveway while she depreciated and he paid her off. So he decided to move her on.

Now M's dream build is pretty much my dream build. But I never would have built her.

I wanted a Hilux and I wanted a tray/canopy. The difference is I would never have spent the money to put the tray/canopy on her.

Essentially even if I have the money I am too much of a tight ass, the expense of a build like this is too extravagent for my psyche.

I would have bought an SR or SR5 at best, or more likely a Triton or GWM and added added a bullbar and a winch, maybe a light bar or driving lights and eventually either a roller toneau or a tub canopy, and maybe a second battery and fridge and maybe some drawers and that would be it. Not a dream build, but a sufficient build.

However seeing Luxxy for the price being asked - I was sorely tempted. At first I thought it was too good to be true. Must have been a scam. The vehicle was a little over market price for that model, year and kilometres, but only a little over and it had all these mods and accessories - maybe 25-30% of the vehicle price included mods and accessories. In other words I was getting a tens of thousands dollars of mods essentially for free.

Mods and accessories I would really love to have had but would probably never bought.

It was over my ideal vehicle budget, but looking at the value and utility of the build knowing that I'd be spending way more than the premiun M was asking just building my basic build.

So I started a conversation with M and eventually arranged a viewing.

I spoke to M and found out his reason for selling and my gut told me he was not scamming or trying to rip me off. In fact I felt like he was getting the raw end of the deal, but he seemed happy to sell.

M seemed like a very genuine and nice bloke. My gut told me I could trust him - I'm neuro atypical so I have trust issues, having been scammed before and not picked it up until too late.

Furthermore because M was a qualified mechanic in the earlier part of his career and a experience in the offroad industry and been 4WD/ing for years and looked after a fleet I felt the build would be done right.
I believe he'd done the work himself to high standard or would engage people he trusted and had the experience to assess their work.

In other words it was a build I felt I could trust, and looking at and discussing the build it all made sense, seemed well reasoned and looked like it had been well built and well looked after.

The components were not all top shelf, especially the 12V house battery, but they all seemed adequate and the imporant parts the DCDC and main charger were well known and trusted brands so I didn't feel like I was going to get a charging fire.

And there was lots a fusing and lots of split tubing conduit and the routing looked sensible (mainly following factory wiringg routes) and zip tied at regular intervals.

The vehicle had been dealer servicing as a base, with some additional minor servicing by M for bits Toyota missed or does not include in their services - the catch can, greasing the Dobinsons shackle pins eyc.

So I messed around with finance for a week or so. The finance company wanted to settle on Friday "else the interest rate would change.

Friday was the start of a long weekend that M had arranged to go away for.

So M signed the sale invoice, and the finance company paid M on the Friday, but that was only around 5/7ths of the deal.

So M took Luxxy for his last trip and I held on the the other 2/7ths of the cash until I took possession.

For me that was a really long long weekend.

On the Tues after the long weekend I took possession of Luxxy and paid M the balance.
I had to hire a trailer, because she came with 4 jacks to lift off the canopy, the ladder rack for the tray, the original wheels and tyres as well as the original Toyota suspension.

And that was that. I was the very proud owner of Luxxy Trucksie.

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Monday, 8 June 2026

Unrequited Love. A Drive Down Memory Lane - My Long Love Affair With The Hilux

In the olden days the first car I bought for more than $200 was this bad boy, an LN46 Hilux.

Note: in keeping with the times she's gender fluid. She might be identified as she, he, her, old girl, bad boy or it. The times they are a changin' - and sometimes that's convenient. ;-) 

I'd been given my Mum's old Holden Gemini, and I'd bought a $150 or so Datsun 240K Coupe to get to work when the Gemini died, but the first car of any value that I really wanted, chose myself and spent a (then, for me) substantial chunk of my own money for was this bad boy.

I think it was like an '83 or '84 model, but I might be wrong. It was definately an LN46.


I bought that beautiful thing with compo money from an injury I got in the Army. Funnily enough I got that injury driving an off road vehicle. As Chris Boden would say: this fucken' thing...

Callsign 22D - an M113AS1 Light Reconaissance Vehicle (LRV)

I really loved that Hilux (I really loved that LRV too ). I'm not 100% sure but I think the LN46 was the first or second generation Hilux that had 4WD and big wheels - at least in Australia. I reckon it was the 3rd or 4th gen Hilux ovcerall. 
It was manual of course, I'm not sure if automatic 4WDs were a thing back then outside of real trucks and maybe milspec HMMWVs. If they were around they certainly weren't all that common.

I don't know what the all specs were, but she had a 2.2l naturally aspirated diesel which Google tells me generated 53 kW at 4,200 rpm and 142 Nm of torque at 2,400 rpm.
You know what they say?
Patience is a virtue!!

I reckon the old LN46 was much higher off the ground that today's stock Hiluxes. I'm not 100% sure but I think the suspension on mine was stock.
Those big wheels and tyres were one of the things that attracted me to Hilux.
Good vertical step, ditch crossing and obstacle clearing capability. Not many stock vehicles like that back in the olden days. I don't think there were all that many utes back then with big wheels.

The previous owner was a professor or researcher at my local university and I think he did field work in the bush. It was roughly 10 years old when I bought it. He'd moved on to a 79 series with dual cab chassis with tray.

I reckon the suspension was stock other than perhaps tyres, but it had spotties (driving lights), bars, steps  and a 110L or so litre extended fuel tank as well as an obviously handmade canopy frame and as you can see fabric canopy. 
And of course freewheeling hubs that needed to be manually engaged to drive the front wheels and no locker. Pretty sure the hubs were standard, not a mod/option. Can you imagine that today? You had to get out of the cab and turn the hub locks to get 4WD - ah the good old days. (Maybe you still have to do that on 70 series??)

I added a re-usable/washable foam air filter and an in line fuel pre-filter.

All in all not too bad for a first vehicle for a young bloke to start out with. 

I'd just gotten out of the army a year or so before so I was pretty experienced "living in the field".

I had bugger all experience driving wheeled vehicles but had spent a couple years driving cross country so I reckon my ground appreciation was decent.

So even though it was a very basic build by today's standards I could get to where I wanted to go and live fairly comfortably out of that relatively simple build. I mean a year or two before that I had literally been sleeping in a hole in the ground, occasionally sharing the hole with running water, so living out of something with windows a roof and padded seats was a doddle.

I didn't do any big trips, just weekend camping and trips to the range (gun club) and a couple of maybe week long shooting trips. Yeah it was a different time. Roo shooting with an AR-15, M1A and popping bunnies with a Franchi PA-7. 

My PA7 had the butt hook (not shown above). Really handy for hanging from a vehicle door when the stock was folded. What can I say? "Shotties are good mate"?
It was a different time. I had fun.  I didn't hurt anyone or rob a bank. Sue me.

TBH the range actually had ground where 4WD was occaissionally useful - sandy mallee scrub and a ute was good for working bees.

I loved that car.

I really loved that car.

I loved the sound of the 2.2L naturally aspirated engine ticking over at idle.

I loved the road noise the car made when hooting along at speed.

I loved the smell of the dieso exhaust.

I loved the fact that I could go anywhere I wanted to go and carry anything I might reasonably want to carry.

I loved the fact I could sleep in the tub, hang a mossie bar, be off the ground and stay mainly dry.

I loved that you could buy a $25 paper manual that would pretty much show you how to pull the whole thing apart and put it back together again. You could throw that in the glovebox and be reasonable happy that if things went tits up you had the info to diagnose and probably fix the issue.

I loved that car.

I still love that car. Or at least my memories of it.

Imagine a car where the most advanced electronics are the radio and you didn't need to deal with the dealer or manufacturer to keep it going, because there were no secrets - you could just measure everything you needed to know. I was not and never really have been a rev head, a real car guy, but the vehicle was simple.     

I so regretted getting rid of it, but it blew a head gasket and I didn't have the money to get the work done or the confidence to fix it myself.

After a year or two in storage, waiting for me to get the money to fix it, I gave it to a mate who started working on it, then but he had a bust up with his then missus and had to sell his house and had no where to put it so it got moved on, I'm not sure where it ended up, probably a wrecker.

So good bye LN46. You're out of my life. She was my first and she was gone.
But she was never forgotten.


I sooo wish I still had kept it. But I couldn't, so I didn't.

I've always loved the 4WD Hiluxes and I've been yearning for one ever since.
But I could never really afford another one for reasons I won't go into. I even love the modern N80 and N90 Hiluxes that compete against Ranger, and TriVarra, and BT50s/D-Maxes, Cannons, Tassies an all the rest.
So despite all the "cons" that some people find with the modern Hiluxes - all the emission control guff and too many sensors tied to too much software - hard to disagree with that. But despite all that I still have a soft spot for them.

I like the stance. The high skinny stance. I like the relative fuel efficiency. I like the practicality -and flexibility of dual cab utes. You can carry a load and some passengers and still find a spot for the dog!!
I like the reliability - granted the reliability of the modern Hilux ain't what it used to be, but it's still relatively decent.  Especially when compared to some of it's competitors. I like the fact that parts are plentiful, the dealer network is huge and the huge after market network including the network of experienced, knowledgeable and competant mechanics, suspension guys, tuners and the like.


I don't care all that much about the comforts and tech. Yes I want to be reasonably comfy and I want to be able to listen to music from my phone and charge my phone, but that is my minimum bar tech wise, it's not very high. In short that while I'd take additonal luxury if it was there, it is not as important to me as getting to where I want to go, with the people I want to go with (including my four legged best mate) and the gear I want to take, and getting back safely.

Utility over luxury, function over form. 

And for me, the dual cab ute is a very functional form factor, especially if you want to go bush and $100K+ for a "proper" 4WD - e.g. a 'Cruiser or a Patrol and the like is out of your range or more than you are willing to spend.

Yes I understand you can get a 'Cruiser for $20K and make a monster out of it, but I'm old and I don't have the time to learn the lessons. I'd rather spend my weekends out driving and camping than wrenching at this stage.

The dual cab ute is probably not great at any one task, but it's good enough over a range of tasks and relatively economical to own.

So a couple of years ago I felt my financial situation was caught  enough up and I started researching dual cab utes and to a lesser extent inexpensive 4WD "SUV"s.

I have to admit despite my love for my old LN46 and Hiluxes generally I looked at pretty much every major dual cab on the Aussie market in my reasearch and a couple of 4WD SUVs.

I even looked at Ranger's and Tasmans.
I know right?

Yes it's been a long road but for me a car like this is a huge purchase and I needed to feel secure I'd made a good decision and for someone like me that means taking my time to feel compfortable with the options and my decision. 

I also have a back injury that kept my in huge levels of pain and gave me very dodgy legs - weak and unstable. Occaissionally one leg or the other would just give up and collapse and I'd go tits up. 

The dodgy back is another reason I'm not looking at re-conditioning/building up a 20+ year old 'Cruiser.

But I had the operation on my back in April and it's gotten way better. The pain in my legs is more or less gone and the pain in my back is still there, but so far has been more managable than ever.

I still need to be careful but I reckon I'm as mobile as I'm ever gonna be.


So now 30 or so years and most of one lifetime later I'm about to embark on a new (to me) Hilux journey.

I've been on to carsales.com.au and found me a Lux. Not a new Lux, but not an old Lux either.
Still in manufacturer's warranty. A very nice Lux, in my view.

Just under 60,000kms on the clock. One careful owner. Some mods.

But finding a car and buying the car are two different things.
The Home Minister was consulted.+
The vehicle was inspected, finance was applied for, pre approval obtained.
A deal has been done. Will take delivery today..

This evening I will have the both the newest car I have ever owned, the the 4WD Dual Cab ute I've been missing for most of my entire adult live and the Hilux that I have been yearning for, for about 30 years.

And of course substantial debt to pay for it. Debt makes mores sense than cash at the moment, I'm saving more than the monthly repayment in mortage interest with a mortage offset account and I'll lose that right now if I pay for the car and be debt free.

What's that? You want a pic? Well I don't have any pics of my own, so for now I'll pop up one pic from the carsales.com.au listing to give you an impression.

He she is, a 2022 wide track Hilux Rogue. I'm gonna call her Luxxy Trucksie.

2022 Toyota Hilux Rogue. Copyright M*

Oh yeah did I mention? She has a few mods.

More to follow.







*M is the original owner, I have not secured his permission to use his name, intitals or image, so I will replace this photo with one of my own as soon as I can. M - if you read this and  I am happy to credit you with whatever name you want me to use or remove the image. Let me know.





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Ramble about the 2022 Rogue

  I believe at the start of 2022 Toyota was selling a different Hilux Rogue and Luxxy Trucksie is significantly different to those early 202...