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Comment by bwv848 | Hacker News Reader

I don’t doubt how tough the Hilux can be, but Top Gear tended to stage a lot of things. Like they intentionally killed Hammond’s Land Cruiser at the end of the Bolivia special. Plus, they had some pretty damn good mechanics, while Clarkson pretended to fix his cars with a hammer in front of the camera.

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IIRC, they have been caught pre-scripting scenes. The most famous incident being the Tesla Roadster debacle - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Gear_controversies#Tesla_R...

"A BBC spokeswoman said several times in an interview that Top Gear was "an entertainment programme, and should not be taken seriously."

Also the Hilux in that video hasn't been made this millennia, so the "shiny new ones" the article references likely isn't those.

They are in fact the same design. They are not available in regions with robust emissions laws, but they are still manufactured, sold and widely used in Africa and the Middle East.

They are sold by Toyota Gibraltar Stockholdings, look them up on YouTube.

You're thinking of the 70 Series Land Cruiser, which is an older platform that Toyota still manufactures and offers around the world... in some markets.

TGS is merely a distributor and outfitter of Toyota vehicles for the UN, who famously uses the 70 Series Land Cruiser. But, TGS manufactures zero vehicles -- they simply outfit and work on vehicles that Toyota currently makes.

TGS does offer the Hilux as well, but only the current 8th gen model: https://www.toyota-gib.com/en/models/hilux.html

The Hilux in the above Top Gear video is a 4th generation model, which started production in 1983, and was last manufactured in 1997 when the final plant in South Africa stopped manufacturing it.

I think there's a grand tour segment specifically addressing people who complain about a car show being staged.

Edit: it's S2E4 "Unscripted".

Try this one: https://youtu.be/Yl1FNX08HFc

That hilux was basically just getting warmed up on top gear. They are indeed formiddable.

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