Toyota Hilux review: buy the 2.7 unless you have a real reason for the V6
4/5motorssouq Editorial Team
For anyone buying a Hilux to actually work — trades, deliveries, farm or desert-camp duty — the 2.7-litre GLS is the correct answer: cheaper to buy, cheaper to insure, and mechanically the simplest thing Toyota sells in Bahrain. Buy the 4.0-litre V6 GR Sport only if you want a genuinely quick, characterful truck for its own sake; it does not tow, carry or off-road meaningfully better than the four-cylinder for most private buyers.
Pros
- Ladder frame and part-time 4WD with low range genuinely suit Bahrain's desert-camp and causeway-trailer use
- 2.7-litre four is cheap to buy, insure and run, with parts on every workshop shelf
- No diesel emissions hardware to worry about in GCC-spec petrol trucks
- Resale demand from small businesses keeps used values firm
- GR Sport V6 is a genuinely quick, characterful truck if you want one
Cons
- Unladen ride on leaf springs is firm over Bahrain's speed bumps and expansion joints
- 4.0-litre V6 is noticeably thirstier for little practical gain in daily use
- Commercial/fleet history is common and needs checking before purchase
- Cabin refinement and NVH trail car-based rivals
The Hilux does not change much generation to generation, and that is the entire point. The current double-cab is still a ladder-frame truck with leaf-spring rear suspension and part-time four-wheel drive, at a time when several rivals have chased car-like unibody comfort. In Bahrain, where a Hilux is as likely to be towing a jet-ski trailer to Askar as it is to be hauling a pallet of tiles, that old-fashioned toughness is the selling point, not a compromise.
Which engine to buy
The 2.7-litre four is the honest workhorse: 164 hp is modest on paper, but it pulls a laden bed and a small trailer without drama, and it sips fuel compared with the V6. It is also the grade every independent workshop in Bahrain has parts for on the shelf, not on order.
The 4.0-litre V6 in the SR5 and GR Sport grades is a genuinely different truck — quicker, louder, and noticeably thirstier. It suits a buyer who wants the Hilux as a lifestyle pickup first and a tool second, and the GR Sport's suspension and cosmetic changes make it the closest thing to a fun Hilux Toyota sells here.
Living with it in Bahrain's heat
Unladen, the leaf-spring rear end is firmer over expansion joints and speed bumps than a coil-sprung rival like the Ranger — you feel every one of Bahrain's poorly marked bumps through the cabin. Load the bed and the ride settles considerably, which tells you what this suspension was actually tuned for. Cabin cooling is strong even in August, and the diesel-free GCC lineup means there is no DPF or AdBlue system to worry about in stop-start Manama traffic.
Running costs and resale
This is the cheapest vehicle in Bahrain to keep on the road in the literal sense: service intervals are long, parts are commodity-priced, and a Hilux with high mileage is not automatically viewed with suspicion the way a car would be — trade buyers expect it. Resale is strong precisely because small businesses need a constant supply of used ones.
What to check before you buy
Commercial-use examples are common, so inspect the bed liner and chassis rails for signs of overloading, check the leaf springs for sagging, and ask directly whether the truck was used for towing or fleet duty. A private-use example with full service history is worth paying a premium for over a higher-mileage ex-commercial one at the same price.