If a pick-up truck is good for anything then it’s towing, and the Toyota Hilux towing capacity is right up there with the best-in-class. After all you’d expect nothing less from the most famous pick-up truck in the world.
In this article we will look at the Hilux’s towing capacity as well as its overall kerb weight.Â
The article will focus on the Toyota Hilux 48V hybrid towing capacity and its other vital statistics, but the towing weights are the same for the standard diesel variant of the Hilux.
The Hilux is known for its rugged off-road abilities and indestructible reputation. In reality, many Hilux are spending their days performing mundane tasks such as towing.
Whether it is towing a trailer, a horse box, a livestock trailer, boat or caravan, the Hilux is an ideal companion for anyone needing to off-road and tow. But what is it capable of towing?
All Toyota Hilux models have a maximum towing capacity of 3500kg.
How much you can tow will depend if you have a braked or an unbraked trailer. Unbraked trailers are severely limited on their carrying capacity, as such the Toyota Hilux has a 750kg maximum towing capacity for an unbraked trailer. That’s the maximum any van, pick-up or car can tow without having an independent braking system, which would make it a braked trailer.
The braked towing capacity of a Toyota Hilux increases dramatically. That’s because braked trailers are safer and therefore capable of carrying a lot more weight than a standard trailer. The Toyota Hilux is top of its game with a 3500kg towing capacity - which again is the most that a 3.5-tonne commercial vehicle can tow.
The Hilux 48V is the latest model from Toyota and is arguably the future of the Hilux range. There’s little to the 48V model other than a small 48V battery that stores power and prevents additional load on the engine. But it’s quite effective at reducing the fuel consumption. That means lower CO2 and as a result it’s makes the Hilux 48V at least slightly future-proofed.
Because it has a slightly higher kerb weight, the Hilux has a revised gross vehicle weight (GVW) compared to the standard models.
The Toyota Hilux 48V has a 3210kg GVW. That doesn’t alter the overall towing capacities of braked trailers at 3500kg and 750kg for an unbraked trailer.
If a truck like the Hilux has a towing capacity of 3,500kg for a braked trailer, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it would be possible to tow 3500kg all of the time.
While in principle that’s true, the legality of it is slightly more confusing. That’s because the amount you can tow will also depend on the amount of payload you are carrying in the load bed.
While the total towing capacity is 3500kg, how much you can actually tow will depend on the overall gross train weight (also called the gross combination weight) of both the truck and the trailer with their respective loads.
