Iraq/Afghanistan

[Tailendcharley]

:(  :( I see from the news that they had an absolutely barbaric day yesterday in Bagdad but what I find interesting is the fact that the local fighters are always driving around in Toyota pickups.Is there a big Toyota garage on the borders of Iraq and Afghanistan selling these vehicles to the locals.In Afghanistan you see battered,twisted and torn Toyotas but they still keep on going across the mountains etc....Says a lot for these vehicles does'nt it....oh well,just an observation,back to my corner now  

 :lol:  :lol: Terry Smith  

[Mudlark]

:(  :( I see from the news that they had an absolutely barbaric day yesterday in Bagdad but what I find interesting is the fact that the local fighters are always driving around in Toyota pickups.Is there a big Toyota garage on the borders of Iraq and Afghanistan selling these vehicles to the locals.In Afghanistan you see battered,twisted and torn Toyotas but they still keep on going across the mountains etc....Says a lot for these vehicles does'nt it....oh well,just an observation,back to my corner now  

 :lol:  :lol: Terry Smith  

"Their [Saudi Arabian guides] scepticism was deepened by the fact that - shock horror! - we were not driving a Toyota."

You tend to get the same thing in this country when you drive a Shogun on a trial :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

[laser_jock99]

Toyota have huge markets for their 4x4 trucks around the globe. Toyota is the most popular brand of 4x4 in the Southern Hemisphere (Africa/Australia/S.America etc). Toyota UK don't seem to bother actively marketing their 4x4 stuff here in uk (compare this to Mitsubushi TV ad campaigns).

I guess they are popular in the Middle East too. Certainly nearly those white UN 4x4's are VX Land Cruisers.

[littlepow]

You not seen Top Gear trying to kill a Hilux?

But there good in desert type terrain.

[Evilgoat]

You not seen Top Gear trying to kill a Hilux?

But there good in desert type terrain.

Burnt, crushed, blown up drowned and still started.

No way in hell the zook would have survived and I'm skeptical anything else would have taken that punishement except possibly a series.

[Boggert]

I'm living proof.... My wife has tried everything but i'm still here!  :lol:

[freeagent]

'the Toyota Taliban'

'... the go anywhere, do anything, take anything..... and still come back for more' truck....

[thermidorthelobster]

Anecdote time...

When I was in Gambia I was telling a Spanish chap about the various challenges I'd had with Land Rovers over the years...  oil leaks, seals, things bending, etc.

He'd driven all round Africa for a couple of years in a Land Cruiser, so I asked him if he'd had any problems with it.

"Oh yeah, of course I have..." he replied, totally seriously.  "The switch for the headlights packed in and I had to solder it up..."

Says it all really!  I was cheered up though when somebody else I know drove a Land Cruiser to Gambia and had daily problems with electrics, hoses, cooling etc, far more than I'd had with the Land Rover.