It's well known that Toyota's four by four reputation started to be established
right here in the Snowy Mountains of southern New South Wales.
There's some truth to that, and a fair bit of PR spin too, but there's absolutely no
doubting the fact that FJ25 Landcruisers were here working on the massive Snowy hydro and
irrigation scheme as far back as 1958.
Nearly 60 years on, and the Landcruiser is still with us, and Toyota is Australia's
most popular vehicle brand.
There's also been an explosion in popularity of SUVs, emphasising the looks, sometimes
more than the capability, which is why we've not only come back with the Landcruiser to
the Snowy, we've brought Toyota's newest and least capacity SUV, the CHR, with us as
well.
Our trek through the Snowy starts at Tumut, and our plan is to revisit some of the places
that the original Landcruiser helped build.
Like this, the magnificent Talbingo Reservoir, the last and largest of 16 dams built as part
of the Snowy Hydroelectric and Irrigation Scheme.
It's an appropriate backdrop for a vehicle as imposing as the 200 series Landcruiser.
Nearly five metres long, weighs in at over 2,600 kilograms, and powered by a four and
a half litre V8 twin turbo diesel engine that makes 200 kilowatts and 650 Newton metres.
Big country, big vehicle.
This Altitude Special Edition will set you back around $100,000 by the time you get it
on the road.
Those 1950s Snowy workers who travelled to the job in FJ25 Landcruisers would struggle
to recognise the current cruiser.
It's more luxury car than workhorse.
It's so quiet and refined and modern – even the four by four system is button operated.
From Talbingo it's on across the roof of Australia via Kiandra and Cabramurra to a
place you could argue is the birthplace of the Landcruiser legend in Australia, the Tooma
Tumut Tunnel.
In 1958, a company called Teece [?] Brothers was commissioned to build this tunnel, and
they brought with them to do it 12 FJ25 Landcruisers.
Teece were so impressed by the performance of the Landcruiser they decided they wanted
to take over the local distributorship, which they did, of all Toyota commercial vehicles.
Much later, Toyota Japan bought them out and established Toyota Australia.
The rest, as we know, is history.
And the CHR is the latest expression of that Toyota sales dominance.
It shares nothing with the cruiser except its Toyota badge and SUV classification.
The
CHR is just under 4.4 metres long, weighs less than 1,400 kilograms, and is powered
by a 1.2 litre turbo petrol four-cylinder engine.
In the COBA [?] spec, you're looking at more than $35,000 on road for this Mazda CX3
competitor.
In some ways, the CHR and the FJ25 have more in common with each other than the FJ and
the current day Landcruiser do.
That's because the CHR and the FJ are roughly the same size, and produce roughly the same
power.
But it drives like a modern passenger car, and is rightly lauded as one of the most involving
and interesting new generation Toyotas you can buy.
Like the Snowy Mountain Scheme, a lot of the most interesting bits of the CHR are hidden
out of sight.
Underpinning the whole thing is a new platform called TNGA [?] which is critical to the future
of Toyota's production vehicle plans, and it delivers improved dynamics for this car.
Under the bonnet is a downside 1.2 litre turbo petrol engine which still makes 85 kilowatts.
Our sojourn finishes at Khancoban, which is appropriate considering Toyota reinforced
its links with the area in the 1990s by launching a Special Edition Snowy Landcruiser at a power
station just down the road.
So the Snowy is an incredible combination of beauty and impressive engineering.
And coming here in Toyotas reinforces their linkage with this part of Australia, and its
importance in bringing the Toyota four by four heritage to life.
Something that, 60 years on, with vehicles like these, we're still living with.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét