Newsweek reporter Ravi Somaiya has an article on "
Why rebels and insurgent groups the world over love the Toyota Hilux pickup as much as their AK-47s."
"It’s the vehicular equivalent of the AK-47. It’s ubiquitous to insurgent warfare. And actually, recently, also counterinsurgent warfare. It kicks the hell out of the Humvee.
[...]
An experiment conducted by British TV show Top Gear in 2006 offers one explanation. The show’s producers bought an 18-year-old Hilux diesel with 190,000 miles on the odometer for $1,500. They then crashed it into a tree, submerged it in the ocean for five hours, dropped it from about 10 feet, tried to crush it under an RV, drove it through a portable building, hit it with a wrecking ball, and set it on fire. Finally they placed it on top of a 240-foot tower block that was then destroyed in a controlled demolition. When they dug it out of the rubble, all it took to get it running again was hammers, wrenches, and WD-40. They didn’t even need spare parts."
Newsweek reporter Ravi Somaiya has an article on "Why rebels and insurgent groups the world over love the Toyota Hilux pickup as much as their AK-47s."
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