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Comment by Symmetry | Hacker News Reader

I initially misread that as "The Toyota War". Which was a real thing, named that because Chad used Toyota Land Cruisers to defeat Libya.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_War

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The entire decades-long overseas diversion saga surrounding American Toyota pickups has always fascinated me.

Top Gear did an episode [0] trying to destroy a Toyota Hilux (similar to the Land Cruiser) and literally couldn't, which explains why it's so popular with terrorists. It's a worthwhile watch if you want to see truck survive after being drowned in water, fire, and the rubble of a demolished skyscraper. Say what you want about Toyotas, but that's quite the engineering feat in my opinion!

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnWKz7Cthkk

Gotta say, that's a damn talented mechanic they had on that episode.

It’s not really limited to terrorists, is it? I mean in the popular imagination but essentially technicals are actually great for a lot of rough terrain variable condition combat. But yeah I understand it’s a big deal in the popular imagination.

Not quite sure what you mean by imagination... Of course Toyotas aren't limited to terrorist groups, but it's definitely been a long-standing trend – so much so that the US Treasury Department asked Toyota to open an inquiry internally regarding ISIS and the dozens of Tacomas and Land Cruisers their propaganda videos:

https://abcnews.go.com/International/us-officials-isis-toyot...

Hahah I did not know that. What I meant was lots of third world military and militia types use technicals, that’s all.

Now - if only you could buy a small, durable truck in the US.

The Tacoma is as small as they come now

While I don't doubt the Hilux is likely a reliable vehicle, let's not forget it would have made for terrible television if it hadn't survived these seemingly impossible challenges. Top Gear hasn't exactly developed a reputation for being a factually accurate documentary series with many of the challenges being staged etc, so I'd take "literally couldn't" with the large pinch of salt it deserves.

I'd also applaud the efforts of the mechanics who worked on this episode, it was great entertainment if nothing else!

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