Toyota Rush SUV will up your adrenaline
Who needs elephant bulls when they’re grumpy? They tend to throw their weight around a lot.
I’ve seen a huge pachyderm sit on a car’s bonnet, squashing it and ripping off its bumper, just because it spotted an orange on the back seat from miles away.
Not a pretty sight.
If it had known there was an apple or two in the car as well, no doubt, it would have simply trunk-flipped it over on its hood to get at them.
Guess that was why Toyota didn’t include fruit in our lunch packs when it launched its new, small, sports utility vehicle at Addo Elephant Park recently. I don’t think they were in the mood to send eight of them back to the factory dented and on roll-back recovery trucks.
The new Toyota Rush trumpets the rush on SUVs which are selling like hot cakes right now. Some ask the question: is the Rush a baby Fortuner or a very, very new Venture? Neither, because there is no 4x4 version and its styling is far too suave to appear anything like the box-like Venture.
At this stage, only manual five-speed or automatic four-speed versions, powered by a 1.5-litre, four-cylinder engine, driving through the rear wheels, are available.
Manufactured and imported from Indonesia, nonetheless this five-seater has the fine finishes and build quality of something straight out of Japan.
On first encountering the Rush, you will note the significant ride height of 220mm and its wide-legged, John Wayne-type stance. All this gives the impression the 215-60-R17 wheels and tyres are a bit skinny-looking.
Looks can be deceptive, though, and I could not fault the Rush’s handling and stability at speed.
Wider wheels and tyres would also have pushed pricing up.
All the more interesting, as it also has to satisfy mild off-road requirements, and has a 600mm wading depth capability, which normally negatively affects high speed stability. For dongas there is a handy 31° frontal approach angle and a 26.5° departure angle. Like all SUVs, the Rush has that slant-eyed frontal styling treatment with the pointed, upswept LED headlights and large trapezoidal grille being most influential here. A silver skid plate – I didn’t test how tough it is in the interests of not damaging the test car and becoming very unpopular – rounds off the front façade.
Traditional, for SUVs, are the black roof rails and a colour-coded rear roof spoiler.
The 17-inch alloy wheels have a forward slanting, “turbine” design. Attractive to most, but not, I must say, to all. The front seating is sumptuous and nicely supportive which, together with the substantial roof and door panelling with fabric inlays, give occupants a cossetted feeling. The versatility comes with the rear seats and their 60/40 tip-forward function giving the trunk – sorry, luggage compartment – additional capacity to the huge 609l already provided.
There’s a huge glove compartment.
With 77kW at 6,000r/min and 136 Nm of torque at 4,200r/min, the four-cylinder, double overhead cam engine has a good amount of poke over a wide rev range, thanks to the variable valve timing system adopted.
When cruising, I noted the five-speed manual version’s revs were a fairly high 3,500 at a steady 120km/h. I would have preferred it at some 3,000r/min in the interests of improved fuel consumption.
The Rush with manual transmission costs R299,900 and the automatic version has a price tag of R313,500.
You have a choice of five colours. Yes, you guessed right – tusk white - quicksilver, ruby metallic, liquid bronze metallic, and graphite black. A six-service/90 000km service plan comes with the Rush, backed up by a three-year/100,000km warranty.