To me the Hino's HP and torque ratings sound right on par with the first FL70 I owned, it weighed in at 18,200 empty and could haul the ligitimate 13k D unit weight. The engine was a Cummins 8.3, which was a well made in frame rebuildable engine. I don't know if the Toyota built engine falls in to that category, but I'm going to guess it is in the line of the MBE900 Mercedes engine that is parent bored. The rest of the Hino truck chassis from what I understand are typical American components from Eaton or Meritor.
Point being the Hino component wise looks to be a truck right on par with a Freightliner M2, other than it has waiting list and premium price. I've been around for a while and have not seen any instances where Toyota has built what is considered a premium, long lasting diesel for the truck market. Nissan, Mitsubishi, Iveco, Renault, and many others have tried, but with no success. I just think buyers are a bit nutty spending that much money for a name when for a few more bucks ponied up can get you in to a class 8 real highway truck. There is simply no comparison with the cost issue-- at 500k miles a class 8 is just broken in where a class 7 job is nearing its end.
I just traded my FL106, my second expediter truck, in on a new FL Columbia expediter, and was pleased to see old basically class 8 FL106 had great trade equity with 700k on the clock. The return on my first class 7 FL70 was next to zip. I'm in to new class 8 road ready Columbia D unit for $85k with my good condition trade.
Mudflap