For years, the Toyota HiAce van has come in a variety of sizes, but I hadn’t fully taken in its growth until I saw the latest generation HiAce parked next to a Chevy van in Tulum, Mexico. These 15-passenger, long-wheelbase, wide-body, high-roof “Grand Cabin” HiAces have a monopoly on the very popular “Collective Taxi” services that provide constant service on all the major roads and highways in this part of Mexico. They’re powered by the same 159-hp, 2.7-liter gasoline-fed four that powers Tacoma pickups in the U.S., mated to a five-speed stick.
Actually Paul these van litter NZ roads been here since 2005 in that shape and common rail diesels are popular. Just something else you cant get
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Well, Paul, since it doesn’t have 400 hp it will never sell in America. All vans need to do 13 second quarter miles.
It doesn’t look like it has any ground clearance is it fully loaded with overweight Gringos?
No, it’s empty. But then it’s a unibody and not sitting up on a big frame like the Chevy.
The rockers on the Chevy hang down below the frame. I’d hate to see what that Toyota looks like with a full load.
If you’ve seen the gigantic speed humps they have everywhere down here, than it can’t be a real problem. It’s obviously adequate.
My old 1994 2.8 diesel Hiace, that did 681,000km before death in 2006, handled heavy loads surprisingly well. It had fairly hard suspension anyway, and loading it right up made little noticeable difference to its behaviour or performance (there was little to begin with, but all 65kw stayed around for the party when it was loaded up). The only thing that really gave away excessive added weight was having to use 1st gear to start off – 2nd was the norm when it was empty or lightly loaded. Now, ask me how my 2001 Mazda E-2000 van handled loads (are the front wheels supposed to stay on the ground?), or more hilariously, my 2004 Mitsubishi L400 (when loaded up the rear suspension bottomed out and the towbar dug into the ground, preventing it from moving!)… There’s a reason why the Hiace is everywhere in NZ, they’re built blimmin’ tough. I’m not remotely a Toyota person (Supra, RWD Celica and FT86 excluded), but if I wanted/needed another van, I’d consider nothing other than a Hiace.
These were all over the place as taxis in Jamaica when I went there last year, all of them white too.
Forget minivan or even maxi-van, that’s a baby tour bus!
Neat. We really are limited here in the States when it comes to foreign makes. No cool JDM cars, no Peugeot, no Citroen, no Euro Focus wagon…
Sigh.
Only limited by those car makers not wanting to sell cars here, Citroen and Peugeot were both sold here for a while. If your willing to certifiy it and crash test it to US standards, have at it. Its not like we have a law against selling Citroens here, we just for the most part, dont want them. If a tiny manufacturer like Aston Martin or Ferrari can certify cars for sale in the US, it wouldnt be hard for a bigger company.
Though I think these vans wouldn’t pass a front impact test.
I rented one of these to move some furniture from Guadalajara to Mexico City, did some offroad in Michoacan, no complaints with ground clearance, only the radiator frame hangs really low, which is fine since there is virtually no overhang in the front. It drives really nice, the ride is really bouncy if you compare it to a Econoline or the Chevy Van thing i also rented before but it drives very nice in the twisties ( not sporty but not sluggish).
REALLY fuel efficient… the good thing is that we can buy the Renault Traffic, Peugeot Manager, Ford Transit, Mercedes Vans, and other Euro Vans that are waaaaay more efficient and up to date than american counterparts.
Those vans are very popular all over Asia.
The ones that I have ridden in have all had the the manual shifter on the steering column.
4 or 5 on the tree ?
Even with them overloaded with 20 or so passengers I never felt one bottom out.
A friend of ours has one that he operates in commuter service in Bangkok. It is much more comfortable going down the road than the 15 passenger chevy van, and feels a bit bigger inside. It’s not quick (not an issue in Bangkok), but it probably more efficient. His has been converted to dual fuel (CNG). You get it warmed up on gas and then switch it over to CNG. He does it on the fly. It is a very reliable vehicle, but I’d hate to crash in it. There’s about as much structure in front of the driver as an old VW microbus.
Toyota has made 15-seater vans of similar size for many years, since the early 80’s I think, although the current extra-long (Toyota’s terminology) wheelbase ones are much wider (74″ vs 67″) than both the older models and the shorter wheelbase versions of the current van.
Yes, this one has four-across seating in some rows.
I hadn’t noticed the Chevy offered driver-side barn doors on their vans before seeing this photo. Chevy vans are few and far between here. Most of the fleets use Fords, Sprinters, and now a few Nissans. If these Toyotas can pass crash tests, they should bring them over. The competition is weak.
With this generation GM pulled out all the stops trying to beat the Econoline. They stuck a frame under it, offered those extra doors, panels on the side of cargo versions that opened up to access tools and supplies from the outside and factory installed 4wd. Can’t say I’ve seen very many with those features though.
For any kind of a commercial operation, barn doors are the way to go. They give a slightly larger opening but are much more reliable in operation than sliding doors.
We tried a GM van like this. It was not a success. The Fords were much better but if I could get the 2.7 litre gas Hiace van, I would buy them in a heartbeat.
Here in their natural habitat they are very popular, and there are two types you can buy. One is the very upstanding citizen version that is usually used as a city’s old-people-bus, picking up retirees and taking them to and from the supermarket, the hospital, etc. The other version is the slate gray/black one with shiny chrome wheels and window tint so dark you’d swear it was sucking in the light around it, too. Favored by those who are/wish they were low-ranking yakuza goons. Getting stuck behind an old-people-bus in traffic means you will be forced into very light throttle manipulations, whereas the dark gray ones are in a constant state of slow-motion drag races. There is no in-between here. In Japan, you go all-in, or you stay home.
In Costa Rica last year – at least in the tourist-heavy areas we frequented – I think the HiAce van may be the most common vehicle, period. All the ones I rode in were 5-speeds, and in contrast with the Mexican ones, they were diesel-powered. 99 percent of them were white.
Here’s another pic from Costa Rica showing the HiAce van we rode in from the San Jose airport to Quepos.
Wow, how they’ve grown indeed. I never thought HiAces were that big compared to the US domestic vans, which I had always pictured to be HUGE. Not so huge, it appears.
Here in Colombia a Chinese version of the Hiace, the Jinbei Hiase is sold. It is powered by an old Mitsubishi diesel engine. They are truly enormous inside.
Here in Philippines.. HiAce versions like Commuter, GL, GL Grandia, and Super Grandia (LXV limo incomer).. was already sold out. In favor, chinese HiAce manufacturers like Golden Dragon, King Long and Foton View van.. was already sold out, too… The problem, those chinese hiaces are loaded with an Isuzu 4JB1 engine. Sadly for US, HiAce is no more.