(first posted 2/22/2018) “White van man” is a British stereotype of white commercial van drivers, commonly regarded as inconsiderate drivers. Fortunately, my time behind the wheel of a white van didn’t make me a ruder and more aggressive driver. Perhaps that was because the rainy weather made me feel a little nervous behind the wheel of a rear-wheel-drive, forward-control van. The next day, however, I had unexpectedly become quite comfortable behind the wheel (and on top of the front wheel) of this Toyota HiAce.
I had never driven a van before but I needed to rent one as I was moving apartments. I’ll be honest: I didn’t rent it because I’m a hardy, do-it-yourself kinda guy. (Hear that? That’s the sound of my friends and family laughing at the mere notion that I am.)
Really, it came down to the almighty dollar. I was reluctant to spend money on removalists as I was skeptical they wouldn’t just drag out a relatively small moving job to get more money. Maybe my fears were unfounded as I’ve never actually employed movers before. Nevertheless, when I was offered help by my brother-in-law, I happily took it and rented a van.
I could have gotten an Isuzu N-Series (Chevrolet Low Cab Forward) box truck but it was twice the price, wouldn’t have fit in my new parking spot, and I probably would’ve been damn near terrified to drive it. I rented a van from Avis and I was expecting a Hyundai iLoad (the second most popular delivery van in Australia) but was instead greeted with the ubiquitous HiAce, Australia’s most popular delivery van. Mine was the standard “LWB” model, the HiAce with the shortest wheelbase (101 inches, with a total length of 184 inches). An elongated “Super Long Wheelbase” model has an extra 21 inches in wheelbase.
HiAces are widely used as delivery vans and the Commuter version is commonly used for airport and courtesy shuttles and, more visibly, as “Maxi Taxis” (the most capacious taxi you can book). I’ve been in plenty of these, mostly when I used to regularly go out to bars with friends, but I’ve never driven one.
First impressions were mixed. I’ve always found these to be quite handsome vans but they’re very much old-school Japanese forward-control vans. Getting into one is an awkward, side-saddle affair as the driver’s seat is directly on top of the wheel. Once you’re inside, you sit awkwardly high – I felt like somewhat of a giant, and I’m only 5’11’’ – and peer out over, well, nothing. You’re basically on top of the front axle and you have no concept of where the vehicle ends (spoiler alert: it’s not far from you!
The interior is truck-grade, with plenty of hard, mismatched plastics. A trap some automotive journalists fall into is judging a workhorse vehicle by passenger car standards, and I shan’t make that mistake. Who cares about the quality of plastics? It’s a delivery van! Things are well screwed together, and that’s all that matters. The only real mishap in the interior is the awkward positioning of the cupholders at the back of the center console, forcing another awkward movement.
There were actually a couple of things in this commercial van that I don’t have in my nine-year-old, top-of-the-line Aussie sedan, which stung a little. The driver’s side window has an auto-up function – so simple, yet so user-friendly – and the HiAce has Bluetooth audio streaming, which worked splendidly and made me realize even more how much I want it in my own car. The HiAce uses the same 6.1-inch infotainment unit as the Corolla. It’s simple and user-friendly as it’s basically just for the audio system and satellite navigation. Ah, remember when sat nav was only available in the finest of luxury sedans? Although the dash has a screen, the HiAce’s reversing camera display is in the rear-view mirror.
Driving the HiAce, you do feel every bump in the road and the van occasionally emits an odd groan in the structure and plenty of noise from the engine underneath you. Despite this, it’s more pleasant to drive than you’d think. A large part of that is the four-speed automatic, which shifts smoothly. The shifter is mounted on the dash, which I find preferable to a column-shifter.
The steering was light but not unbearably so, but the wheel was at a very unfamiliar angle to me—think more bus than passenger car. It does allow you to rest your torso against it, which sometimes you have to do when you’re trying to look up at something and your upward visibility is hampered by the high seating position.
While the HiAce also comes with a 2.7 VVT-i four-cylinder petrol engine, producing 158 hp and 179 ft-lbs, mine was the diesel model. The 3.0 four-cylinder produces 134 hp and a stout 221 ft-lbs. While I wasn’t exactly hauling around bags of cement, it felt sufficiently powerful hauling around two adults, two couches, and various other pieces of furniture. The 211 cubic-foot load bay swallowed plenty of my furniture and was easily accessed via the tailgate and a sliding passenger-side door. The only problem we encountered loading up the van was the intrusion of the wheels into the cargo bay but that’s understandable.
You don’t drive a van like the HiAce to its limits and instead, you keep a safe distance from them. Even driving sedately, the traction control light came on a few times in the wet, reminding you things could go pear-shaped if you’re not careful. If things do go horribly wrong, the HiAce has a four-star ANCAP safety rating. The cabin held up well in crash testing although the crash safety organisation found a significant risk of injury to occupants’ feet, which I can absolutely see happening. The HiAce fortunately has stability control, anti-lock brakes and emergency brake assist.
It’s always baffled me why American vans have had available V8 engines for decades, something that’s only recently abating with the arrival of domestic offerings like the Ford Transit and Ram ProMaster. Even the antediluvian Chevrolet Express, as of last year, has an optional Duramax four-cylinder diesel. I understand gas prices have historically been much cheaper in the US than almost anywhere else, but it always struck me as extravagantly wasteful to have millions of taxi cabs, delivery vans, limousines and police cars powered by thirsty V8 engines. An Express V8 would certainly blow the doors off of a HiAce but is that much power really necessary for a mere delivery van? Not to mention, the HiAce diesel is rated at 27mpg combined, (22 for the petrol) and the regular wheelbase HiAce sacrifices only 28 cubic feet compared to a regular Express.
Toyota’s delivery van may be over a decade old now but it’s still fending off rivals and maintaining its number-one spot in the segment. While its ungainly to access, it’s reliable, well-built and painless to drive. What else do you need in a delivery van?
Related Reading:
Rental Review: 2017 RAM 1500 Promaster Cargo 136 WB Low Roof – U-Haul Traded In My Transit
Future Classic: 2015 Ford Transit 250 – A New Dawn For U-Haul
Aside from gasoline being cheaper then diesel and the maintenance on diesel engines being more expensive, I think one of the big reasons why you don’t see them in American vehicles is simply because diesel isn’t offered at every gas station, which obviously makes them less convenient to fill up. In my area only about half of the stations have diesel.
I’d say it’s more to do with the differences in our roads and the presence of the interstate system. I never had issues finding diesel in my 14+ years driving TDIs.
Ford used to offer the PowerStroke Diesel in the E series vans. A 7.3L V8 diesel, but still a diesel. They were actually quite popular in ambulances on that platform.
Ford also offers a gasoline engine in the big F650/750. They’re popular with natural-gas utilities (it’s easier to convert a spark-plug ignition to CNG, and there may be a factory version) and with gas stations that run their own tow truck, particularly in small towns (if diesel means going 20 miles out of your way and buying from a competitor when you have gasoline on site, gas makes sense).
The 6.0 was also available in the E-Series when the 7.3 was retired. It quickly made the diesel option unpopular for the Ambulance and bus market due to the various problems that the 6.0 was known for.
The economics of diesels do not make sense in the US. The extra cost for the Duramax in the Chevy van is almost $4000. Maintenance and parts costs are much higher on all diesels. Do the math: With gas at $2.30 and diesel at $2.50 or so, the payback may be…never.
You know who buys diesels here now: Young guys who want to show off with their chipped and un-muffled jacked up pickups who want to “pour coal” (google it if you don’t know what that is).
The fleets all backed away from diesels when they realized how much more expensive they are to run, in terms of cost per mile. Why would they? UPS, the biggest van fleet operator in the country, has switched over to gasoline engines in all their new delivery vans. If anyone has their fingers on operating costs, it’s UPS.
Then there’s much more: The VW Dieselgate thing is still blowing up. FCA almost surely did the same thing, and they’re now getting into deep legal hot water. meanwhile, their diesels in the Ram pickup and ProMaster van haven’t been available in two or more years, since they obviously can’t get certified.
And now Mercedes is being implicated for cheating too.
Please keep in mind that the US emission standards for diesels are by far the most stringent, and have been since about 2009. Which of course explains dieselgate. To even hope to pass it requires expensive additional equipment that adds to the cost, and reduces economy, unless of course you turn it off like VW and others have done. It makes the EPA numbers meaningless.
Diesel is in deep shit here, and increasingly so in Europe. Porsche announced yesterday they’re killing all their diesel models.
I called this ten years ago. I “like” diesel in principle, but not they way it’s unfolded. I wouldn’t have touched a diesel version of the Promaster van with a 100 foot pole, even if it had been available. The guys that did are crying on the forums.
The cities in Europe are furious, because their air is much more more polluted than it should have been, because of the rampant/universal diesel cheating for years now.
it’s a different world here, in many respects, William. And it turns out Americans got this one right: diesel is doomed. Except in certain applications.
The Chevy Express is the dinosaur of the American vans, and doesn’t have much of a future, needless to say.
The Transit and Promaster gas vans average 15-16 actual mpg; 17-19 is not uncommon. I know a guy with a high roof Pormaster (gas) conversion van that got genuine 19 on his latest trip through Canada.
I’d hardly call that wasteful. It’s pretty good actually, all things considered (how huge these are inside).
The Mercedes Sprinter (which still comes as a diesel, although only one of the engines is certified, for now) gets maybe 2-3 mpg better. But again, you should hear people bitching about $150 oil changes and very expensive maintenance, parts and repairs. Almost all the folks on the Transit and Promaster van forums are former Sprinter diesel owners. They got sick of it. I realize that’s anecdotal, but it’s very common.
Everyone seems to be ignoring William’s specific reference to V8s. Petrol engines are common in Aussie commercial vehicles but they’re more modest.
Well, maybe because it’s rather quite out of date. V8s are becoming an endangered species. The CHevy Express comes standard with a V6, as do all the Big Three pickups. With this new generation of higher-output V6s and turbo fours, the V8 is being increasingly put out to pasture.
Sure, in the past they were common. But that was because V6s were mostly gutless, and Americans like vehicles with good pickup. And gas has of course been mostly very cheap here, forever, with a few brief exceptions.
Is there any need to discuss why V8s were common in the US in the past?
OK. My point was that he didn’t question the rarity of diesels, so much as the popularity of V8s, and a bunch of people decided to discuss something else.
I was reading a ten year old copy of Motor Trend (cleaning out the basement) and found an article predicting the increase of diesel fuel, replacing straight gasoline. The also talked about other alternate fuels, and pretty much dismissed battery/ electric technology as niche.
In another issue (spring 2008) in MT they crowned Rick Wagoner the number one automotive guy, being the chairman of GM, and predicting greater things ahead.
I think I can comfortably and safely get rid of these as being completely off base! LOL
Just yesterday I read a story in the latest issue of Car&Driver about the their new 2016 Nissan Titan XD long term tester. As you point out, they said there really was no break even point with a diesel powered truck. Costs for fuel and maintenance for their long term test truck did NOT outweigh any savings from higher fuel economy. And after several long trips the last 6-12 months, I rarely saw diesel at $2.50/gallon, it was usually at least 10% higher than 87 octane gasoline…or in your example at least $2.55 versus $2.50 and that doesn’t include the necessary addition of DEF.
So in other words you would be just buying a higher-torque engine with higher load/towing capacity and probably a longer fuel range. This may be worthwhile for an individual buyer or not, and potentially for fleets.
This reminds me of one of the American CEO’s of Ford Australia who did not approve the diesel engine for the Territory SUV because the total cost of ownership was not cheaper than the 4.0 gasoline engine, despite the majority of sales in the segment being diesel.
The Territory got the 2,7 Peugeot V6 diesel, it was the V8 that was deemed not suitable
The Gas V8 vans are not that expensive to fuel. My CAFE dodging 2009 E150 with a 3000lb capacity pulls down a consistent 15.6 MPG in my normal use of it. That use is a mix of city, rural and freeway driving that does frequently include at least a little rush hour stop and go. It has the ancient 2v 4.6, 4sp 4R75W trans, 4.10 rear gear ratio, the “small” 225/75-16 tires, and a full stand up height top conversion. Since its original vocation was a an ambulance that fiberglass roof is supported by 5 thick 1×3 steel tubing hoops. In the rare cases where 1/2 of a tank was pure freeway driving at an average of 65-70 mph I’ve pulled down a best of 16.9 mpg. I don’t think 18mpg would be out of the question for a pure freeway tank at reasonable speeds. Leave off the high top, select the base 3.73 gears and optional (or standard on the 250) 245/75-16 tires and I bet it could do even better.
It is important to note that those ancient GM twins are holding their own quite well in the sales figures with a significant overall increase in 2017 while most of the other large vans on the market were essentially flat or down.
Fact is uptime is king in serious commercial use and while the GM twins were long time second best the fact is the Transit is significantly behind the old E-series in that dept, putting the GM twins in the lead. Many companies will calculate the loss of a day of revenue service at $300 or more depending on vocation. 2 or 3 extra days per year can quickly eat up any fuel savings, especially when you add in the cost of the repairs or maintenance to return it to revenue service.
2017 totals http://www.goodcarbadcar.net/2018/01/commercial-van-sales-america-december-2017-year-end/ The GM twins and E-series managed to maintain their market share while the Transit and Sprinter dropped and the Promaster and NV were essentially flat.
Ford are (credibly, IMO) alleged to have put defeat devices on their F-SuperDirty pickups, too.
That is a law suit brought by a law firm that goes around creating class action law suits, so no it is not very credible as they have essentially sued all makers of diesel vehicles and engines. The law suits all claim that there are cases where the vehicles exceed the stated limits but standards are based on grams per mile in moderate operation and do not include full load scenarios that are not a part of the test.
When the EPA has something to say I’ll view that as credible. The EPA did put extra scrutiny to all 2017 diesel applications and Chrysler was the only one that was denied approval or their initial application due to the presence of illegal defeat devices. Now it is possible that the others just did a better job of hiding their defeat devices but I doubt they were not subject to the same scrutiny as the Chryslers.
Driver and passenger access is worse on these than the earlier model, still a favourite with courier companies and the special deals Toyota give them, remarkably stable too as far as vans go and extremely hard to roll over even when T boned in a crash as one roadsafety advertisement here proved, you can fling them around with gay abandon.
Did you try the passenger seat Will? I’m 5’11” too and my knees brush the dash.
Don’t even try the middle seat…….
Looks like this van doesn’t have a middle seat – a good thing too if they only have lap belts.
In any case it beats walking! (same as the middle seat in my ute that I could probably count on one hand the times it has been used).
Am I correct in guessing that the cab over van has only disappeared in North America (well, the US and Canada, anyway)? They always made more sense to me, giving maximum load ability to minimum space. And I definitely agree with the author’s thoughts on “why a V-8?”
Always figured both were affected by the American obsession with, “But I might be in an accident some day!”
The American obsession with safety makes sense as to why cab-over vans like the Toyota Van (R20/R30) were not very successful in this country as passenger minivan alternatives.
But I’ve yet to meet a fleet operator who gave all that much thought to the safety of his or her drivers…
Apart from the safety aspects, forward-control vans have faded away in Europe just as well, vans with the engine out in the front are roomier inside and can seat three in the front. Ford Transit Custom (FWD) below, about the size of this article’s HiAce.
Also, modern FWD panel vans drive more like a car than a cabover truck and/or public transport bus, offering a good level of comfort and ergonomics. Just a matter of progress.
Cabover style trucks have crappy diver ergonomics both with ingress/egress and the crappy ride of sitting on top of/in front of the front wheels. I logged many a mile in an early Econoline and one of the last of the original Van Toyota imported into the US and I’ll take the van with the seat behind the front wheels any day of the week. And yeah having that extra space between me and the front bumper is nice for safety purposes.
And if a V-8 wasn’t extravagant enough for you, I recall that for a while (late ‘90s?) the Ford Econoline van had an available V-10!
Only after the old 460 V8 was no longer available. I never drove an E series with a 460. Always wanted to.
I had an E350 with a 460 engine for a couple of years. It got six mpg on the highway This was an E350 with a box body used for hauling televisions. It would pull any hill with a maximum load, but the gas mileage was terrible.
I’ve driven the old Carb’ed 460 in cutaways with big boxes on the back and the EFI 460 in a extended length passenger van as well as the V10 in a cutaway with a bus body. I’ve yet to sample the V10 in a standard van.
After reading about a similar van yesterday (a Mercedes Benz Metris), I went to the website to spec a cargo van out. Either I was doing something wrong or the cargo version is only available as a white van.
I drove a few forward control vans back in the early and mid 70s. They are definitely a bit different behind the wheel than a car or pickup truck. The ones I drove were 1st generation Econolines and 2nd generation Dodge vans. The Ford struck me as unstable, though that may have been because it was quite worn from hard and indifferent drivers while the Dodge was fairly nice to drive.
I wonder if another factor in the prevalence of V8s in older American vans was due to many 6 cylinder engines being “merely adequate” for the job and the American idea that “I must have more than merely adequate, I must have the biggest/best possible….whatever”? And for what it is worth, whenever I see used vans offered for sale, the majority have the “base” engine.
If I was buying a cargo type van, as attractive as I once thought the Ram small vans were, I would probably buy the Ford Transit.
I’d hazard a guess that the “I must have more than merely adequate, I must have the biggest/best possible….whatever” idea is the reason for V8 (or larger!) vans. You know, because you may need to haul 20K tons over the actual GVW and do it while winning a drag race against a Top Fuel dragster. Which makes me laugh at the thought that American conservatives rarely conserve anything, and American liberals tend to be tightfisted spenders of their own money, but not other peoples money. And manufacturers and dealers are happy to take the profit from selling you something that far exceeds requirements.
No politics in the forum, JFrank. We like to keep things about cars here.
The Transit Connect SWB (generation 2) is actually nimble and fun to drive as it is really just a box on Focus running gear. The HiAce (not available in the USA) reminds me too of the ’60s Econoline and Dodge A-100 RWD cab over vans in which I have experience. Glad those are gone; the FTC is a much more palatable solution.
It is always interesting to get a first person account of something not available in the US. I find it interesting that Nissan has a van here but that Toyota does not. I wonder if our products liability environment affected Toyota’s decision to not bring this one in, being forward control and all.
I realize that van styling is a bit of an oxymoron, but those semicircular creases that mimic the wheel openings are just bad.
A forward control van is simply not acceptable anymore in the US and Europe, which is why Toyota doesn’t sell these in those two huge markets.
Toyota made another version with the engine out front, the Granvia/HiAce, from 1995 to 2002, specifically to address safety concerns with the forward control HiAce, and targeted to Europe. But they killed it and started selling the Peugeot-Fiat ProAce instead, in Europe. And they went back to a newer version of this forward control HiAce.
In developing countries, there is a premium on cost, space efficiency and not so much on saftey, and that’s what Toyota is targeting with this van.
Consistent with the title, a white HiAce minibus caught my eye in a parking lot here in Tucson. It had Sonoran plates, of course.
Funny how in Oz (as well as nz and Asia), the Hiace remained forward control. In Europe, due to safety regulations, they switched the nameplate to a Portugal-built cargo version of the JDM Granvia, until about 2013 or so when the PSA-based Proace replaced it.
They sold both variants here in Australia for a while; this was called HiAce SBV. It was never anywhere near as popular as the ‘regular’ HiAce, though.
The Hiace was already popular when it was forward control, but those 1996-2003 Hiaces are everywhere here (being locally built certainly helps). I don’t see many manufactured between 2003 and 2010, having no clue why.
The SBV was sourced from Japan or Europe?
This model HiAce, and its LH112 predecessor, are the most popular van in Barbados among taxi operators and commercial users, outselling the ancient Mitsubishi L300 and Nissan Urvan. There is an even longer version of the Commuter passenger van made by the Chinese firm Golden Dragon called the Joy Long.
I just went back and read the test on the Promaster, I may have to retract my statement about preferring the Transit as the lower load floor of the Dodge is a strong selling point.
FWD Ram ProMaster (low floor) vs RWD Ford Transit (not so low floor). Note that the Transit is also offered as FWD and AWD van in other parts of the world.
The ProMaster’s body/cargo area is also 4″ wider than the Transit and Sprinter, which is also useful.
People make too much out of having a low floor, there is such a thing as too low of a floor for many uses. If the interior step is a little too high exterior running boards make ingress and egress just fine with the higher load floor. Where it really shines though is in loading and unloading. When carrying heavy objects I find it easier to not have to lift things up to carrying height when removing them from the truck or having to bend over too far to put them down. The closer they are to carrying height the better and easier it is to deal with. The only time there is a significant loading advantage to a really low floor is when the items are so heavy or awkward enough that a hand truck is used to get them to and from the vehicle. The other place the higher load floor really shines is when you are working out of the vehicle. Personally I drive the vehicle as close as possible to where I’m using the materials and then use the vehicle instead of saw horses to cut the lumber or sheet goods to size before taking it to install it. Put it too low and it is awkward and fatiguing over the course of a project for this old man to lean over and cut something at such a low height. When loading off of the flat top lumber carts my E-series is just the right height to shove a stack of sheet goods right in the van with no lifting required and no crashing down.
The difference is only a couple of inches. But here’s the thing: in order to get 6+’ interior stand up height, on the Transit you have to order the double-tall roof, not just the tall roof. That’s what most folks with conversion vans want. But that ends up making it really tall on the outside, and rather ungainly looking.
The Promaster high roof does that with just one extension, and is a fair bit lower to the ground. The Transit, especially the shorter ones, look a bit ungainly.
Yes many people want full stand up height whether for conversion or work use, and the high roof Transit is king. Fact is many of the conversions are done on high roof Sprinters that they then stick a big basket on top of to signal that they are the outdoorsy type and they end up with something that is even taller than the tallest Transit. So clearly the added height is not a concern for all people buying conversions.
Yes the low roof Transit does look quite goofy but it has its place in those that either service commercial structures where parking garage height is a serious concern or for those that have ladder racks on top that they want to access without having to climb up a ladder to get their ladder.
The low floor is still useful – put a ‘false floor’ (for want of a better term) in at the height you want with storage drawers or similar underneath!
That is certainly an option there are a number of companies that make slide out drawer systems with a deck above for materials, often including tie down points but they aren’t necessarily cheap https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200687540_200687540 but at least they are including shipping which can’t be cheap considering the size and weight. There are also systems that are set up with two smaller drawers accessed from the side door and a pair out the back door as well.
Good review. I drove just this about 8 years ago, and it either had no traction control or it wasn’t working, because on a damp road you could get the speedo to show 140km/h while doing about 25. Asinine, I know, but it was a hire car (they’re specially designed for this stuff) and no-one was around…
Oddly enough, I drove a Hyundai iLoad this very day, also white, auto, & diesel. Turbo though, and with 170-odd bhp and 5 speed auto, I was able to be an obnoxious tradie at every traffic-light GP. Plenty of power for rampant inch-perfect tailgating, though admittedly, it was only packed to the gunnels with, ahem, balloons (long story). Two unexpected observations. The ride was uncommonly stiff, and boy, what a wide bastard! My (obviously faded) memory of the HiAce ride was that it was quite ok (I’m quite used to forward control vans) and I think I’d prefer the considerably narrower girth in city traffic.
Did you find the rear camera being in the mirror a bit of mind-flipper? I find my brain struggles with looking up THERE but seeing THAT on such set-ups.
Very nice review, Will, it’s always interesting to see how the rest of the world does things. While a little smaller than the offerings over here, it seems to be well developed and quite popular. It’s curious that Toyota has not decided to enter the cargo van or small trades niche over here with something like this or perhaps a smaller enclosed (no windows) vanlet. They used to with the “Van” back in the 80’s but gave it up.
A forward control van is simply not acceptable anymore in the US and Europe, which is why Toyota doesn’t sell these in those two huge markets.
These are intended mainly for developing markets, and serve their purpose well there. Well, and Australia. 🙂
It’s strange, but anecdotally I’d say most Hiaces are bought by (cheap) owner-drivers with fleets going for other vans or pickups with a service body or canopy. Often there is a fleet policy of only buying 5 star safety rated vehicles. Other owner-drivers like the more modern vans but the trouble is German makes aren’t as good for reliability.
At least the Mitsubishi L300 Express and the Kia Pregio/K2900 are gone…
Apparently the Hiace had an upgrade a few years back to improve driver knee protection and went from 3 to 4 stars.
The absence of the HiAcre in the US is likely explained by the fact that Toyota tried for years to break into the ‘full-size’ pick-up market with little success. What price-point/sales volume would be needed to break into a commercial-only market, when they couldn’t successfully straddle that private-commercial market of the pick-ups?
The critical opportunity-missed period was probably the 1980s when, due to import limitations, they could sell virtually all the cars they brought in. So why bother with low-markup vans? Nissan only recently decided to try crack the market with their new (and oddly massive) NV trucks (which have V6 and V8 engines, straddle the private/commercial market and are built in an existing plant in Mississippi).
In the meantime, Ford, GM, and Chevrolet were successfully reprising their decades-old design at a price-point that worked and probably couldn’t be achieved (nor bested) by an imported product that needed to include shipping and importation fees. Those guys, needing to update for safety, economy, and other reasons, have now seen the light and have radically changed their product offerings to have single ’round-the-world’ commercial vehicle offerings.
Good points on why cops&fleet use V8 vehicles when they could save tons of money on petrol by driving 4&6 cyl.i also see tons of regular people on TV in USA who are driving full-size Pickups&SUVs.i guess it’s a part of the culture there.
And that touches on something I was going to mention. In his article William said “An Express V8 would certainly blow the doors off of a HiAce but is that much power really necessary for a mere delivery van?” That’s the thing, in the US vans aren’t relegated to being mere delivery vehicles and airport shuttles. For decades it wasn’t uncommon for an American to buy a van as a passenger vehicle to drive the family around in, not unlike how SUVs get used today. They were available with all manner of luxuries, like comfy captain’s chairs for the rear passengers, tables that fit between the second and third row, TVs for the rear passengers before that was a common feature on minivans and SUVs. They’re not really as common in that role now with SUVs taking over that market segment, but it used to be fairly common.
Japanese vans can be had with all the creature features you mention and those types are still in production and show up here ex JDM, As for load carrying William mentiions the traction controll kicking in on occasion but he only had light loads of household items aboard, these vans will carry in excess of a tonne and the diesel torque is perfectly adequate and the traction control will still be evident. There was a low load floor Hiace in the previous model with something like 12 inch rear wheels and no wheel well intrusion but it seems to have been dropped from the current lineup, the biggest drawback to the Hiace is the lack of rear barn doors for loading palletised freight but if you require that feature many other brands do offer it as an option.
This is a fun read.
This is my first experience with that word. I declare it Internet Word of the Day.
The brochure has some interesting text, too: LWB Van Manual shown. Erm…how are we meant to discern from the exterior view, that the depicted van has a manual transmission? And why would it matter?
Also, they might’ve had too much wine (or not enough?) at their colour-naming party and crossed up two of the names. Should’ve been French Yellow and Manilla Vanilla.
Hah! That word is used so often here that I never even realised it wasn’t actually a word. Just Google “removalists Brisbane” and you’ll see dozens of results. I have heard “movers” too, though – one of the more popular companies is called “Mini Movers”.
Conversely, I wasn’t aware it was an Oz peculiarity. It’s not recent. For example, there’s a 1970 play by playwright David Williamson called The Removalists, and a film of the same. Actually well worth finding, Williamson was for many years the leading playwright here. Script is dark and funny, and acutely Australian.
(Oh, and you’re wise to have skipped the removalists. The Germans have a saying along the lines of thrice moved equals once burnt to the ground, and my experience with “professional movers” backs it up.
I was about to ask what you guys call removalists if you didn’t know the:) word, but you’ve answered my question. 🙂
Ditto on skipping the removalists. Having done it multiple times, the loss of furniture, items getting destroyed, houses on both ends having damage, and the subsequent joy of dealing with compensation really dilutes the benefits.
Great article, but William Stopford wonders about the historical American obsession about V8s. I offer a few reasons: 1. Many Americans drive long distances sometimes towing things and they want (if not need) the extra grunt. 2. American cars and light trucks have not been taxed by engine displacement, carbon output, or power, and with the exception of a few specialty performance cars, the American car makers have carefully avoided having their vehicle fall under the EPA Gas Guzzler tax, so the only real extra cost over time is fuel. 4. The Detroit makers have long offered V8s as relatively low-cost options and most of the time the engines are long-lived, low-stressed, and require a minimum of maintenance – good for a nation who considers cars and light trucks as appliances that are to be fussed over as little as possible.
To keep the GM vans out of their Cafe calculations the dropped the 1500 series vans and now the lowest GVW is over 8600lbs. Ford did something similar with the E-series, though the kept the E-150 badge they started putting in on the trucks that had been wearing a E-250 badge and upped the GVW a couple of pounds on the trucks that continued to carry the E-250 badge.
Up time and long term durabilit is king in the commercial van game and the V8 powered Fords and GM’s have a long history of leading in that category.
In a strange sort of CC effect when I was pulling out of the school I work at, in down town Seattle, on Mon sitting parked at the curb as a Toyota Low Ace “Just Low” flat bed being used by a landscaper. It is the first I’ve seen around but not surprising as we have a local dealer that imports mainly Japanese vehicles and a few euro cars under the 25 year rule. http://sodo-moto.com/all-listings/
The Mazda Familia, AutoZams, and Figaros are quite interesting. The Toyota Crown wagon seems like quite a bargain for the Internet fan boys as a brown, manual wagon, with the next best thing to a diesel a straight 6. Too bad about the rear bumper as the rest of the cosmetics could be easily dealt with.
Old-time readers may remember that I wrote about our trip to Costa Rica in 2012 in which I mentioned that the Hi-Ace may well be the most common vehicle in that country. It certainly is the most common small bus, which is the duty that more than 90% of the ones I saw were used for. As far as I could tell, they were all diesels and all had manual five-speed transmissions. In general this was also true of other types of vehicles in Costa Rica.
I drive one of these for school, and like it for much the same reasons. It feels tough and practical, very much unflappable. The diesel engine with the auto (same as the tested vehicle I guess) does the job without fuss no matter how much kids and gear I’ve got on board.
We used to have the old “classic” Hi-ace, and I preferred the way you were sat “in” rather than “on” the van; it was a very satisfying drive. They’re still complete cockroaches on the road here in NZ, but the new shape is just as common now, and I’m sure we’re going to be seeing them for many years to come.
“It’s always baffled me why American vans have had available V8 engines for decades”
I don’t know how it is over there but in the USA. Those folks that buy these large vans actually use them for what they were designed for. Unlike 90% of the full size pickups that are used as commuter vehicles and in which the biggest load in the bed is a few bags of mulch, vans are used for what they are designed for. The passenger ones are used for shuttles, airport vans or church/school vehicles. The work van models are loaded to the gills with tools and other items. These vans work for a living.
Most delivery services around my way use minivans, pickup trucks and those small Chevy City Express or Transit Connect Vans or vehicles like a Scion XB or PT Cruiser
And now the HiAce is on its sixth generation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_HiAce#Sixth_generation_(H300;_2019)
What else do you need in a delivery van?
A roof that is taller than standard. I have a Ford Transit van with the medium high roof which brings the exterior height dimension to be around eight feet. Just a hair too tall to go into our local parking garages, but so what. Simply having that extra interior height expands the utility factor to another level.
CC effect: We’ve got builders and plumbers here today renovating our bathroom; currently outside my office window there are three of these 5th generation Hiaces… (as well as a couple of Hiluxes). Even though forward-control vans are falling out of favour here now, they’re still extremely popular with tradespeople, as the ratio of huge storage space to short overall length ratio is unbeatable. Back in the 90s I personally drove over 674,000km in a 1994 Hiace, it was unbelievably reliable; if these newer ones are as well-made they’ll be around for decades yet.