Forbidden Fruit: Toyota’s Luxurious Vans

Every year or so, at least one car magazine produces an article about a bunch of sports cars that can be bought overseas but not in the United States.  Usually, I end up skipping those articles, because who really cares?  Even if they were available in the United States, the billionaires would buy one each and everybody else would drool from the sidelines.  Why not concentrate on the vehicles that everyday Joe’s would buy instead?

Truth is, the magazines have been shortchanging us by not writing about the vehicles we need to know about.  Vehicles like the Toyota Alphard and Estima minivans, which Toyota has insisted are not what American consumers want.  Well guess what?  My dad and I both love vans, and we both live in America.  We both agreed that the Japanese Alphard and Estima we drove in Malaysia were far nicer than the Toyota Sienna, which is not sold anywhere except North America.

What makes these vans so great is their upscale feel.  Sure, the US market Sienna has available luxuries like leather, heated seats, sunroof, etc.  That doesn’t change the loud road noise and rough suspension.  No, the upscale feeling in the Alphard and Estima is built in from the ground up.  The engineers remembered that drivers don’t buy a minivan to race up the side of the mountain.  People buy these things to haul their families in relaxed comfort.

In this respect, the smooth riding suspension and silent powertrains hit their mark beautifully.  The roads of third-world Malaysia couldn’t even produce a rattle or squeak out of either interior.  The seats were supportive and amazingly comfy, even for my oversized American frame.  The side windows are large and give the cabin an airy feel.  These characteristics are the true foundations of a luxury cruiser.

Toyota built on that foundation by adding thoughtful touches.  The 2000 Estima 2.4 I drove had manual sliding doors and cloth seats, but the details tell a better story.  The Estima was intended as the lower model family van, yet had niceties like in-dash navigation and automatic climate control.  The cloth was soft, feeling almost like Alcantara.  Rich, beautiful wood trimmed the futuristic dashboard and door panels.  The manual sliding doors had a cool power assist function that pulls the doors shut after they’ve been lightly latched.  This mechanism is cheaper than full power doors but helps when kids can’t quite muster the strength to slam the door – the van helps to pull it closed.  Sienna engineers decided to adopt this feature on the 2007-2010 Sienna, years after it was introduced in Japan, before dropping it again on the 2011 Sienna.  Another cool feature that we don’t get?  The Hybrid Synergy Drive model.  Yes, the Estima has been available as a Hybrid in Japan since 2001.  The Sienna has never had a Hybrid option.

The Alphard is geared towards executive transport, allowing the engineers to go all out.  The 2006 Alphard 3.0 I drove was simply amazing.  The driver alone gets a navigation system, adjustable suspension, adjustable HID headlamps, dynamic cruise control, and front and rear parking cameras with supplemental sonar sensors.  The passengers are treated to four heated seats, a pair of recliners in the second row, powered privacy curtains for the side/rear windows, and two full size sunroofs.  The engineers added a modicum of utility by putting the 2nd and 3rd row seats on rails.  When extra legroom takes precedence over hauling luggage, the second row can be pushed back to where the third row normally sits.  The comfort level in this van is simply astonishing.

What Toyota has done overseas is to create two distinct product lines that target different audiences.  Instead of creating one low end van and dressing it up (like the Sienna), Toyota gave Japanese consumers a choice.  For a fair price, buy a comfortable Estima that you won’t be afraid to get dirty.  Or, you can splurge and buy the Alphard, to roll in true luxury.  Affluent families and movie stars alike have flocked to the Alphard – they’ve realized it’s an amazing deal.  A loaded Alphard costs 87% more than a base Camry in Japan.  Compare that to the Sienna Limited, which can cost over 100% more than a base Camry in the United States, and doesn’t even have all the features of the Alphard.  Clearly, the Japanese are shorting us of their best vehicles, and it’s time we spoke up.  What say you?  Send us your comments at contact@rockyroadblog.com