No SUV Needed: Toyota Goes Full #VanLife with New Granace VIP Hauler
While the tight streets and tiny parking lots of Japan might be best suited to small cars, that doesn't mean you won't find larger vehicles plying the roads of Tokyo and other Japanese cities. In fact, big decked out luxury vans have long been quite popular in the Japanese market, and Toyota's latest creation might just be the biggest and most luxurious yet.
Set to officially debut later this month at the Tokyo Motor Show, the Toyota Granace aims to take luxury people hauling to the next level, and it helps do that with huge boxy profile, and a spacious, ultra comfortable cabin.
In terms of length, the Granace comes in at 224.5-inches long, and for comparison's sake a 2019 Ford Expedition Max comes in at 221.9-inches. Width-wise, however, it comes in several inches narrower than most full size SUVs, which should make it a bit easier to navigate small Japanese streets.
The Granace is powered by a 2.7L diesel engine, but what's more notable is the ultra spacious interior which can be configured with either three or four rows of seating for up to eight passengers. Passengers in the second and third rows will be especially pampered with fully adjustable leather finished captain's chairs, and woodgrain abounds.
In fact, like some of the other high-end vans Toyota sells in Japan, the Granace would be right at home in a Lexus dealership, although the fact that Toyota has never tried importing one of these luxury-laden vans to the US doesn't make us think that's about to change anytime soon.
For VIPs and those who haul VIPs in Japan Toyota says the Granace will deliver "overwhelming presence and luxury," but for us in the states it's just one more of those slightly funky yet cool JDM vehicles we'll never get.
If you'd like to have more feelings of envy, check out our selection of five other exciting JDM machines not available in America.
