AUTOMOTIVE CATEGORIES ARE BLURRING ALL AROUND. Sports cars are sprouting four doors, diminutive hatchbacks can double as small delivery vans, and utility vehicles ferry people while still staying kind to their behinds. There are also SUVs that carry more than five people, but the most comfortable vehicle for large-family travel is still the minivan. A low floor, sliding doors and a cavernous interior space are its most valuable assets. Most of the minivans sold here still haven’t learned the trick of multitasking (switching from people-carrier to cargo truck), so we expect them to at least excel at transporting the clan.
Looking like a shuttlecraft from the Starship Enterprise, the Previa landed in a crowded minivan market. It easily carved up its own niche at the premium end of the price scale. Some of that success is due to the “T” badge on its sharply-raked hood, but a lot of it comes from the Previa’s carefully thought-out features.
The wedge-shaped profile with feline eyes could have been borrowed from a certain French firm. Fender bulges and sharp creases break up the large expanses to metal, to avoid the slab-sided look. The tracks for the dual sliding doors are neatly hidden beneath the side glass. The side windows are expansive and allow a good view from all seating positions. The sliding-door windows even wind all the way down.
The interior keeps up the futuristic theme. The gauges are center-mounted, with tach and speedometer brightly lit and marked in a Star Trek font; Mr. Data would feel right at home. The shifter for the automatic sprouts from the dashboard, freeing up the floor console. The rest of the controls are Toyota generic, from the fuel and temperature indicators to the control stalks. The warning lights fill up two panels in front of the driver; it’s rather odd to see the turn signal indicators away from the gauge cluster. A smattering of wood on the center console, steering wheel and door pulls breaks up the gray monotony.
The seats are front and middle buckets, and a rear bench. The buckets all feature folding armrests and of course their own seatbelts, but you can’t do a Captain Kirk-style dramatic turn because they don’t rotate. All of the seats are upholstered in soft gray cloth. The middle buckets sacrifice passenger capacity for comfort, allowing siblings to travel without getting in each other’s space, and on each other’s nerves. Baby (in her child seat) will have to sit in the rear bench, as it’s quite a long reach across the buckets to hold her bottle or toys. The rear bench slides forward to increase luggage room, and the seat flips up in case you decide to bring the whole toy chest.
The Previa’s excellence at coddling its occupants doesn’t end with the seats. The MacPherson-strut front and torsion-beam rear suspension filters out bumps and ruts while still remaining comfortably firm. No yacht-like wallowing ride here.
Some minivans are based on delivery vans, exhibiting all the qualities of their donor vehicles: dull-witted steering, spongy brakes and even steel bars on the rear window. The Previa, for its part, is based on the Toyota Camry. That doesn’t exactly quicken your pulse, but it does speak volumes about what we can expect from this van. Indeed, all the qualities that make the Camry a comfortable but unsatisfying drive—soft suspension, pillowy ride, numb steering—work in the Previa’s favor. You don’t drive a minivan to carve up traffic, after all. You just want to get to your destination without jarring your wife or waking up your sleeping kids.
There is still a touch of wind noise as you go past 80 km/h, but the mechanicals go about their business like an efficient librarian. The 2.4 liter 16-valve inline-4 with variable valve timing delivers 157 horsepower and an adequate 225 Nm. The engine is just about inaudible, with imperceptible gearshifts. Initial throttle response is tepid, but bury it and she’ll respond with a muted growl.
The steering doesn’t provide any feedback, but it is as precise and sedan-smooth. The Previa turns obediently, its 16-inch wheels providing good grip. Braking is confident, comprised of discs all around, aided by ABS and EBD.
The Previa is 45 mm shorter than the Camry, so she’s quite manageable in traffic and in parking. There’s sonar at all four corners to help in tight spaces; it’s quite useful at the front, as the hood plunges down beyond your view. You can also use the sensors to alleviate boredom in traffic as you watch pedestrians and vendors approach the car.
You’ll have to resort to that because compared to its rivals, the Previa is rather short on toys. There’s not an LCD screen or Playstation input in sight. We don’t really miss them in this van, as we can feel where Toyota has spent its money. The Previa’s comfort and satisfaction level go deeper than being able to watch Finding Nemo for the nth time. For parents, the rewards lie mostly behind the wheel.
By Jason Ang | Photos By Ulysses Ang
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