Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2003 19:17:34 +1300
Reply-To: Andrew Grebneff <andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Andrew Grebneff <andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ>
Subject: Re: Interior size: Vanagon v. Toyota van
In-Reply-To: <004501c3a26f$779244d0$6401a8c0@IBM>
Content-type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
>Andrew,
> Since you advertise yourself as a VW/Toyota van nut on the
>Vanagon list, I figured you would be the perfect person to ask this
>question. A good friend of mine owns a 1987 Toyota van, which he
>raves about. He also claims there is no car on the road that holds
>more inside than a Toyota van. Somehow that assertion seems
>unlikely to me. My gut tells me that a vanagon must have more
>interior room than the Toyota, although I have to admit that I have
>never looked closely inside a Toyota. That feeling is based on the
>idea that the vanagon appears to longer, wider and taller on the
>outside than a Toyota, and the fact that autos manufactured in
>Northern Europe regularly have more interior room compared to
>outside dimensions than those manufactured elsewhere, including in
>Japan. Two examples of cars which come to mind with huge interior
>dimensions compared to their exterior sizes, excluding the vanagon,
>are a Volvo 245 wagon and a Porsche 944. I have owned both of these
>cars, and always marvelled at how much they held compared to cars
>with similar exterior dimensions.
> Do you know the interior volume of a vanagon compared to
>a Toyota van? That info would help our discussion greatly.
>Thanks.
>Tom LaLanne
>'86 Subie Westy
Hi Tom
Just measured the interior of my LWB Hiace (sorry, no neometric tape):
L 3.0m (rear window to front of cargo floor)
L 3.27m (rear window to front seatback)
W 1.52m
H 1.35m
W external 1.67m
But this van wasn't ever sold in USA.
What you have in mind is the RWD Liteace/Townace/Masterace. I don't
have one at hand to measure, but this is a SMALL van. It comes only
in SWB and is narrow... wait, I have a 1983 comparison of test of a
VW Caravelle, Isuzu, Mazda, Nissan vans... and Liteace (sld as Tarago
in Australia).
W 1.445m
H 1.20m
Dashboard to rear seatback 3.04m (no cargo-floor length given, as
it's a passenger version)
Overall its interior space is about the same as a RWD/4WD Estima
(=Previa), but narrower than the export-market Previa. So the T3 is a
lot larger... though you have to subtract the engine compartment!
As you can see with the Hiace, the external & internal widths are not
that much different, so it's extremely space-efficient. It's
available in extralong (and also short) wheelbase too, and the VW
ain't.
|