Toyota HiAce gets Euro 5 upgrade

TOYOTA has tweaked the diesel engine of its top-selling HiAce van to bring it in to line with Euro 5 emissions standards that become compulsory in Australia in November this year.

The Japanese car-maker has also taken the opportunity to raise prices of its ageing HiAce by an average of two per cent for the goods van and 3.8 per cent for commuter bus variants, blaming currency movements.

To achieve the cleaner exhaust emissions, Toyota has recalibrated the 3.0-litre 100kW/300Nm 1KD-FTV turbo-diesel engine and added a diesel particulate filter offering a choice of manual or automatic regeneration.

Fuel economy figures have improved by as much as 4.6 per cent on the official urban cycle. However, combined cycle fuel economy is either unchanged or increases marginally, according to Toyota Australia.

The biggest fuel savings are for the Long Wheel Base (LWB) crew van and the Super Long Wheel Base (SLWB) van with the five-speed manual gearbox, which drops from 10.5 litres per 100 kilometres for the urban cycle to about 10L/100km.

Those variants paired with the optional four-speed automatic transmission have improved by 3.5 per cent.

Official combined fuel figures have risen by 0.1 litre per 100km for the LWB diesel manual to 8.1L/100km and 0.3L for the commuter bus that rises to 8.9L for the manual and 9.5L for the auto.

Versions of the HiAce powered by the 118kW/243Nm 2.7-litre four-cylinder petrol engine were upgraded to Euro 5 late last year, which was followed by the addition of electronic stability control, brake assist, hill-start assist and an emergency stopping signal.

Toyota blames currency movements for the price increase of two per cent for vans and 3.8 per cent for the buses, saying the value of the Australian dollar had weakened significantly against a rising yen over the past year.

Pricing for the petrol variants has been increased $660 for the LWB manual van that rises from $32,990 plus on-road costs to $33,650, while the automatic commuter bus is up $2150 to $58,640.

Diesel version prices have risen $720 for the base LWB manual van, to $36,710, and as much as $2170 for the manual commuter bus that is now $59,660.

An automatic transmission adds $2550 to the cost of the diesel and $3060 for the petrol, while other options include a $900 remote sliding door (only available with auto variants). Paint of any colour other than white lifts the price by $550.

Toyota commuter bus diesel buyers can opt for a 12-seat configuration instead of the standard 14-seat layout at no cost.

Dealer feedback has also prompted Toyota to offer a choice of either a left-side window or steel panel on auto, white LWB diesel variants.

HiAce body styles include LWB van, five-seat LWB crew van, SLWB van and commuter bus.

Standard gear includes driver and front passenger airbags, anti-skid brakes, daytime running lights, a reversing camera with three-inch monitor in the electro-chromatic interior mirror, air-conditioning, power steering, steering-wheel audio controls, clean-air filter, power mirrors, remote central locking, power front windows, cruise control and a multi-information display.

The HiAce has been on sale in its current Mk5 guise since April 2005 and is consistently the top selling model in the 2.5-3.5-tonne commercial van segment.

So far this year Toyota has sold 3689 units, a 1.7 per cent dip over the first six months of 2015, but enough to keep it ahead of the second-placed Hyundai iLoad that is sitting on 3101 sales, up 32.2 per cent over last year.

Well behind the two dominant players in year-to-date sales are the Renault Trafic (965), Volkswagen Transporter (946), Mercedes-Benz Vito (608) and Ford Transit Custom (600).

2016 Toyota HiAce pricing*

Petrol
LWB van	$33,650
SLWB van (a)	$44,870
Commuter bus (a)	$58,640
Diesel
LWB van	$36,710
LWB van (a)	$39,260
LWB crew van	$38,750
LWB crew van (a)	$41,300
SLWB van	$45,890
SLWB van (a)	$48,440
Commuter bus	$59,660
Commuter bus (a)	$62,210

*Excludes on-road costs