Toyota ProAce City Verso tour

I’m sorry Dave. I’m afraid I can not HAL (2001 a space odyssey, 1968)

Pele-honua-mea has not had a good awakening. She fell asleep cradled by Hina’s silver reflections on the waves, but the first rays of the sun have awakened the anger and the fire that runs through her veins. And now the earth shakes and rends and Pele’s blood runs down to the sea to drown his rage in salt and water with a torrent of steam that rises furiously and defies the still dim glow of the sun that frightened by awakening of the goddess seems to take longer than necessary, still partially submerged under the waves of the placid ocean. Kailani waits over the waters, watching from her small boat. She remembers other awakenings of Pele and certainly this has not been the worst. Of course it’s been a long time… Kailani waits kneeling on the wood trying to appease the anger of the goddess with a barely whispered song that her grandmother taught her. She still remembers almost all of her words even though hundreds of years have passed since they accompanied her to fall asleep when she was little.

Kailani thinks that it is possible that Pele-honua-mea has noticed her presence and that is why she has unleashed her anger, she has perceived that she does not belong to this dawn, to this day. Because Kailani has traveled and slept for a long time. She left Papahānaumoku’s embrace and Wākea’s breath behind, she has crossed the silver paths beyond Hina’s sparkles to plunge into the stars. And now she has come back to climb on an old wooden shell and sing to Pele with words that she has not been able to hear for more than four hundred years. But the anger of the goddess is not appeased with the songs of Kailani and she, with a sigh, takes the oar to turn her back on the island while she bleeds to death in lava. The sun has shaken off its fear and rises bathing in light the enormous ship that floats awaiting the arrival of Kailani, who takes her time rowing slowly. Because she knows that it is the last time that someone is going to sing to the goddess of volcanoes and fire, creator of the islands. No one is ever going to attend to her wrath again. This time the journey is forever.

When the need for space is the fundamental factor for the choice when purchasing a vehicle, any other consideration becomes secondary and the so-called vans are among the possible choices. Within this category, the evolution in both exterior and interior design is small, but we can point to changes between generations that can become important, although the main factor, which is capacity, remains the same.

This is the case of the Toyota ProAce, a vehicle that we tested in 2018 and that offered a good proposal for those who, due to their profession or personal needs, needed a lot of space or to comfortably transport more people. We have had the opportunity to test the new version of this model that, as in the previous generation, Toyota develops again in collaboration with the PSA group, so there are versions of the Peugeot, Opel and Citröen brands.

modernized van

It is a vehicle with a van-type body that in the version we have tested, which is the L2 variant, measures 4.75 meters and has three rows of seats for a total of seven independent seats. Toyota continues to strive to give the exterior a less harsh and rigid look by drawing inspiration from the brand’s passenger car and SUV lines. At the front, they have tried to stylize the lines with elongated optical groups, large air intakes in the lower part and round fog lights framed in newly designed black plastic trims.

To lighten the design of the side, volumes have been added to the bodywork and a black plastic molding in the lower part of the bodywork in the door parts that can serve as an added defense in maneuvers and city driving. The design of the windows has also been changed with a new transparent element instead of the opaque molding of the previous version at the front, which increases lateral visibility. The design of the rear window has also been modified, which also has an additional element.

At the rear we find again the imposing gate whose size we will have to take into account when parking if we want to unload comfortably. Here there are also important aesthetic changes with more elongated and stylized optical groups, a more enveloping bumper that goes up the sides and more volumes in the tailgate to give a more careful and elaborate image than that of the previous generation looking for that modern and less industrial look. . A small spoiler at the top of the tailgate is the last touch that gives it a touch of dynamism.

retouched look

The effort to tweak the look of this new ProAce is interesting and makes the vehicle feel a little less like a van. When accessing the interior, however, we find the same impression as in the previous version: a large space available at all levels with wide doors to access both the front and rear seats, great height and a lot of space both for the legs and in width. with spacious seats in the front and more than enough space in the rear seats.

At the front the design has been greatly updated giving it a more touring look and moving away from the van aesthetic. Without going any further, we find a console in the central tunnel where the gear lever is placed with a storage compartment underneath in the style of the most refined designs of current passenger cars, while in the previous version this console did not exist. A floating screen has been placed on the dashboard for the infotainment system when in the previous version it was a smaller screen embedded in it.

The steering wheel also changes design with a hole in the lower radius, while in the part of the indicators a practically identical design has been chosen with two classic dials and a small LCD information screen in the center. Nor has the driving position changed too much, which is comfortable and high with good visibility but with some limitation due to the size of the nose and the length of the vehicle in terms of rear control.

The manually operated sliding door gives access to the rear seats. In this version we will have three seats with independent seats that cannot be moved and two additional folding seats in the trunk. As it happens in this type of vehicle and we could see in the versions of the PSA group, these seats are spacious and very comfortable, even the two additional ones. To access these, the side seats must be folded down, although the central one can also be folded down for greater comfort. A process facilitated by the aforementioned large side gate and because when the backrests are folded down they are flush with the floor at the back.

seven seater

In the second row, passengers have USB and 12-volt power outlets as well as adjustable ventilation outlets. They also have lighting and blinds for the window although the seats are not reclining nor can they be turned as in other passenger transport vans. There are also folding tables, cup holders and armrests. The versatility of this vehicle is completed by a large trunk that is useful in any of its configurations.

With the seven seats available we can carry up to 322 liters but if we give up the third row of seats we can carry up to 850 liters of cargo. If instead we want to allocate the entire rear to transport objects, we can have 2,693 liters. The available space can be adjusted by folding down each seat independently, so in reality we will have the possibility of having up to six load configurations according to our needs.

The usual inconvenience for loading is the large gate that can only be opened if we have a lot of space behind the vehicle. The glass can also be opened, but it is a somewhat inconvenient possibility if the package to be inserted is bulky or heavy. The cargo space, however, is very regular and when the second row seats are folded down, there is a fairly regular surface that helps to place objects.

At the wheel

With regard to driving, the first thing we must do is consider that the engine of this Toyota ProAce City Verso is made up of an aluminum diesel engine with a displacement of 1.5 liters and 130 horsepower, a classic of characteristics in terms of when it comes to the world of vans. The torque figure reaches 250 Nm which will help us move a mass that is close to 1,800 kilos without counting cargo or passengers.

It is an engine that has been shown to be very reliable in the tests, somewhat noisy, especially at low revolutions, but it pulls without problems despite the considerable size of the vehicle. Once on the road, the soundproofing is good despite the high aerodynamic noise unavoidable by the body design. It is not a bad vehicle for maneuvering in the city despite its size thanks to its good turning radius, the large glass surfaces and, above all, the effective camera and sensor systems, useful especially for controlling the rear.

On the highway, this Toyota moves well, recovering without problems and allowing good travel rhythms. On winding roads is when you notice that it is designed for quiet trips and not adventures in the mountains. The mass is noticeable in tight corners and a somewhat soft suspension does not help either. However, if we do not look for the tickles, we will not find great difficulties to travel even on the highway at a good speed. Of course, we will have to make use of the change and rev the engine if we find steep roads.

Conclusions

To make a van like the Toyota ProAce City Verso interesting, the truth is that the fundamental ingredients are few: a lot of space and good behavior on the road since they are vehicles that are intended for many people to travel comfortably. However, with this model, Toyota has managed to add some more ingredients that make it a little more interesting for the buyer looking for this type of mobility solution.

In the first place, we liked that both the exterior design has been updated, with a more tourism aspect, but also the interior with very important changes, mainly at the front so that both the driver and the passenger feel more like in a tourism. , despite the elevated posture. Other ingredients such as visibility or the good provision of driving assistance systems and an efficient and not too noisy engine make it an interesting evolution of the model we tested in 2018.