Audi Q8 E-Tron vs Toyota Granvia

What's the difference?

Things that have had a name change AFTER they’ve become famous…

Okay… there’s Kanye West’s switch to Ye, Twitter’s rebranding to X and now this – the Audi Q8 e-tron.

As the brand’s first production EV, it used to be known simply as Audi e-tron. But that was confusing, because – Porsche Taycan-based GT and RS sports sedans aside ­– every electrified vehicle that the company has made before and since wears e-tron as a suffix.

Beyond new badging, the Q8 e-tron also brings a facelift and improvements underneath, to better challenge the BMW iX, Jaguar I-Pace and Mercedes EQC and EQE large electric SUVs, among others.

How does the Ingolstadt EV fare? Let’s find out.

Never talk to strangers. That's (hopefully) what your parents taught you. Luckily some people ignored that good advice when it came to the Toyota Granvia VX people mover and me.

As you'll see in the video above, I tested it on the public – people I didn't know from a cake of soap or whatever the saying is. Seriously, I drove a bus route and somehow talked people into not getting on their regular bus and letting me give them a lift to wherever they were going instead.

I don't often conduct social experiments like this, but I figured the Granvia VX was different. First, here was a new-generation people mover based on the Toyota HiAce that effectively replaces the long-serving Toyota Tarago. Second, it's different from the Tarago and rivals such as the Kia Carnival and Hyundai iMax in that it seems like it's purpose in life could be more of a hire car 'shuttle bus' as it is for a Mercedes-Benz Valente.

So, either way its job is to carry more than one person nearly all the time and that's what I did. You can watch the video above and below is the full review taking into account how I found the Granvia VX to drive, along with its practicality when it comes to cargo capacity, fuel economy and passenger comfort.