Toyota Granvia vs Mercedes-Benz Sprinter

What's the difference?

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.

The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter has long been a formidable competitor in the Light Duty (3501-8000kg GVM) division of Australia’s highly competitive Heavy Commercial vehicle market.

The popular range offers a choice of panel van, cab-chassis and minibus body styles, four turbo-diesel engine variants (plus an all-electric drivetrain), three wheelbase lengths and for panel vans plus the choice of two roof heights.

An extensive overhaul of the Sprinter range in 2024 brought extra safety technologies, new comfort and convenience features and other benefits, which Mercedes-Benz claims can help drivers work more efficiently. We recently put one of the latest models to the test.