Toyota Granvia vs Toyota HiLux

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.

Toyota claims its first HiLux BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) has been designed primarily with mining, business and government fleet customers in mind, by combining the iconic ute’s 4x4 all-terrain capability with zero tailpipe emissions only a full-electric drivetrain can deliver.

To prove its suitability for harsh Aussie conditions, Toyota claims the HiLux BEV has undergone more than two years of testing on site with major mining companies, covering thousands of kilometres in ambient temperatures up to 50 degrees.

We recently sampled the HiLux BEV as a daily driver in metropolitan use, to see if its mining-focused credentials translate to being a practical alternative to traditional diesel power for tradies working in busy urban environments.