Toyota HiAce vs Toyota Land Cruiser

What's the difference?

Fact: almost one in every two mid-sized (2.5-3.5-tonne GVM) commercial vans sold in Australia is a Toyota HiAce. And if you take note of the diverse range of businesses that rely on this ubiquitous workhorse, as we did recently, you can appreciate its widespread appeal.

Apart from countless couriers and tradies, the HiAce is favoured by a vast range of businesses from locksmiths and pool maintenance specialists to window cleaners and mobile coffee baristas.

To ensure the HiAce maintains its broad business appeal, Toyota has recently released an upgraded range with enhanced active and passive safety features, improved instrumentation, electric power steering and other refinements. We recently spent a week at work with the latest offering to determine if its market dominance is justified.

The Toyota LandCruiser has joined the ranks of the new wave of hybrid vehicles with a powertrain that combines a 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 petrol engine and an electric motor.

The 'i-Force Max' hybrid set-up, borrowed from the USA’s big ol’ Tundra, is aimed at improving the LandCruiser’s performance on- and off-road, rather than achieving greater fuel efficiency.

And with substantial increases in power (up 114kW to 341kW combined peak output) and torque (up 90Nm to 790Nm combined peak output) off-road enthusiasts are justifiably interested in how this unit’s on-paper impressiveness transfers into real-world efficacy.

The Cruiser has always been renowned for its prowess in the dirty stuff so will this hybrid powertrain make the classic off-road tourer a whole lot better?

Read on.