Toyota Tarago Reviews

Peter Anderson road tests and reviews the 2016 Toyota Tarago GLi auto with specs, fuel consumption and verdict.

Andrew Chesterton road tests and reviews the 2016 Toyota Tarago GLX V6 with specs, fuel consumption and verdict.

Ewan Kennedy reviews the Toyota Tarago 1990, 2000, 2007 and 2015 as a used buy.

Graham Smith road tests and reviews the used 2000-2012 Toyota Tarago.

Toyota Tarago has been sold in Australia in large numbers since the 1980s. Early versions were nothing more than delivery vans with extra seats, side windows and a bit of added trim. From 1990, Tarago was a pure people mover with all that means in the way of comfort and safety. These are the models being surveyed

SUVs look tough and deliver a command driving position - unless everyone else is also sitting up high-and-mighty in a hulking off-roader - but they really don't have the people or carrying capacity you might expect.Even seven-seater SUVs are usually cramped in the back row and you should try fitting a family's luggage needs in the rear when all the seats are occupied.People movers aren't trendy, and they aren't attractive, but there are times when a big box on wheels really is the best solution.Volkswagen got the people movement going with the Kombi, then Chrysler switched the action to the USA before Toyota revolutionised things with the Tarago - named after a NSW country town outside Canberra.These days there are people movers to suit most families and budgets, and these are the obvious contenders:Chrysler Grand VoyagerA fading star that suffers from an ageing design and poor cabin quality, as well as pricetag that means it's a premium contender in a class where there is much better value.Price: from $57,500Seats: 7Engine: 2.8 litre turbodiesel 120kW/360NmTransmission: 6-sp auto FWDThirst: 8.4L/100km; 111g/km CO2Citroen C4 Picasso One of Europe's best people movers drives well and has some great design touches, including a front windscreen that rolls up to the roof. Hurt in Australia by the questions over anything with a Citroen badge.Price: from $39,490Seats: 7Engine: 2.0 litre turbodiesel 100kW/270NmTransmission: 6-sp auto FWDThirst: 5.3L/100km; 137g/km CO2Honda OdysseyIt's getting old but it still does the job, and the price is nice. The Odyssey is not as big as some, and the performance suffers when you load it up, but it is still a smart choice.Price: from $37,100Seats: 7Engine: 2.4L petrol, 132kW/218NmTransmission: 5-speed automatic, FWDThirst: 8.9L/100km, 212g/km CO2Kia Grand Carnival The top choice with the Carsguide crew, thanks to everything from a big body to an available turbodiesel engine and electric sliding doors on the top model. Value is great and there is a big spread of models.Price: from $38,990Seats: 8Engine: 2.2L turbodiesel 143kW/429Nm or 3.5L V6 petrol 202kW/336NmTransmission: 6-spd auto FWDThirst: 8.1L/100km (diesel),  10.9L/100km (petrol)Mercedes-Benz Viano It's the Rolls-Royce of minivans, in Australia at least, lifting the working class Vito van to new highs of comfort and class. Too boxy for some people, but the badge provides plenty of compensation.Price: from $78,990Seats: 6-8Engine: 3.0L turbodiesel 165kW/440NmTransmission: 5-spd auto RWDThirst: 8.6L/100km; 226g/km CO2Toyota Tarago The people mover that time - and Toyota - forgot. Once the best of the breed, particularly in the days of the `giant egg' model, but now just a boring box that's too expensive and doesn't come with a diesel engine.Price: from $48,990Seats: 7-8Engine: 2.4L 4-cyl petrol, 125kW/224Nm or 3.5L V6 petrol 202kW/340NmTransmission: CVT auto, FWDThirst: 8.9L/100km, 207g/km CO2 or 10.3L/100km; 243g/km CO2

No matter how schmick the car looks, though, at this sort of money there are probably one or two expensive time bombs lurking within it.

Here's our guide to the five biggest-selling people movers on the market (2010 year-to-date, VFACTS).

Before Toyota released the space age Tarago in 1990, peoplemovers were fairly crude devices based on commercial vans. The Tarago was the first purpose-built vehicle for those people who had a tribe to transport, one that had many of the attributes of a regular family sedan.Today’s buyer has a number of capable peoplemovers to choose from, all decent vehicles to drive and with the safety needed to protect the family. Back when the Tarago was new the choice was limited.The smooth bubble-shaped Tarago arrived on the local market in 1990, replacing a model that was based on a Toyota van with all of the dodgy dynamics that were the norm in vans of that time.The new series was purpose designed for the task of transporting people, which meant it came with few of the compromises that vehicles adapted from other models inevitably have.Where the van-based peoplemovers were tall vehicles with a high centre of gravity, narrow track and a layout suited to carrying a payload, the Tarago had widely spaced wheels —one at each corner — and passengers sat low down and inside the track so they had a much lower centre of gravity. All that meant greater safety and stability, better dynamics, and much more comfort.To help get the centre of gravity down Toyota laid the fuel-injected 2.4-litre double overhead camshaft four-cylinder engine flat under the floor. Access for checking the engine’s vitals was through the bonnet.Peak power was 102 kW at 5000 revs, torque is tops at 208 Nm.Toyota offered a choice of five-speed manual gearbox or electronically controlled four-speed auto trans, with a column shift and drive through the rear wheels. There was also the choice of a four-wheel drive model.Inside, there was comfortable and flexible seating for eight. Access to the rear seats was through a kerbside sliding door, or a rear lift-up hatch.At launch there was a choice of base GLi, four-wheel drive RV or luxury GLX models. GLi came with power steering, AM/FM cassette sound, tachometer, and central locking.The GLX also had four-wheel discs, alloy wheels, a roof spoiler, front driving lamps, power windows and velour trim.An upgrade in 1994 added cruise control, remote central locking and ABS to the list of GLX standard features.The Tarago’s body generally remains tight and taut in the long term, but look for bumps and scrapes that suggest neglect. Rear hatch struts can lose their lift after a while, but they’re easily re-gassed if needed.Inside the Tarago had hard wearing trim and well made plastics so there’s little that goes wrong with them, but age will always take its toll so anticipate wear on high traffic affected items like seats.The Tarago’s 2.4-litre engine was designed for low maintenance, important when the engine is laid flat under the floor and access is through the short bonnet.To keep maintenance to a minimum the engine has a timing chain instead of a belt that would need changing on a regular basis.It does, however, have long life spark plugs, which cost plenty when you do need to have them changed. Unfortunately it is such an awkward and time consuming job that many mechanics simply don’t do it.Some owners report a mysterious overheating problem they say they can’t explain, but others claim they’ve found the problem is due to a broken baffle in the radiator that affects coolant flow.Check the engine’s vital fluids to make sure they’re fresh and clean, a sign they’ve been regularly checked and changed as necessary.A verifiable service record is a comfort when buying a used Tarago.Moving away from the old van layout meant much improved crash performance of peoplemovers, and the Tarago led the way with a reasonable crumple zone ahead of the cabin that was able to absorb much of the energy that is generated in a crash.The GLX got a standard driver’s side airbag in 1993, which makes it the pick of the early models.Anne Dwyer and her family bought a 1992 Tarago eight years ago. It had done 90,000 km when bought and now has done 260,0000 km with no sign of trouble. Anne says she it has made transporting her family of five much easier. It is easy to get in to and out of, and there is plenty of room left for sporting gear, shopping, luggage or whatever needs to be transported.John Eliezer brought a 1990 Tarago GLX for his wife, and rates it one of his best ever buys. It is used mostly as a driver-only vehicle, but is fantastic when the family moves about together and is very popular for school car pool runs. John’s plan was to keep it for four years and update it when the lease ran out, but it behaved and felt like new on its fourth birthday so it stayed and to date has stayed taut. Apart from normal service items it has had two starter motors and three sets of rear door struts.Craig Power has owned a number of Taragos. With four kids of his own, and a steady stream of their friends, the Tarago was perfect family transport. The seating could be quickly reconfigured to take less passengers and more luggage as needed. His 1991 car did 100,000 km on LPG without a problem. In his view, the Tarago is fantastic transport for a large family.Lindsay Taylor has a family of five and owns two Taragos, one of which is a 1993 Ultima purchased in 2004 and now has 196,500 km on the clock. Lindsay rates peoplemovers as the best format for transporting a family of five or more in comfort. Overall, he says the fuel consumption is quite reasonable at 12 L/100 km around town and about 10 L/100 km on a trip. Even though it is almost 12 years old it still compares favourably with more recent vehicles when it comes to driving position and passenger comfort.• comfortable transport for the large family on the move• safe and secure handling• reliable drive train• relatively modest performance from four-cylinder engine• breakthrough design for people moversSafe, solid and reliable transport for the large or extended family with plenty of room left for whatever they need to take with them.

And it was for those people who'd put up with the rough-and-ready van-based vehicles that passed for people movers before it hit the market.Where the previous van-based people movers were tall with a high centre of gravity, narrow track and a layout more suited to carrying a payload, the Tarago had widely spaced wheels with one at each corner, and the passengers sat low down and inside the track, which resulted in a much lower centre of gravity, and as a consequence, much better dynamics on the road.To help lower the centre of gravity, Toyota laid the fuel-injected, 2.4-litre double overhead camshaft four-cylinder engine flat under the floor. Access for checking the engine's vitals was through the bonnet. When pushed to its peak the Tarago's engine put out 102kW at 5000 revs and 208Nm at 4000 revs. There was a choice of a five-speed manual gearbox, but most families went for the electronically controlled four-speed automatic transmission. Final drive was through the rear wheels and there was a four-wheeldrive model offered up to 1993.Inside, the Tarago was perfect for the family, with plenty of room and comfortable and flexible seating for eight in three rows. Access to the third row was through a kerbside sliding door, or the rear lift-up hatch. At launch there was a choice of GLi, GLX and luxury GLS four-wheel- drive with independent rear suspension.For the first couple of years there was also the RV four-wheel-drive.The GLi had central locking and a radio-cassette system with six speakers, and from 1992 it also had power mirrors, whereas the GLX also had alloy wheels and power windows.The GLS four-wheel-drive had all of that, plus standard ABS braking. In 1993 Toyota released the Ultima, which came with a driver's airbag, ABS, alloys, cruise control, nine-speaker CD sound system, central locking, power mirrors and windows and sunroof.There was also a Getaway launched in 1994 and that had a driver's airbag, cruise, CD player, sunroof and six-speaker radio-cassette sound system. The Tarago generally remains tight and taut in the long term, but listen for squeaks and groans from the body and look for external bumps and scrapes that suggest neglect.Rear hatch struts can lose their lift after a while, but they're easily regassed if needed.Inside, the Tarago has hard-wearing trim and well-made plastics so it hangs together pretty well, but age will always take its toll so anticipate wear on high traffic-affected items such as seats.To keep maintenance to a minimum the engine has a timing chain instead of a belt that would need changing on a regular basis.Relatively modest performance from four-cylinder engineBreakthrough design for people moversComfortable transport for a large familyRear struts may need to be re-gassedLong-life spark plugs expensive to changeReliable drive trainSafe and secure handlingCheck body for bumps and scrapes TOYOTA TARAGO1990-2000Engine: 2.4L/4cyl 102kW, 208NmEconomy: Expect about 14L/100kmPrice: A 1990 GLi will cost about $6500-$7500, a 2000 model an early GLX, up to $4000 for a late one.Pay $9000- $15,000 for the 1990-1993 4WD GLS.The Ultima will cost $11,000-$20,000, and the Getaway $11,000-$18,000.Rating: 75/100Verdict: An oldie, but a goodie, the Tarago delivers safe and reliable transport for a large family . RIVALSHONDA ODYSSEYYears: 1995-2000Price: $10,000-$17,000 MAZDA MPVYears: 1993-1999Price: $8,000-$13,500 CHRYSLER VOYAGERYears: 1997-2001Price: $14,000-$24,000