2006 Toyota Tarago Reviews

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

Tarago might not have been the first people mover. The Volkswagen Kombi started it all before things like the (Isuzu) Holden Shuttle joined the fray. Toyota Tarago appeared here in 1983 as a 1.8-litre. As Toyota usually does, once it's in there it does it well and it does it for a long time.Ten years ago, one in two people movers sold in Australia was a Tarago. Lower-priced (Korean) models have provided competition, and although Tarago sales numbers remain steady its relative slice of the cake is thinner as total sales have grown.Despite prices being above those of volume selling rivals, this latest Tarago deserves to make that cake slice a bit thicker for Toyota.People movers started out as vans – one-tonne commercial vehicles with a few rows of extra seats bolted in. No amount of velour interior could disguise their teetering cornering, dodgy brakes, iffy steering, wheezy performance and fingers-crossed safety.Now, a decent people mover is designed to be so from the start, with up to eight people, not cargo, the main concern.This new Tarago is a fine example of that.It has a new body, yet most will easily pick it as a Tarago. It has 20mm more width inside where it feels very spacious and open, particularly in the second row of seats: slide that row back and those passengers get more leg-stretch room than in a Holden Caprice. That second-row seat can slide over 65cm of rails.The base of that seat can fold up to provide a cavernous space amidships, accessed by big sliding doors each side of the vehicle.The second row of seats can split-fold 60/40 – as does the third row, which has limited leg room but can squeeze in three smaller people. All occupants get height-adjustable head restraints. The third row can be somersaulted forwards to create more boot room.That luggage space is accessed by a single, lift-up tailgate. Storage and security are aided by handy bins under the rear floor. All three rows have fold-down central armrests.The new Tarago roof is 30mm lower, at 1750mm, meaning there shouldn't be many underground car parks that will catch it.Although the Tarago feels big inside and needs some familiarisation to get used to where the left of the vehicle is when driving past parked cars, its exterior dimensions are less than those of a Commodore sedan. Tarago is 4795mm long and 1800mm wide while Commodore is 4876mm long and 1842mm wide; so parking is not an issue.Yet the Tarago wheelbase is even greater than that of the long-wheelbase Caprice – noticed when doing left-hand turns on to narrow lanes when the nose swings out wide.Although a powerful V6 engine is mooted in six to nine months, the new Tarago makes do with a revised version of the 2.4-litre four-cylinder. It has variable valve timing and a higher compression ratio to give 10kW more power – now at 125kW while torque at 224Nm is only tested when a load is on and there's a hill to climb.The only transmission is a four-speed automatic. The selector comes from the lower dashboard and now allows for sequential shift. Otherwise it's an intelligent box that holds a lower gear for climbing or descending.The instrument panel is a talking point – central and well forward under the sloping, big windscreen. The only minor grizzle is that the gear readout for the sequential shift is positioned way left. Tarago settles at 2500rpm at 110km/h and noise is well suppressed for a four-cylinder.Plenty of glove boxes, cup holders and other stowage areas have been built in.Tarago starts with GLi on 16in steel rims. It is well equipped, including dual-zone climate control, tilt and telescopic adjustable steering, power windows (including those in the sliding doors), cruise control, fog lights and ABS brakes. It's $48,990.The recommended option is the $1500 safety pack which has extra airbags (side, curtain and driver's knee) to make a total of seven, plus vehicle stability control.The GLX gets that safety pack equipment as standard and adds roof rails, front and rear parking sensors, six-stack CD, 17in alloy wheels and rear-seat climate control airconditioner. GLX is $51,990.

Kia's Grand Carnival is an excellent example: an eight seater V6 with 184kW of power, air conditioning, air bags and ABS among its inventory for about $37,000.But some people don't want to drive Korean preferring to drive Japanese.It's understandable especially when you are talking Toyota - Tarago specifically.This is a quality people mover with an enviable reputation for reliability and resale value as well as economical running.But it has gotten away a bit on price moving out of reach of some who would have one.A new model Tarago surfaced recently and its price has been trimmed to a starting point of $48,990. Add the safety pack you'd want and on-roads and that would escalate to around $55,000.A big ask in anyone's measure but take a drive and you might feel differently.The newcomer looks a little like its predecessor but more handsome especially at the front and rear. And the quality is evident everywhere you look - paint, interior fit and finish, materials.Less van-like than the previous model, the new Tarago actually looks a bit sexy, and is definitely funky inside particularly the dash with its cyber style console and instrument panel.An eight seater with eight three point seat belts, Tarago is offered in two grades, GLI and GLX.Both share the same powertrain and running gear with the latter having 17in alloys and more goodies to justify a three grand premium.The interior is extremely space efficient offering numerous storage options and sliding side doors both sides with power windows.Access to the third row of seats is by sliding/ folding centre seats.The rear seat only just qualifies as a three seater and they'd have to be children.There's a decent size boot and a full size spare as well as additional storage adjacent to the spare.The test GLX had dual aircon that helped keep it pleasant with a full passenger load.We were able to drive the Tarago with eight aboard and the vehicle made a pretty good fist of it, even with the air on.The 2.4-litre petrol four cylinder with variable valve timing has been uprated to 125kW/224Nm and is a good engine for the vehicle considering escalating fuel prices. Having a powerful V6 under the bonnet does have its advantages but you pay for the privilege.Performance is not bad but would be better had Toyota fitted a five speed auto instead of the four speeder that is standard. No manual is offered.It does have a sequential change mode but if it was my choice, I'd lose that for an extra cog.Its a big vehicle but fits in the average suburban garage and is fairly easy to park. This was aided by front and rear parking sonar on the test vehicle.This system is adequate to warn of potential reversing danger with small children.It's family friendly offering easy access and comfortable seats. The driving position is in a command position - high like a 4WD.What really impresses is the Tarago's almost silent operation and smooth engine. It comfortably wafts along like a well mannered luxury limo and is a vehicle you could easily drive a long distance with minimal fatigue, even with a tribe on board.

As one person put it, the test was: how would a Tarago car go, packed with cargo, well past Bargo ... The bikes required a box trailer and bike rack, and one of Toyota's combined tow bar and rear bull bar assemblies attached.It's about now you start to realise there is going to be a fair bit of weight on board and therefore some strain on a car better known for ferrying hotel customers around Sydney.And the pluses and minuses of this car fulfilling this new role as a family holiday escape machine start to become obvious.The first is a plus. Unlike most large seven-and eight-seat 4WDs sold in Australia, the range of people movers actually have some reasonable storage space behind the third row of seats. In the new Tarago's case it is helped immensely by having a separate storage area down with the spare wheel and tools below the floor level. Virtually all the luggage fits behind the seats - the rest joins the trailer behind. And once the trip starts, more pluses and minuses appear.The key plus is leg room. Two adults up front, two lanky teenagers in the middle row and two primary schoolers in the back for a long haul — and not one complaint about lack of space. As various adults filled rows of seats during the trip, the position stayed the same.In fact, the only complaint about seating came from adults sitting in the last row who were concerned about sideways body movement — probably accentuated by the rear seats sitting behind the back wheels. But storage space was not sensational.Each passenger has cupholders in the doors, and there are two reasonable glove compartments up front, but there is no centre console.Designed as such to allow people to move between the rows of seats without having to get out of the car, it still meant there was nowhere in the middle of the front row, apart from on the floor, to place drinks, CDs etc.The next minus was a bit further down the highway. Down where the car had to climb serious hills in cruise-control mode.As the car climbed the hill it fought to maintain speed until with a giant surge the automatic shifter shot back a gear and the rev needle roared into the 5500-6000rpm range.This wasn't such a problem when the car was out of cruise control mode, but you certainly felt the surge when it was.Otherwise it was a comfortable speed-limit cruise. Overtaking was handled a bit more conservatively than normal, given the extra weight and strain. And side visibility for the driver looking for traffic out of the left-hand side second row of the vehicle is also a problem.The 2006-model eight-seat Tarago GLi we drove is the fourth-generation of the people mover Toyota has sold in Australia since 1990. The 2.4-litre engine has 10kW more power than the previous model, now delivering 125kW at 6000rpm (which we felt at the tops of hills) and a respectable 224Nm of torque at 4000rpm.Dual-zone climate control airconditioning, easy fold-down seats and an MP3 compatible CD-tuner with steering-wheel controls were particularly useful features in the car.However, I was not a fan of the centrally located instrument display as I prefer the gauges to be directly in front of the driver.The claimed combined-cycle fuel figures of 9.5 litres/100km proved fairly accurate on the trip, allowing for the extra load.The GLi model tested costs $48,990 while the higher-specced GLX costs $50,490.While that is more than demanded by the star of the people mover market, the Honda Odyssey ($38,7790-$45,290), the Tarago is a bigger car. In fact, it is considerably cheaper than a car more its own size — such as the larger-engined Chrysler Grand Voyager, which starts at $55,990.

The system draws on information from the electronic brake assist system and/or vehicle stability control system to prepare the front seatbelts if a collision is imminent.It uses electric motors to pretension the driver and front passengers seatbelts.New Tarago also has up to seven airbags, including two front, two side and two curtain bags, as well as a driver's knee bag to prevent leg injuries.But the key words here are "up to" because the base model GLi gets only two airbags and misses out on the pre-crash system.That's part of an optional $1500 enhanced safety pack.But ABS, electronic brakeforce distribution and brake assist are standard.We took the new model for a brief spin around Sydney this week.It's as good and as functional as we remember, with rounder, more stylish lines and sits 30mm lower than the model it replaces. But it still falls short of the benchmark set by Honda's sleek Odyssey, the only people mover yet that could be described as really stylish.The front sports the same visor-like headlight assembly first seen on Renaults, the Nissan Murano and overeas Civic hatch. The rear features the same joined tail light design of the previous model but the lights sit higher on the rear, just under the back window. The overall affect is a similar but evolutionary look to the old car.New Tarago is still powered by the same 2.4-litre VVTi equipped double overhead cam fourcylinder engine found in Camry.But improvements see the engine deliver 10kW more power and electronic throttle control has been added for smoother, more reponsive operation. It delivers 125kW of power at 6000rpm and 224Nm of torque at 4000rpm.The greatest step forward as far as we're concerned is the relocation of the gear change lever from heartland America on the steering column. The unusual trigger change has been replaced with a conventional, stubby shifter that sits in a much more convenient location on the dash.You change gears manually with the four-speed sequential auto.Tarago has the ability to seat eight people and that is the reason, of course, for buying these cars. The middle seat slides on tracks to provide more leg room for centre passengers when the rear set is not in use.There's no V6 but the fourcylinder engine pays dividends in terms of fuel consumption. It is rated at 9.5L/100km. The previous model was not what you could call cheap and as such sold mainly to rental firms and hotel shuttle services. Toyota is hoping to regain sales with this model, but at a starting price of $48,990 it is $3500 more