2007 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

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

The four-cylinder was praised last year for leg room and rear storage space but criticised for the lack of a centre console, the placement of the instrument display in the middle of the dashboard rather than in front of the driver and, importantly, for a lack of fully-laden pulling power up serious highway hills.In comparison the new six-cylinder earns the same praise for storage, gains praise for a neat centre console compartment and deserves even more criticism for the instrument display location, which I find downright annoying, but more of that later.But the most important improvement is the power. As someone who has driven people movers for years, there is now a clear rule to follow. Anything below six cylinders, or a four that can come near the 202kW of power on offer from the 3.5-litre engine in the Tarago, should be ignored if you can afford to do so. On that score, this year's Tarago met the benchmark. It was not hunting gears or surging revs up hills like last year's car.In fact, it felt more like the power you experience in a large 4WD than just about every people mover I have driven before.The V6 Tarago engine comes from the new Aurion sedan and the Lexus RX350, and boasts 60 per cent more power and 50 per cent more torque than the 2.4-litre four. The claimed combined fuel economy for the car is 10.3 litres per 100km. Our usage was a little higher, but was still acceptable considering the size and weight of the car.We tested the middle of the three Taragos in the range, the GLX, which is priced at $56,990. The equivalent model in the four-cylinder is $52,490. The gap represents a $4500 expense that we would heartily recommended you spend. And there's no mistaking the Tarago is a big car: at 4.8m long, it has three rows of seats in a 2-2-3 formation. The base model has an extra seat in the second row. Up front, there's plenty of room for driver and passenger and a clever closing compartment between. Leather seats are reserved for the $69,990 top-of-the-range Ultima model, but the cloth material is fine here. The seats, too, are easily adjustable.The six-speed auto shifts smoothly and there was no sign of it hunting gears under load. But the big bugbear is the centre placement of the instrument panel. It means the driver is looking side-on at the speedo — and in fact, the angle of vision also indicates a different reading from the passenger seat.I found it a distraction to have to look away from the road to check my speed. The second row of seats provides two captain's chairs that offer a pile of leg room and luxury.The back reclines almost flat and in a nifty move, a front leg rest can be flipped out just like a Jason recliner lounge chair.There were complaints that the two seats were too close together and the space available between the chairs and the doors meant the windows could not be used as a headrest. However, their positioning does allow the occupants a view ahead of the road less obstructed by the front seats.The third row has plenty of room but the real gain, particularly when compared with all large 4WDs and some of the smaller people movers, is the abundance of storage space behind the third row. Once the false floor is removed the space is cavernous. It easily soaked up luggage for six people.The rear seats fold down into the well to provide even more space. It's fiddly, but you can master it with practice. And for only the second time with a people mover (the previous being a Chrysler Grand Voyager) we were able to fold down the rear seats, push the second row forward and create enough space to put two full-size bicycles in the back.Verdict: Adding a six-cylinder engine has redefined the Tarago as a truly versatile and capable vehicle, particularly for large families. It's not cheap, but it is comfortable. The central instrument display is still annoying, however. 

It is, after all, a conveyance that all too clearly shows you've done all too much of that sort of thing at an earlier stage of life.Why else would you be steering what is essentially a warning for contraception?It's sobering to think that when Toyota started the whole MPV thing almost 24 years ago, John Howard was merely a failed treasurer, our cricketers were lucky to get a result against England — and you were much the same age as those little replications of yourself that now necessitate the purchase of a Tarago.This expanding clan has already put paid to any sport sedan ambitions, two-door notions having long drifted into the realms of fantasy.Yet one of the best things about the luxury models in the newly beefed up Tarago range is that it allows you todream.Simply flatten one of the rear seats, move the one in front to allow deployment of the ottoman, and you're off to nod in a comfort that rivals Qantas business class, with as smooth a ride, though considerably less engine roar.And without the endless sitting on the tarmac and the useless in-flight entertainment system.You can have a seven-seater with four of them in arm-resting captain-style and you can have them in leather if you like. Or, in the cooking model, have an eight-seater of which six of them are on benches.All fold flat to allow almost as many alternative configurations as there are drink holders and compartments in which food wrappings, rotting apple cores and snotty tissues can be deposited.This is all offspring-friendly, no doubt, but what's rather more interesting — what could, indeed, almost redeem your life as designated driver of the family bus — is in front of you.The previously anodyne four-cylinder Tarago range has been invigorated by the Aurion's excellent 3.5 bent six married to the same sedan's near-seamless six-speed automatic transmission.It's a combination that elevates the Tarago — a synonym for people mover in the same sense that Hoover is for another household device — beyond the blandly adequate.Starting at $54,690 for the GLi — an entirely reasonable $3700 premium over the exxiest four-potter — and rising to just shy of $70K for the legitimately luxurious Ultima, the V6 Tarago's a bit more than just a depressingly practical means of getting a bunch of people across the landscape.The VVVT-i six is good for a class-devouring 202kW at 6200rpm and 340Nm at 4700rpm if it's on 95 RON juice. The base GLi consumes this at 10.2 litres per 100km, the fruitier GLX and Ultima using a mere 200ml more — claimed figures that, on the basis of our introductory drive, appeared easily achievable.All three V6s get ABS stoppers with Electronic Brakeforce Distribution and Brake Assist, Vehicle Stability Control and Traction Control. Passive safety runs to seven airbags and Toyota's Pre-Crash Seat-belt system, which tenses when it feels skidding or hard braking.Spend more and the wheels grow by an inch to 17, the seats become comfier, sixCDs are swallowed, air passes through the cabin more readily, side doors slide electronically, the dash and steering wheel turns to wood and the roof sprouts rails.And the driving (yes, we can speak of driving) is about perfect to the prescribed purpose.While the six-speed auto is worked to its best advantage in quasi-manual mode, it will seldom put a cog wrong when left in drive. Weighing in from 1800-1930kg (depending on the model and spec level), it reaches freeway speed without fuss and cruises there so effortlessly and quietly that miscreants in the rear row of seats will clearly hear your voice without it being raised.Inevitably, the claim of "car-like dynamics" is made and it's true to the extent that placing "dynamics" in the same sentence as "Tarago" isn't cause for laughter. In this respect, a V6 Tarago might surprise, if not delight, you.It's difficult to find a serious relevant criticism of Toyota's enhanced MPV — which is gratifying from this end given that we expected to fill this page with stuff like "seldom have we been so captivated by an instrument cluster".Not that this, too, is not very good. Housed in a sort of alcove atop the dash, it's easy to read though almost novelly designed, and cloistered from harsh summer glare.And cloistered is what you and yours are in a Tarago V6. Indeed, it's easy to imagine the clan lulled to sleep as you drive it down life's highway, leaving you to watch wistfully the sort of cars that could have been.It's just that now they won't leave you behind so easily.