Want A Rear Drive Compact Minivan? Toyota's Got It

Derek Kreindler
by Derek Kreindler

The Volkswagen Microbus, Mazda MPV and GMC Safari. These are the now-departed vans that were driven by their rear wheels, but ultimately fell victim to market forces, technological progress or the insurmountable drive to make cars greener and safer. With the Microbus just recently going out of production, Toyota is the sole torch bearer for the rear-drive van. But you’ll have to go to Indonesia to find it.

The Toyota Innova is sold in Vietnam, Thailand, India, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Phillipines and the UAE. But its main market is Indonesia, which is quickly becoming the apple of many automakers eyes. Indonesia is one market where the compact van is thriving, with Mahindra, Tata, Chevrolet, Suzuki and Nissan all fielding their own entrants. The Innova drives the rear wheels, just like Toyota’s own Avanza, an even smaller van that is Indonesia’s best-selling car.

The Innova comes with three 4-cylinder engines, with a 2.0L and 2.7L gasoline engine and a 2.5L diesel. A live-axle outback betrays the Innova’s Hilux-based underpinings, but the realities of third world roads likely have a lot to do with this kind of packaging. The cheapest Innova starts at around $21,000 in Indonesia, which prices it out of the “low-cost” car range. But equipment is sparse on the base models, with a two-speaker sound system, steel wheels, no rear wiper and no power accessories. The top-trim model retails for about $26,000 and features luxuries like an airbag and ABS brakes.

Toyota currently occupies 60 percent of the Indonesian market, which is good for 750,000 units annually. With 234 million people, Indonesia is on the radar of auto makers all over the world, and their local tastes will be an important consideration for future products. If compact minivans are the vehicle of choice, then we’ll probably see more of these cars cropping up in developing markets beyond Indonesia. We won’t get them, but you can already buy the smaller, cheaper Avanza in Mexico.

Derek Kreindler
Derek Kreindler

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  • Kristjan Ambroz Kristjan Ambroz on Oct 18, 2012

    You are forgetting the Hyundai H-1, which is also RWD and still going strong in several parts of the world.

  • Robert Gordon Robert Gordon on Oct 18, 2012

    "Toyota is the sole torch bearer for the rear-drive van. But you’ll have to go to Indonesia to find it." Very poorly researched article, the whole premise of the article that Toyota are the only ones offering a rear wheel drive van is just utterly wrong. It's not even as if the other RWD vans are obscure - these are mainstream high volume models from major manufacturers. Hyundai iMax Ford Transit Mercedes Viano Mercedes Vito Various Iveco And probably loads more..

    • See 1 previous
    • Corntrollio Corntrollio on Oct 24, 2012

      @outback_ute The Ford Transit is about halfway between the Innova and a current generation Grand Caravan. It's about 16-feet long in RWD form, so a foot longer than the Innova and about 10 inches short of a current Grand Caravan. It's about the same length as a first/second gen Grand Caravan.

  • MaintenanceCosts It's going to have to go downmarket a bit not to step on the Land Cruiser's toes.
  • Lorenzo Since EVs don't come in for oil changes, their owners don't have their tires rotated regularly, something the dealers would have done. That's the biggest reason they need to buy a new set of tires sooner, not that EVs wear out tires appreciably faster.
  • THX1136 Always liked the Mustang though I've never owned one. I remember my 13 yo self grabbing some Ford literature that Oct which included the brochure for the Mustang. Using my youthful imagination I traced the 'centerfold' photo of the car AND extending the roof line back to turn it into a small wagon version. At the time I thought it would be a cool variant to offer. What was I thinking?!
  • GregLocock That's a bodge, not a solution. Your diff now has bits of broken off metal floating around in it.
  • The Oracle Well, we’re 3-4 years in with the Telluride and right around the time the long term durability issues start to really take hold. This is sad.
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