Australia’s best-selling van, the Toyota HiAce, enters 2021 unchanged.
The HiAce offers a choice of petrol V6 and turbo-diesel four-cylinder engines, two different wheelbase lengths, and two-, five- and 12-seat variants.
Prices range from $39,740 before on-road costs for the LWB V6 manual to $71,240 before on-roads for the Commuter GL Super LWB diesel auto.
The HiAce has the highest ANCAP rating with the freshest date-stamp in its segment, though rivals like the Mercedes-Benz Vito and Ford Transit Custom have five-star ratings with slightly older date-stamps.
Last year, Toyota sold more than twice as many HiAce vans as the next best-seller in this segment, the much older Hyundai iLoad.
Pricing
- 2021 Toyota HiAce LWB V6 manual: $39,740
- 2021 Toyota HiAce LWB V6 auto: $41,740
- 2021 Toyota HiAce LWB diesel manual: $43,240
- 2021 Toyota HiAce LWB diesel auto: $45,240
- 2021 Toyota HiAce LWB crew van diesel auto: $48,240
- 2021 Toyota Hiace Super LWB V6 auto: $49,740
- 2021 Toyota Hiace Super LWB diesel auto: $53,240
- 2021 Toyota HiAce Commuter Super LWB diesel auto: $68,240
- 2021 Toyota HiAce Commuter GL Super LWB diesel auto: $71,240
All prices exclude on-road costs.
Engines
The 2021 Toyota HiAce is available with a choice of two engines.
The petrol engine is a naturally-aspirated 3.5-litre V6 producing 207kW of power and 351Nm of torque, while the diesel engine is a 2.8-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder producing 130kW of power and 420Nm of torque.
All models are rear-wheel drive and use either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission.
Fuel Economy
Fuel economy in the 2021 Toyota HiAce varies.
V6 models use 12.4L/100km on the combined cycle with the manual transmission and 12.0L/100km with the auto.
Diesel models use 7.5L/100km with the manual, 8.2L/100km in LWB auto guise, and 8.4L/100km in crew van and Super LWB forms.
No fuel economy figure is available for the Commuter models. All models have a 70L fuel tank.
Dimensions
The 2021 Toyota HiAce measures 5265mm long, 1990mm tall and 1950mm wide in LWB guise, and 5915mm long, 2280mm tall and 1950mm wide in Super LWB guise.
The LWB has 6.2m3 of cargo space, compared to 9.3m3 in the SLWB.
The LWB’s load bay measures 2530mm long, 1760mm wide (1268mm between the wheel arches) and 1340mm tall, while the SLWB’s load bay is 3180mm long and 1615mm tall with the same width as the LWB model.
Unbraked towing capacity is 400kg in all models, while braked towing capacity is 1900kg in the LWB turbo-diesel manual, 1400kg in LWB V6 manual, and 1500kg in all other models.
Super LWB with option pack 
Commuter GL
Servicing and Warranty
In addition to a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, Toyota offers capped-price servicing for the first six visits or 60,000km.
Each service is capped at $245, and servicing is required every six months or 10,000km, whichever comes first.
Safety
The Toyota HiAce has a five-star rating from ANCAP based on testing conducted in 2019.
It received an adult occupant protection score of 94 per cent, vulnerable road user protection of 84 per cent, and safety assist of 77 per cent. A child occupant protection score of 88 per cent was also given to crew van models.
The five-star rating technically doesn’t apply to Commuter models, which remain unrated, though it applies to regular and crew van models.
All 2021 Toyota HiAce models come standard with the following safety equipment:
- Autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and daylight cyclist detection
- Blind-spot monitoring
- Lane-departure warning
- Lane-keeping assist
- Rear cross-traffic alert
- Automatic high-beam
- Traffic sign recognition
- Reversing camera with front and rear parking sensors
Standard Equipment
All HiAce models seat two occupants, except the crew van which seats five and the Commuter which seats 12.
All models have dual sliding doors except the Commuter, which has a single sliding door.
All HiAce models come standard with the following equipment:
- 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with wired Android Auto and Apple CarPlay
- Bluetooth
- Cruise control
- 4.2-inch instrument cluster display screen
- Leather-accented steering wheel
- Front USB port
- Full-size spare
- 16-inch steel wheels
Optional on diesel auto models only are body-coloured door handles and bumpers.
The crew van adds:
- Auto-dimming rear-view mirror
- Body-coloured door handles and bumpers
The Commuter GL adds:
- Leatherette/fabric upholstery
- Rear USB charging port
- Automatic sliding door
- Glass roof escape hatch
- LED daytime running lights
- 16-inch alloy wheels
