A 1996 Toyota HiAce Super Custom Review! The MiniVan the USA Should Have Gotten, But Didn't

This right here is a 1996 Toyota High Ace

It's a van that was extremely popular in Japan, but in the USA, we never got it

And I think by the end of this video, I think I'm going to convince you that we really should have

because it is awesome. But that said, before I get too far into this video, I do want to thank the dirt tourist

who let me borrow this van for the day to review and show you guys all about it

If you're looking for vehicles like this, you definitely should check out his Instagram and follow him

As well, this one is for sale right now. All right, story time. Give you a little bit of background about these Toyota hiases is this was originally sold kind of worldwide except for in the USA

However, they were very, very popular in the Japanese market, which you'll see later this is a right-hand drive car

These were originally commercial vehicles, particularly to be of cargo vans and that kind of stuff

But they even had pickup versions of this as well. However, over time, it did prove to be a fantastic commuter in a fantastic way to transport a lot of people

It can fit up to eight people in this little van, which is quite impressive

And of course, this is due to it being a cab over design, which means that this is actually a mid-engine vehicle

so it actually sits underneath of the front seats. Throughout its run, this was made by Toyota in-house

And this one right here is actually a fourth generation of the high-ace, which was built in between 1989 to 2004

Now, you might be asking yourself, why is this thing in the USA

And without getting too far into the backstory of it, basically after 25 years, you can start to import vehicles into here with a little bit less regulations

As for competitors to this one, this is actually one of the most popular versions of this

However, there were other vans out there that were similar to this. Some you probably have heard of like the Mitsubishi Delica, but also the Mazda Bongo van and the Nissan caravan

Not to be confused by the Dodge Caravan. So with that said, let's get into the vehicle. So one thing that the dirt tourist does is slight modifications on their vehicles

So I want to talk about those really quick so that you know the difference between this and just kind of a stock one

So first thing is that this does have a 2.5 inch lift, which means normally these would be a little bit lower

Another modification comes down to these tires. These are some aggressive Falcon off-road tires that are really, really nice, and he added onto this

Another thing you will see right here is this ladder. These are commonly used as overlanding vehicles when they're imported into the USA, because, well, they are fantastic, and we'll get into why that is

And so that right there is aftermarket. And then finally, this does actually have a modified exhaust

And then a couple other few things here and there. So with that, so let's talk about exterior styling

These things are funky. This is not a design you see very often in the USA

We do not have cabover designs very often. We like vehicles that have those long noses

This is the first time I've actually driven a cab over, and I don't know why we don't have more of these around

They're really, really cool. As we'll get a better glimpse inside the vehicle, there are actually three moon roofs in this vehicle

There's one there, and then back here. You can see this is actually a single pane of glass that goes over top

However, inside there are two different windows. You have this really cool two-tone design

with period, correct lettering right here. One thing that I noticed is actually these decals are really cool

They actually are like stuck off. It's actually like more of a decal rather than a sticker

This one's more of a sticker. But I thought that was kind of a cool touch. And moving around to the back, one of the funkiest things about this is this is actually factory, this mirror right here

However, it is extremely helpful because you basically can see straight down behind you

This is from 1996, so it doesn't have a backup camera. But what this does is allows it so that you can see straight down below

And so when you're backing up, you can see directly behind you so that you don't run into any

but you can still get pretty close to stuff, which makes just so much easier to back up in this vehicle

You then of course also have badging. This is the 3.0 turbo diesel. This is the high ace

And this is the super custom G's. And then moving around to the front, you have these awesome truck-style mirrors

The owner of this tells me this is a little bit more for commercial applications

as well as the Japanese market ones have these. The European market, he says, are a little bit more

They actually have kind of body color standard mirrors. And so this is actually really cool. These are really neat mirrors. So this is kind of a standard one

Then you jump over here and this one has a mirror that actually points directly down, just kind of like the one in the back there

so that you can see directly in front of you, which you already have an awesome point of view

You know, being a cab over, you can already kind of see directly onto the ground. And then, of course, you have this mirror right here, which gives you just really good point of view, which is really nice

especially since this is a right-hand drive vehicle. The last thing that's really cool is actually these visors

So these are actually stock. Obviously, they say high ace. And these are just massive and so cool

And it's really nice because supposedly these are great in the rain when you're going kind of higher speeds

And you can fully open these windows without really having to worry about rain

You can see they are a good couple inches away from the window, which kind of pushes all the wind and all the rain away

Better than even what I have, like on my Tahoe, if you've been paying attention to that build

How cool is that? Another thing you don't see too often anymore are these kind of rain gutters

So basically, these are gutters right here. And the rain runs off that and into the front and into the back of the vehicle

You don't see those in vehicles all that often. All right, yes. Okay, so the exterior of this thing is pretty funky

However, that honestly is only the start of it. The interior of this vehicle is even weirder

And by weirder, I mean, awesome. And so period correct of the 90s, which is honestly one of my favorite period of vehicles

But before we get into the interior, I actually want to talk about door jams in this thing

Yes door jams Okay let go ahead and open up this right here Just like any tailgate you up This is a really big panel But the first thing I want to talk about is actually right here

This is where you put your windshield washer fluid. Yes, right here

So this is actually the windshield washer fluid for both the front and the rear of the vehicle

And I don't really know why it's there. However, this is where they thought would be the best place for it in this van

Two other weird door jam related things. It's actually in the driver's. driver's side door right here. Number one, this is where your brake fluid goes. You peel

off this plastic and brake fluid goes in right there. Right here is your vinn. You actually

peel this plastic plate off right here and the vinn is right underneath. And then while it's

technically not the door jam, it's directly on the inside of it, is this red thing right here

is actually the factory flare from Japan. All you do is you basically just slide it out

And that's the original flare. And then the last thing that is in the door jams is right here

right here is going to be your toolkit and then on this side right here is actually your jack

so you might be thinking i might be fully moving into the interior now and telling you all the

awesome things in there however there's one thing that i have to address first and that is the

cab over design so the cab over design and this basically means that the engine sits directly

underneath of this passenger seat yes that's right you actually have to tilt this passenger seat

back to get to the engine so i'm going to show you exactly how that works right now so there are

two different latches to get to the engine. The first one is right here and it's right underneath

of the seat. So you unlatch right there. The next one is actually in the center console

You pull up the cup holders and it's directly underneath of there. So let's go ahead and do that

All right. So now that those are unlatched, you basically just tilt it all backwards. And right there

is your engine. So since we're talking about it, let's talk a little bit about the power train

that's sitting underneath of that passenger seat. So this is what's called the 3.0 liter turbo diesel

1KZTE. It only makes about 130 horsepower, but it is also extremely reliable, as it's also seen in things like the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, the Toyota Helix, which is essentially the Tacoma, as well as the Toyota Helix Surf, which is basically the forerunner. This, of course, is the super custom, not super custom limited. However, it does still come with the four-wheel drive. However, it has an open differential in the center, which basically makes it in an all-wheel drive system. You do not have to get out of the vehicle to turn the four-wheel drive

on, it is automatic. And then of course for the transmission, it has a three-speed transmission

but it does have overdrive as well, which basically makes it a four-speed. However, you had to

manually put it into the fourth gear. Now we're officially moving to the interior of the 1996

Toyota High Ace, and I'll be honest, I actually feel pretty at home in this thing. I've actually

had four fifth-gen Toyota Celicas, which was kind of the same generation as this, and I'm actually

very familiar with a lot of these components. The things like the steering wheel right here are

pretty much exactly the same. The stocks are the same and a lot of the buttons all kind of have the

same feel to them. And I really like it. I was a huge fan of it. Sure, it's not the highest quality

materials in the world, but go ahead and get right into the buttons and all the different things

that everything does. So of course, this being a right-hand drive vehicle, your turn stocks are going

to be the opposite of what they are in a normal vehicle in the USA anyways. So on the right-hand side is

going to be your turn signal, down is right, up is left. Of course, this also does have things like your

lights and fog lights and that kind of stuff built on there. And then on the left-hand side, it's going to be all the different things for like your windshield washers, your rear windshield

washers, and that kind of stuff is going to be on here. You do have a manual tilt. And then

of course, you press down and it is the horn. So that all is actually pretty simple. So with that said

let's go ahead and move to the dash. So you have all of your different buttons. Right here is

going to be your clock, which I'm sure is impossible to actually reset just like every other clock out there

Right here is going to be your hazard lights. And then this is going to be all of your kind of HVAC and

that kind of stuff. It's pretty simple, straightforward. And I'll be honest, I'm actually interested

the fact that this is all in English instead of in Japanese, because this is a Japanese import

Right here is going to be an aftermarket double-dinned stereo. So this did originally come

with a different one, but most of these have slowly been converted over to being something like this

So this one, I believe, has like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. This right here, this button is for

your curtains. If you want to open both sides of the curtains, you can open and close. One other interesting

button all the way over here is this little idle up and idle down button you're going to see over here

This actually is for the diesel engine. So when it's really cold outside, you want to idle it at a higher rate. So you actually push that up and it actually makes it idle higher so that you can warm up the engine and that kind of stuff. And then of course, right here, you see all the different HVAC vents. You have the little scroll wheel here that you can make it so that the air goes more or less. And then you can easily adjust the vents by pushing at different directions. Moving farther down, you of course do have other things. So this is going to

to be your shifter. As we mentioned before, this is a three-speed transmission. This is the

overdrive button, and this is pretty standard for the 90s in a Toyota vehicle. You just

push down on this button over here, and you can shift between all the different gears. So

of course, when the vehicle is on. This is also an aftermarket component right here, so this

would not be a normal one. And this basically just shows the temperature of the engine. Right here, you push this button, and that opens up an ashtray, of course, indicative of the 90s

Right here you can pull this back And this is just basically a little storage tray I going to bet in the limited trim there something different that goes right there Right here this is a power and then a normal So this is actually a little button the ECT And what it does is it basically makes it so that the transmission shifts a little bit differently

and can give you a little bit more power when you need it. But normally you would want to run it in a normal position

And then this is your cup holders. As I mentioned earlier, this is actually where you flip that up

And underneath there is the latch to get to the engine. We talked about that earlier. But these are the cup holders

I guess I also shouldn't forget the door controls. You do, of course, have windows right here

So window for the driver's side, window for the passenger side. This is your door lock, and then this is a window lock

So before we get a little bit further into this video and talk more about the interior in the back and passenger seat and that kind of stuff

I want to talk about the seating position and driving of this vehicle. I'm not going to be doing too much of the driving of this vehicle in this video

However, I did have a chance to get it on the highway and drive it a little bit. This is actually the first time I've ever driven a right-hand drive vehicle

And I was surprised how easily I got used to it. So if you are interested in right-hand drive vehicle, you actually get used to it pretty quickly

You do have to constantly be aware that you are sitting on the right-hand side of the vehicle instead of the left

So making sure that your left-hand side of the vehicle is not sticking over the line or anything like that

However, you get used to it pretty quickly, and I was surprised at that. I was a little bit worried that I subconsciously wouldn't think about it

And I do. I never once messed up on the turn signal and flipping through, you know, the turn signal and that kind of stuff because the turn signal is actually the opposite

it, so it felt normal to push down for it to be on the right and then up to be on the left

because that's actually the opposite of what it is in a normal vehicle in the USA, not normal for the rest of the world necessarily

But it was just kind of interesting. And then also the vehicle itself, it got up and went

It definitely doesn't have the most horsepower in the world. However, it drove really nicely

It definitely drove like what you would expect, something that was meant to be like a cargo van is

It's not going to be the most comfortable experience in the world. but I was impressed at how natural it felt and it wasn't something that was out of sorts

So I actually really did like driving it and it was a fun vehicle to drive. And then of course it being a cab over was just a really unique feel to it

You can like see right over that. And then having all the different mirrors that we talked about throughout this video is just a really cool experience

and something that you don't get in a lot of different vehicles these days. As for the passenger side, there actually isn't a

ton to speak about. Of course, you have the window control right here. You have your speaker

This is your door latch, basically to open the door. This is actually the same one that's in the

Toyota Salicas that I owned. It does have the flare that I mentioned a little bit earlier

You basically just pop it out. That is the original flare and that is incredibly cool

And then another cool thing is because this does have a bit of clearance. You do have a step right here to get to the interior

And then under here, these are actually the original floor mats. He went ahead and put a regular mat on top, obviously, to protect

those because that is really cool that those still exist. And then right here is going to be your

glove box and airbag, which I don't even know if those were standard back then. So that's

actually pretty cool to see in here. And then we should talk a little bit about these seats. So these are really cool. So most people in the U.S. probably haven't seen these. However, these are

actually extremely popular over in Japan. They're kind of like a half seat cover that goes on the top

As you can see right here, this is actually a factory one that came straight from Toyota. As you

can see, it says high ace right there. So it does cover the headrest as well

as this bottom here. And that is just really, really cool. These are cloth seats. They feel really

nice and honestly are really comfortable. Again, I owned a Toyota Celica and four of them. And I think

it's the same seats and these are really actually comfortable. I have driven cross country in these

seats and have been really impressed with them. And then as for up top, you of course have all of

your different visors right here. It's kind of cool. They have all the different Japanese symbols

which is neat. And then up here are light controls so you can turn on and off your light. And these are

actually for all the different moon roofs and sunroofs throughout the vehicle and that is just really

cool to see so really quick let's talk about the moon roof so it's actually a pretty simple operation

you could slide this forward you could slide this back and then right here you can basically pop it up

by pushing that button and then just lifting up pretty easy peasy all right guys it is officially

time to show you everything that's going on in the back of the high ace because this is

actually where the most important part is and what makes this actually really really cool vehicle

other than obviously all the other things i've shown you so let's go ahead and do that it wouldn't be a minivan without a sliding door and then to be kind to the dirt tourist i'm going to take my shoes off

all right so climbing in right here is a comfortable place to be you have footrest right here all throughout

this is actually where the engine is i'm sure so it doesn't give you kind of footrest which is really

really kind of nice but it's also kind of utilitarian because it's hiding the engine right so i'm going

to go ahead and grab you guys from over there and bring you inside so we can see a little bit more

Another kind of theme of this vehicle comes down to control over the airflow in this vehicle

So you have tons of different vents right here. So you have vents. You have control over high, medium, low, auto, any of that kind of stuff

And then right here you can even set how fast different vents go

And then, of course, you come right over here. And you have even more control over the HVAC

And then, of course, there's a cigarette lighter. Then there's a cigarette tray. Of course, indicative of the 90s

And then you have even more storage down here. You can see there's vents down here

Now while the third row is normally forgotten in modern vehicles that really just isn the case here It may not have quite as many controls as the front tube rows However it still extremely comfortable These seats are really really nice and comfortable good quality And then you

also still have your own curtain controls. And then plenty of lighting above and control over the

lighting and you can easily control your own moon roof, opening and closing it. And then of course

there is this period correct carpeting that I think is just really cool. I want to talk about seating

arrangements in the high ace is that actually is one of the coolest things about this vehicle is how

much you can adjust this to what you need. Because this was originally a cargo van, they were

able to do a ton of different stuff with it. For example, this one right here, this will actually

slide forward and back. It also will lay all the way back these back seats so that you can actually

turn this somewhat into a bed. You can see right here, it goes like that. So it goes forward and

backwards pretty easily. So what gives you tons of loads of leg room right here. However, it does take away from your storage capacity in the back

but you can get either a lot of leg room or a ton of storage capacity in the back, but just less

leg room right here. So it's extremely comfortable. However, one of the coolest things about the

seats actually is the second row. So let's go over there. So what's really cool about the second row

is it actually rotates. There are some minivans out there that do that. However, I think it's

really cool. So I'm going to show you how to do that. All you do is you pull this latch, pull that

latch and then swivel that one, just like that. Then you can do that with the other side as well

So let's go ahead and do that. And then what you end up with is essentially a living room

You can look directly at the people behind you. Because basically you have essentially a living

room here. So my feet don't even reach all the way there and I'm sitting in these other seats

The seat, of course, does come forward. However, I don't know why you would want to other than having

storage area in the back. You literally have the vents coming into the living room area. And I think

this is just so cool. All right, so now that we're sitting back here, let's talk a little bit

about the pros and cons of this vehicle. So the main upside of this is for people that want to do

overlanding. So if you're somebody that likes to do a lot of traveling and just kind of go

across the country and that kind of stuff, these things are really, really nice. That's why this is actually a really good alternative, something like a Mercedes Sprinter, a transit van, or something

like that, because it's more compact and honestly a little bit better at off-road and because of that

and you're not wasting so much space. So if you're looking for kind of a small

option that but you still want a ton of space this does a great job of that just because of that

cab over design and this literally was built to just kind of maximize space not necessarily to be big

because these were originally meant to be more city cars and not necessarily something that goes on long road trips

another great thing about these is just they're really reliable they were kind of built to be used as work vehicles

because they were originally a commercial application and so they are just reliable and really great to use I don't totally know on fixing these how easy

they are to fix. However, they are a Toyota. I would assume it's probably not that bad. And I'll be

honest, if you're somebody that's a fan of 90s cars like I am, this could be a really good gig for you

They are, it's a really fun vehicle. There's a lot of amenities that even newer vehicles don't have

like moving curtains, having a refrigerator built in, swiveling seats like what I'm sitting in right now

I mean, those are the front seats over there. How cool is that? That said, there are, of course

some downsides to this. The styling isn't for everyone. It definitely is polarizing, which I think is a major reason

why these never came to the US. The United States market has a very particular taste in vehicles

and so like the taste of this vehicle isn't necessarily for everyone. And that's why like the Dodge

Grand Caravan and the minivans of the time back in the 90s kind of were popular. They were more

cars than they were vans. In fact, they use car engines instead of kind of truck engines, like

what you see in this. If you remember, I talked about how like the Prado has it and like SUVs

and like real trucks had the engine from this. So it's a little bit different

different of an idea. And so you would have to kind of get past that. And then finally, these are

starting to be aging vehicles. Um, you can see on this one there is a little bit of rust on the

rear hatch. Uh, that is something that's extremely common. I didn't really see much rust

anywhere else. However, that is a main issue. So with that said, this is just an incredible van

I have never been around a van much like this one. It was a lot of fun doing a ton of research

into this vehicle to learn everything about it, getting to drive it and getting to review it

Thank you so much to the dirt tourists for letting me borrow this. Again, check out his Instagram

It is linked down in the description or the top comment wherever you're watching this

And of course, if you wanted to buy this, I would recommend reaching out to him there

But that said, this is such a cool van. It is a fantastic alternative of something like a sprinter

It's just a true 90s car. It is so cool and something that you just don't see enough in the US

So what do you think should we have gotten minivans like this? Or did you prefer things like the grander

caravan and the more car like van rather than a more utilitarian like this all the

random and cool features that I showed you throughout the video so if you have any

questions leave comments down below I would love to answer them as I've had a

chance to kind of poke around this vehicle a bunch and then of course subscribe as it helps me a ton as you're gonna be seeing a ton of reviews about

vehicles like this and of course like this video as it helps me out in the algorithm and shows other people this video as well I do want to invite you to

leave your prayer request down in the comments I do read every comment and I

I'd love to hear what you have to say and what you need prayer for in your life