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The new Toyota Proace Van range of light commercial vehicles is making its world debut at the Commercial Vehicle Show at the NEC in Birmingham this week with UK order books now open ahead of the official start of sales in September.
Five-year warranty
New Proace Van will be sold in the UK with five-year/100,000-mile warranty, with unlimited mileage for the first year. The CV on-the-road prices will start at £18,660 for Compact panel van, £19,285 for the Medium and £21,915 for the Long version. Full range pricing will be released shortly.
Design and packaging
Proace Van’s new frontal design clearly marks it out as a member of the contemporary Toyota family. It will be available in a choice of three body sizes: Compact, Medium and Long.
The Compact will be the shortest model in the MDV segment measuring 4.6m long with a 2.9m wheelbase. Its 11.3-metre turning circle makes it highly manoeuvrable for use in built-up areas.
Proace Van Compact is available as panel van with three front seats and a cargo bay measuring 2.1m long by 1.6m wide, giving a load volume of 4.6m3.
The new Smart Cargo system, combining an opening front bulkhead with a lifting front passenger seat base mechanism, increases the maximum load length from 2.5 to 3.7m and total load volume to a best-in-class 5.1m3. Available on all Proace Van models (option or standard according to grade), it also creates additional storage space in the cabin.
The Medium version is 4.9m long and has a 3.2m wheelbase. When the Smart Cargo system is fitted, overall load length extends to 3.7m and load capacity rises from 5.3 to 5.8m3. The medium-length Proace Van is available in panel, crew cab, combi and platform cab versions.
The Long version of Proace Van has the same 3.2m wheelbase, but with an extended rear overhang that takes overall vehicle length to 5.3m. Panel, crew cab and nine-set Combi versions are offered. The cargo area measures 2.8m long and 1.6m wide, giving a load volume of 6.1m3. Here the Smart Cargo system takes maximum load length to 4m, increasing load capacity to 6.6m3.
With each vehicle length, Proace Van benefits from left and right side sliding doors and side-hinged rear double doors that open to 180 degrees. The vehicle width and height are standard at 2.2m and 1.9m respectively. Maximum payload is up to 1,400kg and the braked trailer towing capacity is up to 2,500kg.
On the Medium and Long versions the door aperture is wide enough for Euro pallets to be loaded.
The cabin is robust, functional and spacious, designed to meet the needs of both commercial and private owners. The dashboard features clear instrumentation and analogue dials with ergonomic switchgear. The driving position affords excellent visibility and is car-like in its position, with a short-throw gear lever mounted close to the steering wheel.
UK grade structure and accessories
Proace Van is available in three equipment grades: Base and Comfort for the van and Combi for the passenger version.
The Base van specification provides central remote locking with deadlocks, cruise control with speed limiter, fabric seat upholstery, driver and front passenger airbags, power windows and door mirrors, audio system with radio, DAB, USB port and Bluetooth and a tyre pressure monitor.
Comfort grade adds more sophisticated cabin acoustic treatments, driver’s seat height adjustment, combination cloth and vinyl upholstery, air conditioning, cooled and illuminated glovebox, additional 12V power outlets in the glovebox and cargo area, the Smart Cargo system. Body colour-matched bumpers and door mirrors, front fog lamps, full wheel covers and a dashboard information display.
The standard specification for the nine-seat Combi includes three front seats, six further seats in two rows, driver’s seat armrest, driver and passenger front airbags, cloth upholstery, central locking, cruise control with speed limiter, 12V dashboard power outlet, 16-inch steel wheels, tyre pressure monitor, power windows, twin sliding side doors, glazed rear doors, Vehicle Stability Control and Hill-start Assist Control. The powertrain features the 115bhp 1.6 turbodiesel engine with stop and start and a six-speed manual transmission.
There is a wealth of options and accessories for owners to adapt their Proace Van to suit their needs. For more style, customers can add 17-inch alloy wheels and colour-matched side protection, doorhandles and door mirrors. For added safety, Toyota offers side airbags, bi-xenon headlamps and fog lamps.
A Safety and Security Pack can be specified that equips Proace with a Toyota Safety Sense package including a Pre-Collision System with Forward Collision Warning and Autonomous Emergency Braking, and Adaptive Cruise Control, together with a head-up display, cornering lights, rain-sensing windscreen wipers, dusk-sensing headlights, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror and vehicle alarm.
A ProTouch touchscreen multimedia system is also available for Comfort grade models as part of a premium option pack that also provides satellite navigation and 17-inch alloy wheels. A tailgate can be specified in place of the twin rear doors on medium and long Comfort versions of the Proace Van (excepting the 94bhp 1.6 diesel version).
Accessories include a rear ladder, fixed and fold-out tow hooks, roof rack system with rollers, top boxes and pipe carriers and a range of tailor-made items supplied by Würth.
Powertrains
The new Proace Van is available with 1.6 and 2.0-litre diesel engines with a range of power outputs and choice of different transmissions. The model is targeting best-in-class CO2 emissions for a medium duty van, supported by the use of stop and start technology – featured in the 115bhp 1.6 unit.
A 95bhp (70kW) version of the 1.6 unit can be matched to either a five-speed manual gearbox (with 210Nm of torque), or a six-speed robotised manual transmission (240Nm of torque). The former generates CO2 emissions of between 144 and 148g/km with combined cycle fuel economy of between 51.4 and 50.4mpg. The latter, benefiting from Stop and Start, produces 135 to 139g/km and achieves between 55.4 and 54.3mpg.
The 120bhp 2.0-litre turbodiesel is recommended for vans carrying higher payloads, thanks to its higher torque – 340Nm of torque.
All powertrains meet Euro 6 emissions standards and are equipped with selective catalytic reduction to reduce the amount of NOx released into the atmosphere. A 22.5-litre tank of AdBlue ensures the system will work to its optimum capability for 15,000km (about 9,300 miles). The tank is easy to refill, via a filler inlet on the B-pillar, accessible when the driver’s door is open.
Low cost of ownership is supported by service intervals of 25,000 miles or every two years, according to usage.
