Those vans are awesome too! And maybe more capable then our Hiace, because of shorter wheel base.
We almost did not get any of these vans that you show. But then we have the Hiace, which has more space. Basically, the Hiace is pretty common in the whole world except for North America, you didn't get it there. But now in Europe we don't get the new one anymore.
The Toyota Hiace is usally a very basic workers van, but very reliable. Mostly small engines. But it also has a second "bloodline" which has VIP vans with all the luxury you can imagine and more powerful engines (and the ambulance version came with a Lexus V8!)
Only a part of the world actually got Hiaces with part-time 4x4 like ours, which makes it very capable. Although it really needed a lift because standard ground clearance is poor.
Anyway, so we have a modified Toyota Hiace from 1994 with parttime 4x4. So it comes with low-gearing. And an optional LSD in rear axle.
Lifted and cutting to fit bigger wheels. Slow 2.4 diesel engine, but keeps going. And with low-gearing I was even able to do small sand dunes even though we had a lot of weight.
Because we used our van to drive from Netherlands to Japan overland. Oh yes, from Vladivostok we took a boat of course, to Japan.
Crossed Central Asia and Mongolia. It was a perfect campervan for our family (two young kids) for more than half a year.
I made the camper interior and electrics myself. Rear swingout bumper custom made. My mechanic did the lifting.
It was very reliable during this trip with the worst roads you can image. When I say there were sometimes roads only consisting of potholes, I'm not exaggerating. The only things were a broken stabilizer bar holder which did not stop us, a leaking water hose which did stop us briefly
and the rear bumper needed reinforcing because it was sagging.
Pics:
LOVED this truck with the Yokohama Mud Diggers and 32" BFG mud terrains,
