Without excessive fanfare
One car market is not like another, which means that there are completely different cars driving around outside of the Netherlands than here. We go down to Japan, where the Toyota Probox has been renewed.
Virtually all car manufacturers periodically make changes to models to keep them as up-to-date as possible. Sometimes it’s a facelift, other times a model year update. Toyota is now subtly updating the Probox. The Toyota Probox is a simple station wagon that is available as a passenger car and as a commercial vehicle. The changes should make Toyota’s rudimentary equivalent of a Dacia Jogger just a little fresher again. That can’t hurt the Probox these days. The current generation made its debut in 2014 and is therefore almost 12 years old.
The novelties that Toyota brings to the Probox are of course of no value to the Dutch consumer. The Probox gets a new instrument panel with a 4.2-inch digital display next to it, an automatic interior mirror that can optionally be equipped with the screen on which the reversing camera shows its skills, and improved seats. Together with a handful of new and improved safety systems, they serve purely as a flimsy excuse to put the Probox on stage again.
Toyota Probox: comfortable seating, comfortable driving. Nothing more, nothing less.
In the current international automotive landscape, the Toyota Probox is a breath of fresh air of shameless simplicity. With its easy-to-clean seat covers, rear seat without headrests and straightforward interior, the station wagon goes against every current car trend. It is not rugged, it is not covered with baroque lines or aggressive folds. The Probox has been doing its job for over a decade without excessive fanfare, devoid of any form of visual excess.
The Toyota Probox is available with a 109 hp and 136 Nm strong 1.5 petrol engine that sends its power to the front wheels or to all four wheels. The station wagon is also available with a hybrid powertrain. In the hybrid version, a 73 hp petrol engine is linked to a 61 hp electric motor, an interaction that is good for 100 hp. Modest, just like the car. Its starting price is at least as modest. The Toyota Probox – which even has a sister model from Mazda – costs a minimum of €10,500 in Japan converted!
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