Oh Dear. It's Here..

"Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW." (aya-yu) 03/31/2015 at 16:02 • Filed to: Quickride

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So, after quite a long wait, the new Toyota Alphard and Toyota Vellfire is Launched in Indonesia. And naturally, as a JDM maniac, i had to take a look. Sorry for the potato pics though..

The new Alphard i think is the first minivan that will make you sick before you enters the car. Hideous looking front, i have to say. It's like they take some styling cues from Chocolate bar.

The Vellfire is slightly better looking. But it's like saying James May is slightly better looking than Jeremy Clarkson.

But the interior is really what the Alphard is all about. These seats for example, they're heated and cooled with purified air, and they also can massage you. Plus, there's a nice fold-out Table like the one you get on Mercedes S-Class.

And Toyota Engineers are working hard to make sure you only breathe the purified air inside the car. Sort of. That's what the salesman said.

There's also some nice little details like this Qi-based Wireless Charging Plate. Good for charging the kid's smartphone.

The new Alphard is also 10 mm lower from the old one, to make it easier to get in and get out for the ladies ;)

But there's one big flaw in the getting inside the car business. Because now the middle row seat is bigger than ever, therefore it's impossible to get in to the back. So the Toyota guys told me that to enter the rear seat you need to get in from the back and fold one of the seats. That's hugely impractical, not to mentions that the seats are very heavy since it's full of gadgets, as i said earlier.

A remote for the TV..

That somehow still looks like cheap aftermarket TV.

But still, the TV is now supporting Blu-Ray discs, DLNA, and Miracast. How often you saw any of those inside a car?

"Oh, the buttons on the remote is not enough? Don't worry, there's more on the seats!"

The front has nice interior too, but if you driving the Alphard, you'll look like a chauffeur.

The venerable 3.5l V6 digged out straight from Lotus, err, i mean Toyota's parts bin. Power goes to the front of course.

This car, with the V6, will cost you 116,280 USD. That's the same amount of monies as the Mercedes-Benz CLA45 AMG or BMW M235i. If you don't want to waste your money on a V6, you can has one with the Inline-4 and pay 74,480 USD, or "just" 15k USD more than top of the line Camry Hybrid.

Will i buy it? No. Unless if it's come with free lifetime Chauffeur, that is. Still, it looks like it'll be quite a nice car to ride in. I kinda like it.

My citroen won't start > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 03/31/2015 at 16:05

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I like everything about it but the front, the grille is too big.

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > My citroen won't start 03/31/2015 at 16:07

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It's not big. It's horrifying.

Alex B > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 03/31/2015 at 16:08

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Those interiors are amazing!!

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > Alex B 03/31/2015 at 16:10

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It does, they done great job on that part.

Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast. > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 03/31/2015 at 16:10

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Can I get one of these with purchase?

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast. 03/31/2015 at 16:12

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I ask the same thing with the Toyota Salesman. Some say that's optional.

My citroen won't start > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 03/31/2015 at 16:12

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Hahah exactly.

Twism > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 03/31/2015 at 16:16

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I'm convinced that if Toyota would put the Vellfire's front end on a truck, they would sell like hotcake.

I love how it looks.

much better than the retarded Tundra:

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 03/31/2015 at 16:16

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I'm digging it! It reminds me of the newer Freightliner Cab over trucks.

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > Twism 03/31/2015 at 16:18

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I don't know why, but in my mind the Vellfire's light looks like the it belongs to a Lexus.

Lexus Pickup!

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 03/31/2015 at 16:19

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Freightliner Cab-Over looks like a Scania R to me..

I guess in my mind i always associate Freightliner with a massive bonnet on the front, since that's all the Freightliners look in here.

Cé hé sin > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 03/31/2015 at 16:44

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It's rhd. I thought Merc only used the Freightliner brand in North America?The name isn't known elsewhere whereas Mercedes is.

Logically this should be a restyled Actros but it doesn't seem be.

Cé hé sin > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 03/31/2015 at 16:45

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It wouldn't be a Scania because they're owned by VW while Freightliner is Mercedes.

Oddly it doesn't seem to be a Merc design.

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > Cé hé sin 03/31/2015 at 16:48

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It does. I forgot about that.

It does look like a Scania R isn't it? It's uncanny.

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > Cé hé sin 03/31/2015 at 16:50

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This is a Freightliner Argosy. I just google searched european cabover and I found it and thought it looked like the van Aya showed us. Yes it seems they are RHD only:

The Freightliner Argosy is a heavy-duty semi-trailer truck produced by Daimler Trucks North America . The commercial vehicle was formerly sold in the North American market, but has been discontinued. [ citation needed ] The Argosy is currently sold in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand in RHD only.

In Canada these are the Freightliners we are used to seeing.

Cé hé sin > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 03/31/2015 at 16:53

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Not to my eyes, but there you go.

I Googled it and found a forum that said they're sold in Europe but that's wrong. Australia, NZ or your part of the world are more likely.

Have a Scania.

BATC42 > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 03/31/2015 at 16:54

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I've seen quite a few of older ones (because New Zealand) running around, they're smaller than I thought they would be.

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > BATC42 03/31/2015 at 16:56

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It does. I believe it's shorter than the S-Class.

Cé hé sin > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 03/31/2015 at 16:59

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Those front engined trucks are unusable in much of the world because of length limits. Just seems odd that they'd go the trouble of making a truck for three relatively small markets rather than sell a Merc (which they could badge Freightliner if that was an issue) but there you go.

Tapas > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 03/31/2015 at 17:13

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Love the interiors, hate the exterior.

Looks like Toyota Alpharded too hard with the curves and creases, like they tend to do with Lexuses (Lexi?).

Also, I have no clue where they got the name from. Alphard? Vellfire?

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > Tapas 04/01/2015 at 00:01

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It does. It looks like they're trying to give it so much design cues.

Alphard is a name of a Star, also known as Alpha Hydrae, while vellfire..

I have no idea what that is.

Tapas > Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. 04/01/2015 at 01:40

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Oh, didn't know that about the Alphard.

I really wish the interiors would come with a more sober and sharp exterior, because they look awesome :)