Toyota Town Ace ("Toyota Town Ice"): description, photo, technical characteristics

"Toyota Town Ice" - more than just a family of minivans. This "short" has its own rich history and is, in fact, a whole transport system. It is designed for many occasions: from passenger transportation and long-distance travel by the whole family to small freight and much more. And as a matter of fact it is a full-size mini-car built on a frame structure and manufactured in Japan for the domestic market from the late 70's to the mid-90s of the last century.

The history of the model

For the first time "Toyota" showed the public "Town Ice" in October 1976. Two years later, a more modern and comfortable version of the seven-seater minivan was released. The additional word "Ace" (Ace in English) in the name of the car inherited from a compact truck, produced in the 50-60's of the last century. It was called the truck "ToyoAce" (ToyoAce).

A distinctive feature of ToyoAys was high reliability and good roadability, which were also inherited by the minivan.

First Changes

The first restyling of Town Ice was made in 1985. Then the light saw a new body model CR30. But in this performance the car was produced only until 1993, when the restyling was again made.

The new body model received the CR31 index. This variation lived even less - only 3 years, after which it was withdrawn from production. In place of the old good "Ice" came "Toyota Town Ice Noach" and "Toyota Vaux".

Features of the structure of the minivan

The car stands out because its design features are similar to the designs of a large number of SUVs. The basis for the car was a frame, which was integrated directly into the body. The type of frame used is a staircase.

This design has many advantages: it's stiffening the body, and an increased level of safety in the accident, and weighting the structure as a whole to give a low center of gravity. The latter advantage has allowed not only to improve the cross-country capability, but also to improve steering during bends. Also worth noting that there were two versions of the car - rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive.

Engine

Another feature of the structure was the place where the engine is located. The Town Ice was produced exclusively with a mid-engine layout, which made the access to the engine a bit more difficult. In order to serve it, it was necessary to open a special hatch, which was in the cabin under the front passenger seat. A small disadvantage was also the fact that in view of the limited space under the body it was not possible to place a large and, accordingly, a more powerful unit.

But this did not stop the business, because the entire engine line perfectly allowed to cope absolutely with any tasks: from fast enough trips on well-paved roads to those moments when you had to wade through any trundnoopodhodimuyu soil. "Town Ice" was equipped with two lines of engines (petrol and diesel) in volumes from 1.8 to 2.2 liters. Diesel engines, in turn, could have a turbocharger to improve efficiency.

Transmission

Regardless of which engine the vehicle was equipped with, it was possible to meet a five-speed manual or automatic transmission. Especially popular among the people were the all-wheel drive versions of the minivan, as the system used to distribute the torque between the axles does not differ from the one used in the "real" off-road cars, such as Suzuki Escudo and Isadzu Trouper.

The all-wheel drive modification is equipped with a transfer gearbox that allows connecting the Town-Ais front axle as part-time, which means that there is no interaxle differential in the transfer case with reduced gear. Thanks to this system, on smooth roads you can move on the rear drive, and fully connect only in areas with difficult terrain and use it at a speed of not more than 50 km / h on those coatings that allow wheel slip. Therefore, in order to save fuel on the hubs of the front wheels, there were so-called "hubs", that is, freewheels. To enable 4WD it was necessary to manually turn the "hubs" into a special position, and then choose the appropriate mode of operation of the transfer case.

Comfort car

Minivan was produced in cargo and passenger trim levels. In the latter there was a well-arranged interior and a large set of options that were intended to provide comfortable conditions for passengers. In the "Town Ice" (later in "Town Ice Noah") there was a transformer room with seats arranged in three rows, and a two-circuit air conditioner, working in tandem with two heaters, which allowed them to be used separately for the cabin and for the cabin. In various configurations, there were several variations of hatches: from 2 in succession "Moon Ruf" to 6 complex system "SkyRuf".

Also the cabin of the minivan was equipped with blinds with manual or electric drives, and this device could separate the middle part of the cabin from the rear for the convenience of passengers. At an insignificant surcharge in the front of the cabin it was possible to install a refrigerator that was built directly into the car's air conditioning system.

Car suspension

In addition to the salon, you could take care of the overall comfort. For example, under the order special shock absorbers of variable rigidity were manufactured and installed, which were regulated by electronics. This system existed in two variations: with a cheaper modification, it automatically adjusted the stiffness of the shock absorbers, based on a number of parameters, but in a more expensive configuration it was possible to adjust the stiffness manually from the cab.

The undoubted advantage of "Town Ice", a photo of which still stroll through the vast expanses of the Internet in large quantities, was a relatively low fuel consumption due to the small volume of the engine and special systems that allowed to reduce consumption. The average figures ranged from 8 to 11 liters per "hundred", even in versions with petrol engines. Of course, there is no need to talk about high dynamics, since the maximum speed of a "baby" is only 135 km / h, but at the same time it feels very confident on the road at 100-105 km / h.

Of course, not without minor shortcomings: despite the focus on comfort, in the cabin when driving at high speeds is quite noisy. It is also worth noting that in variations with the diesel engine, in the absence of a load on the rear axle, the latter is prone to loss of adhesion on wet surfaces and, as a result, to skidding. Many drivers complained about uncomfortable chairs and improper landing, worsening the view just in front of the car's bumper, which made parking difficult. But all these shortcomings were simply not noticed against the backdrop of the advantages of the Town Ice. Individual copies of the car still faithfully continue to serve their masters.