FAMILY CAR REVIEW: 2020 TOYOTA GRANVIA EIGHT-SEATER

How big is the boot of the 2020 Toyota Granvia eight-seater?

Behind its enormous and heavily sprung boot door, the eight-seater Toyota Granvia doesn't really have a boot. It's quite a contrast to the VW Multivan I tested, which could accommodate a stroller behind the rear seats without even having to fold it! The Kia Carnival has a much better layout too, where the rear row disappears into the floor or leaves behind a deep well for storage when in use.

I was really surprised that there is no boot space in such a large vehicle. You can fold the seat bases of the rear row of seats up and slide the rear seats forward however that renders that row useless for legroom and I'm sure anyone who buys an eight-seater people mover does so because they need all eight seats AND a boot.

I found instead I had to put my grocery shopping on the floor around the base of the rear seats which isn't ideal because it an accident the tins would be missiles!

How good is storage inside the Toyota Granvia?

Storage inside the Toyota Granvia is very good throughout. In the front, there is my favourite: three dashboard cupholders littered across the dash that will hold reusable and disposable coffee cups and large refillable water bottles too.

The central console storage box is enormous!

The lid doubles as a storage tray and has two cup holders at the back too.

In front, between the footwells, are a selection of plastic trays and oddments that felt a little like plastic for plastic's sake, but at least I found it good for popping my handbag in.

Above this is a panel with USB and 12V sockets. But check out the cheap look and feel of it!

The glove box feels small for the size of the dashboard but it does hold my iPad and wallet with the manuals.

In the ceiling, there is a glasses case and both visors have lit vanity mirrors.

The door bins in the front are nice and large. They will hold a large refillable water bottle and an iPad easily too.

Storage in the second row is good too. There are map pockets on the back of both front seats, they will hold but not conceal an iPad. There are two USB sockets in the back of the central console box for second-row passengers.

There are door bins in the doors that will hold a large refillable water bottle and there is a fold-out tray between the second-row seats that has four cup holders in it. They are well-sized to hold reusable or disposable coffee cups and a large refillable water bottle fits in them too.

Alongside the third and fourth row seats, there are two cup holders. They will hold a large refillable water bottle or reusable or disposable coffee cup and there is a hidden storage box in them too.

How noisy is the Toyota Granvia?

The Toyota Granvia is not a particularly noisy car. I was pleasantly surprised at how adaptable the volume for most of the sounds is.

The media system does seem quite basic in the Toyota Granvia…

…but I do like the three-way split home screen that makes selecting different features easy while driving.

The Granvia does have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto which I was glad I had for the week I had the car.

The reversing camera image is a little pixellated and although it fills the whole screen, it feels a little small for such a big vehicle! You can turn the parking sensors off with a button to the right of the screen.

The lane departure warning is a vibration rather than an alarm which is great but the lane keep assist is really frustrating. When it senses you are near the line it brakes instantly and slows the car right down. This would obviously be a good safety feature on the rare occasion you'd need it but for everyday driving, I found it frustrating.

The cruise control in the Toyota Granvia is not very accurate and I found it easy got carried away from the set speed when the was a slight incline or decline in the road surface.

The buttons are on the right side on the steering wheel and they are easy to use.

I love driving big white vans which was helpful for this week as the Granvia is pretty much a van to drive when people are the things you're transporting and delivering at their various locations!!  I found it rather boxy and its engine a little noisy but the turning circle in the Granvia is fantastic, which made parking and maneuvering surprisingly easy. The windows are large in the Granvia too so visibility is quite good and being so boxy it is easy to judge the front and back of the vehicle there are not big bumpers to have to consider.

Becoming a parent I soon realised there are some noises and sounds I feel are unnecessary and I could happily live without if it meant my baby stayed asleep!!

That often the distraction of my screaming, distressed baby is more dangerous when driving than not having a lane departure warning for example.

If it is the lane departure warning beeping that creates distress with my baby then which is safest?

It’s where I think we need to be able to strike a balance and choose when we can mute the warnings or swap them to a vibration in the steering wheel or flashing light perhaps?

A lot of these noises come with the increase in technology and especially linked to safety features and alerts. For me these all have their place.

Another thing I have realised is I spend my time in a lot more places where small children roam, parks, beaches, play gyms, swimming lessons, daycare centre etc. I have become more aware that when I’m reversing or manouvering in the car parks I have to tripple check for small children running around behind me or being in my blind spot when reversing. For this I LOVE reversing cameras, I just don’t like their beeping sounds!!

I have become so much more aware of safety and potential accidents or hazards since having a child and so I love the peace of mind that I get from the cameras and sensors combined with my own vision from windows and mirrors as I don’t trust cameras alone.

The indicator volume wasn't baby-waking in the Toyota Granvia it was very quiet.

The sat-nav guidance volume can be muted on the left side of the media screen, which is excellent for not disturbing other passengers.

I find on most journeys when I use sat nav I only need directions for the last part of the journey. I know how to get to the area I am going and then it’s just the exact address I need help with. Because I need to input the address before I head off I found myself on most occasions when you can’t mute the sat nav voice having to listen to all the directions, which disturbs your concentration, any conversation in the car at the time or more importantly my sleeping baby! So being able to mute the sat nav voice until you reach the part where you actually need it is gold!

The sliding rear doors of the Toyota Granvia are fantastic for car parks so they don't open out onto other cars. They are however quite noisy and heavy and I found when parked on a hill or incline you have to be VERY careful of fingers because they come sliding closed very fast without warning. The front doors were fine and didn't close with a baby-waking thump!

With baby asleep you can get in and out of the front cab without worrying the doors will be too noisy. The same for the windows their mechanism is not too noisy and I didn’t notice them having a loud opening or closing sound.

With baby asleep you want to be able to get in and out without worrying the doors will be too noisy and wake Bub up! 

There is a loud beeping alarm if you open the driver's door with the engine still running.

There is a seatbelt removal alarm and a fantastic visual for all three rows of rear seats on the central dash. This is great because you wouldn't be able to see who has removed rear belts otherwise.

The screen in front of the driver tells you your distance to empty in km too which is really handy.

The distance to empty display becomes extra important as a mum because getting fuel with a baby is a whole new world of difficult. If they are screaming in the car you definitely do not want your journey prolonged with a fuel stop! If they are asleep the turning off of the engine, doors opening and locking and unlocking, then re-opening the doors and closing, starting the engine again, beepers going off because you haven’t got your seatbelt on when you start the car or because you blink in the wrong direction, do you take them out of the car when you go in to pay? If you do will you get them back in the seat again or will they have a complete meltdown and you’ll be stuck on the fuel station forecourt with a screaming baby!! Hopefully you are starting to gather the anxiety that what was once a simple fuel stop can be for a mum!!!!

For this reason the distance to empty display can let you know if you have enough fuel to make it home with bub and then go out and get fuel another time when you will not have to take bub with you.

How many child seats fit in the Toyota Granvia eight-seater?

The Toyota Granvia is an eight-seater that fits four child seats.

There are three rows of seats in the back of the Toyota Granvia, with pairs of individual seats in the second and third-rows…

…and a 60:40 split fourth-row bench with only two usable seats.

The four, second and third-row seats all have ISOFix points in the seat bases…

…and top tether anchorages right at the bottom of the back of the seatbacks.

They are all not in plastic guides but well labelled. They are easy to connect to but I definitely needed extension straps for the top tethers when using rear-facing child seats.

I found that despite the Granvia being such a big vehicle, space in the back was tight. The legroom between the rows of seats was just enough for me to sit in the front (I'm 162cm), rear-facing child seat in the second row, a forward-facing child seat in the third row and me to just sit in the fourth row. All with no boot space!

The fourth row was also really hard to get to because of the narrow aisle between them.

Not only is the central aisle very narrow, but the ceiling is also low so it was very difficult to squeeze between the seats for someone my size. Rugby players need not apply!

Getting children in and out of the second and third-row seats is okay from the outside of the Granvia as you can reach through to do up their harnesses but accessing the fourth row is quite hard.

Australia being a country of weather extremes; blazing sun and torrential rain, mean you may find it easier to put Bub into their seat from inside the car sometimes. If it’s hot you can get the air-con going, cool the car down and not stand out in the sun while you fasten them in or shelter from the rain and not get soaked yourself whilst you’re doing it. So it is important to test whether Bub can be easily installed from either direction!

There is plenty of room to feed bub in the front seats or either of the back rows.

How comfortable is the Toyota Granvia eight-seater? And how good is the Toyota Granvia to drive?

The front seats of the Toyota Granvia are quite comfortable and easy to adjust with manual adjustments on the side.

The headrests are not adjustable and I could definitely not wear a ponytail while driving.

I had spent hours styling my hair this morning to get this ponytail just right too… said no new mum ever!!!

My husband and I took turns to travel in the back next to our daughter and we found I could sit with enough legroom (I'm 162cm) but my husband's knees were touching on the seat in front and he's 182cm. That's with the seats having space evenly distributed between the rows. The rear seats were quite comfortable too.

For the first year of Tulsi’s life when we would go out as a family, if I wasn’t driving, I would travel in the back with Tulsi so it’s important to check the back seat comfort as you may be spending a lot of time in them! They were never something I gave any thought to before but I definitely notice a good or bad back seat now!

There are spacers for between the rear rows of seats, you slot these metal bars into the tracks that the seats move on and it limits the movement of the rear seats.

The steering wheel is fully adjustable in/out and up/down.

Across the front dashboard, there are four air conditioning vents, they can be easily controlled using the buttons on the central dash.

In the back, there are air-conditioning vents in the ceiling for all three rows of rear seats.

There are controls in the ceiling above the second-row seats but they are not reachable or adjustable from the front while driving.

When maneuvering or parking, the Granvia has a tight turning circle and has a flat front and back panel which made it easy to know where the ends of the car are and the big windows and camera image really helped.

One thing I have noticed since being a mum is I hate it when I reach a destination or get home from being out and Tulsi has either done really well in the car or she is screaming her head off and I have done really well to keep it together for the entire journey (usually the latter!!) and it takes 10 minutes to park the car! It can be really stressful. Usually I dread parking new cars as they take longer in our tight apartment block carpark, but the Toyota Granvia, although it is very big was surprisingly easy to park.

How safe is the Toyota Granvia?

The Toyota Granvia has scored a five-star ANCAP safety rating.

It has a great seat belt removal visual for all rear rows of seats.

Seven airbags come as standard in the Toyota Granvia; for driver and front passenger, head airbags for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th seat rows, side airbags for driver's and passenger side and drivers knee airbags in the front.

In testing it scored 88% for child occupancy protection (43.28 points out of 49), 94% for adult occupancy protection (35.79 out of 38), 79% for safety assist technology (10.3 out of 13) and 84% for vulnerable road user protection (40.6 out of 48). In child occupancy testing the Toyota Granvia scored 15.48/16 for the dynamic front test, 8/8 for the dynamic side test, 11.80/12 for restraint installation and 8/13 for onboard features.

Some of these safety features are also features that drive me crazy as a mum! Like the lane departure and forward collision alert or the parking sensor beeping sound. I want all the safety technology AND to be able to mute the sound when Tulsi’s asleep!