What It Was Like Riding In The Ultimate Taxi Cab Co-Developed By The Japanese Government And Toyota

The Ultimate Taxi Ts
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The Ford Crown Victoria was a legend. It was a V8-powered, body-on-frame sedan with a huge hood, a huge trunk, and a huge heart that just wanted to serve — whether in the police force, in a taxi fleet, or in your grandma’s driveway.

The yellow cab variants defined the look of New York City for decades, but if you’ve visited New York in the past eight or nine years, you’ve likely noticed: The streets look totally different now. That’s because the mighty Crown Vic died and was replaced by the rather hideous Nissan NV200 minivan — referred to by the city of New York and by Nissan as the “Taxi of Tomorrow.”

I’m visiting Hong Kong right now, and I’m seeing the exact same thing happening to the Special Administrative Region of China’s version of the Crown Victoria — the legendary Toyota Crown Comfort. It’s getting replaced by a rather ugly but excellent van with a fascinating backstory.

The Ford Crown Victoria and Toyota Crown Comfort: Legends, But Not The Ideal Tools For The Job

Let me be clear here: If I had to choose between riding in/owning a Ford Crown Victoria (shown below) or a Nissan NV200 van, I’d pick the Crown Victoria. It’s a badass-looking, V8, rear-wheel drive bruiser that never dies. You could do smoky burnouts in it while listening to a V8 roar — what more do you want out of life? As for the Nissan NV200: it’s front-drive, has a little 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine under the hood, and mates that engine with a soul-sucking continuously variable transmission. From an enthusiast’s standpoint, it’s extremely uncool.

Crown Victoria Large

But coolness isn’t what matters in a taxi. What matters is how well a vehicle gets the job done, and “the job” is comfortably schlepping humans and stuff around. Objectively, the Ford Crown Victoria — with its sedan shape that limits cargo capacity and its front engine-rear-wheel drive layout that jeopardizes interior volume – isn’t the ideal tool for the job. The Nissan NV200 is, even if it’s ugly:

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Some may think the new(ish) Toyota Comfort Hybrid minivan is ugly, too, though as I’ve found over the past few days that it’s the better tool than even the legendary Toyota Crown Comfort sedan that has faithfully transported folks all around Hong Kong (and many other parts of Southeast Asia) for decades. I’m talking about these sedans:

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Look at how cool those boxy machines are. They appear to be from the mid 1990s (I mean, that is when they debuted), and yet they were built all the way up through around 2017! They drip with soul, and I hope they never go away entirely. But they are getting replaced by the aforementioned Toyota Comfort Hybrid minivan, and after riding in it, I have to say: I dig it. It is the better taxi, just as the Nissan NV200 is the better taxi than the mighty Ford Crown Victoria.

It’s Called The Toyota JPN Taxi, And It’s A Huge Deal

The Toyota Crown Comfort has dominated taxi fleets in Japan and Hong Kong for many years, but about a decade ago, the Japanese government sought to commission something better: The ultimate taxi cab. A cab that was better for the environment, better for people with varying levels of physical mobility, and safer for pedestrians. Here’s how Toyota described it when the Taxi finally debuted in late 2017:

The JPN Taxi embodies the spirit of Japanese hospitality. It was developed to provide usability and comfort to a wide range of people, including children, seniors, wheelchair users, and visitors to Japan from abroad. Toyota aims to change Japan’s landscape, develop barrier-free cities, and transform Japan into a tourist-oriented country by promoting the widespread use of its JPN Taxis.

The new model showcases a people-friendly, universal design that provides usability and comfort to a wide range of people through continual innovations and improvements, from grab handles to the overall vehicle structure. Design features include a low, flat floor, making it easy for customers to ingress and egress from the taxi, a wide-opening, power rear sliding door (left side only) and space to accommodate wheelchair users.

In addition, the taxi is designed to beautifully complement the cityscape while at the same time being easily recognizable as a taxi. This is achieved in part due to the car’s styling, which aims to transcend trends and serve as a timeless classic model, as well as the body’s deep indigo (koiai) tone, a traditional color that has long been a symbol of Japan.

Furthermore, this model offers the driver an optimal range of vision, in part through innovations to the position and shape of the pillars and the use of fender mirrors. As a design priority for this taxi model, functionality was improved by positioning the dashboard instruments and other devices in the taxi to allow easy access, including the placement of the GPS system and taxi meter in a spot that is easy for customers to see.

Environmental performance and power performance were both taken to new levels. By employing a newly developed liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) hybrid system, the new model offers 19.4 km/L4 fuel economy and sharply reduced CO2 emissions. Enhancements were made to safety equipment, including adding the Toyota Safety Sense C package and six SRS airbags as standard features.

You can see in the video above that the launch just ahead of the Winter Olympics in Japan didn’t go perfectly, in part because the vehicle was a bit expensive and complex, though the version I rode in Hong Kong seemed simple and, honestly, fantastic.

The Crown Victoria And Crown Comfort Just Don’t Have The Right Shape/Drivetrain Layout To Be Ideal Cabs

The truth is that this short, front-wheel drive van configuration is ideal for taxi service.

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Just look at how perfect that geometry is. You might think that a cab-forward van like a Toyota Hiace might be better, but the low and short hood of the Comfort Hybrid makes tons of sense: It’s better for pedestrian protection than a cab-forward design, and it’s a small space that houses the vehicle’s entire powertrain and drivetrain (it’s a hybrid with a 61 horsepower electric motor in the CVT and a 73 hp LPG 1.5-liter four cylinder). Everything from the base of the windshield back is pure storage space for people and cargo! There’s no driveshaft tunnel, there’s no rear differential, there’s no transmission — the floor inside is flat and the interior volume is humongous.

Here are a few photos I took while riding in a Comfort Hybrid, along with a few press photos:

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Look at how perfectly flat that second-row floor is! No more center tunnel. Also: Note all that legroom!

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Now look at how tall, open, and airy that cabin is! To be sure, the Toyota Crown Comfort offers a good amount of legroom, too:

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But headroom is down:

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And more importantly, the rear-drive layout means there’s a huge center tunnel that makes riding in the middle of the rear bench a pain in the arse:

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But beyond the lower roof and big tunnel-protrusion in the floor, the Crown Comfort sedan just wastes space. If it’s going to be that long, why doesn’t it use the volume above the trunk? The result of the sedan shape is that many Crown Comforts drive around with ajar trunk lids often held down against the too-large cargo via bungee cords:

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The Comfort Hybrid minivan doesn’t have this problem. It just swallows huge volumes of luggage:

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The Perfect Size, A Sliding Door

What I especially love is just how perfectly-sized the Toyota Comfort Hybrid van is. At 4.4 meters (173 inches), it’s over a foot shorter than the Nissan NV200 (though actually the same size as the London version of the NV200), though like that NV, it focuses on maximizing interior volume not just by shoving the whole drivetrain to the front, but also by building up. The Comfort Hybrid is tall and short, and yet it still somehow manages to fit a sliding door, which is a huge help when it comes to alighting from vehicles in tight spaces:

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You’ll notice in the picture before the pair above that the right (driver’s) side rear door is a conventional one. It’s not clear why the Comfort Hybrid only has one sliding door, though my top guesses are: 1. Cost and 2. Safety concerns associated with opening a door into traffic when pulled over (a swinging door is easier to see than a sliding one).

You also might notice that the front and rear bumpers are black — a great way to keep costs down when there’s a fender bender that takes the original one out.

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I  snapped a couple of shots from inside. There are these two big spring-loaded handles that hang from the roof. I dig them:

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Here’s a look out the windows:

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There are USB charging ports on the backs of the front seats, the side windows go up and down via a power switch, and overall just a pleasant interior.

A Better Cab Today, Maybe An Icon Tomorrow

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The Crown Comfort sedan is the truly legendary taxi that has defined Hong Kong for decades, but it’s worth noting that the little Comfort Hybrid is starting to make its way into popular culture; check out this lego display I saw today:

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And look at the left sign here mentioning where taxis are found:

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And look at the toy I found in a gift shop!:

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Maybe there’s still time for this thing to become an icon, yet.

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Of course, it all depends on how the things hold up. New York City’s Nissan NV200 “Taxi of Tomorrow” will go down in history as a flop, as The New York Times wrote in its June, 2018 article titled “It Was Billed as the ‘Taxi of Tomorrow.’ Tomorrow Didn’t Last Long.” From the story:

…it turns out that tomorrow lasted only seven years.

Last week, the Taxi and Limousine Commission reversed the requirement, expanding the option for drivers beyond the Nissan NV200 to a smorgasbord of over 30 vehicles, including popular, fuel efficient models like the Toyota Camry.

The decision was praised by many drivers and their advocates who never grew enamored of the Nissan, complaining about bumpy rides, frequent mechanical problems, gas-guzzling engines and the vehicle’s small interior that only fits a maximum of four passengers.

The truth is that it’s 3 AM here in Hong Kong, and I’m ridiculously tired. I’m not sure how coherent this blog was, but I just wanted to show you this little taxi-van, because as boring as it may seem, it is not only hugely important given how it will change how people see and also travel in Hong Kong and much of Japan for decades to come, but it’s also really excellent at what it was designed to do. More so than even one of the most legendary cabs of all time, the mighty and beloved Crown Comfort.

75 thoughts on “What It Was Like Riding In The Ultimate Taxi Cab Co-Developed By The Japanese Government And Toyota

  1. I hate that thing, it’s a discount version of the london taxi, why can’t they just keep the old crowns and cedrics for ever? They’re such icons, don’t let them go the way the poor crown vic did

  2. Here’s a thought (perhaps for the Bishop), since London taxis are styled to look like the iconic ones from the 50s, why not apply that kind of retro design to American taxis? Crown Vics and Checker Marathons are an iconic visual element of Americana, so I think it would be neat if the front clips of van taxis like these were styled to look like Checker Marathons and whatnot. Bonus points if they have little tailfins and hubcaps to look the part as well!

    1. I own a Crown Vic (I’ve had a total of four Panthers of various flavors over the years), and I wouldn’t put it in the same category as a Checker. There’s nothing about it that’s really special or iconic, it’s just a completely ordinary sedan. If you wanted a dictionary illustration for “generic family car”, you’d use a Crown Victoria, should be practically standard issue when you buy a house in Levittown, along with a Golden Retriever and a sectional couch

      1. I would disagree. Yes the styling isn’t particularly special in any way, but it is iconic due to its ubiquitous nature. Everyone is familiar with the shape of a Crown Vic due to it being THE police car and THE taxi for many many years. It has garnered a reputation as a humble unkillable familiar workhorse, and its body on frame V8 RWD construction does set it apart from the family sedans of today. There will never again be a car like the Crown Vic, which is part of why its legacy will live on. It was great at everything it was used for and nothing can replicate it now.

  3. As a semi-regular visitor to HK who hasn’t been back since ~2018, I’ve been preparing to lament the demise of the Crown Comfort sedan the next time I visit, but this article has convinced me that its replacement still seems to have plenty of personality – certainly better than the Nissans that replaced the Crown Victorias.

    Having said that a small part of me is still tempted to import a Comfort sedan over here, last time I checked your could pick one up for about AU$11k landed and complied.

  4. I wonder if considering all the new car companies coming out if there is one or two vehicles, like a Taxi, Hearse, Ambulance whatever needed for a specific usage that a company could just start out and succeed with. Then later making additional models.

  5. Don’t forget the half a dozen of phones the drivers have on the dashboard. The drivers are often elderly (70+) which could make riding them slightly hazardous eg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJxkLG5KDbs They take cash, so that they can “hide” the proceeds from the government so they can get subsidized housing.

    A real estate agent in Toronto, imported one though so he can some street cred from the diaspora https://zolimacitymag.com/hong-kong-wheels-hong-kong-taxi-toronto/

    Oh yeah.. HK has a system which allows other drivers to snitch on drivers who are behaving badly. There are Youtube channels that dedicated to that 車CAM

      1. A bit of context, cross the wrong type of line will net you couple hundred fine and they affects your insurance rating / point system. I was told it is similar to 3 tries you are out / suspended situation. So for taxi drivers it could be a big hit.

  6. I loved the New South Wales (Australia) Falcon wagon taxis, they were just big inefficient barges, with amazing transmission whine, spongy seats and were normally falling apart, they were great. But now, like everywhere its all Camry Hybrids.

    1. Well let’s be honest the Crown Vic was a great design for a cop car but way over built as a cab. Like where in NYC are you going fast enough for a V8. I think a car designed for low speeds, idling, and constantly moving would be a better vehicle for most uses.

  7. Maybe it’s my age but I still see the Checker Marathon as the definitive NYC cab. The London taxi also deserves a mention as a purpose built and successful design. It’s worth noting that the black cab sticks with RWD in order to achieve its extremely tight turning circle.
    FWD vans are the next best thing and I hope Toyota makes an LHD version.

    1. No, it is still the Checker cab, even though we’re ca 23/24 years from when the last one retired- if someone does a mural of a stylized NYC street scene or is animating a generic New York cab, it’s probably going to be a Checker, its still the one that shows up most in artistic works, and not just ones set in the era when they were common. Kind of always wondered if there was a market for fiberglass Checker replica bodies bolted onto F-Series truck frames for use as like sightseeing cars for tourists or airport shuttles for hotels, but obviously not, or they would have been built

      1. I was in NY in the 70s and 80s when Checkers were still common. Ironically my distant cousin who owns a medallion cab drove a Chevy while my great uncle the professor drove a civilian Checker at the same time

      2. I agree that our collective history remembers the Checker Cab as “THE” NY Cab. But for me, at lest, I think of streets filled with square bodied Ford Crown Vic/LTD’s, Dodge Diplomets, AMC Matadors and Chevy Nova\Caprices. With the last of the Checkers thrown in. That late 70’s early 80’s vision, when I went to NYC as a kid, is what I think of. So it depends on your collective memory. How about the green and white VW Beetles in Mexico City?

    2. The Checker was designed from the ground up to be a cab. Fun fact most people probably never think about and never noticed, the Checker Cab has no door sills. It’s flat with the floor to make sure your shoes don’t get caught. And the later longer wheelbase version was designed with the roof as high as possible so the seat could be placed as far back as possible to allow people with arm stilts or wheelchairs to enter the vehicle, fold up their mobility aids, and still sit in a place with a ton of room. Even now the rear doors on a Checker open to a wider entry than the sliding door of an NV200. The Caprice and Crown Victoria that replaced the Checker never had any such design considerations when modified for duty, and even now the Siennas and NV200s lack such features. There’s actually a lowered sill in the Sienna taxis that people trip over, and for both it and the NV200 the wheelchair access is through the back like a bus, meaning you can’t fold up the wheelchair and use the full cargo area because the wheelchair is your seat.

  8. Counterpoint: The Crown Vic and the Toyota Crown (and Nissan Cedric) are the perfect taxi cabs, and the worldwide trend of taxi cab carcinization towards hideous London black cab knockoffs with sliding doors should be lamented.
    The only time I ever take a taxi is when I’m travelling, either in a foreign country or when I return home from time abroad (paying for long term parking at the airport is lame). As such, taxis are my first automotive experience in a new country, and my first ‘return to normalcy’ on my return home. I loved that different countries had their own iconic taxis – I look forward to getting a taxi ride in a Toyota Crown when I go to Japan, with the white doilies on the seatbacks, and automatic curb-side door poppers to let you in and out. In a world where corporate conference rooms look the same anyplace you go, the taxis at least said “hey, welcome to somewhere new!”
    Perhaps more importantly though, I always thoroughly enjoyed my ride in a Crown Vic taxi when I returned home tired from a long trip. Sliding into the big comfy back seat of that body-on-frame V8 sedan is such a ‘you’re back in the States now’ experience -nothing like it anywhere else. The serene quiet ride is just soothing after the hectic chaos of travel.
    Now most taxis everywhere on earth are either an old Prius, or one of these high roof monstrosities with ultra-heavy grade vinyl passenger cages designed to be hosed out at the end of every shift, as warm as hugging a porcelain throne and about as comfortable.
    No thanks. Give me a Crown Vic.

    1. If you say so. For me, being sentimental about a Crown Vic is like being sentimental about cod liver oil. “Remember when they used to force-feed us this stuff to keep us ‘fit’? Man, those were the days.”

  9. Sliding left rear door = Easier for the taxi driver to slip a wheelchair in and shut the door without injuring passengers in the rear seat from the passenger side.

  10. I’d take a fleet of those in a heartbeat.

    I run hybrid toyotas but that thing is better.

    I don’t know what 19 km/ litre works out to but I bet it’s good!

    1. But what in the world is meant by the superscript 4? Is it 19 liters per km over some indeterminate time??

      -likely a typo, but, boy did I trip on that one

  11. NV200 a “gas guzzler”? Even in comparison to the Crown Vic?
    Not that I’ve driven or been in one, and certainly their discontinuation stateside won’t help, but I’m curious if there’s quantitative reasons to stop using them (and not just aesthetic preferences). Four-passenger limit…what, could the Crown Vic take more than 2 + one smaller person?

  12. I was in Japan right after these first came out and I think they’re honestly not terrible looking. They’re clearly built for a purpose but still have a lot of charm. I even almost had the chance to drive one at Toyota’s Megaweb display on Odaiba but you needed an international driver’s permit just to drive around their little parking lot test track which I didn’t have. I did get a little Tomica version of one though to go with my Tomica Cedric Brougham taxi

  13. Years back, I was in Singapore and saw a truck lose its parking brake and roll down a hill at a pretty strong clip. It sideswiped a Crown taxi and the whole lot tumbled down an embankment with the taxi rolling over. The driver and passenger climbed out unscathed. Those Crowns may have been smaller than the Crown Vics, but they were also tanks.

    I’m probably one of the rare few that wears a seatbelt when I’m in a cab. At least after seeing that.

  14. I totally dig this, and would consider a left hand drive one if they sold it in the US. It’s like a Prius, except more practical and more quirky, with the benefit of everyone having enough leg and headroom.

  15. The Toyota Crown Comfort has dominated taxi fleets in Japan and Hong Kong for many years, but about a decade ago, the Japanese government sought to commission something better: The ultimate taxi cab. A cab that was better for the environment, better for people with varying levels of physical mobility, and safer for pedestrians. Here’s how Toyota described it when the Taxi finally debuted in late 2017″

    We shall all look forward to the Japanese spreading their dominance in East Asia. It’s so full of positivity we may even call it a Co-Prosperity Sphere.

  16. I’m someone who is 6’6″ tall and is shopping for a car currently. Almost every vehicle in anything other than stripped down base model trim has a sunroof that entirely eliminates it from being a functional vehicle for me, because I don’t fit. The headroom in that cab is so beautiful, I don’t care what it looks like on the outside – I WANT ONE.

    1. Fun fact: One reason why the iconic London taxis are so tall is so ladies and gentlemen don’t have to take off their hats when they get in. I’m not sure how this matters in the era of bros and ball caps, but it’s cool to see that survive.

      1. K.T. Keller had a similar rule when he was chairman of Chrysler, thought it was improper for men to have to take their hats off in a car, but by then, it was more the m’lady style fedoras and trilbys, of course

        1. *reaches for chequebook*
          …if they bring in the EV version:
          *signs cheque*…
          if they convert to left hand drive:
          *mails cheque*
          …if they offer sliding rear doors:
          *pays for upgrade*.

  17. Objectively, the Ford Crown Victoria … isn’t the ideal tool for the job. The Nissan NV200 is, even if it’s ugly

    If it’s ugly and it works, it’s not ugly. 🙂

    Also please tell us you bought the taxi toy.

  18. Sliding doors and modern FWD powertrain aside, this feel like it’s just a riff on the original London Black Cabs. Which serves as a testament to just how brilliant that original design was.

    On a related note, if Toyota offered a civilian version in the US, I’d be first in line. But they won’t 🙁

    1. Very similar in execution.
      Of course the London, until this generation, was RWD.
      Raised a little for a flat floor though and primarily to allow for a longitudinal engine for a tight turning circle.

  19. They look like a good purpose built machine. I would be fine taking this as a taxi. If we have CUV’s, I would call this a CCV (CityCarVan), since it appears to be a combo of the two.

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