>Andrew,
>     Since you advertise yourself as a VW/Toyota van nut on the
>Vanagon list, I figured you would be the perfect person to ask this
>question.  A good friend of mine owns a 1987 Toyota van, which he
>raves about.  He also claims there is no car on the road that holds
>more inside than a Toyota van.  Somehow that assertion seems
>unlikely to me.  My gut tells me that a vanagon must have more
>interior room than the Toyota, although I have to admit that I have
>never looked closely inside a Toyota.  That feeling is based on the
>idea that the vanagon appears to longer, wider and taller on the
>outside than a Toyota, and the fact that autos manufactured in
>Northern Europe regularly have more interior room compared to
>outside dimensions than those manufactured elsewhere, including in
>Japan.  Two examples of cars which come to mind with huge interior
>dimensions compared to their exterior sizes, excluding the vanagon,
>are a Volvo 245 wagon and a Porsche 944.  I have owned both of these
>cars, and always marvelled at how much they held compared to cars
>with similar exterior dimensions.
>     Do you know the interior volume of  a vanagon compared to
>a Toyota van?  That info would help our discussion greatly.
>Thanks.
>Tom LaLanne
>'86 Subie Westy

Hi Tom

Just measured the interior of my LWB Hiace (sorry, no neometric tape):
L 3.0m (rear window to front of cargo floor)
L 3.27m (rear window to front seatback)
W 1.52m
H 1.35m
W external 1.67m

But this van wasn't ever sold in USA.

What you have in mind is the RWD Liteace/Townace/Masterace. I don't
have one at hand to measure, but this is a SMALL van. It comes only
in SWB and is narrow... wait, I have a 1983 comparison of test of a
VW Caravelle, Isuzu, Mazda, Nissan vans... and Liteace (sld as Tarago
in Australia).
W 1.445m
H 1.20m
Dashboard to rear seatback 3.04m (no cargo-floor length given, as
it's a passenger version)
Overall its interior space is about the same as a RWD/4WD Estima
(=Previa), but narrower than the export-market Previa. So the T3 is a
lot larger... though you have to subtract the engine compartment!

As you can see with the Hiace, the external & internal widths are not
that much different, so it's extremely space-efficient. It's
available in extralong (and also short) wheelbase too, and the VW
ain't.