I’ve been showing you our dwindling fleet of Previa taxis for years now, and the last time, in November of 2015, I speculated if that was the last Previa left. Since then I shot this one last summer. And I haven’t see one since. So now it’s for certain: the Previa taxi era in Eugene is finally over.
In case you missed it earlier, Oregon Taxi started out here about 15 years ago with a fleet of nothing but Previas that they bought used. The Previa was sold in the US from 1991 to 1997. That means they were already between 13 and 9 years old then. They had a central shop where one could see old ones being cannibalized to keep the others running.
Eventually they started adding other newer but used Toyotas the fleet: Siennas, Prii, gen2Xb, and others. And I kept looking to see when the last Previa was to be seen. No more. Not bad for being 26-30 years old!
And now that Uber and Lyft are back, there’s fewer taxis of any kind to be seen.
So this means that Eugene and its taxis are in a Postvia era?
oh dude. Keep your day job!
Ha!
Pour one out for the last mid-engine supercharged Sports Egg.
Such a weird vehicle. Everything is the same now.
What I learned from people who knew about such things, the Previa was a tremendously over-built vehicle. I seem to recall the “bones” were a combination of HiLux pickup and the Toyota JDM commercial vans of the time. If you were (or knew) a competent mechanic, 300k miles was pretty easy to accomplish.
Van-taxis are still a thing here in Vegas. I’d venture 20% of the taxi fleet is Ford Transit Connects nowadays.
” the Previa was a tremendously over-built vehicle”
Absolutely, this is 100% “Golden Age” Toyota where a strong yen allowed manufacturers to really put some serious money into just about every component of their cars. If I could pick a single brand and single era of automobile to drive for the rest of my life, Toyota circa 1992-1996 would be it.
Toyota’s golden age was roughly concurrent with Nissan”s golden age, 1989-1999. Nissans of the pre-Ghosn, pre-Renault era were fastastically reliable and fun to drive, albeit unprofitable. Really, it was the golden age of Japanese cars altogether.
I wonder how many miles the last ones had when they were finally retired? I’ve heard of these vans hitting over 500k, which is something I can easily believe.
Maybe if I was rich I would have tried to buy the last one. I found taxi #78 in May 2017 and I might have seen a Previa in May 2018, but none since. I do not get down to Eugene very often.
Thought these were such an innovative breath of fresh air when introduced. Especially that mid-ship engine placement. Absolutely loved their styling since day one.
It must have been a pleasure to live in a community where these still thrived decades later.
I always thought these and the GM Dustbuster minivans were cool looking. They were unique compared to the Dodge Caravans and Chevy Astros that were EVERYWHERE back in the 90’s. My best childhood friend’s parents had one of these and I remember riding in it frequently. It was like nothing I had ever ridden at the time; very futuristic. I still see quite a few of the Dustbusters on the road but I can’t even remember the last time I saw a Previa.
I read an article a few years ago about the late Dan Gurney, racecar (and motorcycle) builder, driver and team owner. At the time, he was apparently driving a supercharged AllTrac Previa.
Dan and Toyota parted hard. AAR has beautifully maintained old race cars with EAGLE logos instead of TOYOTA.
These were amusing – open bonnet, find fanbelt, ps pump, ac compressor, etc, but no engine. Weren’t dipsticks quite long?
You still see a few 1st Gen Previa/Estimas here in Tokyo – I think because they are driven less miles (km) here…
Here in Japan, Estimas are still being sold and are at Gen 3+ – I have a Gen 3 2007 model.
Steamers,Estimas are quite common here still, people just drive them until they die then dump them, overheating via cooling system neglect seems to be about the only thing that puts them out of action and there are hundreds if not thousands of them in all generations on hire as camper conversions.
Somehow I never knew these could be gotten supercharged back when they were factory fresh. I like them.
We here in Madera are still in the Crown Vic taxi era. Keeping the faith.