Whiteware on Wheels

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Cars are often used as status symbols, or a “personality” extension. Maybe they have to be some-what practical but, above all, they must look good, be comfortable and, according to the ads, take you places that no other car can. Or there’s the Toyota Probox, a car that will take you to the places you need to go with no admiring glances, minimal comfort and zero fanfare. It’s whiteware on wheels. It says “I need to carry stuff and my personality requires no extension”. Sound like you? Read on...

It’s not just a box, it’s a professional box, or Probox, and it’s sort of a van crossed with a stationwagon. It has a rear bench seat for passengers that will likely make them feel as if they’re being transported to prison. But up front it’s all business with decent bucket seats, basic carpet, and a speedo. But there’s also a tiny nob to modernity with the touchscreen entertainment system that also incorporates a reversing camera.

Before you scoff at the Probox’s utilitarian styling it’s important to know that Toyota sells loads of these vans/cars, around 50,000 a year. They are popular taxis in Peru, Bolivia, Myanmar and Jamaica, where it was even the star of a song by RDX called, appropriately, Probox.

So it’s simple, roomy, probably endlessly reliable and has a kind of ‘so uncool it’s cool’ thing going on. But they are also cheap. This 2019 model has travelled just 37,000kms and is available now for just $12,995.

So if you need a workhorse to carry stuff with no frills and backseat passengers who need toughening up, than the Probox is worth considering. More details here.