Filipinos love being together. That's why in a road trip, we'd rather be in a big van as we know what it brings to the table, compared to — well, a convoy of small cars. And speaking of vans, this writer was able to recently drive the Toyota Hiace Super Grandia Elite AT. After a week of driving it, the popular people carrier left me with nothing but awe.

For starters, Toyota's iconic van has been around for more than 50 years. In fact, it has quite made a name for itself here in the country that the global head office of Toyota decided to make the van's sixth iteration global debut right here on our very own shores back in 2019.

Fast-forward to three years later, Toyota Motor Philippines introduced this latest premium variant to its stable of people carrier thoroughbreds. It's P375,000 more expensive than its next sibling variant, the full-featured standard Super Grandia for having a more premium feel and a host of safety features.

At the onset, it sports the same robust boxy profile as its other Hiace brothers (which have been making rounds in social media, calling them "The Flying Brick") and the same 3210-mm wheelbase, but with a different touch of class, particularly when donning this Luxury Pearl Toning hue. Add its LED headlights, turn signal and taillights and 17-inch alloy wheels wrapped in 235/60R17 109/107T Dunlop SP LT30 A tires, then it carries a distinct, more elevated swagger.

This kind of panache is spilled over inside with its plush material and design. It has plenty of space inside like any of its Hiace sibling. It — however — spells a bit of indulgence with its steering wheel trim of additional wood and its other plating for its trim doors. Other creature comforts include manual rear sunshades and additional ambient lighting with color variations and quilted leather seats. Not to mention those with ottomans for the second-row individual captain chairs, even complementing them with the automated sliding doors. Its seating capacity is best configured to six as it brings out what its other siblings and others in its segment cannot — a new elevated level of refinement.

Under its hood is a 2.8-liter inline 4 DOHC 16V fuel injector CRDi Intercooled VNT turbodiesel engine, mated to a six-speed automatic transmission, which churns out 174hp and 450N-m of torque.

This goes along with an amazing slew of features, such as the Toyota Safety Sense with adaptive cruise control, pre-collision system, lane departure alert and automatic high beam.

All in all—after driving it—I now have a deeper understanding why this top-spec variant is named: "Super Grand Elite."