The Toyota Previa was one of the first people carriers on the market, an MPV - multi purpose vehicle - available in the UK until 2006; at which time its heroic role as a truly cavernous child herder and Random Object Shifter was taken over by the excellent Corolla Verso.

It came in either 7 or 8 seat layout. The eight seater had two rear benches that slid out and folded to give more load area, while the seven-seater provided comfortable, swivelling captain's chairs. The Previa was probably one of the largest MPVs out there, and had no less than 18 storage pockets, compartments and cubby holes for all your bits and bobs. Space wasn't the only benefit of the Previa; equipment levels were high too with ABS,, double airbags,, aircon,, double sunroof and even cruise control. Built on a car chassis with the weight of the engine ingeniously positioned at an angle beneath the front seats, it handled, well... like a car. The Previa had a 2.4 petrol and 2.0 D-4D turbodiesel engine and either a 4 speed automatic or 5 speed manual gearbox. And it swallowed the world.