Three Grade of 1st Gen Toyota Alphard

I have been comtemplating to write a post on the different grade and type of 1st gen Toyota Alphard but has been stucked because there are just so many combinations to list out based on my research on this subject. I have been putting this on hold for quite a while now as I was not really sure how to put it in a way that make sense for most potential buyers. Then I read a book on another subject and it talks about keeping it simple. So it just dawn on me that why not just write on what's relevant from a reader viewpoint.

So this is a (hopefully) the first of the many posts on the different specification on 1st Gen Toyota Alphard. This post start with the different grades available for the 1st Gen Toyota Alphard.

From the exterior perspective, there are really 3 different grades which are the standard grade, MS/AS and Hybrid.

The standard grade consists of MZ, MX and AX model. For these 3 grades, the design are boxy conventional minivan look and come with standard 16-inch rims. The photo below shows a pre-facelifted standard grade (on the left) and a face-lifted standard grade.

The MS/AS grade come with aerokit in the form of a sportier bumper and larger rim to emphasize the sportier design. The photo below shows a prefacelifted MS/AS grade (on the left) and a face-lifted MS/AS grade.
The Hybrid is very similar to the standard grade except the grille and the bumper design. Of course the Hybrid sports the Toyota Hybrid System-CVT including a 2.4-litre gasoline engine, front and rear electric motors, a continuously variable transmission (CVT), high-output hybrid battery pack and an E-Four electric four-wheel drive system. The photo below shows a pre-facelifted Hybrid grade (on the left) and a face-lifted Hybrid grade.

I have previously covered the different between pre-facelift and face-lifted model in this post. Basically the difference are in the front headlight, rear tail lamp and the grille.

Some additional notes on 1st Gen Toyota Alphard are:

- MZ/MZ/MS comes with 3.0L engine (1MZ-FE)
- AX/AS comes with 2.4L engine (2AZ-FE)

The V and G model are supply by two different dealers. Toyota Netz supply V model while ToyoPet supply G model. I have cover the different between V and G grille in this post.

In the next several posts, I will try to explore what is offered in each of these grades.

What's the different between the G or V?

One of the common question frequently asked by potential Toyota Alphard buyer is what's the different between Alphard G and Alphard V label at the rear of the giant. The alphabet G and V actually refer to the logo on the right side of the tailgate as shown below.

There are actually two reasons for the differentiation. For owner who is buying imported used Alphard locally, the difference is most obvious on the front grille only. Look at the photo below for pre-facelifted model.


Alphard G (photo on the left) has the front grille in full chrome and it has two horizontal grille lines across the center of the grille with the top line intercepting the Alphard logo. Also noticed there is a lot of smaller vertical grille lines.

Alphard V (photo on the right) has the top of the grille in chrome and the rest in body colour. It has four horizontal grille lines across the center of the grille with the top two lines intercepting the Alphard logo and there are only 5 vertical lines.

For new-facelifted model, there are some slight variations on the number of horizontal grille lines for both model. Alphard G (photo on the left) has three horizontal grille lines across the center of the grille with the top two lines intercepting the Alphard logo. There are still many vertical lines but now they are more slanted to the center.

Alphard V (photo on the right) now comes with two horizontal lines and the 5 vertical lines are slightly thicker compared to the pre-facelifted model.

What is more significant to the original buyers in Japan is that these G or V models are actually supplied by two chain of dealers, ToyoPet and Netz (http://netz.jp/). ToyoPet (which is one of Toyota business unit) supply the G model while Netz supply the V model. Therefore, at time you might see a sticker on the tailgate that reads "Yokohama Toyopet" which means that is a G model supplied by the ToyoPet dealer in Yokohama.

There are also regional complex dealer that obtain the car from either of the master distributor and sell it to end user. Therefore at time you might see some sticker like the one below.


Updates: Starting with the 2nd generation Alphard, ToyoPet supplies Toyota Alphard only while Netz supplies Toyota Vellfire.