271,000 km, a private shower, and a Toyota badge — meet the world's most unlikely camper
A 1994 Toyota HiAce Grand Cabin from Japan now lives in the US — and hides a full bathroom with a hot shower behind its rear door. Big mileage, bigger surprise.
At first glance — just another tired old Japanese minivan. A 1994 Toyota HiAce Grand Cabin, currently for sale in the US. Then you open the rear door — and there’s a full bathroom inside, complete with a sink and hot shower.
The van was originally built for the Japanese market, but it now carries American paperwork and registration. The mileage is no joke — around 271,000 km. By automotive standards, that’s practically a trip to the Moon. But the previous owner went all-in on the interior: the seats are reupholstered in burgundy leather with contrast stitching, and the center console gained a wood panel with metal cupholders.
The real magic starts from the second row back. Inside you’ll find a 40-liter fridge, a wall-mounted TV, air conditioning, built-in speakers, and seats that fold flat into a generous sleeping area. This isn’t a decorative show van built for social media. This is a vehicle you can actually drive and actually sleep in.
But the main surprise is at the very back. Behind a separate door sits a proper wet room: waterproof white flooring, a tiny pink-and-white sink with a vanity unit, and a hot-water shower. For a compact van, that’s borderline impossible. Most conversions force you to pick between cargo space, a bed, and a kitchen. Here, somehow, a private bathroom got squeezed in too.
Under the hood — a naturally aspirated 2.8-liter diesel. And this is where it really gets interesting. Less than 10,000 km ago, the van received a new timing belt, tensioners, water pump, timing cover gasket, engine mounts, thermostat, muffler, injectors, and alternator. For a 30-year-old Japanese van, that matters more than fancy leather: the buyer is paying not just for the cabin, but for a real chance of getting farther than the nearest mechanic.
The price tag — $17,995. A lot of money for an old HiAce with serious mileage? If you see it as just another van — sure. If you see it as a ready-to-go mini-camper with paperwork, a bulletproof Toyota diesel, and the rare bonus of a private shower — suddenly the math looks different. New campers cost several times more. And building one from scratch usually devours both your wallet and months of your life.
Japanese vans have long been a cult favorite among adventure travelers: reliable, frugal, almost impossible to kill. The real value of this particular example is that it’s already street-legal in the US and ready to hit the road tomorrow.
Sometimes high mileage scares people less than an empty cabin. With this HiAce, it’s the opposite: plenty of kilometers under its belt — but inside, everything other people spend years building from scratch.