Toyota Alphard Executive Lounge: Renting with Older Relatives

Rest in rear seats like airline business class as you travel around Okinawa

Haisai! I’m CULT.
Here’s another rental car recommendation for Okinawa. Today it’s the Toyota Alphard Executive Lounge, a car for anyone at a talent agency, taking older relatives out, or needing to transport VIPs for corporate training or seminars. It’s practically one of the most upscale cars you can rent in Okinawa, and its size makes it suitable as a family car too. There’s plenty of luggage space, so it’s worth considering if six of you are traveling together.

A Korean staff member picks you up and takes you to the airport after you return the car. Since the staff member picking you up is Korean, you can get advice on what to watch out for when driving in Okinawa while you try driving. The Alphard is large, so it’s worth listening to those pointers. It’s also no car for a beginner, and anyone under 26 cannot get Type C insurance or NOC insurance for loss of use after an accident. You also cannot rent it if you’ve had your license for less than 6 months.

Well.. if you’re looking at a car like this, you’re probably a dad, a manager, or a personal assistant anyway.
After booking, the meeting point is Exit 6 on the 3rd floor of Naha Airport, Okinawa.

First off.. this car.. is the largest Japanese car I’ve driven.
I only found out later.. but it has a 360-degree camera, which I didn’t photograph. It was the hardest car I’ve ever had to park. The 360-degree camera shows your surroundings, but I still found parking in tight spaces a bit difficult.
But personal assistants or managers who drive VIPs around, or anyone who’s driven a Kia Grand Carnival or Hyundai Staria, are generally good drivers, so I don’t think they need to worry. If this car is too big and the price is a bit much..

You could also consider a Nissan Serena, Toyota Noah, or Toyota Voxy, which are similar in size to a Hyundai Staria or Kia Grand Carnival.

One reason this car feels so big.. I deliberately went to a dock with little traffic to photograph it, and.. you can see the road isn’t very wide. One of the most common types of damage Korean drivers cause in accidents.. is breaking the left side mirror. You drive on the opposite side from Korea, and the roads are generally narrower than in Korea too. So inexperienced drivers can drift to the left without realizing it. Then a utility pole takes the side mirror clean off~

There are lots of auto repair shops around Okinawa’s airport. Visit one and you’ll see huge stocks of side mirrors. Especially left ones.
People who’ve been running rental car companies for years.. have reached such a state of Zen that even when a left mirror gets knocked off, they calmly handle the insurance claim.

Just my impression, but if you can drive along Dosan-daero (도산대로) while watching out for the supercars beside you, you can drive this safely.

This is the side view. There are power sliding doors on both sides. Just click the handle, and the door opens automatically. Of course, the driver can control them all with the key.

Here’s the front seating area. It’s spacious and comfortable. The navigation screen shows Japanese TV, but I don’t like watching anything else while driving, so I just kept it off. Of course, when reversing, it serves as the display for the rear camera and 360-degree camera.

The driver’s seat is, of course, power-adjustable with a few clicks of the buttons. The backrest, for example.

Just.. the usual controls you’d find in Korean cars too.
As for the gear selector.. I really like an intuitive one like this. I hate having to move it in all sorts of directions. You can engage the parking brake by pulling the lever.

As for the pedals.. cars of a certain class have two.
Ordinary cars have a foot-operated parking brake on the far left, but the Alphard replaces it with a button-style lever. Of course, the middle pedal is the brake, and the one on the right is the accelerator.

It’s an Aosora Rent-a-Car vehicle.. so of course it has both front- and rear-facing dashcams.
This company really does seem a little obsessed with dashcams -_-;;

The front passenger seat is spacious and comfortable too. But I feel there’s a bit less storage than you’d expect from a car this size. A USB charging adapter is already plugged in.

Here are the rear seats, the main attraction today.
First off.. they look like airline business-class seats. Two people get a space that could seat 3, so naturally it’s comfortable.

Sit down and open the panel on your right, and you can adjust all sorts of things. A few taps of the buttons and the seat does the rest.

You can raise the leg rest too. Airline business and first class have these as well, and I think it’s definitely a nice feature.

Uh.. not first class, business class. In first class, the leg rest comes all the way up to a 90-degree angle. So let’s call this business class.
Anyway.. I think even this would be useful on photo shoots with tired VIPs. They need to put on face masks while traveling, and some arrive in the early hours straight from work and head out, so they need a little shut-eye. I’ve flown business class a lot, and it really is easy to fall asleep.
Or it would be useful if you have an older person traveling with you.

They have baby car seats and rent out strollers too. One car seat is free, by the way. Each additional one costs 1,100 yen.
Rather than using hooks, you secure it with the seat belt. I find this easier than going around behind the seat to attach hooks.

The back row seats 2, so it’s nice and roomy too. Hair and makeup artists and stylists usually sit here. Am I focusing a bit too much on talent agencies? The seats in the back row are adjusted manually.

Here’s a sunroof, an option I’d never choose if I bought a car. Well.. I photographed it because it was there. I don’t like sunroofs. You have to keep reapplying sunscreen.

A VIP might need to get some work done, right? They might need to connect a laptop and work. Everything you need for that is provided. The audio system is JBL. That’s another thing.. a brand popular with younger people, rather than the age group likely to buy or rent this car.

Cup holders, the hallmark of Japanese cars!
It wouldn’t be a Japanese car without them. I love these.

First off, it has a power tailgate. You can open and close it automatically with a button. And even with all 6 seats in use, you can fit quite a lot of luggage. With some luggage Tetris skills, it looks like you could fit 6 28-inch suitcases. Slide the back row forward just a little.. and I think you could head out on a work trip even with a stylist’s garment bags.

To fold a rear seat out of the way, slide it forward or back until it lines up with that arrow, then you can lift it up. Hook the strap above, and one seat is out of the way.

The trunk is so spacious.. it doesn’t really need explaining. Six people could each bring a large suitcase without a problem, and with five people, luggage space is practically something you don’t need to worry about.

With both rear seats folded out of the way.. even a huge shopping spree should be no problem.

They also asked me to show you the stroller they rent out for 1,100 yen, so here’s a photo. That’s 1,100 yen for the entire trip, rather than 1,100 yen per day.

It’s a good rental car for a group of 5 to 6, or when traveling with someone with limited mobility or a VIP. When I used it, it cost 13,000 yen per day, with rates varying on weekends and during Golden Week.
Basic insurance is 1,000 yen, or 1,650 yen in total including NOC insurance for loss of use, bringing the daily rental total to 14,650 yen.
I think it’s a much more practical choice than renting two small cars.

With its 2500cc engine, it accelerates smoothly when you press the pedal. It has lots of features, making it fun to drive too.
I wonder if it might be the ultimate family travel car.
I’ll be back with more Okinawa travel tips. Mata yasai