Recommended for a family of five: Toyota Raize
👋 Haisai! I’m CULT.
Today, I’m reviewing a rental car in Okinawa. It’s a compact SUV called the Toyota Raize. Typically, when you think of rental cars in Okinawa, even if it’s a five-seater, it often can’t accommodate all the luggage for five people. However, with the Raize, even if five adults come along, as long as you’re good at packing like Tetris, there’s plenty of luggage space, so it’s less of a worry. With a 998cc engine and an official fuel efficiency of 21km/l, it’s more than sufficient for travelling around Okinawa without any hassle. Consider giving it a thought.
🚙 Okinawa Car Rental: The Look of the Toyota Raize
🇰🇷 Operated by a Korean owner, we can communicate in 🇯🇵 Japanese and 🇬🇧 English, and use a translator for 🇹🇼 Taiwanese and 🇨🇳 Chinese.
🛬 We offer a pickup service from Okinawa Naha Airport, and after handing over the vehicle at our office, you can return it and we will provide a 🛫 drop-off service back to the airport. Additionally, baby seats, child seats, and strollers are available for rent. Please visit the website at the bottom of the text for more details.
This is a side view of the Toyota Raize. The photo was taken at Umikaji Terrace on Senaga Island.
When you travel to Okinawa, this might be the kind of scene you encounter. This Raize blends beautifully with the emerald sea and blue sky, so I think the car’s colour should be named Okinawa Blue 🥰
- Related post: Senaga Island Umikaji Terrace
As I had already been driving the car for a few days, it was a bit dirty, so I decided to give it a quick wash. I was taking some photos for a review, and after snapping a few shots, I noticed some stains on the car, which prompted this impromptu visit to the car wash. Now it’s finally sparkling, and I’m pleased with it.
🔍 Exploring the Interior of the Vehicle
Let’s take a look inside the vehicle. This is the front seat, and an interesting feature is that the navigation system is slightly tilted towards the driver. This is a function to make it easier to view, and the navigation system supports multiple languages. Additionally, it supports Google Auto and Apple CarPlay, making it easy to navigate using Google Maps. I have never arrived on time relying on the navigation systems of Japanese cars, so I always connect CarPlay and drive using Google Maps.
This is the view from the passenger and driver’s seats. There aren’t any particularly unique features compared to a typical vehicle, but there’s nothing uncomfortable either. Plus, there’s a key point for enjoying Okinawa’s hot sun.
It’s a cup holder for drinks.
When travelling under the hot Okinawan sun, having air conditioning is great, but it’s also nice to have a refreshing drink at hand. Of course, this vehicle has excellent air conditioning. The issue is… as you travel along Route 58, you’ll often find yourself getting in and out of the car to admire beautiful beaches or stunning scenery, right? Then the car heats up…
That’s when this becomes essential. For me, when renting a car at a travel destination, the presence of a cup holder is an important criterion.
The rear camera is, of course, supported as standard, and with the 360-degree around-view camera, parking becomes a breeze. If you’re Korean and have driven a Hyundai Avante or Kia Sportage, you’ll find parking very easy. For those coming from the US, where cars tend to be larger, the Toyota Raize might feel quite small. If you’re from Europe, its size is similar to the Volkswagen T-CROSS.
The gear stick has parking at the top and drive at the bottom.
Some Japanese vehicles have other functions below drive, which can be inconvenient as you have to visually check each time you drive. However, with the Toyota Raize, you can easily switch modes and drive comfortably 😊
It supports charging with a customised cigarette lighter socket and two USB A ports. In terms of charging speed, with an iPhone 16 Pro, if you drive for about an hour with Google Maps on, it charges approximately 5%. If you have Apple CarPlay on and the screen off, it charges about 30% in an hour. The charging output isn’t particularly strong.
Additionally, a dash camera is installed, and it comes with a memory card already inserted. Please do not take the memory card 🙅
The foot pedals are a two-point system. The centre is the brake and the right is the accelerator. The side brake is a left-hand handbrake type. The reason I’m explaining this is because there are quite a few people who press the accelerator while the side brake is engaged 😮💨
The information panel visible to the driver is in digital format. Despite being digital, you can still check the RPM and the current gear.
This is what the back seat looks like. It can accommodate three people, and the seat on the far right can be folded forward, allowing you to secure more trunk space for additional luggage.
🧳 Boot Storage Space
Now, let’s take a look at the trunk space.
Unlike other rental cars in Okinawa with lower chassis, the Toyota Raize offers a relatively large loading capacity. Although it’s a five-seater, many vehicles can’t accommodate one suitcase per person, but the Toyota Raize can. It can fit 24-inch suitcases, and depending on the situation, it can also accommodate two 28-inch suitcases along with several cabin-sized ones.
An interesting point is that since spare tyres are not provided separately, you can fit more luggage in that space.
Travellers from the US or Europe might be a bit surprised by the absence of a spare tyre, but with the level of experience you might have from changing a spare tyre during your driving test, it would likely be quicker for a car service centre employee to come and change the tyre on-site than for you to do it yourself.
This is why most rental cars in Okinawa do not have spare tyres.
I tried loading the luggage.
The 28-inch Rimowa suitcase fits into the spare tyre space at the very bottom. It’s the largest suitcase, and visually, you can stack three of them and still fit about two smaller suitcases behind. Travellers from Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and China usually don’t bring large suitcases, so this space is sufficient. However, the problem arises with travellers from the US or Europe, as their suitcases are often very large. If five people are travelling, you’ll need to think carefully. If each person has two suitcases, you won’t be able to fit everything.
If there are four people, you can recline one of the seats on the right to expand the storage space.
🚘 The Driving Experience
In Okinawa, you’ll mostly find yourself needing to reverse park. Parallel parking is rarely necessary. This makes parking quite easy, and with courteous drivers on the road, you shouldn’t face any inconvenience.
Although it might seem like 998cc lacks power, it doesn’t hinder driving in Okinawa at all, and you can accelerate smoothly without any sluggishness. Most of Route 58 has a speed limit of 60km, and the highway is limited to 100km, so having a vehicle with a larger engine capacity might not be particularly beneficial.
I would like to recommend this to families of five travelling in East Asia. If you have a small suitcase, it should be sufficient for five people, and you can also fit two large suitcases along with four to five small ones. For those with a lot of luggage, I think four people would be able to travel comfortably in Okinawa while making full use of the storage space.
🛢️ Refuelling and Vehicle Return
Most rental cars in Okinawa have a lever to open the fuel cap from the driver’s seat, but this car doesn’t have one. It’s a simple mechanism where you just push the fuel cap to open it. At a staffed petrol station, you can ask them to fill it up with regular (gasoline), and at a self-service station, there’s an English menu available. Just touch the LCD panel to switch to English and follow the instructions to fill up.
For Japanese people, this will be very easy, but Europeans might find it the most challenging. You can refuel and pay directly at the machine without needing to enter the shop. Although cash is an option, you won’t be able to fill up completely, so it’s best to use a card.
And make sure to keep the receipt. It might come in handy in case of any disputes when returning the vehicle. I travelled from Naha city to American Village twice round-trip, and since I visited various places for content research, the fuel cost was a bit high. However, overall, the fuel efficiency was quite decent. If you’re looking for a vehicle with even better fuel efficiency, you should consider booking a hybrid car.
📝 How to Book
You can make a reservation by clicking the button below to proceed to the Aozora Rent-a-Car site. It supports a real-time translation chat function, allowing Korean users to communicate with Japanese staff via real-time translated chat. They are also planning to support English, Taiwanese, and Chinese soon. For more details, please inquire via chat on the site, and you can easily make a reservation through the link below.
10% off the total amount with code: AOSORA_CULT1
That’s all for today’s Okinawa rental car review! I’ll wrap it up here and will be back in a few days with more news on Okinawa rental car reviews. Matayasai 👋
