The curious story of Toyota HiMedic, the ambulance with a 4.0 liter V8 engine

When it comes to ambulances, we all know that there every second counts for saving lives, but still, we don't often hear about ambulances with ultra-performance engines, which can accelerate quickly, although maybe they are needed there more than on supercars. But there was a time in history when Toyota produced an ambulance with a 4.0-liter V8 engine, the same famous V8 with the code name 1UZ-FE, which was also installed in the Lexus LS400, for example!

Toyota produced its first ambulance back in 1956, based on a Crown van, and for a long time the Crown family served as the basis for ambulances. But in 1991 in Japan, a paramedic law came into force, which stipulated much more broadly and precisely their mission and created a new branch, ambulances, which had to be equipped with the necessary not only to quickly transport the patient to the hospital, but also to be able to resuscitate him on the way and place him in intensive care.

And as Toyota had launched the first generation Hiace, and Lexus was a newly launched brand with a V8 engine that was loved from the first moment, the people at Toyota thought of the ambitious idea of ​​creating a V8 ambulance, equipped with advanced medical equipment and technologies that make it unique and qualify it as an advanced level ambulance according to the new law. The creation was first presented as a prototype in 1992 and also in 1992 came the series version, which obtained the desired certification from the health authorities.

The new ambulance also received a unique name — Toyota HiMedic. Toyota said then that it gave this name to make other drivers in the traffic understand that there are high medical technologies on board and to have a more special attitude towards it. The ambulance was indeed equipped with everything necessary to resuscitate and maintain the patient's life, from oxygen tanks and defibrillators to computers for monitoring vital parameters.

Besides the medical equipment, the car itself was fascinating. She had received the naturally aspirated 4.0-liter V8 engine, which developed 220 hp and easily powered the ambulance. The body had been widened, and its length was based on the extra-long version of the Hiace, measuring 5,345 mm. The ambulance also had a much higher ceiling, measuring a total of 2,490 mm in height, so that the doctors could stand up inside.

This height dictated a high center of gravity, which in tandem with a powerful V8 engine could tempt drivers to take turns very quickly, causing excessive roll. That's exactly why Toyota engineers equipped the ambulance back in 1992 with adaptive suspension Toyota Electronic Modulated Suspension, which analyzes the required force and always compensates the reactions with the correct stiffness. The suspension also offered two implicit stiffness regimes, normal and sport, and thus the ambulance became more immune to turns taken at speed.

The ambulance had a 4-speed automatic gearbox, as well as air conditioning on board in two separate sections, including for the patient compartment. In 1994, a 4x4 version of the Toyota HiMedic appeared, which had permanent all-wheel drive and the same V8 engine. Also in the same year, the dashboards became digital on this ambulance.

In 1997 the ambulance went through a facelift with the Hiace and a few other small improvements and was produced like this until 2006. In 1998 Toyota announced the 1,000th HiMedic ambulance produced. In 2004 the 3,000th ambulance had been produced, and the figure of 4,000 was already marked by another generation, launched in 2006. That new ambulance, however, no longer had a V8 engine and was designed to be more cheap and more practical. And, by the way, the Toyota HiMedic still exists in Japan today, also based on the HiAce, but the engine is not a V8, of course.

So the Toyota HiMedic with a 4.0-liter V8 engine was a phenomenon that lasted a little over a decade between 1992 and 2006, and was better known in Japan without this incredible ambulance being known about too many in the rest of the world. But even in Japan it could only be bought by medical and state institutions, so such cars never ended up in the hands of a private owner until after they were retired from medical jobs. These ambulances, however, performed flawlessly with that legendary V8 engine under the hood and we can all be sure that the drivers who were lucky enough to drive them were delighted with their work!