Topic: Day-by-Day Review: 2013 Toyota Sienna SE; Day 1

[Autos_Editor]

As these things go, the Sienna minivan looks pretty cool, and James will put it through its paces to see if the sport suspension lives up to its billing.
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[mixmanmash]

This has to be the best looking minivan on the market.  It use to be the Odyssey (mostly the 1999-2004 model), but now it looks bulky and unbalanced.

[Snowman]

This has to be the best looking minivan on the market.  It use to be the Odyssey (mostly the 1999-2004 model), but now it looks bulky and unbalanced.

Agreed, and the Nissan Quest by far is the ugliest.... IMO

[Blueprint]

Basically the van I wanted, but I could not justify to spend 5k$ more for the Sienna SE vs the Ody EX to get this looker.  As a guy with many kids living in a suburb where the 3-kid family is the norm, there are a lot of minivans around, and the stylish SE seems to be the best-selling Sienna trim.  Look out for curbs, though - that nose is pretty low.

I digress on the styling of the current Odyssey. I think it looks great, esp. in black, while the 2005-2011 was bloated (yes, I owned the sharply-styled 1999-2004 for 9.5 years, and most Honda owners resent the generations that follows theirs). Then again, I love the R-Class, so that may only be me.

Wing, try to resist the usual minivan stigma/malaise/sarcasm ... car guys with kids must often do with one car, and I give kudos to Toyota for offering this.

[nlm]

I agree on the looks; if I had to get a minivan this would be it on looks alone (unless awd is still available?) .

The Sienna's have always sat low; if you are thinking about a hitch mounted bike rack for example there is a good chance your bike wheels will rub the pavement on driveway inclines/declines and going over speed bumps.

[Ex-airbalancer]

On the last model, there was a large hump where you left leg would sit, I hated that
Is it still there?

[Frontier1]

The exterior of any minivan dont do anything for me, the interior is where it's at and the Quest wins hands down, the Sienna interior screams cheap and chintsy IMO.  Bottom line, no way I would put out big money for such a vehicle, Caravan wins my vote.

[Blueprint]

I agree on the looks; if I had to get a minivan this would be it on looks alone (unless awd is still available?) .

The Sienna's have always sat low; if you are thinking about a hitch mounted bike rack for example there is a good chance your bike wheels will rub the pavement on driveway inclines/declines and going over speed bumps.

Awd is still available, but not on the SE.  As for the bikes, in a minivan, you put them inside - never needed a rack or cargo box in 10 years of minivan ownership.

I know it's only Day 1, but for once I may have reached Wing-levels of frugalness with the Odyssey. I had to drive Montreal-Ottawa-Gatineau and back in last Sunday's nasty blizzard (just avoided the 417 closures). 50-80km/h going, 70-100km/h return, 315 km on cheap Ontario gas fill-up, strong winds and often driving on ice and slush, 8.6 l/100km displayed. Thanks ECO mode 

[Blueprint]

The exterior of any minivan dont do anything for me, the interior is where it's at and the Quest wins hands down, the Sienna interior screams cheap and chintsy IMO.  Bottom line, no way I would put out big money for such a vehicle, Caravan wins my vote.

The Mrs hated the Quest's looks, and while its interior looks good, the dash is too high for a petite dw, and the fixed seats void the minivan advantage. It did not even warrant a test-drive.

With the Sienna, the SE's interior looks good, but the LE's, at our price level, did scream "cheap!" - few cubbies (where do you put CDs?), big plastic hinges in the trunk, etc. No test-drive either.

My wife insisted on power sliders, and getting that on a GC reduced the price advantage. Friends of ours have replaced a Montana with a newer GC with the Pentastar, and it's a gas pig in town.

[Frontier1]

The exterior of any minivan dont do anything for me, the interior is where it's at and the Quest wins hands down, the Sienna interior screams cheap and chintsy IMO.  Bottom line, no way I would put out big money for such a vehicle, Caravan wins my vote.

The Mrs hated the Quest's looks, and while its interior looks good, the dash is too high for a petite dw, and the fixed seats void the minivan advantage. It did not even warrant a test-drive.

With the Sienna, the SE's interior looks good, but the LE's, at our price level, did scream "cheap!" - few cubbies (where do you put CDs?), big plastic hinges in the trunk, etc. No test-drive either.

My wife insisted on power sliders, and getting that on a GC reduced the price advantage. Friends of ours have replaced a Montana with a newer GC with the Pentastar, and it's a gas pig in town.

The Odyssey is very good, the only thing for me is that check behind the sliding door, they could have ommitted that and it would be the best looking period.

[Blueprint]

The exterior of any minivan dont do anything for me, the interior is where it's at and the Quest wins hands down, the Sienna interior screams cheap and chintsy IMO.  Bottom line, no way I would put out big money for such a vehicle, Caravan wins my vote.

The Mrs hated the Quest's looks, and while its interior looks good, the dash is too high for a petite dw, and the fixed seats void the minivan advantage. It did not even warrant a test-drive.

With the Sienna, the SE's interior looks good, but the LE's, at our price level, did scream "cheap!" - few cubbies (where do you put CDs?), big plastic hinges in the trunk, etc. No test-drive either.

My wife insisted on power sliders, and getting that on a GC reduced the price advantage. Friends of ours have replaced a Montana with a newer GC with the Pentastar, and it's a gas pig in town.

The Odyssey is very good, the only thing for me is that check behind the sliding door, they could have ommitted that and it would be the best looking period.

One of the reasons the new Ody looks better in black. The "check" works better from inside.

[Rupert]

   Nice interior and I like the speedo arrangement...but...no 'stow and go', no tow package the last time I looked, no Nivomats. My Caravan has a 3.8 engine which has proven to be fine, but the latest Pentastar has 285HP and best ten engine rating.  I prefer the Caravan shift lever...straight up and down with side shifting for autostick. The Caravan has 3600LB tow rating with tow package.
   This has an extra seat and more cushion comfort no doubt, which will be important for many people, but overall the 'stow and go' Caravan is pretty darned good IMO. This is a nice looking van though and no doubt has the Toyota reliability and residual value. However if you take a piece of paper and cover the nose back to the front of the front wheels...what you have left is a van that resembles another van. Not much that you can do without spoiling it.
   The old 50s era three box large family car has been replaced by vans in my opinion, but the van is much more versatile and infinitely better at usage of space, is lighter and drives better and is much lighter on gas.

[Frontier1]

The exterior of any minivan dont do anything for me, the interior is where it's at and the Quest wins hands down, the Sienna interior screams cheap and chintsy IMO.  Bottom line, no way I would put out big money for such a vehicle, Caravan wins my vote.

The Mrs hated the Quest's looks, and while its interior looks good, the dash is too high for a petite dw, and the fixed seats void the minivan advantage. It did not even warrant a test-drive.

With the Sienna, the SE's interior looks good, but the LE's, at our price level, did scream "cheap!" - few cubbies (where do you put CDs?), big plastic hinges in the trunk, etc. No test-drive either.

My wife insisted on power sliders, and getting that on a GC reduced the price advantage. Friends of ours have replaced a Montana with a newer GC with the Pentastar, and it's a gas pig in town.

The Odyssey is very good, the only thing for me is that check behind the sliding door, they could have ommitted that and it would be the best looking period.

One of the reasons the new Ody looks better in black. The "check" works better from inside.

The "check" works better from inside.

Could you explain that?

[Fobroader]

SE.....ooohhhh, when are we gonna start seeing Calabogie lap times with this bad boy??  As far as minivans go, not bad looking.

[tooscoops]

i don't mind the looks of it, but my personal preference is that i'm not a huge fan of the dash layout... i think my eyes just tend to like an attempt at symmetry. no van is a thing of beauty, so i'm sure that's not the most important thing in that market... its like picking out the tallest midget.

price wise, obviously the gc is cheapest. and i did say cheapest for a reason. they have to do certain things to make it the least expensive, and depending on your uses, it can feel cheap. just for curiosity i priced out this van and a crew plus gc with leather and such so apparently one step up of an se sienna...

first off, the sienna had about 2000 of "taxes, fees, freight and delivery" on top of the 37205 that i couldn't figure out... so the price actually seems to be just over 39k. and a crew plus came to 32k at msrp subtract rebates.

seems about right. worth shopping the two together, but i don't think the cost buyer will spend the extra 7 grand thinking its 'close enough' and i don't think the overall quality buyer will be swayed by anything under a ten grand savings.

the fact that they still offer the AWD is a huge advantage i feel for toyota... not sure how many they sell of them, but just nice to offer it.

[Solstice2006]

   Nice interior and I like the speedo arrangement...but...no 'stow and go', no tow package the last time I looked, no Nivomats. My Caravan has a 3.8 engine which has proven to be fine, but the latest Pentastar has 285HP and best ten engine rating.  I prefer the Caravan shift lever...straight up and down with side shifting for autostick. The Caravan has 3600LB tow rating with tow package.
   This has an extra seat and more cushion comfort no doubt, which will be important for many people, but overall the 'stow and go' Caravan is pretty darned good IMO. This is a nice looking van though and no doubt has the Toyota reliability and residual value. However if you take a piece of paper and cover the nose back to the front of the front wheels...what you have left is a van that resembles another van. Not much that you can do without spoiling it.
   The old 50s era three box large family car has been replaced by vans in my opinion, but the van is much more versatile and infinitely better at usage of space, is lighter and drives better and is much lighter on gas.

   I would only own a van if I had 3 children.  These big vans get more hp, and I find their highway fuel efficiency improving over the years, but in real world city driving.  Hitting all the stop lights, and stop signs, you get like 12 tot 13L/100km. 

Since I don't expect to have 3 kids or more, a much smaller van worked for me. And never see the double digits in the city. 

Also, the comment from another person, about the bikes in the back?  Some people actually use the 3rd row so that won't work, and don't like dirt from the bikes to go on the carpet.  Bike carriers are great, especially the ones that go on a trailer ball.

[Fobroader]

   Nice interior and I like the speedo arrangement...but...no 'stow and go', no tow package the last time I looked, no Nivomats. My Caravan has a 3.8 engine which has proven to be fine, but the latest Pentastar has 285HP and best ten engine rating.  I prefer the Caravan shift lever...straight up and down with side shifting for autostick. The Caravan has 3600LB tow rating with tow package.
   This has an extra seat and more cushion comfort no doubt, which will be important for many people, but overall the 'stow and go' Caravan is pretty darned good IMO. This is a nice looking van though and no doubt has the Toyota reliability and residual value. However if you take a piece of paper and cover the nose back to the front of the front wheels...what you have left is a van that resembles another van. Not much that you can do without spoiling it.
   The old 50s era three box large family car has been replaced by vans in my opinion, but the van is much more versatile and infinitely better at usage of space, is lighter and drives better and is much lighter on gas.

   I would only own a van if I had 3 children.  These big vans get more hp, and I find their highway fuel efficiency improving over the years, but in real world city driving.  Hitting all the stop lights, and stop signs, you get like 12 tot 13L/100km. 

Since I don't expect to have 3 kids or more, a much smaller van worked for me. And never see the double digits in the city. 

Also, the comment from another person, about the bikes in the back?  Some people actually use the 3rd row so that won't work, and don't like dirt from the bikes to go on the carpet.  Bike carriers are great, especially the ones that go on a trailer ball.

Why anyone would bother with any other types baffles me, easiest one to get bikes on and off, secure and easy to detach. I still shake my head at people who heave a great big mountain bike on top of a van or SUV...that doesnt look good for your back.

[wing]

Co-worker bought the Odyssey over the GC for a few reasons.  He felt the GC felt cheap when driving it compared to the Ody.  But the biggest factor was the fuel difference.  Just the math based on the EPA in the US, had the Ody coming out on top after 4 years despite the difference in up front costs between the two.

[SaskSpecV]

Co-worker bought the Odyssey over the GC for a few reasons.  He felt the GC felt cheap when driving it compared to the Ody.  But the biggest factor was the fuel difference.  Just the math based on the EPA in the US, had the Ody coming out on top after 4 years despite the difference in up front costs between the two.

Must be doing a lot of driving in that case - I didn't think the difference in mileage was that pronounced (enough to overcome an 8 or 10K difference in purchase price so quickly).  Though (anecdotally, at least) the Pentastar seems to be having trouble hitting its advertised mileage figures, regardless of vehicle (200/300/Caravan/Journey/Grand Cherokee) - wonder how it will do in the Ram.

I really like this Sienna's looks (though many a minivan buyer will be shocked when it comes time to replace 19" rubber!), and it seems like a very solid offering.  I guess we already know the answer to Wing's "will the curling broom fit" test...

[wing]

I think the difference in trims for what he wanted was more like $5k

Yes curling broom fits, no problem.  Fit no problem in the Sentra as well!