Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
Haul a load to the dump and another one to the recycling centre. Take some more summer/fall stuff to my storage locker and pick up winter clothes and the family ski gear (if the snow ever comes). Swap the kids loft bed and the foldout sofa underneath for a new bunk bed, plus pick up a new twin mattress. Buy another shoe cabinet and some other furniture from Ikea. Go get the almost-new used stove and overhead fan/microwave from a Craigslist ad and dump the old one off at the dump. Pick up the new bathroom vanity. The list goes on and on, and then this coming weekend it’ll be loaded up with significant other, kids and luggage for a five-hour road trip to visit my brother and his family.
It’s easy to appreciate how the minivan becomes an essential part of some families’
Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
Toyota would like you to choose the Sienna, and for the most part it’s hard to argue against them. The Sienna is good looking, for a van, has plenty of power and handles well, for a van, gets pretty good fuel economy, for a van, can carry as much as eight occupants in comfort along with cargo, is filled with safety features,
Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
What you want and don’t want in a minivan will come down to how you use it, and while to some folks they all might look like the same full-size monobox in a different wrapper, the various minivans currently on the market certainly have very different ways of going about the business of hauling people and cargo. There are vans that prioritize performance and then others that up the luxury ante, while some can optimize utility by folding both rear rows right into the floor. In typical Toyota fashion the Sienna fits nicely in the middle, by offering a good mix of performance, luxury and utility. No, you can’t drop the second-row seats into the floor, but they do flip forward and/or lay their backsides flat. Hauling them out in order to fit a big load of 4×8 building material is doable albeit a challenge, although when fixed in place your second-row passengers won’t complain as
Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
My tester came with a Limited package that can only be added to XLE trim. It includes proximity sensing Smart Key access with pushbutton ignition, Optitron electronic gauges, a woodgrain and leather-wrapped steering wheel, woodgrain trim, premium leather upholstery, power-folding heated auto-dimming exterior mirrors with integrated turn signals, puddle lamps and reverse tilt-down, driver’s side memory, a four-way powered passenger seat, a navigation system, a panorama rearview camera, front and rear clearance sonar, a JBL audio system with a four-disc CD/MP3 changer, a dual-view DVD rear seat entertainment system with wireless headphones, dual sunroofs, automatic headlamps, rain-sensing
Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
The XLE already comes very well equipped with heated leather seats, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, woodgrain enhanced front console trim, powered flip-out rear side windows, a powered sunroof, backup sonar, a powered rear liftgate, the removable second-row captain’s chairs with long-slide adjustment and the comfortable lounge seats that I spoke of before, plus front windshield acoustic glass, blind spot monitoring, anti-theft, fog lamps and 18-inch alloy wheels on 235/55 all-seasons (all-wheel drive vans get run-flat tires so expect them to ride a bit harder).
Of
Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
On top of all the LE and XLE content, a number of the base van’s features carry over into the XLE Limited including auto up/down windows, tilt and telescopic steering, an auxiliary input for the audio system, variable intermittent wipers, heated mirrors, an ECO driving indicator to help you save fuel, a flip-down conversation mirror, cruise control, rear privacy glass, a 60/40 split-folding third-row seat, front and rear splash guards, roof rails, a rear spoiler, a windshield de-icer, rear washer/wiper, and a host of safety features such as a full suite of airbags including one for the driver’s knees, plus active front head restraints, tire pressure monitoring, ABS-enhanced brakes, traction and stability control, and more.
Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
My favourite Sienna is the SE, a sport-tuned model that comes complete with reworked front and rear fascias, a sport mesh grille, smoked headlamps and taillights, a sweet set of 19-inch alloy rims on 235/50 all-season rubber, and other goodies to make it look and go quicker than its more conservative siblings, but that’s not to say my XLE Limited tester was a slouch.
All Siennas get
Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
That weight does allow for a reasonably good 1,585-kilogram tow rating, although I rarely
Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
Overall fuel economy will suffer if you load it up often though, but unladen it’s good for a claimed 11.4 L/100km city and 7.9 in FWD or 12.4 and 8.6 in AWD trim. My FWD tester managed just above 11 in combined city/highway driving, which is very close to the official U.S. EPA rating of 11.2 combined. Fortunately Toyota’s V6 only requires regular gas, so another 10-percent savings can be had.
At
Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
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