The Toyota Sienna Is A Luxurious Transformer Built For Eight
is the humble minivan still the king of ROAD TRIPS? We went to the beach to find out.
Shift Score
Speed
The Sienna has a surprising amount of pep even though it was never intended to be a fast car. The Sienna can easily merge onto highways even while fully loaded.
Handling
Minivans were never known for their handling and the Sienna is no exception. The Sienna feels extremely heavy during cornering but the trade off is an exceptionally comfortable ride.
Interior
The Sienna is a luxurious living room on wheels. The leather trimmed seats look fit for a Lexus.
Feeling
You won’t find pure driving pleasure behind the wheel of a Sienna. Instead, you will feel capable of taking on any journey with a large group of people.
Tech
To cater to a connected society, the Sienna offers enough USB ports and 110v outlets to charge everyone’s phone. Couple that with a large screen and amazing sound system and you can entertain every passenger.
A minivan is not merely a car purchase; it’s a lifestyle shift. Minivans are spaces to raise families and as someone who grew up in a minivan and then learned to drive that same car, they hold a special place in my heart. For over 20 years the Toyota Sienna proved to be the best way to transport large groups of people and that still holds true today. This spacious and comfortable minivan is packed with all the technology needed to entertain almost any modern family. Although it’s not a fast car, the Toyota Sienna was easily able to maintain highway speeds, even while full of passengers and their luggage.
In an effort to reconnect with my driving roots, I decided to round up my old college roommates and drive the new Sienna to Ocean City Maryland for a beach weekend. My friends were needy and demanding on this road trip so even though they aren’t children, they were still the perfect test subject for a minivan. I figured that if the car could handle this ride, it could handle anything.
The van was packed with everything a male in his mid-twenties needs for a vacation. The spacious trunk was crammed with coolers full of beer, beach chairs and enough food to feed six men for a long weekend. The automatic tailgate proved to be very helpful while carrying larger items to the car. I also appreciated that the tailgate functions like a manual one.
The leather seats can be adjusted perfectly to accommodate six adults. Gaining entrance to the third row seats was a breeze thanks to the center aisle. Even the folding or adjusting of the chairs was easy and required no explanation.
As my technologically needy friends began to plug into the copious amounts of USB ports (available for every passenger) we fired up the Blue Ray player. The large screen for the rear passengers was easily their favorite feature. There they sat in comfortable leather seats watching Jurassic Park on a sound system fit for a movie theater, while the tri-zone temperature control kept the cabin at a cool 70 degrees.
During this time, I set about the task of driving. The Sienna is scary quiet at highway speeds. There’s hardly any wind noise and the engine is silent except during harder acceleration. If you don’t keep an eye on the speedometer you can reach some shocking speeds by complete accident.
Even while the van was laden with over 1,000 pounds of people and gear it was still able to move at a respectable pace and return an impressive 25 miles per gallon. I could easily merge onto the highway and never once felt like the van was unable to handle the extra weight.
The Siena provides the driver and front passenger the power to control every aspect of the car. You control the weather, the TV stations and which doors open and close. To wield all that power, Toyota added clever rear view mirror targeted at passengers. The center touch screen offers a vibrant color display with a navigation system that has traffic alerts. On our long trip, we found these alerts very helpful even though it did interrupt the movie. Along with the GPS, the Siena has a backup camera and Bluetooth capabilities, which can only be paired while the car is in park. On a car this large, I was hoping for parking sensors since the rear end is a Zip code away.
As we arrived at our vacation spot in OCMD, we were refreshed and ready for a long weekend. Even after driving the car for hours through traffic, highways, and multiple bathroom stops, I felt relaxed. The Toyota Sienna gives you a sense of limitless drive anywhere power. It’s a car that welcomes long trips with a large group of friends or family.
Today the minivan faces a much different world than my family’s old Sienna. The minivan had to become larger, more luxurious, and pack in technology to cater to ever demanding families. Couple that with the threat of rising SUV sales, the Toyota Sienna had to adapt to an ever-changing modern family. Much like a Porsche 911 GT3 RS, the Toyota Sienna is a specialized tool. Its mission to carry many people in comfort and luxury and it succeeds. Minivan may be a dirty word to some but they probably haven’t experienced the Sienna.
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