Toyota Sienna Still Great

Minivans are awesome, just ask your dad. They haul people and their stuff, and for people my age, they hold decades of road trip memories. The Toyota Sienna has been a mainstay in the minivan community since 1997, but even in its old age, it’s still a solid choice for a large family.

In this case, I spent a week with a Toyota Sienna Limited—the most luxurious option in this group. The base Sienna LE starts at $39,080, while this one came in at $55,955 as tested with a few extra options. For the price, the Sienna beats most comparable three-row SUVs.

The Toyota Sienna is hybrid-only, as it has been since 2021. Under the hood is Toyota’s 2.5-liter four-cylinder hybrid engine, which is found in everything from the Camry to the RAV4. It produces 245 horsepower and 176 pound-feet of torque. The Sienna isn’t fast. But there’s enough electric torque up front to get you going, and the four-cylinder’s power is enough to keep you going. If you push the accelerator pedal more than halfway, though, the engine will sound strained.

Fortunately, the Sienna Hybrid isn’t just for racing between stoplights. The hybrid configuration gets 35 miles per gallon in the city, 36 miles on the highway, and 35 miles per gallon combined in this all-wheel-drive model. Front-wheel drive is even better at 36 combined miles. While driving from one Florida coast to the other (and back), I didn’t stop for gas once. The Sienna Hybrid will go 630 miles on a full tank—quite impressive for a vehicle of its size.

Pros: Efficient, Lots of Space, Fun to Drive

Cramming seven people and a cooler into the Sienna is also fairly easy. Unlike some so-called “three-row” SUVs with barely usable back rows, the Sienna will fit three adults comfortably. There’s 37.4 inches of headroom in the third row and 38.7 inches of legroom. Even Toyota’s largest SUV, the Grand Highlander, doesn’t have that much room; it only has 37.2 inches of headroom and 33.5 inches of legroom by comparison.

Even with the third row up, the Sienna still has 33.5 cubic feet of trunk space compared to the Grand Highlander’s 20.6 cubic feet. That number balloons to 75.2 cubic feet with the third row folded flat and 101.0 cubic feet with each row folded flat. Again, the Grand Highlander only manages 57.9 and 97.5 cubic feet.

Jeff Perez/Motor1

Jeff Perez/Motor1

The “Limited” badge means luxury in Toyota speak, and the Sienna has plenty of it. Every row of seats is decked out in plush leather. The front seats are heated and ventilated, while the second row is heated and features a full-length leg rest. Assuming there's no one in the third row, you can slide those captain's chairs all the way back, kick up the leg rests, and recline about three-quarters of the way.

The Sienna is arguably more pleasant to drive than its SUV sibling. It won’t take you anywhere off the beaten path with just 6.3 inches of ground clearance (or 6.9 inches in the rugged Woodland trim), but that translates to better handling and better on-road manners than many SUVs. The steering is responsive, the chassis is balanced, and there’s far less body roll.

Cons: Looks like a minivan, technology is outdated,

The Sienna’s only real downfall is its technology. Its infotainment system is outdated compared to the newer systems Toyota has in many of its vehicles. The screen is slow and slow to respond, the graphics are outdated, and the home screen is cluttered with too many options. And the 9.0-inch touchscreen is pretty poor by modern standards.

The Sienna at least has a fold-down screen that mounts to the ceiling like the iconic minivan so the kids (or grown men) can watch movies on long drives. The screen is accompanied by a full-size 120-volt outlet and an HDMI port. There are also about a half-dozen outlets throughout the Sienna for your devices.

It may not look like much, but the Toyota Sienna has everything you need and more. So if your family is looking for something spacious, luxurious, and well-equipped, don’t choose the Grand Highlander before you try the Sienna.

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Jeff Perez/Motor1