The minivan is now sexy, hip and cool..or so the manufacturers would have you believe.
And it all started with a new advertising campaign by Toyota for the Sienna. Instead of screaming kids and exploding tube yogurts, the new minivan is now all about rapping parents and their posse of cool kids in their “swagger wagon.”
Click HERE to read Sara;s recent road trip review of the new Sienna.
So does the new Sienna really live up to the cool rock style “swagger wagon” rep?
To be blunt…no.
It’s still a front drive minivan with seating for an entire Cub Scout troop. However Toyota, like the rest of the industry, has gone and made the minivan much more burly and manly.
OK, perhaps manly is the wrong word, but all of the car makers are working hard to make the minivan more man friendly.
It all starts with the look and styling of the new generation of minivans. Both Toyota and Honda seem to have been inspired by the F1 aerodynamics (Toyota claims a low 0.31 coefficient of drag) when penning their new generations of kid haulers.
The Sienna is especially sporty with a chiseled jaw that suggest it could be lowered to hug the ground and even raced on the weekend.
And the sporty changes go beyond just the skin and deep into the bones of the Sienna. The suspension set up provides lively feedback while the steering can be flicked to almost throw the car around an especially fun corner of the nearest highway on ramp.
With a lively and direct six speed automatic suspension, and of course a powerful 3.5 L engine that produces 266 hp and 245 lb-ft of torque the Sienna no wall flower when it comes times to dance with that Honda Odyssey at the red light.
BTW: The base engine is a 187-hp, 2.7-liter four-cylinder that comes also with a six-speed automatic that gets 19 mpg in the city and 26 mpg on the highway. My test car was the SE trim level and had bigger engine, which is available in every trim level (standard on SE, XLE, and Limited) and gets 18 and 24 mpg, respectively…according to the EPA.
Also please keep in mind that that while my tester came with front wheel drive the Sienna can also be had in a much more cold-weather-friendly all wheel drive set-up.
Inside, of course, you have all of the stuff that you’d except in a minivan including enough cup holders (that if occupied by beer cans) would get the party hardy college frat drunk. In case you are curious that would be a total of 12 cup-holders on eight-passenger model and 10 on seven-passenger model of the Sienna.
There’s a clever set-up that can be had where the second row seats turn into recliners with a really comfy footrest for the lucky passengers who picks row two for the journey. The uber wide second row TV screen can show two programs at once for those kids or passengers who can’t seem to agree on what to watch. And of course there’s plenty of room for groceries or baggage in the back of the Sienna with the third row of seats up, and enough room to land a small navy jet with the third row seats folded down.
Unfortunately the second row seats don’t “stow and go” into the floor like the ones in the Chrysler Town and Country.
On the plus side the Sienna is perhaps the most open and airy vehicle I’ve driven over the last year. I just love the fact that I feel like I could practice ballet in in the Sienna and still have enough room to carry the family dog to the vet without fear of kicking her during an especial pirouette.
What I don’t love about the Sienna are the vast swaths of plastic and the ginormous controls that seemed to be designed for the jolly Green Giant’s hands. Yes, I get the fact that I can change the radio station in work gloves but who really wears work gloves in a minivan?
I also wasn’t impressed by how long it took to heat up the Sienna on a cold winter’s morning. There’s just so much open space in the Sienna that it takes forever to get it warm inside. It would probably help a lot to have a load of flatulent rug rats and pets to ferry to the park to toast up the inside in a hurry.
And speaking of flatulent kids and pets we’re back to that “uncool” minivan image that Toyota and the rest of the car manufacturers are trying the re-brand.
Here’s the problem in a nutshell, while the minivan may ultimately be the most useful car design ever conceived, it’s ultimately utilitarian which means that no matter how you sex it up in ads, you’ll always end up with exploding tube yogurts and frazzled soccer moms and dads on their way to Juniors swim meet with the rest of the swim team in tow.
Perhaps instead of a massive TV screen Toyota should install a taxi like partition separating the Sienna into a his/hers areas in the front and of course junior the rest of the local neighborhood rat pack in the back.
Oh yea, and while you’re at it Toyota could you also please install those crazy high tech messaging seats with the “wave” function from the latest Audi A8 I tested a few weeks ago. Now that might not be manly, but it would sure be wonderful!
Price as tested: $33,518.00
On the TFLcar recommendation scale of:
– Buy it
– Lease it
– Rent it or
– Forget it
I give the Toyota Sienna a:
Roman Mica is a columnist, journalist, and author, who spent his early years driving fast on the German autobahn. When he’s not reviewing cars for the active set, you can find him training for triathlons and writing about endurance sports for EverymanTri.com. Mica is a former broadcast reporter with his Masters Degree in journalism from Northwestern University.
If you like the Sienna you may also like the Dodge Grand Caravan. Check out our First Look video below:
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