Sienna misses nothing good
Toyota’s Sienna has never been a star of the minivan world, usually straggling along in fifth or sixth place well behind import leader Honda’s hot, hot Odyssey.
Things could start changing.
Toyota has just launched a redesigned 2004 Sienna, and the company’s designers and engineers were able to review the impressive competition to make sure their new minivan is missing nothing that is good about the others.
Even in the one area in which the numbers don’t line up -- the Sienna has a 3.3-liter V6 rated at 230 horsepower while the Odyssey boasts a 3.5-liter, 240 horsepower V6 -- the Toyota entry emerges unscathed.
Both engines deliver 242 pounds-feet of torque, a key component of acceleration, towing and load-hauling capabilities, and the Toyota’s comes into play much earlier on the engine’s rpm curve, compensating nicely for the 10 horsepower difference.
On the down side, especially with gasoline prices rising these days, the Sienna requires premium unleaded fuel, while the Odyssey does its job on much-cheaper regular.
The Toyota van, however, gets a California ultra-low-emission vehicle rating, while the Honda is rated only as a low-emission vehicle. Toyota also boasts better fuel economy: 19 miles per gallon in the Environmental Protection Agency’s city driving circuit and 27 mpg on the highway, versus 18 city and 25 highway for the Odyssey.
And until Nissan’s redesigned Quest minivan hits the showrooms this summer with its nearly 250-horsepower V6, a distinctly untraditional shape and what Nissan insiders promise will be some innovative interior touches, the 2004 Sienna is the freshest face on the showroom floor and probably will give Toyota a nice bump up in the minivan standings.
I tested several versions of the ’04 Sienna during a media introduction in Rancho Mirage -- a venue that lets drivers put the van through its paces on the long, flat desert highway, on the resort town’s crowded streets and on nearby Mt. San Jacinto.
It was a pleasure to drive the Sienna in all three places: nimble enough for city driving, stable on twisting mountain roads and with plenty of power for steep uphill climbs or blasting down the freeway.
Instruments are big and easy to see and controls are easy to use. Although the shifter takes a little getting used to -- it’s dash-mounted, hanging off the center stack instead of the steering column or center console -- a minivan doesn’t demand lots of shifting and the location doesn’t pose any problems.
Toyota engineers said they used sound-dampening techniques and materials borrowed from the company’s Lexus luxury division, and I didn’t hear any wind or road noises that would make me disbelieve. The Sienna is quiet even at 80 mph.
Most minivans are purchased for people and cargo capacities, though, not for acceleration or their ability to thread through autocross courses without knocking over the markers.
The bad thing first: The low-end Sienna CE and mid-range LE models have a glossy, black plastic finish on the center stack that houses the audio and climate system controls. For a minivan intended for kid-centered families, that’s just plain silly: The focal point of the interior is going to be covered with fingerprints. I wasn’t all that impressed by the alternative, either -- a wood-grained plastic in the upscale XLE and XLE Limited models. It looks like the faux-forest product it is.
That’s it. No more significant complaints.
Minivans are all about space and utility, and the ’04 Sienna -- 6 inches longer, 4 inches wider and 2 inches taller than its predecessor -- scores well in those departments. Its total cargo area of 148.9 cubic feet is just a smidgen bigger than Odyssey’s 146 cubic feet. But the 43.6 cubic feet behind the third-row seats is a notable 13% larger than the Honda’s 38.1 cubic feet.
With the second-row seats removed and the third row folded flat, the Sienna’s cargo bay swallows 4 by 8 sheets of plywood. There’s lots of storage space, little pockets and cubbies everywhere, including three under the rear cargo floor.
With all the seats up, the Sienna can seat seven or eight, depending on how it is ordered.Even the cheapest CE model handles well and is comfortable as all get out. All but the CE can be ordered as either front-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive models.
With the Sienna, Toyota also beats Honda to the market with an all-wheel-drive option for its minivan by a full year. Toyota expects the pricier models -- AWD adds $2,450 to the top-of-the-line XLE Limited and $3,615 to the mid-range LE -- to account for only about 8% of sales.
In an industry first for the family car segment, AWD Sienna models won’t have a spare tire and will ride on 17-inch Bridgestone “runflat” tires that can travel as many as 100 miles at 55 mph with zero air pressure. The runflats were specified -- and the suspensions specially tuned to soften their otherwise stiff ride -- because the drive shaft added to turn the rear wheels bisects the spare-tire storage area. A lightweight spare can be ordered as an extra for AWD models by those who don’t trust the runflats, but it stows where one of the third-row seats would go and eats up a big chunk of cargo area.
When he landed the job of heading the Sienna project in 2002, chief engineer Yuji Yokoya told his bosses that he wanted to let the road tell him how to make the best possible minivan. So over the next year Yokoya logged 53,000 miles of driving in 49 states, Canada and Mexico.
He drove the then-current Siennas as well as most of the competitors and was accompanied by Toyota engineers, marketing specialists and designers. Their trips resulted in a notebook full of ideas for improvements.
“Crossing the Mississippi on a narrow bridge between Tennessee and Arkansas,” he said, “I made a note to improve Sienna’s wind resistance. On the gravel roads of the Alaska Highway, I jotted down the need to reduce steering drift and decided that all-wheel drive had to be an option.”
Yokoya also noted that kids typically occupy most of the space in a minivan, so “kid appeal” would be a major component in the redesign. The new Sienna has windows in the sliding doors that roll down far enough to facilitate kids’ conversation with their Little League teammates standing in the parking lot, but not so far that a small child standing on the seat could lean over and tumble out.
There’s a special mirror mounted upfront so Mom or Dad can monitor small children in the back without turning around. The van’s got 10 cup holders, four bottle holders and a flip-up tray table to facilitate snacking. And the middle seat in the second row (when ordered with the three-position bench) can be moved forward up to 13 inches to make infants and toddlers in child safety seats more accessible to front-seat occupants.
Safety features include anti-lock brakes, front air bags, a tire-pressure warning system and a pinch protection system on the optional sliding side doors. Full-length side-curtain air bags that provide protection for occupants of all three rows of seats are optional or included in special equipment packages, as are stability and traction control systems, a rear vision camera, a sonar back-up warning system and dynamic cruise control that keeps the van from creeping up on slower vehicles.
The base CE model, which starts at $22,955, also comes with dual manual sliding doors with power windows, power side mirrors and driver’s window, keyless entry, telescoping and tilting steering column, a six-speaker stereo with single CD player and 16-inch wheels.
The LE starts at $24,260 and adds cruise control, adjustable lumbar support for the driver’s seat, tinted “privacy” glass and a roof rack. The XLE, starting at $28,260, replaces the standard steel wheels with 16-inch alloys and adds power sliding doors, a power-adjustable driver’s seat, fog lamps, three-zone air conditioning and a removable center console.
The $34,480 XLE Limited finishes things off with 17-inch alloy wheels, rear disc brakes, dynamic cruise control, parking sonar, power moon roof, front side airbags and side-curtain air bags and traction and stability control.
All but the CE can be ordered with the extra-cost all-wheel drive, which includes traction control and the 17-inch runflat tires. A variety of other options can pump up prices by thousands of dollars.
Style-wise, well, the Sienna still is a minivan.
But designers at Toyota’s Calty Studio in Newport Beach took note of the wider stance and longer wheelbase and made it as sporty as possible with triangular headlamp arrays housed under clear lenses, a two-piece grille, a spoiler-lipped roofline and a steeply raked windshield.
Final Words: Toyota loyalists will love it, and the Sienna should win the company a few converts from the domestic minivan market as well.
