Car Window Shopping

A week ago, Ly and I went for a different kind of date. We went to our local Toyota dealer and test-drove two vehicles: a Highlander and a Sienna. If we ever have to transport more than the five of us, we'd need something bigger than our Camry, so we decided to check out the options. We drove a 2008 Highlander Sport and a Sienna LE. Following are some of my observations.

Toyota Sienna 2008. Palm trees would be the way to sell me on a car.

My first experience with the Sienna was that a minivan drove just as I had feared: it accelerates about as quickly as a Galapagos turtle when the light turns green. You can overcome that by pushing the gas pedal a little more, but now we're talking 5000 RPM. Not good for your gas mileage, which is already only 17 mpg. Generally, the 266 hp were a good package. The van was a little more luxurious than I had expected. Personally, I can do without the automatic sliding doors and trunk, though the salesman claimed you could do it by hand regardless. The all-wheel drive versions come with run-flat tires, and therefore don't have a spare. That's nice if you're in a bad neighborhood, but I'm skeptical what it'll mean when you have to buy new tires. Since there's no place to put a spare, you'd be unwise to just change to regulars. The two-wheel drive apparently doesn't have a full-size spare.

The center console isn't much to write home about,
but what are you asking for?

I liked the fact that the stereo took WMA and MP3 CDs, as well as the auxiliary input (MP3 player, etc.), though its placement was a little odd (high up on the right - where do you put the MP3 player?). The center console wasn't much to write home about, though. There was adequate air conditioning, and plenty of cupholders. Ly really liked the fact that you can fold away the center area between the seats, so she can put her purse there. As you can expect, that's not a big deal to me. ;-)

These seats are not removed, they are folded down!




Even with all seats used, there is still luggage space

I loved the trunk area. You can fold the back row into the floor, and the second row collapse so low as well that you basically have flat surface with a lot of space if you have to haul something. Most versions appear to come with a roof rack, and you could set your van up to be able to tow some weight. Nonetheless, even with all seats up, you have trunk storage not much below the Camry, though vertical rather than horizontal. The Sienna costs about $25,000 new, and there are plenty of older versions of the current model (back to 2004), which can be had as low as $12,500 (Kelley Blue Book).

Conclusion: it's not my dream car, but it can probably do the job. It has the extra umph when it is needed. It's clearly family-friendly, and "not so fancy" tends to translate into "easier to clean." All in all, it was better than I had feared.



I'll follow up with the Highlander review later. Photos copyright Toyota.