Just back from a week long tryst with a Sienna :)

[twintrbo]

Got a rental 2011 Sienna to drive around Los Angeles this past week and covered about 500 miles so here is my impression of it:

HUGE!!!!

LOL other than that, it wasn't too bad. It was an 8 passenger LE model and had some nice toys standard, I will just list likes and dislikes to make it less wordy.

Likes:
Bluetooth Phone and Music Streaming
Rear View Camera
Massive amounts of passenger room
Massive cargo room with all seats in use
Power opening doors to let people in and hot air out
Auto up and down windows on all doors
Power to spare with 6sp auto
Pull up shades for back rows
Averaged about 21 mpg
Absurd interior storage with 2 gloveboxes, 16 cupholders, pockets in each door, 2 3rd row storage bins, overhead console for sunglasses that doubles as a panoramic mirror for occupants and a front center console thats about a 10 gallon capacity!

Dislikes:
Over assisted steering
Poor on center steering feel (lane wandering)
Awful dead pedal positioning
Low height for open rear hatch
8th seat is hard to fit and only suited to small children, for real!
2nd row seats are cumbersome to slide
Must use 3rd row for 5 people despite size (mom and 2 car seats)
Clumsy to fold third row flat
High liftover for cargo area
Hated waiting for auto doors to operate
Big blind spots for backing up
Too big to reach anyone else in the vehicle!
Drives as big as it looks

I will add anything else I think of in the future...... Needless to say, the 5 was a sight for sore eyes when my dad came to get us at the airport!

 

[thaxman]

OK, now rent a Flex for me, please!

 

[flcruising]

You are describing my mothers '09 Odyssey for the most part. What I can't understand is why the third row is harder to access than our 5? Her's feels like such a squeeze to get into the back compared to ours. Hate the power sliding doors, except when your hands are full (wink).

 

[twintrbo]

The Sienna had very good access once the seat was slid up, the track it slides on is about 4' long! Nice big opening but the seat didn't slide very freely and it was pretty heavy. When I compared vehicles at the auto show last year, I was amazed at how big the opening to the 3rd row is compared to anything else out there.

I didn't like the power doors most of the time. The handle to make them go was hard to pull, my 4 yo could not operate it and she was mistaken for an 8 yo by the flight attendant so shes no wimp. It was weird to pull hard enough to open it and not have it move. Most of the time I found myself wishing I could just close it and move along. The only 3 situations it was great were: approaching the vehicle and being able to open the doors to air out a hot car or just load up quickly, opening the doors for adult passengers to unload when I pulled into a parking lot while they got ready to leave and for people unfamiliar with this vehicle and/or auto doors. There was also a remote control by the dome light as well as on the key fob but I dont know why when you hit the lock button, it doesn't close the doors automatically as well.



Thaxman, my uncle rented a Flex not that long ago and he liked it but I didn't get the details like I could provide for the Sienna. If I happen to go anywhere else I will see what I can do I use priceline so the rental was only $240 for the week with all taxes etc..... The going rate for Hertz was like $700, I just lowballed it til it was accepted. I was going to use my uncles car so I didn't care if I got the deal or not.

 

[flcruising]

Are you referring to the outside or inside handle? When we ride in my mother's we use the fob to open 90% of the time. The inside handle is a vertical lever that's really easy to pull. My 3 y.o. has no problem with the inside handle, but the door handles on the outside of the odyssey and the 5 she can't open herself, this is when a remote power door would be helpful for the 5. I think that's the only other option I'd like our 5 to have.

 

[DKaz]

I heard some good reviews about the sport tuned Sienna SE in terms of handling capabilities.

 

[twintrbo]

Are you referring to the outside or inside handle? When we ride in my mother's we use the fob to open 90% of the time. The inside handle is a vertical lever that's really easy to pull. My 3 y.o. has no problem with the inside handle, but the door handles on the outside of the odyssey and the 5 she can't open herself, this is when a remote power door would be helpful for the 5. I think that's the only other option I'd like our 5 to have.

I was talking outside handle, my daughter can open the 5 door if she wants to from outside. I will have to ask my wife about the inside door handle, I never used it lol.