The 2015 Toyota Sienna
A few weeks ago, we were delivered the 2015 Toyota Sienna to test out for a week long spin around town and a trip to Amicalola Falls. The kids definitely wanted to keep the Sienna aka “The Swagger Wagon.” The Sienna was named a 2015 IIHS Top Safety Pick + and is the only van in its segment to offer all-wheel drive. And the The Atlanta Auto Writers named Toyota Sienna the best 3-row vehicle for Families.
There are so many fabulous features of the model we drove that I could spend days telling you about them all (and honestly, in a week, I doubt we even found/used them all). Instead, I thought I would focus on the things we enjoyed as a family of 4.
The first thing I noticed when driving the Sienna is the steering. It was so smooth, like butter. It definitely drives more like a car than a truck. The ride is smooth, too. I forgot that I wasn’t driving a car.
For example, we fit two booster seats and two car seats (one rear-facing and one forward-facing) easily and comfortably on the leather seats. And, everybody had ample leg room to spare, including the driver.
The dashboard, steering wheel and navigation/entertainment center had so many things going on. We really appreciated having satellite radio as well as AM/FM options. The dual climate control really helped because Mr. Serious is always hotter than I am, but when it was just me, I could sync them all together to the same temperature and fan speed.
In the driver’s view is a little screen with speed, temperature, fuel economy, mileage, and even navigation as well as a compass.
We could sync our phones to the system as well via bluetooth to play music and take and receive calls. It was even all voice activated which made it incredibly helpful. The backup camera is also activated on this screen when the van is in reverse and has sensors to let you know you are approaching an object and shows the van’s projected path based on the steering wheel’s position (which is very helpful with a curved driveway).
One thing we didn’t try out is the Toyota’s Driver Easy Speak system, which uses the vehicle’s built-in microphone to amplify the driver’s voice through the rear speakers.
The back? So much storage. This is a week’s worth of groceries for our family of 6. Tons of room to spare.
The kid favorite? The Blu-Ray Dual View Entertainment Center with a 16.4-inch widescreen and the two sunroofs. Of course, Unimpressed B is unimpressed. Naturally.
The screen with the bluetooth headphones was great for our road trip which was about the length of one movie away from our house.
One thing that every parent I know that has a minivan loves is the sliding doors. The kids can’t bang their doors into unsuspecting neighboring cars getting into or out of the van. Also, the front doors have a built in stop preventing the doors from being swung all the way open.
One thing my current van has that I found myself missing was storage in front of the middle row of seats. It’s a great place for my diaper bag and baby carrier.
There are many other amazing features that I didn’t feel I could cram into this space, so I made a short little picture video to show you. The Sienna is definitely on my dream vehicle list!
This looks really nice. Mini-vans sure have come a long way. I really like the middle reclining seats with the footrest. What a great idea. I love B’s expression too. Totally in awe of it all.
Very nice. Looks a lot like my Dodge with I LOVE.
Also, you asked about my hubby’s vehicle a while ago. I told you it was a Suburban and you said that you weren’t really looking into them because of the price (they are INSANELY expensive, I agree). What I forgot to mention was that we buy the Suburban used. My hubby’s last Suburban had 90,000 miles on it when we bought it and we paid less than we did for my minivan and it lasted longer. When we traded it in a few months ago (for another used Suburban with around 90,000 miles) it had 250,000 miles on it. Suburbans last forever. So, just in case you are still looking for a nice family vehicle you might want to check out used Suburbans on craigslist or autotrader. My hubby always finds AMAZING deals and has the truck fully checked out before buying. Our new (used) Suburban has all the bells and whistles, made two really long trips (Florida and Canada, and another to Oklahoma scheduled in a few weeks) no problem. We LOVE Suburbans. 🙂
We had Suburbans growing up all the time. We called them the Texas Cadillac. What’s funny is we hardly ever see them in Georgia. Like not at all. I know they last and last for sure!
We ended up getting a second van (we had a Honda Odyssey and a smaller car..got rid of the smaller car) a Dodge Caravan. It doesn’t have quite all the bells and whistles, but we did pay cash for it so that’s something we can be very proud of!
I’m sure something like a Suburban is in our future once we can limit door slamming!