Let's just get this out of the way right now---a minivan is not an aspirational object. It is a purely rational, practical purchase, arrived at usually by a process of elimination of vehicles that don't suit the family's needs.
At the beginning of this year, we reviewed the Toyota Sienna SE and its updated "Swagger Wagon" video. And as we have since the 2010 re-design of the Sienna, we liked it (the Sienna more than the Buster Rhymes video). But if your tastes run more toward luxury, there's only one trim level of the Sienna that matters.
Hip-hop and minivans do not usually mix, but Toyota got laughs and accolades for its 2010 music video when it introduced the 2011 Sienna "Swagger Wagon", and now that the Sienna's been refreshed, they've enlisted Busta Rhymes for a new "Swagger Wagon" video:
Call me old school, but I preferred the original video. The 2015 Sienna, on the other hand, is much improved.
Okay, it's four years old, but it's still pretty darn funny. And creative. And a surprising number of people are still only seeing it for the first time. Toyota tried to infuse a sort of humorous cool into the hopelessly unhip idea of "we need a minivan" with this music video for the then-new Sienna.
The 2014 Toyota Sienna Limited.
They were rollin' in the HOV in an SE, but we recently had a top-of-the line Limited AWD, yo (I promise, no more of that)...and where you might expect anything four years into its product cycle to be feeling a bit less than fresh, the Sienna struck me as still being on top of its game.
All too often, advertising is better than the product.
The advertising is great. I love the whole "Swagger Wagon", "Mommy Like" and "Daddy Like" thing.
The product is better.
You see, to me, minivan haters have it wrong. At least from a standpoint of timing. 15 years ago, minivans were dreadful. The original Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth vans were expanding...and not gracefully. GM and Ford didn't have a clue and the Japanese were trying to be unique...and succeeding all too well. That would have been the time to rebel against them.
But now? There are some very, very good minivans out there. And the new Sienna is at the top of the list.
I had three different trim levels of Sienna over the summer. There are five. But the Swagger Wagons on loan to TireKicker were the one-step-up-from-base LE, the next-step SE and the top-of-the-line Limited.
The Limited? Well, let's just say that exposure to it caused one die-hard minivan-hater I know to go into a spasm of "Oh my God"s...and in a good way. Reclining captains chairs with footrests in the second row with which to enjoy the split screen entertainment system will do that to you. And the Limited is decked out very nicely. It's the Lexus of minivans. And ours had the $4,025 LTD Premium package.
Base price? $39,770. As tested? $45,890.
Yeah...that's a lot for a minivan. But it's good enough that if I was looking at family vehicles (SUVs, wagons, minivans) with a max budget of $50,000 (have you priced vehicles that seat seven lately), I'd pop for the Sienna Limited in a heartbeat.
But if you listen to your inner CPA, stepping down to the SE is by no means trading riches for rags. It's a wonderfully solid piece, with the same engine and transmission as the Limited, but less weight, resulting in a boost from 16 miles per gallon city, 22 highway to 18/24. And it's hard to argue with the savings...base price drops to $30,550 and our tester topped out at $33,518.
However, my favorite (no surprise to regular TireKicker readers) was the second-from-base LE. The 3.5 liter V6 is replaced by a 2.7 liter 4-cylinder which is more than adequate and bumps the EPA numbers up to 19/24. Base price drops down to $25,345 (ours had the LE Preferred Package, adding power sliding doors and driver's seat, backup camera, sunshades, upgraded audio system and Bluetooth) and the as-tested was $29,703.
Well-equipped minivans under $30K are not everyday things. But then, neither is the Sienna. I'd happily make the LE my daily driver.
At 8:45 this morning, a man drove his Toyota Sienna minivan off an upper floor of the Honeywell parking garage....landing upside down and killing him.
The Sienna isn't involved in any of the Toyota recalls, and the driver isn't here to claim unintended acceleration, admit to stepping on the wrong pedal, confess to blackouts or suicidal thoughts or any of a dozen possible reasons the van might have gone forward with enough force to snap the safety cables that keep cars from taking the steep dive, but authorities will be poring over the evidence attempting to determine a cause. Full details from The Houston Chronicle.
During my week in the Dodge Grand Caravan SXT, I was won over...the user-friendliness, utility and ease of driving erased misgivings I had about the materials inside being a cut or so below that of a Honda Odyssey.
It was delivered without a window sticker, so I checked the Dodge website. Base price $27,825. Reasonable, bordering on a bargain.
I knew it was loaded...but I didn't realize how loaded until I asked for a copy of the sticker. This minivan had more than $13,000 in options...jacking the bottom line all the way up to $41,385. No longer reasonable nor a bargain.
So what could I live without if I were playing with my own money?
