Yahoo Autos 2023 Toyota Sienna Long-Term Update: Pacing toward the hall of fame
Our long-term 2023 Toyota Sienna minivan arrived for its second stint in my personal fleet in mid-August. I then proceeded to spend the next six weeks jealously guarding it, twice postponing its departure. I’ve said it before, and this late-summer session reinforced it: Minivans aren’t for everyone, but they can be indispensable for some.
Here’s my notes:
A trusty family hauler
Shortly after its arrival, I took my family for a weeklong vacation in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Typically, this trip taxes even large SUVs. After packing everything, including sleeping bags, coolers, golf clubs, fishing gear, clothing, flashlights, etc, I gazed out the back window and realized I had an unobstructed line of sight. A tribute to good packing? Sure (pats self on back), but really, the Sienna is so cavernous with the third-row folded, there was no need to stack cartoonishly high. It all just … fit. Depending on the size of your family and the length of your trip, it’s conceivable that this minivan will fill up. But it will take a lot.
Sliding doors FTW
Speaking of family duties, sliding doors are a great hack. This isn’t news to anyone who’s driven a minivan in the last 40 years, but let me remind you of their many benefits. Kids can operate them (you can also put the child locks on if you prefer they don’t). The doors move slowly so there’s less of a chance of fingers getting pinched. In tight spaces, like a school parking lot, the doors move laterally rather than swing out, meaning there’s no need to worry about door dings. The Sienna lets you open the doors via handles, the key fob, buttons on the handles, the inside handles and via a driver-operated button up front. You’ve got options.
