The Toyota Sienna Still Rocks

Minivans are cool, go ask your dad. They haul humans and their things, and for people my age especially, they’re responsible for decades’ worth of road-trip memories. The Toyota Sienna has been a staple among the minivan community since 1997, but even in its old age, it’s still a solid option for large families.

In this case, I spent a week with the Toyota Sienna Limited—the fanciest option of the group. The base Sienna LE starts at $39,080, while this one costs $55,955 as tested with a few options tacked on. For that price, the Sienna puts most comparable three-row SUVs to shame.

The Toyota Sienna is hybrid only, as it has been since 2021. Under the hood is Toyota’s ubiquitous 2.5-liter four-cylinder hybrid engine found in everything from the Camry to the RAV4. Here it makes 245 horsepower and 176 pound-feet of torque. Quick the Sienna is not. But there’s just enough electric torque on the front end to get you moving and just enough power from the four-cylinder to maintain speed. Bury your foot more than halfway into the accelerator, though, and the powertrain sounds strained.

Thankfully the Sienna Hybrid isn’t about racing between red lights. That hybrid setup yields an impressive 35 miles per gallon city, 36 highway, and 35 combined on this all-wheel-drive model. Front-wheel drive is even better at 36 combined. Driving from one coast of Florida to the other (and back), I didn’t stop to fill up once. The Sienna Hybrid will go 630 miles on a tank—pretty impressive for such a big vehicle.

Shoving seven dudes and coolers into a Sienna is pretty easy, too. Unlike some so-called “three-row” SUVs with barely usable back rows, the Sienna will fit three adults in comfort. There are 37.4 inches of headroom in the third row and 38.7 inches of legroom. Not even Toyota’s biggest SUV, the Grand Highlander, has that much space; There’s only 37.2 headroom and 33.5 inches of legroom by comparison.

Even with the third row up, the Sienna still has 33.5 cubic feet of trunk space compared to the Grand Highlander’s measly 20.6 cubic feet. That number swells to 75.2 cubes with the third row folded flat and a whopping 101.0 cubic feet with every row folded flat. Again, the Grand Highlander only gets to 57.9 and 97.5 cubic feet, respectively.

Jeff Perez / Motor1

Jeff Perez / Motor1

The “Limited” badge means luxury in Toyota speak, and the Sienna has plenty of it. Every row gets plush leather-trimmed seats. The front chairs are heated and ventilated, while the second row is heated and comes with an extended leg rest. Assuming no one is in the third row, you can slide that captain’s chair far back, kick out the leg rest, and lay comfortably about three-quarters of the way flat.

The Sienna is arguably nicer to drive than its SUV sibling, too. It won’t take you anywhere off the beaten path with just 6.3 inches of ground clearance (or 6.9 inches on the ruggedized Woodland trim), but that means better handling and nicer on-road manners than many SUVs. The steering is responsive, the chassis is balanced, and there’s way less body roll.

The Sienna’s only big downside is the technology. The infotainment is outdated compared to the new system Toyota has in many of its vehicles. The screen is laggy and slow to respond, the graphics are dated, and the home screen is a mess with too many options. And 9.0 inches is pretty measly for a modern touchscreen.

The Sienna does at least have the iconic minivan flip-down, ceiling-mounted screen so the kiddos (or grown adult men) can watch a movie over a long road trip. That comes with a full-size 120-volt outlet and an HDMI port. There are also a half-dozen or so plugs throughout the Sienna for your devices.

It might not look cool, but the Toyota Sienna has everything you need and more. So if your family is in the market for something spacious, luxurious, and well-equipped, don’t go for a Grand Highlander before giving the Sienna a chance.