Nextourer

It's a recent trend. The 2010 Prius, 2009 Venza and 2010 Camry have them as standard equipment in Canada.

SLegacy99

Looking at the 2.7L in the Tacoma and the Sienna, well neither are overwhelming, as I state earlier. But it does really well in the FWD and AWD Venzas, which both come in at under 4000 lbs. If the goal were efficiency, perhaps the 2.5L would have served this purpose better. Not much power would be sacraficed.

I forgot that the 2.7L is also in the Highlander. At 3845 lbs. Highlander is rated for 20/27.

pagemaster

So my initial reaction has cooled down, I now have had some more seat time in the Sienna...the Sienna I sat in was $40k CN...

Overall the design is still very good but the impression I was left with was that I was sitting in a older GM product because of the materials...there are acres and acres of hard plastic. The material is the same stuff as the Venza. The leather on the seats was poor, kind of Chrysler LHS like (note: there is an option for premium leather) as this one was the standard stuff.

The steering wheel telescopes and tilts, there are features everywhere. Power sliding doors with window shades similar to the Toyota Sequoia. I personally really like the faux non gloss wood trim and there were generous faux wood trim pieces throughout.

Steering wheel material was ok, not sure if it is leather, simulated stuff or what...I didn't really like the hand grips on the on the wheel in the 2 and 10 o'clock positions.

Dislikes: the roof lining and overhead console is not held on very well, very odd location for USB/Ipod input, cheap feeling leather.

Likes: overall design of the interior, faux wood, seat anchor covers

Cool things: rear window vents are still present, lots of cup holders within drivers reach (six total)

The van does what it does best. It's very functional.

I give the new Sienna interior *** out of *****. There clearly is room for improvement, cost cutting by Toyota is not really much prevalent as things didn't really feel cheap. The just could of been better considering the $40k price tag. The scariest part of this Sienna was that another $9000k in options could be added to the already high $40k MSRP...I would except Lexus like materials for $40k to $50k

RXSF

we all complain about level of quality in the materials, but if the toyota has the same materials as a Lexus, who is going to buy a lexus? the gap is closing and fast. Cars that cost 15K have had USB and aux jacks when 2009 Lexus's didnt even get them yet.

(Cj)

Well I know pagemaster, not only wants Toyota materials and quality to improve, but he also wants Lexus's materials and quality to improve making your statement a moot point.

I don't necessarily agree, but there is always room for improvement at both brands. Do I expect to get Bentley quality in a $35K Lexus? No way.

TorontoIS

While I was waiting to pick up my IS 350 from the body shop I looked around at the Toyotas in the showroom, one of which was the Sienna. I have to say that the exterior styling as well as the interior styling is great. I too agree that the interior plastics were disappointing. Most of the dash and upper and lower parts of the doors were hard unforgiving plastic. Unfortunately these parts are frequently touched by owners and feel cheap. I would have preferred to see softer touch plastics there. Even my old Honda Accord from 1996 had better plastics. On the other hand, there is a ton of excellent design in the cabin that makes it a winner still.

marshmallo

LOL, 40K is the new 30K, so this van is NOT overpriced at all.

We're talking about 2010 dollars. This is what happens when your government
is run in a way that would be an embarassment to most banana republics.

Looking forward to the 65K 4th Gen base model GS.

TorontoIS

There's a review over on Canadian Driver here

lamar411

I like the reclining seat feature a lot. If i was to get one of these I'd get an LE and use the rest of the money for something else. dropping $35k+ on a minivan for me is a lot.