Sienna LE with 8 Passenger Seating
Written: Feb 04 '05
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Pros: Safe, Quiet, big engine, flexible seating.
Cons: Need to shop around to get 8 passenger version with certain option packages.
The Bottom Line: Buy it if you need 8 passenger seating. Compare to 2005 Honda if 7 passenger seating will do.
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| qjohn's Full Review: 2004 Toyota Sienna 2WD |
We recently purchased a 2004 Sienna LE 8 passenger minivan to replace our trusty 1995 Honda Odyssey. Quite an improvement! It is one of the safest vans in the IIHS crash test and available with a host of safety equipment such as side airbags, traction control and stability control, which came in ours.
I don't want to repeat many of the things in the other reviews, so I'll just say the van is really quiet at highway speeds, drives very nicely and holds a lot of cargo. With the eight passenger seating, we can get 3 kids in the second row in comfort. There is plenty of room in back for cargo even with the split 3rd row in place. The third row seats fold flat into the floor in two sections, so the car can have the following number of seat combinations: 1 (I think the front passenger seat can be removed),2,3,4,5,6, 7 or 8. We put the dog in the back with one seat folded down, and still have room for 2 kids plus a grandparent in the second row and one kid and other grandparent in back. Here is a limitation: with a car seat installed, the second row seats cannot tumble to allow easy access to the 3rd row. Hence, put one kid in back when the 3rd row is in use.
The middle seat is much better than that in the 2005 Honda Odyssey in that it has enogh room for a child seat to fit.
Some hints:
* The conversation mirror is too small and essentially useless.
* The battery saver feature does not work. Apparently Toyota left it out of the software. Supposedly fixed for 2005 models.
* All the package option combinations in the dealer brochure are available. The toyota website does not allow you to see all, though. So if you want a combination such as LE with 8 passenger seating, side curtain airbags and traction control go to your dealer and explain exactly what combo you want and he can get it for you.
* Go to forums at www.siennaclub.org to see plenty of discussion on this vehicle. There are a few quirks plus nice extra features discussed.
* The electronic throttle control or transmission programming does result in what feels to be slow throttle response. If feels about the same as our underpowered 4-cylinder Odyssey, so it doesn't bother me much. I imagine a V6 Odyssey (1999 to 2005) ha a lot better throttle response than the Sienna.
* The DVD player is great! Much better than anything I could have installed myself. Sound on the wireless headphones is superb.
* You do not really need traction control and stability control, but the side airbags may come in handy some day. The stability control warns you by beeping, and we seldom hear it even driving in Chicago snow this year.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 25750
Condition: Used
Model Year: 2004
Model and Options: LE8 Package 11
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Epinions.com ID:
qjohn
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Reviews written: 10
Trusted by: 0 members
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