Toyota sienna has always been a great vehicle. My 2001 still run at 434600 Km odometre. My new Sienna 2022 hopefully will run so long too. The fuel efficiency is superb.
Looking at an AWD 2024 LE version. Glad you hear about winter driving since I live in the country and hope to use this most of the time and only break out the old Suburban in really bad weather.... Got 5 kids to haul
Yeah man, we are 4 winters in so far and we’ve not even come close to needing chains. Just keep good tires on it. Running the BF Goodrich Advantage T/A tires (purchased at Costco) right now and so far I’m super happy with them.
Thank you. I have a Highlander Hybrid and did not know about the filters for cooling the battery packs. I'll look into ordering those. Just last week I found how to change the engine air filter and the cabin filter on the Highlander. I'm sick of paying $50 a pop for paper filters at the dealer.
Love your videos! We ran our second hand 2012 Sienna Limited to 196,000 mi. with never a problem but decided not to push our luck, since we're 70+ and on the road to grandkids a lot. 😉 We just bought our FWD 2021 Sienna Limited with 21,000 mi. and, in general, love it. I agree with your "10 things I hate about it" video plus a couple. One big thing we miss are the "Power Third Row Seats, " since I have severe back pain issues. I was shocked that they were no longer included. One more thing is the apparent lack of hooks for a "clothes hanging" bar, unless I'm just missing them. In the meantime, I've had success with hanging our bar from the hooks for the rear glass shades. Again, thanks for your very enjoyable and informative videos.
Thanks so much for the comment! Yeah a dedicated clothes bar across the back would be sweet. I like you DIY idea of just using those hooks. I've been able to hang a suit on a metal hanger on one of those shade hooks, but never thought about getting an entire bar across. Appreciate you watching!!
32 mpg combined for the sienna- and he says -''not too bad'' Thats excellent for a 7 or 8 passenger minivan ! I get the same gas mpgs in my small 4 cylinder toyota bro.
I agree dude it's definitely good. I do hear reports of several folks getting mid-high 30's and some claiming low 40's. Either way, it's light years better than the old V6!
My 2 year maintenance free just ended this month. Lol. Took it in the dealership and I can’t believe how much they charge for oil change, AC condenser cleaning. Transmission flush. Brake fluid flush. But I declined all but oil change
Yeah they are gonna hit you with all kinds of bogus services that sound important but are totally unnecessary. And that “free maintenance” is actually only 2 free oil changes. They change it at 10k and at 20k miles. If you hit those in the first 2 years, they are covered. If you drove over 26k in The first 2 years, the free maintenance expires. (2yr or 25,999 miles, whichever comes first) It sounds good during the sale, but in reality it’s kind of a joke.
Thank you for paying attention to details that many other reviewers leave out of the story. Does all Limited come with a spare wheel? Your Toyota is the first one I saw with a spare wheel in the Limited trim
Ours did come with spare, but as I understand it, not all limited trims do. It depends what other options you choose. For instance, if you get the second row seats that have the ottoman option, I don’t think that van can also have the spare tire. Also, there was a certain brown color interior that also couldn’t be combined with the spare. Really odd combinations in my opinion. Some of that could have changed since 2021, but I think a lot of that is still the case. In fact our neighbors have a 2023 Platinum trim that does NOT have a spare. It just came with a foam tire inflator kit. Theirs has the ottoman second row seats. Hope that helps!
Thanks for your Sienna video reviews. I think I’ve viewed all of them and I am a subscriber - I appreciate your content. Trying to decide if a hybrid Sienna is right for our family (of 4 with a granddaughter) and for my wife and I long-term. Your shared ownership experiences and perspective has been very helpful in our deliberations. Thanks!
I have a 22 XLE and with 38,000 miles on it we love it. The economy rating is slightly unrealistic. Mine gets around 32 combined with normal driving. It’s rated at 35 with the AWD but I can coax 35 out of it by driving at 55 instead of the speed limit which is 70. But 32 is almost 10pm better than my older non hybrid Sienna so I’m pretty satisfied. I have no problem with my defroster but I am retired and don’t carry a big gang often and don’t live in the mountains but it does get cold in Missouri and no problem yet with mine. I’m pretty certain the AC automatically engages in defrost. The van is comfortable, handles well and has enough features to keep me happy. The resale on these is excellent based on what I got trading in my 2018 with 90,000 miles. I drove it for almost 5 years and 90k for $5000. These are hard to complain about. I’ve never had either of them in for any kind of required repairs which is a great testimonial to the built in reliability of the Toyota brand.
Thanks for the video. For the apple car play I recommend trying the carlinkit 4.0 wireless carplay adapter. It does take a minute or 2 to start and connect, but it works seamlessly afterward even when your phone is in your pocket.
Glad you mentioned this. I’ve been wanting to try that out for wireless CarPlay. I’ll grab one and maybe post a video about the experience. Appreciate the info!
Nice review on crossbar ski rack, bike hitch, handling. Not crazy with the usb wires, but got a wireless adapter (ottocast) plugs into the CarPlay USB port and been using its for a couple months & works great, you may want to try that…you can move your phone anywhere or use the usb in console storage bin, or built in wireless charger if you got that feature.
I still can’t figure out why all the trims don’t just come with a spare. So confusing when some have it, but some don’t, and often in the same trim level. C’mon Toyota, just standardize already!
@@DadDoingStuff they said because of the weight, high trim with masive feature already increase the weight. That’s why you see your limited/platinum AWD doesn’t have ottoman seat when you choose to have spare tire, isn’t it? But without spare tire, you’ll get ottoman seat cmiiw
Yeah the bike rack has that knob, but the riser hitch still needs the U-Bolt. It unfortunately is pretty loose where it interfaces with the receiver on the van. Not a perfect system but it works.
It’s crazy good at 55. Long road trips where freeways are 80mph now, we see a pretty decent drop in the MPGs. But if you don’t floor it between lights and aren’t cruising at 80, it does pretty darn good! Thx for the comment!
1x(2/3/23)…..done excellent. You showed so many things that other Sienna videos never touched on (I’ve watched over 50 Sienna videos). (A), Also, did you order your Sienna or buy it off the lot? (B), If you ordered it, how long did it take? (C), Also, I’m disappointed in the 32 mpg when it is rated for 35 mph-maybe the snow & mountains killed the mpg. (D), I ordered a Platinum Sienna on 1/11/23, the salesman said it could take as long as one to two years to get in. Thank you
We got one of the very first Siennas to hit the road in the US. Picked ours up on Thanksgiving weekend in 2020 and I didn’t even see another one until probably January of 2021. We did have one on order, however the dealer we were using just by coincidence had one coming in that was ALMOST the exact van we had ordered. So they offered that one without having to wait several more months, which is what we did. I know right now there are super long waiting lists for these Sienna hybrids. We got lucky with the timing of ours.
Just wondering why you wanted you phone to be in a holder facing you? Is apple car play not sufficient enough to be able to not have the phones screen readily available?
We really didn’t like using the cable for CarPlay, so we always used the BT and phone screen for maps and such. But we’ve since found a wireless CarPlay setup that works fairly well. With that my wife rarely takes her phone out of her purse anymore.
Also, I was watching a different video regarding the need to disable the park assist with something on the hitch. Something about you have to disable it every time you turn off/on the car. This sounds pretty annoying. What are your thoughts on that?
Dude, that park assist thing is super annoying. You do have to remember to disable it every time. So if you are on a road trip, you gotta remember to do it every time you re-start the car. After it screams at you a couple of times and you can’t back up, you quickly remember to do it. But I’d REALLY like if they just had a push button enable/disable somewhere on the dash. It’s a good safety feature that can keep you from accidentally hitting a kid or something, so I get the intent. But still not user friendly at all.
I have 41K miles on my 2021 Limited. Have you had any issues when trying to close the rear liftgate and it stopping after an inch? Happens to me more often than not. I always have to physically return the liftgate to the highest point and try again.
Only issues with that lift gate so far have been if something is blocking it from fully closing. Whatever the mechanism is, it’s not very strong. So if back is pretty packed, I have to give it a little help from the outside while it finishes closing. I guess the other thing is also the button on lift gate itself is kinda finicky. If you press it more than once, it will stop right away. Then you have to return to full open and start over. For ours, that has always been user error. But you could definitely have something else going on.
I got that from etrailer.com and it’s their house brand. Ground to bottom of receiver is 8.75” with van fully unloaded. Loaded, that thing will DEFINITELY hit stuff. That said I’m about to order up a 2” lift for this van which should make a big difference.
Hello! Great video. In regard to turning off the parking assist if you’re running a bike rack out back…if I leave my rack on my car all the time, is that something one has to disable every time you start up the car and if so, is it physical button or something you have to dig for in the infotainment system?
It’s not every time you start the car, but maybe like every 3rd time. I REALLY wish it was just a physical button, but it’s not. You have to drill down through the menu on the dash, using your steering wheel buttons. Once you learn it, it’s pretty easy. But first couple of times is kinda frustrating.
Sorry, late to the party. Wondering if your sliding doors stick in the winter? Have a 2014 and when it's cold esp the passenger sliding door sticks. When we went skiing, the door wouldn't close for a bit after a night out in the snow
So far, no. Albeit we also didn’t have any issues with that on our 2011. But so far, this an has had nothing like that happen in the 3 winters we have owned it. 🤞
Well I just so happened to deal with a BRAND NEW Yukon Denali that had a bad battery right off the showroom floor. So that type of thing isn’t unheard of. But that said, if it’s 2023 and I assume under warranty, I’d let the light come on then make it the dealership’s problem. (Despite the inconvenience)
What made you decide to choose a minivan over an SUV? Minivans don't have much clearance and sometimes you can find yourself on dirt roads in the west. It's not Texas where people buy huge pickup trucks to drive them around in cities.
Great question. Ultimately, sliding side doors is one of the things we like the most. Kids can’t ding the Tesla parked next to us! The fully folding third row is also a game changer. And my wife really loves the van. Clearance is definitely a problem, but I’m gonna remedy that this year. Stay tuned!
I am planning a lift. Agree, some lifts don’t look as good, but I’ve seen a few on this van that looked really cool. I’m debating between 2” or 3”. Leaning towards 3. This thing is pretty low right now.
I had seen this video from Car Care Nut and I recall seeing something similar a few years ago with Consumer Reports. Yes, the other commenter is on the right track with running the AC in winter. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-L89oa8XHd28.html Thought it was a bit of an odd idea at first but I’ve done it the last two winters (in Highlander and Avalon Hybrid) and it has made a difference. That’s a big interior cabin space in the Sienna and it sounds like you have a lot of passengers, so it may not completely eliminate the foggy windows altogether. But it should help. It’s worth a shot if you haven’t yet tried that.
@@DadDoingStuff yes - same with my Toyotas. I was thinking of other modes (aside from the 100% defrost mode). Boy, that’s unfortunate that it lacks enough “oomph” to adequately defrost the vehicle windows - which is what your video clearly demonstrated. Thank you for highlighting that issue!
@@DadDoingStuff it doesn’t, I haven’t seen Japanese cars do that. This allows you to defrost lightly if needed and if you need more power you just turn on your out AC, which normally it should default to when you turn on your defrost, but your AC light is not on.
You can fit a single MTB without removing any seats. There is enough room to slide one up the center, so long as you remove the front wheel. I’ve had my bike in there several times. If you removed one of the middle row seats (not an easy task) you could probably fit two MTBs no problem. Hope that helps!
Not sure what makes a Canada spec van, but this was definitely purchased in the US. Those are the 2 buttons for seat/steering wheel position memory. Wife is 1, I’m 2. Those are also really easy to reset in a new position by just pressing and holding one of those two buttons. Hope that helps!
Nice review.. Did you experience rattling or squeaking sound when driving? I have heard mostly it is the driver passenger seat or when the 3rd row is stowed.
We’ve not experienced any rattling or squeaking yet. Our old van did for sure, so probably just a matter of time for this one. Granted we also almost always have chatty kids and music playing.
Hard to say. We’re close to 70k already and so far so good. But there’s no telling. I highly doubt we’ll still have the van after that many miles. Hopefully have something newer by then….hopefully.
With the 40,000 mile tire rotation, the dealer said a fuel induction service also needs to be done costing $199. Are you doing this yourself? I need advice. Thanks!
This is a classic dealership rip off. First, if you aren’t having any problems with your fuel injection system, I probably wouldn’t do anything. But, I have seen in the past on other vehicles where you can get a ping from running cheap gas. If it concerns you, go buy a $5 bottle of injector cleaner and add it to a full tank of 91 octane from Shell. Run that through the van then go back to your normal gas routine. It will cost a heck of a lot less than paying the dealer to dump a bottle of injector cleaner into your tank for you! Hope that helps!
It doesn't get foggy inside THIS van. It gets foggy in all new cars. Your plastics are off-gassing and all that crap ends up on your windshield....well some if in your lungs lol. Just clean it more often and it will be fine.
@@DadDoingStuff Do you use Auto mode? I just leave the climate control in my Highlander in Auto mode and set it to 72°F and my windows never fog up on the inside living in North Dakota. It allows the system to decide if the outside temperature warrants having the a/c on and turns it on accordingly.
Have you ever tried to put 2 mountain bikes in the back of the van with the front tires removed. I am looking for a vehicle where I can haul 2 bikes using fork mounts. I am in Colorado and bike theft is rampant.
Yes you can make them fit, but totally depending on how you plan to use the second row. Those seats fold a bit and slide really far forward. Could probably still make it work even with one of the seats folded forward. Probably also need to stagger the fork mounts a bit so the bars don’t clash.
30k definitely used to be the recommended mileage back in the day. But for most modern cars, that’s just not the case anymore. Specific this Hybrid Sienna, Toyota only states to inspect the coolant every 15k miles. The maintenance guide for this van goes over all recommended maintenance up to 120k miles, but doesn’t even once state that the coolant should be changed. They only mention inspecting the coolant. Here’s the link to the 2021 Maintenance Guide. assets.sia.toyota.com/publications/en/omms-s/T-MMS-21SiennaHV/pdf/T-MMS-21SiennaHV.pdf?_gl=1*1gr1cj3*_tmna_ga*MTk3NzI4NzY1Ny4xNjgyOTQ2MDgy*_tmna_ga_EP43E5EFVZ*MTY4Mjk0NjA4MS4xLjEuMTY4Mjk0NjE2MC42MC4wLjA.
What do you about the third row seating when folded down it does not stay flat. Sliding things in and out gets h7ng up on the flaps. It’s a horrible system..".
Agreed. I brought that up in my “10 Things we hate” video. It’s definitely not as flat as the gen3 van. Best solution I’ve found is to lay a moving blanket down when seats are folded flat. That seems to work pretty well. I covered that in my 20k update video.
Few folks have mentioned that. I was really expecting the AC to operate when in defrost mode, but apparently that might not happen automatically. So I’ll test it again, but gonna have to wait until next winter!
I am looking for a luggage rack (airport size luggage) with the mechanism that tips it back slightly to gain access, any recommendations? thanks in advance!
There are a few, but depends on if you want one that is enclosed or just a tray. I’d prefer one that swings away as opposed to just tilting, but those also tend to cost more. (Up to $1000+). For a basic tilting rack, something like this would work well for a 2” receiver. www.etrailer.com/Hitch-Cargo-Carrier/etrailer/e98874.html Hope that helps!
Swing away hitches are pretty universal, so it should work. They are quite expensive, usually around $300 or more. That said, I think you would actually have a better setup using a riser adapter (like I used in the video) with this carrier. The van has a hitch that is REALLY low to the ground. And with this carrier hanging back, I could see it dragging over any bumps or through any dips. That riser will get it not only up, but also spaced back a bit. Combined with the tilt, that would get you pretty good access to the back hatch. I do like swing away hitches, but thinking more, the van is just so low to the ground that a riser is a better idea here. Hopefully that all made sense! 🤣
@@DadDoingStuff Sorry if this is getting longer than it needs to be, but i've been hearing that one needs to disengage the rear sensor EVERY TIME they go for a drive if any hitch is attached, is this really the case and are there work arounds to this?
Honestly not much. We take this van skiing a lot. The road to/from is really twisty. I don’t notice an excessive lean. It’s definitely not a sports car, but it takes corners way faster than my wife will let me take corners!
Very informative video. Does your Sienna Hybrid ever feel under-powered? It only has 245 HP, which is less than it's competition: Honda Odyssey (280 HP); Kia Carnival (290 HP). It even has 20 fewer HP than my 2012 Sienna. Thanks.
Hi Sam. Short answer, sort of if you are driving in Eco mode. But in different drive modes, like sport mode, it’s a totally different animal. Don’t focus too much on those numbers. Go watch my “Minivan Drag Race” video where I put this thing toe to toe with a V6 Sienna.
@@DadDoingStuff I watched your video (drag race), good match up. But what about when loaded and you're going up a hill/mountain, does it have enough torque? How did the engine and CVT behave going up?
@@budagen Yeah same applies for hills when it comes to the modes. If you are loaded down and climbing, once in a while I drop it into sport mode. But overall, no issues with mountains. And I live in the mountains. This van takes the family skiing pretty every weekend all winter.
I would definitely buy another Sienna. But, I’d probably look at the woodland edition that sits a little higher. I’m actually thinking about putting a lift on ours after the tires are ready for replacement.
Just saw one of those in my neighborhood. It is a gorgeous car, looks much better than older generations. It is suitable for people like you who drive a lot. However, it is not a good car for people who drive less than 10k a year. The battery dies out in 10-15 years, and all the money saved from gas goes south for battery replacement. Toyota should have given a gas engine-only option.
Yeah they are making certain models only available as hybrid now. New Sequoias are also only available in a Hybrid. Agree that gas is still great option if you drive less than 10k year. I drive my Tundra less than 10k a year and despite the crummy gas mileage, it’s very reliable and will last forever.
Toyota is currently struggling to keep up with the demand for their hybrid sienna, adding a different engine package would just make the current production issues even worse.
Hi Garry, no problems at all. I do on occasion drop it into sport mode for a bit of additional boogie, but it does just fine! (You should watch my drag race video…..)
Hi! We just bought a 2023 Sienna Hybrid. I can't figure out how to set the ECO history to show the average/accumulated miles-per-gallon. I've read the manual several times. On our display it will only show the current MPG and the best previous MPG. I would really like to see the average/accumulated MPG. Our old 2016 Sienna would show that. Any help?
Ok, same as the limited. So I just learned something playing with ours. It seems that the “current” is the average mileage since the last time it was reset. And “previous best” is basically the average from the previous time. What it seems that it DOESN’T track is “average for the life of the car”. Ours had never been reset since we bought the van. So as of tonight after 43k miles ours said 32.3 for the “current” and 28.9 as the “previous best” (28.9 was from the 9 miles the van had when we bought it). On that screen I hit “update” and it moved the 32.3 into the “previous best” and cleared the “current” back to zero. So in summary, if you want to keep track of the average miles for the van over the life of the van, you need to note the average every time you reset it. If you reset it often, that would be pretty tedious. If you reset it once every 40k miles then it’s not too hard, so long as you jot it down. I just wrote it in the back of the manual. “43k=32.3mpg”. Hope that helps!
OK! Thanks. So Toyota has made it impossible to track total/average/accumulated MPG. I'm 67 years old. My father used to keep a log book to track accumulated MPG. So, I'm back to manual accounting. 🫤
@DadDoingStuff I just prefer the smoothness and power from a V6 and a traditional transmission to a CVT. I find 4cylinders with a CVT sound like a hairdryer and especially noisy when stressed even if they do have adequate power
It actually says that it doesn’t recommend towing with it at all, and to use extreme caution if you do tow. I would have no issues towing something small, maybe 1000lb or less with a trailer that has a very low tongue weight. But I really only use our hitch to carry bike racks.
Thanks for the review! We also purchased a Sienna it is our second Sienna but first Hybrid! We love it and are at 35+mp! We live in Idaho so lots of snow! It does fantastic! Have you towed anything or just used bike racks? Thanks PR
Hi Pat, thanks for taking time to watch and comment. To date, I’ve not towed with this hybrid van. My only intention with the hitch was to carry a bike rack. I didn’t even install a wiring harness. That said, this van is rated to tow somewhere around 3500 lbs. BUT, I personally wouldn’t tow anywhere near that weight with this van. The other thing to really consider would be the tongue weight of the trailer. If the trailer/load had a tongue weight of 300lbs, you wouldn’t want to be carrying any weight inside the back of the van. I took this on a bike trip with 4 other guys. We had an 80lb bike rack, plus 5 mt bikes, plus our gear all in the back and one dude in the 3rd row. That van was definitely over the weight limit. Airbags would have been really nice. If you were gonna tow something light, like maybe some kayaks, or really small utility trailer, that would be fine. Hope that helps!
I personally like it better than the gen 3, but I also liked the XSE trim front end the best (more than this Limited trim) but the XSE just didn’t have the options we wanted so we had to settle.
I’ve never tried to remove the middle row, although I know there is some info online about how to do that. As far as the space with the 3rd row folded, here’s what I’ll tell you. With nobody in second row, you can shove the middle row up pretty darn far and get a ton of space. Even with the second row occupied, you still have a decent amount of room. Where the Sienna shines in comparison to an SUV is in the height available back there. It has a ton of space floor to ceiling because the seats disappear into the floor. I’ll try to get out and get an actual measurement for you as well.
We haven’t yet come across a need for that. Although I’ve seen many folks that have commented or asked about that second row. Seems Toyota didn’t plan for or intend for it to be removed.
I could have gotten maybe another 1-2k out of them, but I was about to take a huge road trip and didn't want to hit the road with tires that old. Even 29k, compared to the Gen3 van is fantastic. The Gen3 would only get about 15-20k out of a set. The good news is that tire companies are pretty good about pro-rating their tires. So if I get 30k our of this current set, but they are rated for 60k, the tire shop will basically sell my next set at half price. I went though about 8 sets of tires on our Gen3 and never once paid full price for any of those tires.
I recommend getting regular tires. Do not worry about getting the run flat tires. They’re terrible and don’t last. Get a set of BF Goodrich trail terrains and they’ll take you anywhere. If you do not have a spare, then for really long trips buy a spare and put in on top of the Thule racks or what ever rack system you have. Yes it will cut down a mile or so on fuel economy. Run flats are a no go for me.
I completely agree Walter. That's exactly what we did on our Gen 3 Sienna. I used regular tires, then for long trips I just carried a full-sized spare in the back. Run-flats were horrible.
This whole cat stealing thing…..just heard something on the news about Toyota getting blamed for making their cats too easy to steal. Heaven forbid we put any responsibility on the actual people that are stealing them. Sorry you have to deal with that crap!
Its a given that there is blame not responsibility on those stealing them but manufacturers could help by designing cats to be a little more difficult to heist. Even more so if a particular maker is prefered over another because it's easy picking
Agree that should not be a paid subscription. Just add it to the remote. But lots of manufacturers are starting to do this. BMW has a subscription to use your heated seats that are already installed in your car. Literally a monthly subscription just to use a feature on your car that you already paid for as an upgrade! WTF?!?!
Using the fob, click the lock button 3x and hold it down on the third press. It takes a bit to get the timing of the three presses, but you can remote start that way without a sub.
Hybrids seem to get a lotta hate. I’m not sure why. The gas mileage is hard to deny. That said we are only a couple years into hybrid ownership so maybe something dramatic will happen. As of now, I, sold.
@@alexvaliansky7707 I’m an old man and just don’t want to take a chance on a hybrid. I can take my current vehicles anywhere to be worked on should they have problems. I figure the hybrid has to go to the Toyota dealer for service and the closest to me stink. We all have to make our own decisions and I’m happy with mine. Since getting retired my driving needs have also changed. Maybe if I was still young, had a commute that made sense for a hybrid I might have considered one. Good luck with whatever you get. I bought my last 2 new vehicles November/December. These will last myself and wife the rest of our lives.
