The minivan war is over and the winner is

[lucke]

The minivan war is over and the clear winner is the Toyota Sienna 2011. It is amazing how Chrysler could not build a better minivan and how Toyota build a lot better minivan than any one else including Honda.

Before my Sienna I have a Town and Country 2008 and I have too many problems with it like: Sliding doors not closing and at 15,000 miles a new transmission well it was not new it was a remanufactured one.

Comparing the sienna with the town and contry is like comparing a Rolls Royce to a Volkswagen car it dives very good and the design is amazing.

[Snobike Mike]

The honda may be ugly on the outside but as a contender it's nothing to sneaze at.

[qest t. silverclaw]

Actually, the VW Phaeton compares very well with a Rolls-Royce.

Jeremy Clarkson's awesome Top Gear Review:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pP-1jzh_yU

[derek234]

The sienna the winner Really And which articles are you reading ? The sienna is a good minivan, but with improvements to the Honda and a New Dodge Grand Caravan coming out with a whopping 282 hp motor in it and a new Nissan Quest coming out, I just don't see how you jumped to the conclusion that the sienna is the winner. I test drove the sienna twice now in the last 2 months and the interior is the WORST of the bunch, so calling it a winner, you must be basing this entirely on outside appearance, which I agree is very nice and the nicest of the bunch.

[lucke]

I would compare the VW Phaeton to a Mercedes Benz S or BMW 7 series not to a Rolls Royce.

In almost any review I have read they say the best minivan right now is the sienna, and when you drive one daily you could not say other thing about it.

Also after having a 2008 town and country limited for 3 years I can clearly say that the Sienna is the best minivan out there.

THANKS TOYOTA FOR BUILDING SUCH A GREAT MINIVAN.

[derek234]

your comparing a 2011 van to a 2008 van. So far I'm hearing a lot of complaints about the heating system in the Sienna. As well, the interior of the van and all its hard plastics is horrendous.

[nicolasj]

The sienna the winner Really And which articles are you reading ? The sienna is a good minivan, but with improvements to the Honda and a New Dodge Grand Caravan coming out with a whopping 282 hp motor in it and a new Nissan Quest coming out, I just don't see how you jumped to the conclusion that the sienna is the winner. I test drove the sienna twice now in the last 2 months and the interior is the WORST of the bunch, so calling it a winner, you must be basing this entirely on outside appearance, which I agree is very nice and the nicest of the bunch.

The interior of a minivan, especially, is not all about materials if that's what you are referring to when you say 'worst interior'. What about confort, functionality and quietness? In that regard the Sienna fares very well. For instance, you can move the second row seats back and you don't lose the inner armrest on these when you remove the center seat. And the driver seat is not narrow as in the new Honda.

When I want materials 'soft to the touch' and all that BS auto magazines are brainwashing people with, I drive my M45 :o)

Also and by far, the Sienna has the most technology. For me that was the deciding point. The Odyssey is an overpriced vehicle with almost nothing more than the classic stuff like NAV and RES. Typical Honda - they are so far behind Toyota in terms of technology, at least for the vehicles they sell in the US, it's not even funny. I have owned a lot of Hondas but I'm done with them (still own an Accord, however). Auto up down windows and cruise control are what Honda calls technology, not me. The Sienna has smart key, telematics, radar cruise, AWD, (n/a with radar cruise, unfortunately) rain-sensing wipers, dimming inside and outside mirrors, auto high beams, manual option for the 6-speed, etc., etc. Personally I'll take the convenience of smart key over soft plastics ANY DAY!

As far as the Grand Caravan's 282 hp... Who cares. How much does it weight? Maybe it's a f... tank and it needs a whole lot more than 282 hp to move forward. Power mentioned alone does not mean anything.

[meridian]

The sienna the winner Really And which articles are you reading ? The sienna is a good minivan, but with improvements to the Honda and a New Dodge Grand Caravan coming out with a whopping 282 hp motor in it and a new Nissan Quest coming out, I just don't see how you jumped to the conclusion that the sienna is the winner. I test drove the sienna twice now in the last 2 months and the interior is the WORST of the bunch, so calling it a winner, you must be basing this entirely on outside appearance, which I agree is very nice and the nicest of the bunch.

I think the Sienna pretty much came out on top in many publications including the New York Times, One thing I know for sure is that the Chrysler vans new or old are not even in contention. The Sienna has it's negs but most reviews I've read say Odyssey's road noise is prominent and the steering is even more alienating than Siennas which was deemed very light. All reviews make note that Sienna has the most variable options packages and of couse is the only one with AWD.

[Snobike Mike]

your comparing a 2011 van to a 2008 van. So far I'm hearing a lot of complaints about the heating system in the Sienna. As well, the interior of the van and all its hard plastics is horrendous.

Virtually every hard surface in the van is not a place you would touch in normal ownership/operation so that argument is pretty much moot.

[alecshawn]

I liked the "look" of the 2011 Odyssey interior better than the new Sienna, but the exterior wasnt even close, The Sienna just plain looks better.
And, considering the Odyssey did and some will say still DOES have tranny issues....We chose the Sienna. I like Hondas and will probably get a Civic in the near future....but as for minivans..Toyota won my heart.
I have no complaints. Is the interior high end soft to the tough? Maybe not, but i guess i dont see what that matters, i dont touch much other than the steering wheel and the radio/air cond/heat controls.
The look of the interior is actually almost as nice as the Odyssey (yes the interior of the oddy is top notch) but overall....the Sienna does clearly win in my book.
And, most important...the RELIABILITY of the Toyota sienna has a history of being better than the Oddy.

[lucke]

I am comparing a 5th generation Chrysler Minivan ( 2008-2010 all have the same technology ) with the Toyota Sienna new generation.

The engine from my Chrysler 5th generation was very powerful and the new one from the Chrysler minivan 2011 will have over 280HP, the main problem I see with this powerful engines is that the Chrysler transmissions are not build to handle all that power, I am sure that exactly this was the problem with my old Chrysler minivan that could not handle all that power.

The Chrysler minivan 2011 will use a new pentastar engine with over 280HP but they will use the same transmission as the year 2008-2010 minivans, I bet that a lot of Chrysler minivans will have issues with the transmission.

Do you know that Chrysler is investing millions of dollars to build a new transmission? I bet they know they have big transmission issues and because of that the new CEO decided to fix the big problems with Chrysler.

After having Chrysler minivans for 10 years I am done with that company and I am very glad that a company like Toyota understands what a family needs in a minivan and the top feature is reliability.

[Snobike Mike]

If the Chrysler has more power than the Sienna and that makes it the clear winner, the the Sienna is a clear winner over the Honda because it too has more power.

In the end the Chrysler is still a Chrysler and I wouldn't buy it because they are junk.

[derek234]

snobike when I read your comments I laughed. You state that the hard plastics are nowhere where you touch. I sat in in 2 siennas and the hard plastics are everywhere to the touch. The entire door on the driver's side is hard plastics so how can you not touch them Do you drive with your left arm up in the air ?

[nicolasj]

snobike when I read your comments I laughed. You state that the hard plastics are nowhere where you touch. I sat in in 2 siennas and the hard plastics are everywhere to the touch. The entire door on the driver's side is hard plastics so how can you not touch them Do you drive with your left arm up in the air ?

You can also rest your arm on the armrest, as it's supposed to be. It's not hard at all. I think some people just can't get past the hard plastics, to each his own. It is absolutely true the plastics in the Sienna are hard but to me that was never an issue, maybe because it's a minivan and I really don't care. I do care about functionality and features, however, and the Sienna has (almost) all the goods in these departments.

[Snobike Mike]

snobike when I read your comments I laughed. You state that the hard plastics are nowhere where you touch. I sat in in 2 siennas and the hard plastics are everywhere to the touch. The entire door on the driver's side is hard plastics so how can you not touch them Do you drive with your left arm up in the air ?

Huh?

The armrest has a padded leather spot where you rest your arm and on the side of the door. If you're talking about the top of the door at the bottom of the window, that's not a place to put your arm, or if you drive with your arm on the door when the window is open then I'm not sure how it's supposed to be soft (metal and glass are not soft).

Not sure what you're talking about but the primary place that people complain about the "hard" plastic is on the dash. I never touch our dash, so if it is soft or hard I really don't care.