So, I am shopping for a Sienna, to replace our 2020 Corolla Hybrid. I hate to lose the 50+ mpg fuel economy of the Corolla, but we now have a 240 pound power wheelchair that has to go with us most places, and there's no way to carry it in the Corolla. My 2023 Rav4 Prime can carry this wheelchair, but not in one piece: it has to be disassembled into 4 separate pieces to get it through the rear hatch, and the loading ramp has to be carried on the roof rack, where it is too easy a target for someone to steal.
So, the most viable solution is a minivan. There are only 4 models left in the US market - the Sienna, the Odyssey, the Carnival, and the Pacifica, and the Sienna is by all accounts the best of them. The Odyssey is a non-Hybrid V6 and gets terrible fuel economy. The build quality of the Pacifica is abysmal, and the Carnival has a brand-new powertrain for 2025, which means there's no history as to how reliable it is (or isn't), and that leaves the Sienna. My 2023 Rav4 Prime has the same engine and transaxle as the Sienna, so I'm familiar with it and the A25A-FXS engine has a good reliability record. People complain that it's noisy, but what they don't usually mention is that they're driving 80 mph. Of course the engine is going to be noisy at that speed, it's turning 3,000+ rpm at 80 mph. At 55 mph, which is the speed I cruise at, my Rav4 Prime engine is turning about 1600 rpm and is virtually silent.
So my dilemma has to do with the Sienna's trim packages. I need the middle row seats to slide back far enough that we can get the wheelchair through the side door and stow it on the floor between the front and middle seats. The seat tracks on the LE are 15" long. On the higher trims (XLE and above), the tracks are 25" long, and the seats slide back far enough to completely clear the side doorway. On the LE, the seats do not slide back far enough to completely clear the doorway, and it looks like the available floor space on the LE would be less than the 27" minimum needed to hold the chair. So it looks like I need the XLE to get the 25" seat tracks, but the XLE comes standard with a glass roof. That's a total deal-breaker for me: I do not buy cars with glass roofs; we live in a city with extremely hot summer weather, and the last thing I want in a car is a glass roof lettiing in even more heat than the windshield and windows already provide. Also, in my experience, sun roofs and moon roofs on cars inevitably start leaking rainwater after 5 or 6 years, when the seals dry out and crack, and when the mechanism that opens and closes them goes bad, that's a $2500 minimum repair bill. Also, the XLE is $5,000 more than the LE, and I don't feel that you get $5K worth of extra functionality.
So that's my dilemma. I need the 25" seat tracks to accomodate the wheelchair, but I'll have to pay $5,000 more for the vehicle to get them, and I'll be forced to accept a feature that I absolutely don't want, i.e. the glass roof. The only compromise I can see is to get an LE and completely remove the middle seats, and I really don't have room to store them outside of the vehicle.
So, the most viable solution is a minivan. There are only 4 models left in the US market - the Sienna, the Odyssey, the Carnival, and the Pacifica, and the Sienna is by all accounts the best of them. The Odyssey is a non-Hybrid V6 and gets terrible fuel economy. The build quality of the Pacifica is abysmal, and the Carnival has a brand-new powertrain for 2025, which means there's no history as to how reliable it is (or isn't), and that leaves the Sienna. My 2023 Rav4 Prime has the same engine and transaxle as the Sienna, so I'm familiar with it and the A25A-FXS engine has a good reliability record. People complain that it's noisy, but what they don't usually mention is that they're driving 80 mph. Of course the engine is going to be noisy at that speed, it's turning 3,000+ rpm at 80 mph. At 55 mph, which is the speed I cruise at, my Rav4 Prime engine is turning about 1600 rpm and is virtually silent.
So my dilemma has to do with the Sienna's trim packages. I need the middle row seats to slide back far enough that we can get the wheelchair through the side door and stow it on the floor between the front and middle seats. The seat tracks on the LE are 15" long. On the higher trims (XLE and above), the tracks are 25" long, and the seats slide back far enough to completely clear the side doorway. On the LE, the seats do not slide back far enough to completely clear the doorway, and it looks like the available floor space on the LE would be less than the 27" minimum needed to hold the chair. So it looks like I need the XLE to get the 25" seat tracks, but the XLE comes standard with a glass roof. That's a total deal-breaker for me: I do not buy cars with glass roofs; we live in a city with extremely hot summer weather, and the last thing I want in a car is a glass roof lettiing in even more heat than the windshield and windows already provide. Also, in my experience, sun roofs and moon roofs on cars inevitably start leaking rainwater after 5 or 6 years, when the seals dry out and crack, and when the mechanism that opens and closes them goes bad, that's a $2500 minimum repair bill. Also, the XLE is $5,000 more than the LE, and I don't feel that you get $5K worth of extra functionality.
So that's my dilemma. I need the 25" seat tracks to accomodate the wheelchair, but I'll have to pay $5,000 more for the vehicle to get them, and I'll be forced to accept a feature that I absolutely don't want, i.e. the glass roof. The only compromise I can see is to get an LE and completely remove the middle seats, and I really don't have room to store them outside of the vehicle.
