[PJ]

today I drove my first 08 in our search for a pre owned Sienna. It was very rough - like we were riding on pebbly asphalt. Will try another at another dealer tomorrow - but curious if this is 'normal' - our old Previa is a very smooth drive. Would not buy such a rough ride, this dealer had not done the check over of the car, it came straight from the auction so maybe it was an alignment problem. It's an ex-rental, 46,000 miles.

Another question is whether the "Toyota certified" extended warranty is worth the extra price hike on dealership pre-owned over non-dealership dealers.

thanks for any replies concerning this.

PJ

 

[mr2man85]

Hi, I think you test drove a Sienna with bad tires. My 2004 Sienna LE has one of the smoothest rides. I use Michelin tires and keep them rotated at 5k intervals. I'm sorry that your first test drive in a Sienna wasn't a good one. Trust me, you will love the Sienna. I purchased the factory extended warranty and I'm glad I did. One of my door lock motors quit working on a sliding door and it would have cost over $600 to replace. Extended warranty covered it completely. Good luck finding a good used Sienna.

 

[topspy]

Ride quality will of course vary and depend upon the condition and model of tires, inflation pressure, road surface, your speed, and condition of other suspension components. Sometimes an improperly balanced wheel or two will also give an unpleasant ride. Mis-alignment generally usually only affects the way the car tracks and steers...and how the tires wear....but could lead to some bumpy situations.

There are some portions of freeway in my area that "look" smooth, but with the combination of various factors present in my Sienna, I get a less-than-ideal ride every time we travel over those stretches. Other areas are much smoother. [spymom] always thinks there's something wrong with the car or the tires when she goes over those areas....in her Lexus ES-330 too.....makes me "crazy" trying to reassure her that it is "just the road". You really have to try an extensive test drive over many different roads and surfaces at varying speeds to get an accurate feel for how the car behaves as far as ride-quality.

Yeah....you may have just gotten a Sienna with "bad tires" or "bad suspension"....or experienced rough road surfaces.

YMMV.
Good Luck!! 8)

 

[robo5]

I am with the others. Thinking it was bad wear on the tires(cupping?) Driving on bad tires can make it feel like you are driving the biggest POS out there. My old '95 previa had OK ride and it was in good shape. My '04 is a dream to drive and it has some big miles on it. I am thinking as it was a rental the lack of rotating the tires was to blame.

Most people drive a rental a little harder than if it was their own.

 

[sienna]

robo5, your 04 was run into the ground when you bought it...... you must have rebuilt it

 

[robaer]

Ah Yes... The best off road vehicles are not 4x4's but any flavour of rental car.

 

[allenfsanchez]

I have an 09 limited with 102k miles and yes it rides very rough, suspension is fine, I was riding on etopia tires and now that I got Michelin defenders the ride is even rougher over potholes and the like, maybe I can take some air out of the tires, these ones are running on Nitrogen since they're Costco tires, not sure if that makes a difference, nothing is rattling it just makes a ton of noise when it hits an imperfection in the road, I'm used to luxury vehicles with air suspension