2011 Toyota Sienna consumer reviews

Less gas mileage than expected. The fan motor for the a/c is outrageous loud and little out put. I expected better quality for the price I paid. Everything is cheap, cheap plastic. I don't play the radio because it has a tinny sound. On a positive note it does have plenty of cup holders.

excellent drive,handling,comfort and luxury from the leather to the navigation to the entertainment system.We have had it for over 3 months now and so far we are impressed. We have owned a 2000 sienna XLE for over 10 years and Toyota keeps on making them better. Lot of space especially the 3ed row with easy access.

I am a mother of four. I am in my mid 20's and I was looking for a stylish car. This car is the best and it is the only van out there with 4 wheel drive. I traded in my Ford explorer that had problems from the get go and I have never looked back. Now all of my friend's have one. But I had mine first.

We bought a 2011 Totota Sienna XLE AWD with the premium package and it has turned out to be a much better vehicle than I anticipated. We had considered buying the previous generation Sienna but we are very glad that we waited. The two problems that I had with the previous generation - mushy handling and uncomfortable, blocky seats have been fixed in the new generation and many other enhancements have increased the van's level of space, comfort and style. Let's start with the handling. This van handles better than any minivan that I have driven (including the Honda Odyssey). It has just the right mix of road feel and ride comfort. The ride is quiet, smooth and composed, but never mushy like the previous generation. Combined with new, supportive, superior seats, it was very comfortable on a long roadtrip from Colorado to South Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore. The second noticable improvement in the new generation is the much improved appearance of both the exterior and the interior. I was never in love with the styling of the previous generation but the new van is much more attractive on the outside and Toyota has markedly improved the styling of the interior. It has the appearance of a nice luxury car on the inside. As a Colorado resident, I made many trips up to the mountains this year and found that the all wheel drive system, stability control and antilock brakes functioned very confidently in terrible, icy mountain road conditions. The brakes were the biggest surprise. With vented front disc brakes in front and disc brakes in back, this Van stops very quickly in any conditions. It feels more like a sports sedan than a minivan. The other really impressive feature is the navi/bluetooth/entertainment system found on the premium package. With a huge tv screen capable of showing two different movies at once, there is no fighting from the kids about what movie to watch. In fact, we mostly have complete, peaceful silence from the back. I seem to find another useful feature every day in the bluetooth/navi system and suffice it to say that it has tremendous capabilities and enough useful features to keep a techie like me very happy. I am much happier with the purchase of this van than I thought that I would be. If you have a large family or regularly transport 5-7 people as we do, I cannot think of a better vehicle. This van beats any sport utility hands down. It has more interior room than any sport utility on the market and provides better safety, handling, ride quality, comfort, space and features than you will ever find in an SUV at a better price. Oh - and with far superior gas mileage.

We wanted something to haul 2 adults with a carseat, occasionally up to 5 adults, in reasonable comfort. We also have a stroller with big wheels (the jogging kind) that we wanted to throw in the back even when all the seats are taken. The only 3-row SUV/Crossover we were willing to consider was the Mazda CX-9. Unfortunately, the hatch couldn't close with our stroller in it if we kept the seatbacks all up. Incidentally, the dealer was a jerk to boot. So we went down the street to the Toyota dealer just to take a test drive (no incentives were available on the 2011, and almost no 2010's are left over). We were sold. The 2011 Sienna can be had with AWD, dual sliding moonroof, and keyless access ("Smart Key"), which made the choice very easy for us (AWD in New England is cool to have). Driving it is surprisingly pleasant. It has nice weight to the steering (unlike most Toyota or Lexus products, which I would compare to stirring cake batter that was too watery). I didn't get the 5-second delay to steering input that I expected (like in many Lexus products or any pre-1990's big American cars, for example) either. It's obviously huge and not a sports car, but there still is obviously a good effort on Toyota's part to tighten things up. The ride is surprising too, in that it is less floaty (I wouldn't go as far as calling it firm) and more controlled than I expected. The transmission I think is poorly fitted to the car. Either it needs to lose some weight, get some more torque, or keep the 5-speed. Go up any slight incline/hill and the transmission has to downshift. I have not yet felt the "gear-hunting" that some have complained about, but it's still kind of annoying. And, as much as I love spirited driving, adding manual-shift is stupid. Kids will vomit and dogs will barf if you use it to keep the revs up; the in-laws will scream if they hear the engine above 5k revs. The automatic's obsession to shift into 6th ASAP suits me just fine because I have yet to see better than 21 mpg. The Smart Key works quite well. Unlike our G37, which requires you to push a little bitty button on the handle, the Sienna will unlock as soon as you put your hand around the door handle -- any of the 4! Locking happens after a gentle tap of the front area of either front door handles. I don't regularly haul anything that big, but even with the 3rd row up, you can fit a LOT of stuff back there (I can toss our big-wheeled stroller back there even with the smaller bench folded down). You can't get the power folding 3rd row if you get AWD (which I read is slow to fold anyway). With the 3rd row folded, you can put some really big stuff back there (bought a small table yesterday and the box sat flat in the back easily). The second row is supposedly hard to remove, but I have yet to foresee myself needing to do that. One minor gripe -- you have to get a good hold on the 2nd row seat to slide it, while holding the lever with the other hand. It's heavier than it needs to be. BTW, the "stars" I gave the Sienna are relative to what I think a minivan, and a Toyota, should (or could) be. Otherwise "Performance" and "Handling" would max out at 2 stars, for example.

I have been quite impressed with nearly every aspect on the new Toyota Sienna thus far. There are so many features I never thought I'd need that I now can't do without.

The closest is the upcoming Honda Oddy...and looks like they copied the Sienna...No other is even close.