Toyota Sienna: Our First Impressions

We are in the market for a new car. The poor SUV we bought 10 years ago now is on it’s last legs.

This post is sponsored by Toyota and Toyota Sienna provided for 3-month test drive.

That’s why I am excited about the Toyota Sienna and to see how this 7 passenger mini-van fits into our family.

We’ve had the Sienna for a few weeks now and we’ve all fallen in love. It rides smoothly and the seats are incredibly comfortable. Even during recent long road trip we were happy to ride in comfort and style. There are so many fantastic features of the Sienna that we picked a few here to showcase in our first post. I’ll be writing a series of posts over the next couple of months highlighting the many other wonderful features as well.

First up is the Dual Powered Sliding Doors.

How many times have you pulled into a crowded parking lot with the kids and just as you were getting out, the back doors go flying open and nearly slam into the car next to you? No matter how many times we’ve told Kora & Logan to be careful when they open the doors and to do so slowly, they need a bit of work on judging distance. They are actually very good and don’t fly out of the backseat of our other vehicle any more but even in slow motion there’s been too many close calls.

That’s why the Dual Powered Sliding Doors are fantastic. Those close calls are no longer a worry. Another benefit of these doors is that when you come out of the store and see that someone has pulled in close to you, you can simply have everyone pile in on the other side.

Logan took some time after his recent flag football game to make a short video showing how easy they are to use:

I also like that you can open and close the doors through many different methods. To get in you can simply give the handle a tug when the electronic key is near the car. You can then shut the doors by giving a little pull on the inside handle or you can push the button once inside or after everyone has hopped out.

You can also open and shut them with the push of a button on the remote or with buttons up front. I was happy to learn that there are safety measure in place with the doors and that if they sense anything in the way mid-closure, they will stop and open back up.

The Dual Powered Sliding Doors are a big fun, fantastic feature that we love of this vehicle but there are little things that show they really put a lot of thought into the design of this minivan. One example is the sunshades that available for every window in the 2nd and 3rd rows. How often have you gone on a family road trip and have had one child in the back have the sun beating down on them for ages? It can make for a miserable experience that could even lead to road sickness.

The Sienna has a simple and impressive resolution to this problem. Personalized sunshades that are easy to pull up or put down. Kora & Logan love these and have found they make traveling so much more comfortable. Here’s Logan again showing how easy they are to use:

Isn’t that a great idea? I also love how neatly they tuck away providing a very clean line and look to the interior.

As I mentioned above, I’ll be sharing more of our favorite features in a series of posts over the next few months. These are just two that we found impressive, there are many more to showcase including:

• Conversation Mirror
• 2nd Row Lounge Seating (captain’s chairs that actually recline)
• Blind Spot Monitor with Rear Cross-Traffic Alert
• Rear Camera with Backup Guides
• Independently Powered Dual Sliding Moonroofs
• Dual-View Entertainment Center
• Entune Multimedia System with Entune App Suite
• Three-Zone Automatic Climate Control
• …and more.

There is so much to say about the Toyota Sienna that I’m excite to share the features listed above and more in the upcoming posts. If you have any questions about the Sienna please leave the below. I’ll be happy to take a look and do my best to answer them in the coming months.

What about you? What features do you look for when car shopping?