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| My review: 2016 Toyota Sienna; Rented one for the weekend | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 2 2016, 09:26 PM (555 Views) | |
| Bannedfonz | Apr 2 2016, 09:26 PM Post #1 |
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My wife and I were planning on taking a road trip/field trip with our 4 year old (5 in May) and decided to take the in laws with us. Of course that means a rental because 2 1/2 hours (one way) in a Camry with 4 adults and a car seat makes for a bad trip for everyone... So my local Toyota dealer rents vehicles now so I called them up and got a great weekend rate on a brand new Sienna mini van. Maybe someone will get use out of this review. Now I'm not a van guy by any means, we only have one kid and the Camry is great for our needs. This van is really cool. Drives great for something of that size. We got a 2016 SE version, in a really nice red/maroon color (with 2093 miles on the ODO) which was LOADED!!! Rear heat and air, rear Blu-ray/DVD player with wireless headphones, Bluetooth, GPS, on board computer for mpg info (average mpg, distance till empty, a bar graph that shows you your current mpg in real time), navigation, and radio display in between the gauges, sun roof, power everything (including doors and rear gate), third row seats, black leather heated seats, very sexy gunmetal grey 19" rims , 3.5L V6, and probably some things that I can't remember off hand. Ok, so I put about 400 miles on it round trip on probably one of the windiest days we have had in a long time. Gusts up to 45 mph or so. After driving the Camry for about 6 years now and the Geo for a year, the van is in the middle as far as the wind is concerned. The Geo obviously is too light and gets blown around everywhere, but the van is almost there to. Not as light but with the side profile it has, you can definitely feel the effects of a breezy day. Now I know that most of you will be asking about the MPG so this part is for you. This SE has a 3.5L V6 and is estimated to have 18 city and 25 hwy. I will say I don't drive for FE, but I was easy on this van and did not drive it like I stole it... I averaged 23.4 mpg on the way down. It was a little cooler out (mid 50's) and not much headwind, mainly cross winds, highway speeds between 55 and 70 most of the way. On the way back, with warmer weather (mid 60's) and a lot more headwind, my average dropped to 22.4 with just a little more city driving. I did stop for gas even though it said I had 94 miles till empty and only 54 to go till I got home. Put almost 11 gal of gas in from a quarter tank ($20) to fill it up. On the negative side (mainly little things), the pedals felt a little far forward for me (5' 9") and I had to move my seat up to reach them and had to adjust the steering wheel a few times to get it feeling right. The push button start and lack of needing a key is new to me and I always feel like I'm forgetting something, which sometimes means I left the car in accessory mode and can't lock the doors and spend 10 minutes trying to figure out why they won't lock. The GPS lady talks through the speakers, which is cool the first time or two but she will randomly tell you to continue on your current rout, almost like she is listening to you when you make the comment about going off course, and as far as I can tell, there is no way to shut her up! She sounds very nice though and doesn't get annoyed with you when you miss your turn or make a left instead of a right just to annoy her... Some sort of little wedge window in front of the side mirrors, about the size of the side mirror interior panels on the Metro, would be a real pain to clean. GPS layout was a little quirky at times but nothing too major. The huge black dash and some sun makes for a really warm vehicle, even when it's only 60 outside. All in all it was a great driving van with tons of goodies to keep you busy. Rides really nice and was really quiet for the size. The black leather with white stitching seats were comfy and solid for the 2 1/2 hour trip one way. The power doors were really cool to and a huge hit with my 4 year old (and wife)... Plenty of get up and go with the V6 (200hp) , played with it a bit after I dropped the in laws off at their house :thumb. It's been a long day so I'm stopping here. Maybe someone will get some use out of this, either way, it was fun to share the good times with the guys and gals here. |
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| Silver2K | Apr 2 2016, 09:35 PM Post #2 |
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Thanks for the review. My sister just bought a Sienna. She used to drive a SUV but she said she needed more room. She gets stuck driving the extended family around. |
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| mt999999 | Apr 3 2016, 07:14 AM Post #3 |
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Self-Declared "Genious"
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My mom has a loaded Maroon 2009 Toyota Sienna minivan. While it ran well, and came with heated seats, GPS, all the things everyone loves, it's toast now. Something went in the engine, at least one of the cylinders has very low compression, and it only drives up to 25 MPH now with a horrible rattling noise. She hit a deer a few months prior and wrecked the drivers fender, door, and headlight. No more warranty on the engine, so she's totally screwed with a $15,000 (loan) hunk of scrap metal. Not to be a downer, just not sure how well most of these cars hold up over the long term. Edit: Mechanic said it would be around $5k to repair the engine, and he would charge at least $2,400 just to take off the head! She was driving my HHR until I dumped it. Couldn't convince her to take the HHR, now she's car-less again.
Edited by mt999999, Apr 3 2016, 07:17 AM.
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| ZXTjato | Apr 3 2016, 07:43 AM Post #4 |
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bass heads
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the seienna would make a great sleeper with a bi turbo set up, the AWD sienna is what i would be after. the square ultra fold flat seats are pretty ballin so you could even move big stuff with it. mini vans are to me like a giant hatch back, way more usefull than an SUV |
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| 68custom | Apr 3 2016, 09:08 AM Post #5 |
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so did your mom keep up on the maintenance? Toyota's are usually pretty durable. bought new or used? |
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| mt999999 | Apr 3 2016, 09:25 AM Post #6 |
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Self-Declared "Genious"
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She bought it used a couple of years ago. Always changed the oil, only 130,000 miles. I say only, because I was under the impression that Toyotas were durable as well. I wouldn't buy one unless it was a 90's Corolla/Prizm, because those seem pretty indestructible. I've seen a few driving around town. One has blue smoke from the valves pouring out of the exhaust, but it has well over 300,000 miles on it. |
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| Bannedfonz | Apr 3 2016, 12:15 PM Post #7 |
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Our '07 Camry is a great little car. It is the LE, not the V6 version . Pretty quick for a 4 cyl though and has been a great problem free car for the almost 50,000 miles we have put on it since we bought it.Just a small update. After church this morning, I started getting our stuff out and putting things back into place for the return to the dealer in the morning. I found the window sticker from the dealer in the glove box. I have to update my price from earlier... The total price, not including tax is $40,975... WOW! This van is nice and all, and I would love to have one, even a few years old would be good with me, but at $40,000, thats more than half the cost of our house! Even though they will probably sell this van in a year or so with less than 10,000 miles, I can't imagine it would be a great deal either way. Maybe save a few thousand off sticker but my god how things have gotten expensive... |
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| Car Nut | Apr 3 2016, 01:56 PM Post #8 |
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Nice review of a great vehicle. Average transaction cost of new cars as of August 2015- $33,543 according to Kelly Blue Book. http://mediaroom.kbb.com/new-car-transaction-prices-jump-august-2015 |
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| Bannedfonz | Apr 3 2016, 07:24 PM Post #9 |
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It's just crazy the amount of money people spend on vehicles. We bought our Camry used and had some carry over from my Scion TC that I had and paid just over $13,000 out the door. That felt like too much to me... I can't imagine spending triple that or more on a vehicle. Especially with the maintenance costs and such over time. To each their own I guess... |
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| Silver2K | Apr 3 2016, 07:44 PM Post #10 |
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I've never bought a new car for myself. The Toyotas require very little maintenance. My sisters 2010 Camry just needs oil changes every 5K miles until the car hits 120K miles. Compare this with the my sisters ex Taurus. Coolant every 30K miles. Water pump & fuel pump dead by 50K miles. Engine code at least once a year for one thing or another. |
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| Car Nut | Apr 3 2016, 08:04 PM Post #11 |
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My first house only cost $34,000 in 1980. |
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| cwatkin | Apr 3 2016, 08:29 PM Post #12 |
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Toyota makes a good car overall. There were a few duds with oil consumption and sludge issues but I wonder if the one that blew up had poor maintenance or had been run really hard in the past. It shouldn't have died like that at 130,000 miles. Do you know if it was a rental or anything? What did the mechanic quote you as being the issue? Conor |
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| mt999999 | Apr 3 2016, 08:50 PM Post #13 |
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Self-Declared "Genious"
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Not sure it was a rental or not, but it was in nice shape when we got it, and we took care of it. The mechanic didn't talk to me, he only talked to my mom because I wasn't there. And I got my mom's interpretation of it, so it's likely pretty watered-down at this point... ![]() The mechanic said that there is very low compression on number 4, and that's the only real information I got out of it. I test drove it to keep the battery charged a few weeks ago, and it runs like total crap. I could barely get to 25 mph with high (~4k) RPM's in 2nd gear. It was rattling the whole time, and the idle would dip below .5 when stopped. I had to rev. it at stop lights because I was afraid it would die. $2,400 in labor to take off the head is insane if you ask me! If I were there, I'd have told him that I'll spend a couple of hours to get the head off and put it in a bag in the trunk to save $2,400... yikes! I think it might be cheaper to drop a used engine into it. It still needs a replacement front bumper, drivers fender, and drivers door afterward, however. Damn deer...
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| cwatkin | Apr 3 2016, 09:14 PM Post #14 |
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http://www.autozone.com/powertrain/engine/toyota/sienna-2wd/2009/6-cylinders-k-3-5l-efi-dohc?filterByKeyWord=engine&fromString=search I would suggest getting a reman engine for the price you were quoted. You might check other parts stores but they will all probably be within $100 of each other. There are some nice coupons out at tax time so look online for these. It might be $250-500 off an engine. You might get a second opinion but I think if it comes back much the same, I would just replace the entire engine. How about putting a scope down the spark plug hole and at least looking at the cylinder??? This doesn't require the removal of the head. DEFINITELY get a second opinion! It sounds like this guy doesn't want this job or something. I always quote high prices on computer jobs where I can tell the person is trouble to run them off. Maybe he doesn't like working on minivans. I hear they are a pain when it comes to accessing certain things. Laptop computers are the same way so most around here won't touch them while I will. Anyway, I know someone who purchased a used Ford Explorer that had been a rental. It only had about 15-20k on it and he got a good deal on it with it being a rental and all. He was just taking at easy drive down the main drag when it started clattering and lost almost all power. He happened to be like a mile from the Ford dealer it came from so drove it to their lot. When they went to start it, it wouldn't start so was towed into the service bay. The engine had dropped a valve which trashed the engine so he got a new engine under warranty. We all suspect that it had been run hard and put up wet as a rental and that something was ready to let go when he got it. Either way, he got a new engine for free and was quite happy with the deal. Conor |
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Welcome to the all new Geo Metro Forum. We hope you enjoy your visit.

, 3.5L V6, and probably some things that I can't remember off hand.
, played with it a bit after I dropped the in laws off at their house :thumb.



She was driving my HHR until I dumped it. Couldn't convince her to take the HHR, now she's car-less again.
. Pretty quick for a 4 cyl though and has been a great problem free car for the almost 50,000 miles we have put on it since we bought it.


7:11 PM Jul 10