2011 Sienna vs. 2011 Flex

The bride wants a new used appliance. She's a little old lady & drives like one. The last car I bought her was a Chyrsler PT Cruiser GT. I should've got her the base model considering the way she drives. She wants a Sienna or a Flex. Both fit her needs & I'm not gonna argue with her or try to talke her into something more GRMish or funner or whatever. I've suggested a nice big used 3rd row seat old Roadmaster or big old Chebby wagon to no avail. Anyway it's Sienna vs. Flex. and automatic only. Her knees are older than the rest of her.

Well, if you can figure out a way to get into a used ecoboost flex you can run low 14s at the dragstrip when shes not looking. And then you can modify it!

If you have to pick between non turbos id pick the toyota. But really i dont think there is a bad choice here so it really comes down to her preference on styling and how comfortable it is for her particular body. Hard to guess towards what she might prefer if those are the only real conditions.

I've driven a couple Siennas as rentals. I liked it for what it was. Minivans despite the bad press are in many ways more useful and get better mileage than an SUV. I would have a mini van if I didn't have a full size van.

The Flex I do not know about except that it looks so much like a 10/8ths scale MINI (which in itself is a 10/8ths scale caricature of a Mini). My father-in-law looked at them for a while before giving up on them for being overpriced, not a lot on the lot, etc. Not sure if he ever even drove one after talking about them for a year. He bought a RAM instead. I sorta liked that Ford made the Flex since it didn't look like a typical SUV even if it does look like an overgrown version of an overgrown version of a true classic.

I don't really have any knowledge of either but I love the way the Flex looks.

Especially in this color for some reason:

I like the style of the Flex.
I know you were not asking for others but this is evolutionary... The Flex was proceeded by the Taurus X. In some ways, the Flex is a highly restyled Taurus X.
Some more reading here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Taurus_X
Started life as the Freestyle which should be avoided due to CVT trans issues. For '08 and '09 the CVT was dropped and the name changed to Taurus X. It was at this time the same 3.5L which later went into the Flex debuted.
I point this all out because there may be some big savings to be had compared to the Flex on this largely overlooked vehicle.

Sienna - Average price $24K Flex - Average price $29K Kia Sedona - Average price $19K

Tell your wife to drive a Sedona before she decides on one of the others. My wife bought hers new in 2004 and it's been pretty much trouble-free for us. I've driven a new one, and they're even better - less weight, more power, better steering, more comfortable. You could get a brand new one for less than the price of a used Sienna.

I hope I'm not the only one who read the title as "2011 Senna....."

find a Flex with the towing package. They have a 4500 pound rating, additional trans cooler, and prewired trailer plugs. Makes a nice alternate use then for yourself. We're looking at one of these as my wife's next vehicle so I can use it to tow the track car from time to time without having an additional vehicle around, and she happens to love the way they look anyways.

http://blogs.insideline.com/roadtests/2010/04/2009-ford-flex-limited-get-the-ecoboost-v6-for-towing.html

If you have questions about the EcoBoost engine, I can answer them. It's a pretty nice pacakge that gets good gas mileage- at least the ones I've had were quite good....