2018 Toyota Sienna SE

I spent HOURS lobbying the Toyota marketing guys at One Lap. I tried to convince them that an inch lower, slightly rumbly exhaust, slightly bigger brakes with painted calipers, maybe bigger sway bars, and the same stripe the put on the One Lap van and they'd have a winner. They admitted that they could do it with parts they already had. They said they'd see about getting it done. I'm still waiting. The upside is that there are a TON of people at Toyota that really do get it, cool guys (and girls) but unfortunately they can't quite get the products to the showroom.

Sometimes I really hate you guys...  as this thread has me pondering an upgrade to my current GC. I had no idea this trim package existed.  The downside of this van is the no-haggle Car Max price is at least $2000 higher than Edmunds thinks it's worth. Ouch.

markwemple said:

Just wondering if those insulting the chassis on the Sienna, did you ever try driving all the available vans? We did! The Toyota does not "feel" out dated in comparison. In fact, it's better than all except the 2018 Honda. And, it compares well to the 2018 Honda. It has the best build quality, by far!

Admittedly, the last Sienna I drove was a (very well equipped) pre-facelift version when new, but it had the most vague steering of any vehicle I have ever driven.  While weighty enough, it felt felt totally additional. Almost like there was no direct connection between the steering wheel and the front wheels.  I wasn't even sure there was a direct relationship between the steering wheel angle and the steered angle.  Honestly, it was borderline frightening to drive.  Sure it rode fine, but was certainly nothing special in comparison to the newer competition either.  At best it might have been a little better damped than the Kia, which is a bit floaty.

As previously noted by Ian F though, we weren't buying a minivan for it's driving dynamics...Or looks for that matter.  Functional interior volume is far and away our primary reason for buying a minivan.  When I say the Sienna felt outdated, I wasn't even talking about the ride and handling.  Five minutes crawling around in the latest and 'greatest' Sienna in the dealership showroom made it instantly apparent that it was lacking in function, form, fit, and finish compared to its more modern competitors.  Even if the one I drove a few years ago was a fluke, or they put in a whole new steering system at the facelift, we had zero need to drive it.  Nothing about the interior functionality came close to matching what we had experienced with any of the other three competitors

OF course, yes there is the "swagger wagon" SE trim, which gives you a sportier appearance and a sportier (rougher) feeling ride...In exchange for exactly zero measurable performance advantage from what I've seen.  Which seems counterproductive for a utilitarian vehicle in my opinion, but if that's what somebody needs to make feel better about driving a minivan, then by all means go for it.  Now a genuine performance upgraded variant might have been somewhat more interesting, but I just don't get that from the SE.

Well, clearly this can only be settled at a Time Trial.  GRM?  

Jaynen said:

My biggest issue with our 2010 Odyssey that just went over 100k is that I feel like I wish I could just switch manually on or off "eco" mode because it is not very smooth when it deactivates cylinders

highly suggest getting the "vcm muzzler" or something similar.  The VCM only get's worse over time.  I just traded our 2010 odyssey in on a lexus gx460 because the cam was making noises due to vcm at 186,000.