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UPDATE: Ford Flex vs. Minivan....FIGHT! Hail the victor...Sienna SE

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Hmm... the new Sienna does look pretty good from the front
2011-SIENNA-Pictures.jpg
 
I can't beleive that toyota is so cheat that they put a 4' whip antenna on front fender. Seriously....can't they integrate that into the windshield or a sharkfin or something? It's 2011 for craps sake.
 
I've been reading up on the door issues with both prior and current gen Sienna's. Yikes! Tons of owners have reported issues with the power doors failing and getting stuck open...struts dying on the rear hatch and having it slam shut on them after trying to lift up, ect. Not cool. And exactly what I feared about having some tiny little electric motor trying to open a close some enormous & heavy door several times a day...several dozen times a week...4 weeks a month...12 months a year.

Plus there are weld issues on the old one making for horrible noises at best...malfunctioning doors at worst. All usually failing right outside of warranty. And if you are out of warranty it's an $800-$1800 tab.

I found a dealer that sells Toyota Platinum extended warranties no questions asked for almost 50% off. 7 years, 100k is like $650. Might have to bite on that if we go through with the purchase.

I just wish you had the choice of not ordering the power shit and just had a decent functioning slider on it's own on any trim.
 
vi edit said:
I've been reading up on the door issues with both prior and current gen Sienna's. Yikes! Tons of owners have reporting issues with the power doors failing and getting stuck open.
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Does it only close with the motor or is it like a handicap door to a building where there's a motor but you can still push the door open and closed?
 
ShawnD1 said:
Does it only close with the motor or is it like a handicap door to a building where there's a motor but you can still push the door open and closed?
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The current gens have a button that turns off the power feature. But they still operate on a belt system that pulls the door open and closed. On many of the previous generations it's was the belt that snagging up or the motor in there grenading and effectively locking the door shut. You needed to sever the cable the rest of the way and pull it out to free up the door and get it moving. Even if it's in proper functioning order and you disable the power function those parts still make it slower/harder to operate in manual mode.

There were several owners of the older style that just said "f" it after it was out of warranty and just ripped most of the guts out of the door and turned it a manual door.
 
Update: Picking up a Sienna SE tonight. Got invoice on the van and a reasonable trade in on my Equinox.

Swagger wagon is go!
 
I've had a 2005 Limited which I traded in on a 2011 Limited in Blizzard Pearl, and wife has a 2007 Limited... We love em obviously. Only door problem I've had is the rear failing to close by itself because I damaged one of the edge crush sensors taking something out.

If you hit the disable button for the sliding doors, they do become just as easy to slide as the manual ones. Engaged though, its nearly impossible.

Enjoy that SE! They look pretty sweet in comparison to mine. Big difference.
 
satyajitmenon said:
Congrats. Are you getting the 20" rims? 🙂
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Please think about the moment of inertia before doing this D:
(and because people who put spinning rims and gold grills on a van should be killed)


Find some guy with a compact car and race against him. Minivans often have better 0-60 than compact cars then make fun of them for losing against a van.
 
ShawnD1 said:
Find some guy with a compact car and race against him. Minivans often have better 0-60 than compact cars then make fun of them for losing against a van.
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Car and Driver or Motortrend...not sure which...ripped off a 7.1 sec 0-60 with the Sienna. No clue how much they beat up on the transmission/tires/breaks to achieve that number. That's actually pretty quick for a 4200 pound brick that's got a basic V6 with no forced induction under the hood.
 
vi edit said:
Car and Driver or Motortrend...not sure which...ripped off a 7.1 sec 0-60 with the Sienna. No clue how much they beat up on the transmission/tires/breaks to achieve that number.
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Same way they do it for every other car. If it's an auto, 2 foot it, rev to 4k or something, let off brakes. Your van will never get the same number they get, but neither will my compact car. There's no way in hell you will ever get an automatic Corolla up to 60 in 9 seconds without abusing the car.

That's actually pretty quick for a 4200 pound brick that's got a basic V6 with no forced induction under the hood.
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Very rough approximation can be done as power to weight ratio. A 2011 Sienna van is 4500 pounds (heaviest V6 model without AWD), add maybe 200 for the driver, and the power is 266hp. That would be about 56.6hp per 1000lbs.
A corolla is about 2700lbs, same 200lb driver, 132hp. That would be 45.5hp per 1000lbs.
 
BigSmooth said:
Congrats Josh! Just curious but were there other vehicles you considered outside of the Flex, Sienna, and Odyssey?
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Humored...yes. Seriously considered? Not really. I really didn't even give much thought to the new Odyssey (looks horrible and pricing is terrible for options) or the new Quest. The new Quest certainly has the best interior of ANY of the new vans. It's amazing. But it has almost half the interior cargo space of the other two because of how the seats fold down. I looked at the VW Routan but couldn't bring myself to pay $35,000 for a Chrysler...or for a name that would likely be dead in a year or two. As for Chrysler...well I didn't want to pay $35,000 for a shiny Chrysler. I've sat in and rode in the Korean twins..and you can just tell there's an underlying lack of refinement/quality there. It's hard to explain without comparing cars back to back.

I had a Mazda5 in the past and just wanted something bigger so Grandma & Grandpa could ride along without being crunched into the back. Other than the Flex I had no interest in any other full size SUV. The true utility wasn't there and I just don't want to touch a GM product again so a Lamda quadruplet was out.

The Sienna SE just had more visual style on the outside than any of the other vans. It's interior space is unrivaled. And the drive is like no any other van (other than the Mazda5) can compete with. Pricing wise, for the $31k that I essentially paid for it, it's tough to compete with. I would have loved full leather and heated seats..oh and an autodim mirror for the money...but such is the way of Toyota's packaging.
 
vi edit said:
Car and Driver or Motortrend...not sure which...ripped off a 7.1 sec 0-60 with the Sienna. No clue how much they beat up on the transmission/tires/breaks to achieve that number. That's actually pretty quick for a 4200 pound brick that's got a basic V6 with no forced induction under the hood.
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Certainly the fastest minivans I've ever been in. When I bought that 2005 they were touting it as the fastest too. In the 2007 they went to the 3.5L, and now in the 2011s with the six speed it feels even quicker. It never seems to fall out of its powerband like my '05. It would scream, grab next, rev waaay down, hit the VVT-i crap, then start screaming and bam do it again.

This thing just pulls and pulls.
 
crab said:
Certainly the fastest minivans I've ever been in. When I bought that 2005 they were touting it as the fastest too. In the 2007 they went to the 3.5L, and now in the 2011s with the six speed it feels even quicker. It never seems to fall out of its powerband like my '05. It would scream, grab next, rev waaay down, hit the VVT-i crap, then start screaming and bam do it again.

This thing just pulls and pulls.
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What rpm does it stay near when it has 6 gears?
 
yh125d said:
It doesn't. It jumps around a lot from 2-6 on the highway cause its a crappy toyota automatic tranny
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😀

Its better than the 5-speeds but your pretty much right. I manually shift it sometimes because itll insist on staying in the highest damn gear at all times and is never ready for any kind of acceleration.
 
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