2011 Toyota Sienna XLE: A Minivan or an Entertainment Center

By Ric Green

When I think of minivans I usually think of family and fun. However when I needed a vehicle for my wife and I to take my niece and her friend to Orlando, my first thought was safety. That is why Toyota's 2011 Sienna XLE was an ideal choice for the job.

Since it was first introduced in 1998, the Sienna has posted some of the best crash test scores of any minivan on the market. In addition to the safety factors, it has an excellent reputation for quality and long-term dependability, which makes it a great vehicle to drive everyday as well as the occasional "Road Trip."

The 2011 Sienna van has been completely redesigned for this model year at Toyota's facilities in southern California. The first thing one notices is that the Sienna sports a face familiar to that seen on the Venza. This change gives the minivan a more aggressive look than the previous models. Another change that caught my attention is that the engineers managed to hide the van's sliding door tracks, allowing for a neater overall look.

The Sienna XLE I tested came with All-Wheel-Drive and a 266 horsepower, 3.5 liter V-6, engine that gets 16 mile per gallon in the city and 22 on the highway.

The Sienna utilizes the same platform that supports Toyota's Camry, Prius, RAV4, Venza and Highlander. By making this engineering choice Toyota hopes the new Sienna will attract buyers that need more space that a traditional sedan or crossover can provide.

The 2011 Sienna XLE is full of neat features. Such as entry and exit for the second and third row have been made easier thanks to greater travel of the second row seats. Additionally the Sienna's third row seats can be stowed quickly underneath the cargo floor and paired with the "Tip Up" and "Long Slide" second row seats, that can be moved all the way forward, you get a very large area to transport cargo.

There is another really cool option for the second row. A simple lifting of a handle on the side of the seats turns them into an automotive lounge chair as the bottom front of the seat becomes an elevated rest for your legs and the back portion of the seat reclines. The two teenagers that I took to Orlando enjoyed this along with the entertainment package that consisted of dual DVD players and wireless headphones that allowed them to watch separate videos while my wife and I to listened to the XM Radio through the 10 speakers of the JBL audio system.

Other features that made our $39,604 2011 Toyota Sierra XLE special were dual power sliding doors, 10-cup holders, a navigation system, a rear view camera, iPod connectivity, push button engine starter and an audible rear parking sensors.

And while I really liked the 2011 Sienna XLE, even with its 18-ivch alloy wheels and chrome exterior door handles it is still hard to have any street cred when you are driving a minivan. And yet it's still capable of providing above average accommodations for seven or eight, including cargo, which is a major downside for most of today's cooler looking, but very cramped, crossover vehicles.