FIFTY-ONE thousand dollars for a minivan.
Let that roll off your tongue a few times.
2004 Toyota Sienna
Now, that's the top end of the 2004 Toyota Sienna, the XLE Limited all-wheel drive with all the toys, but it's a startling number all the same, until you realize that's pretty much where the Chrysler Town and Country Limited AWD is priced.
The minivan has grown up.
Even Toyota realizes that only 10 per cent of Sienna buyers will drop 51 large on a van, so the Sienna starts at a more reasonable, though still awe-inspiring, $30,000.
Though that is a few thousand more than its lower-priced competitors, it's still less than the Honda Odyssey. And consider this: the new Sienna simply kills the competition.
In every respect, the Sienna is the class leader.
Sienna interior
It didn't come easily. As we told you from the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, chief engineer Yuji Yokoya drove 85,000 kilometres across North America in the previous-generation Sienna, in early prototypes of the new Sienna and in all the competitors. He drove the Honda Odyssey, Mazda MPV, the GM minivans (Pontiac Montana, Chevy Venture), the Chrysler offerings (Caravan, Town and Country) and the Ford Windstar.
He drove from Anchorage to Tampa; from L.A. to New York; from New York to San Francisco; from St. John's to Vancouver and from L.A. to Cancun, Mexico. It helped that Yokoya -- now based in Japan -- had Ann Arbor, Mich., and Scarborough, Ont., as his home bases at the time.
Yokoya made his pitch to Toyota managing director Uchiyamada.
"I told him that to make the best possible minivan for the North American market, I would need to drive the entire continent of North America," Yokoya said.
Yokoya's aim, which he did not quite achieve, was to drive through every Canadian province, every American state and every Mexican estado.
"I felt like I was leaving home for the first time... to go to college," Yokoya said. "I suppose that I was setting off for an education."
It was not in vain. Yokoya said that crossing the Canadian Prairies, he made a note to improve Sienna's crosswind stability. (That story changes to crossing the Mississippi River for American audiences.) On the gravel roads of Alaska, he jotted down the need to reduce steering drift and confirm that all-wheel drive must be offered.
While he was in Quebec, parking along the narrow streets of Old Quebec City, he decided Sienna's turning radius had to "be best in class."
Yokoya's trip recognizes one indisputable fact: The minivan is almost exclusively a North American phenomenon. Sure, they sell minivans elsewhere, even in real estate-challenged Japan, but nowhere else is a minivan the sales leader the way Caravan is here.
So to be successful, designing a minivan has to be from a North American perspective.
We drove a caravan of Siennas from downtown Toronto to Hamilton International Airport. We had front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive models. We stopped at a race track for some slalom work and a short road course.
In a tight slalom at about 45 km-h, the Sienna remained remarkably flat with very little of the rising rear end that usually accompanies tossing around a tall vehicle. Anti-dive geometry in the front helps there.
Four-wheel independent suspension offers a smooth ride despite its ability in the twisties. Four-wheel disc brakes, on mid-level and higher models, scrub off speed in a hurry. (The base Sienna has drum brakes at the rear.)
Mention that the first generation Sienna, which debuted in 1997 as a replacement for the funky Previa, had a truck-like feel to its handling and you'll get no rebuttal from Toyota. For 2004, the Sienna has an even more car-like feel than the Mazda MPV, which in my opinion was the most car-like minivan till now.
Mention that equipping the first Sienna with a removable third-row seat (as opposed to fold-flat) was a mistake, and again, no rebuttal. The new Sienna takes the convenience of a fold-into-the-floor third row a step further: it can fold in a 60-40 split.
The competitions' tumble-down seats offer only an all-or-nothing approach. With the Sienna, if you need a seat in the third row, you can still fold part of it down for cargo. In a pinch, you can leave seating for two in the third row. Not only that, you don't need to remove the headrests to fold the seats.
But even with the third-row seat in place, Toyota claims seven golf bags will fit upright in the cargo area. Seven occupants AND seven golf bags. Not bad.
Not all is goodness and light, however. While the van is head and shoulders above the competition, a few problems came to light. The power steering runs out of boost during high-speed steering manoeuvres and the third-row seats aren't quite as easy to fold as Toyota would have you believe.
I could also live without the power sliding doors. While they worked well, it was quicker to close the sliding doors on models without power doors. A pair of safety features are built in: an anti-pinch weatherstripping that senses contact with another object and an anti-jam sensor that detects when the movement is blocked by something that isn't contacting the anti-pinch weatherstripping. Both reverse direction of the sliding doors and the power hatch.
The Sienna comes as either seven-passenger or eight-passenger models, in trim levels from CE to LE to XLE. All-wheel drive is an option on LE and XLE models. XLE models also have a top-line edition designated XLE Limited.
Four-wheel ABS is standard on all models. Traction control and vehicle stability control are standard on LE and above.
A 3.3-litre V6 engine, similar to what will power the upcoming Lexus RX 330 SUV, delivers 230 horsepower at 5,600 rpm and 242 lb-ft. of torque at 3,600 rpm.
A host of 12-volt accessory plugs provide power for low-current accessories while a 115-volt outlet is standard on XLE models. The XLE Limited also features a rear-seat DVD entertainment system with audio and video inputs to accommodate video games. The 115-volt outlet is also positioned to be conveniently used to power a video game unit.
Toyota is targetting mid-March for release of the new Sienna.
This report was prepared from driving sessions arranged and paid for by the manufacturer.
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