Recently my husband and I were guests of Toyota at the Boston Auto Show. We talked with Toyota about family friendly car features and had a chance to preview the 2014 Toyota Highlander. While we were planning our annual trip to Toy Fair in New York City, Toyota provided us with a 2014 Toyota Sienna to take on the road trip. What better way for the ToyQueen to arrive in NYC for Toy Fair than in a Toyota, right?
We test drove an all wheel drive, 2014 Toyota Sienna Limited. This car had every bell and whistle imaginable, including a navigation system and a rear entertainment system with wireless headphones and a DVD player. “Snowy Sienna” as I called her which you’ll find out below, had only 1,000 miles on the odometer.
A little background on our car buying history:
- I had never driven a mini-van before this experience. Having only 1 child under the age of 5, we just haven’t felt the need to upgrade to something that large…yet.
- In our late 20’s and early 30’s, my husband and I were avid road warriors, using our vehicles for work all over the North East and before Gavin thought nothing of taking a 12 hour drive to Toronto, Canada..for the weekend.
- We currently own a 2005 Honda CRV with 220,000 miles and a 2010 CRV with 60,000 miles. We traded in a 2001 Accord with 230,000 miles on the odometer for the 2010 CRV about a year ago.
Since Gavin could talk, he’s been asking me for a ride in a “slider door car.” At daycare drop-off in the morning he’s in awe when other parents pull-up, slide open the doors and the kids hop out. As a technologically savvy preschooler with a vested interest in vehicle play, I guess I can understand how cool that feature of this car is to a child. While as a mom all I saw was “way to big and probably not efficient in terms of gas mileage.”
So Derek and I packed up the Sienna and headed to New York City, in a pretty intense snowstorm. Toy Fair doesn’t wait and there was no way we were going to allow the bad weather to stop us. The all wheel drive was amazing in the snowstorm. The Sienna drove very similarly to our all wheel drive CRV. We didn’t feel any slipping or sliding, and as a passenger I never had any moments where I felt any anxiety despite how hard it was snowing and how poor the visibility was.
Gas mileage on average was about 19 miles per gallon, which is less than what we are typically used to. When we left NYC, we drove into another snowstorm on the way home, then got home to 6-8 inches of unplowed snow in our driveway, which the car tackled with ease. Hence why I named her “Snowy.” Ever direction we turned, we found more snow.
I’ve always wanted to feel in control of my vehicle. Other vehicles we’ve rented I felt like the car drove me. Despite my worry that I wouldn’t be able to handle the Sienna, I felt very comfortable driving, parking and maneuvering the car, as a person who is only 5 feet 2 inches.
These were our favorite features:
- Blind Spot Monitoring – when driving on the highway a yellow symbol is highlighted on your side mirrors if there are people in your blind spots, allowing you to judge spaces with lane changes a lot easier. I found this option to be a nice re-assurance.
- The car beeps when people, snow or other cars are close to the vehicle or when you are parking. This was super helpful when parking around snow banks and dropping Gavin off at daycare with people frequently walking around the vehicle with small children and when parking near other cars at the grocery store.
- Sunroofs – Yes there were 2 sunroofs. A front sun roof and a panoramic sunroof in the back. Gavin loved it. Plus IF we had multiple pre-teen boys with hockey bags in the car which is a reality for our future, anyway to air out the cabin would be a must-have for us.
- Captain’s Chairs Ottomans -The captains chairs in the backseats slide on a track easily and they have Ottomans! Both Derek and I spent some time relaxing in those chairs on our road trip with our seatbacks reclined and our feet up. Gavin always wants one of us to ride with him in the backseat on long car trips, and let me tell you, I would happily spend a road trip in that chair with my feet up watching a DVD.
- “Slider doors” Gavin loved being able to get in/out of the car himself and controlling the operation of the doors himself. He’s still in a car seat so I have to buckle him in, which was easy to do with the doors so wide open, but once he’s old enough to be in a booster seat, this would have been a huge bonus. The windows on the doors also are able to go up and down, which he loved.
- Keyless Ignition – The Sienna has a push-button start with your foot on the break, as long as the fob is in the vicinity of the car. I kept it in the cup holder while we were driving, but I still couldn’t figure out if I should leave it there or in my purse or in a coat pocket? It was weird to get used to not having a physical key.
- Automatic Door/Trunk Opening – I think the car doors opened automatically once we approached the car, which is helpful when your hands are busy holding a child or groceries. The trunk can be opened and closed from the fob as well, which was handy if Gavin got to the car before we did or if I was carrying a lot of bags.
- Bluetooth – We used the bluetooth, but for that feature I could go either way. It’s helpful when you are in the car alone, but I didn’t really like Gavin listening to my conversations.
- Navigation System – we aren’t huge navigation system people. We’ve become accustomed to using Google Maps on our iPhones and aren’t reliant on navigation systems. We like driving but are impatient, and usually good at finding our own way. GPS’s don’t like us because they are constantly re-calculating. It was a nice feature, but not something that would be a must-have for us.
- Trunk storage – Even with the 3rd row installed, there is a deep well in the trunk for suitcases. We easily fit carry-on size luggage on it’s side in the well, and I’d say 4 small suitcases of that size would fit along the bottom, with a lot of room on top as well.
- DVD player with wireless headsets- Gavin loved this feature. I think it’s awesome for longer car trips, but I’m not one to let him use my phone or watch a show traveling short distances to and from daycare or when running errands. I think it would have become a contentious situation long-term, but it was helpful in certain situations when we drove an hour together for our DisneySide Party.
A week after we returned the Sienna the check engine light in our 2005 CRV turned on. We have recently received a quote of $3,000 to fix it, so it looks like we will be on a mission to figure out what our next vehicle will be. So stay tuned.
What are some features you think are a must-have in a car with school aged children who play sports