2011 Toyota Sienna SE: Day 3 Pizza Run
December 27, 2010
Last night's pizza run was a perfect example of why we like to take a 3-row vehicle like the 2011 Toyota Sienna SE up to Oregon for the holidays.
The local pizza joint is 22 miles away -- way too far to bring a load of suitably warm pies back to eat at home. No problem: the trip to town gives us a chance for all of us to get out of the house. And that's just the thing: "all of us" has grown to six people with my parents on board.
My two daughters are nearly as tall as my wife nowadays, so they need adult-sized space in the third row. And that's where minivans like the Sienna excel. And our SE also has the preferred equipment group, which includes 3-zone climate control to keep eveyone happy.
No one had any problems with space, of course, but the noise situation differed based on where one sat. Up front, there's not much to complain about - the Sienna doesn't ride with the silence of a Lexus, but it seems quiet nonetheless.
But during the pizza run my wife sat in the second row, where shereported an increase in wind noise. "It wasn't a deal beaker -- I just noticed it," is how she puts it.
Possible culprits include the sliding door seals or the roof rack, which has its large cross rails installed even though we're not using them. They look like they're removeable, so we'll try running without later in the week if it ever stops raining long enough to unbolt them.
Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing @ 3,211 miles
