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The Grand Cherokee is probably the nicest, most feature rich of all of those vehicles. In general, all Chrysler cars are marked down a ton from sticker - not sure what the deal is right now. The V6 Grand Cherokee gets pretty awful gas mileage though.
If you're open to other cars, check out the Ford Explorer. I think Ford's cars are the best around right now in terms of quality, features, power, fuel economy, etc. At least when it comes to trucks, they are priced above everyone else.
she is about 110 % correctQuote:
Originally Posted by Mustonen
IME the mini van had upright seating. more comfortable, way more room got the same or better milage and the long WB was way more stable when shit was literaly going sideways in snow & ice
A Toyota Sienna with a lift kit drove past my house this past weekend. Maybe that’s what AKB (and I) need.Quote:
Originally Posted by XXX-er
Yeah, I almost got a prior gen Sienna and jacked it to the moon. There's a kit. I bought a used Lexus GX instead. It's a real off-road vehicle and I've only got the two kids. You have to get a little sporty to get away from the crowds when you take the family car camping around here.Quote:
Originally Posted by J. Barron DeJong
The lifted Sienna would've been a bit absurd, but it still would've gotten better mpgs than the GX and it would swallow cargo way better. I sometimes wish I'd gone for it.
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Remember, you’ll want a full size spare for an awd sienna that you’ll take it off-roading. Either on the roof or in the cargo area.
The Pilot / Passport drives fabulous. I'm pretty sure it uses the same SH-AWD that the Acura's use. I would say look at the Telluride if you really can swing it. I'm pretty sure it has the best safety / self-driving features which to me was the biggest factor in getting a new car (went with a VW Alltrack). Adaptive cruise control and lane centering are SO nice. Honda's is not as good, but still decent. I'm pretty sure Jeep's don't have much yet. Some Ford's have pretty good ones, but they're not standard unless you go to the very highest trim and I haven't tried them.
I don't think you can go wrong with a Honda Passport. Look into leasing if you want a test run since residuals are sky high right now and Honda's hold their value incredibly well.
Lexus GX, used. Easy answer.
Don’t harsh my buzz, man!Quote:
Originally Posted by bodywhomper
I see local lifted and nonlifted awd sienna’s in my hood with spares on the roof. However, a lot can be said for good tires and careful driving with a fwd sienna. I’m not sure what awd system(s?) are like on a sienna: viscous coupler, open differential, atrac, etc.
Viscous couplerQuote:
Originally Posted by bodywhomper
ETA: or maybe not? I see electromagnetic clutch also, and there are Toyota genuine parts for both?
I have a Passport (wife’s lease).
It’s nice and has decent clearance, drives great. Plenty of room inside.
There is a button for snow driving, so you’re good.
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For steeper and slow rough road descents, I love 4low. I know some more advanced systems have creep mode that modulates braking and use of low gear. Something else to consider....
We ended up throwing down for a 2021 hybrid Sienna.
Drove a bunch of SUV's and kinda hated all of them. At the risk of stating the obvious, they all drive like big dumb SUV's, and they all get shitty mileage. And we already have a pickup truck, so if we need to get someplace with shitty roads, we just take that. The Mazdas were the only SUV's that were still in consideration after the initial test drive, but the Sienna gets better mileage, drives better, and holds way more shit.
So far the Sienna is great. We've been getting around 36 mpg in mixed driving. The new version has a spare tire, which is a noteworthy upgrade over the old version. Clearance isn't massive, but entirely adequate for everything except legitimately rough roads and maybe a huge storm that we get every ~3rd winter. In which case, we still have the truck. We got the sienna late in the winter, but it handled our steep, icey driveway without issue with the stock tires. We'll get a set of winters for it, but most of the time I think they'd be unnecessary. And it comfortably holds 4 full size adults + 2 large carseats + a decent amount of stuff.
2022 Sienna Woodland Special Edition gets you an extra .6 of clearance. i'm not sure if the hitch is even a 2 inch. I like the thought, but...
https://www.motortrend.com/news/2022...ecial-edition/
I posted this specimen in the GOTOS thread
https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...059827&thumb=1
I read .6 as 6” and was pretty impressed. But 0.6” hardly seems worth the effort.Quote:
Originally Posted by klauss
That's not what your girlfriend said.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mustonen
I've been AWD Sienna curious for a while now. Wife refuses to drive a mini though.
My wife feels the same way, and it happened that her car was due for replacement first. "If you think we should get a van, you can get one."Quote:
Originally Posted by snowaddict91
She may regret that statement when it's time to replace my truck, because I'm not too proud to drive a van (although I'd lean towards a full size rather than a Sienna, a lifted Sienna does sound very, very interesting).
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We tow a pop-up camper with our Sienna AWD, and with it loaded up the hitch will regularly scrape going over speed bumps or coming out of sloped driveways/parking lots. Honestly 0.6” would probably eliminate 90% of that issue for me, so I’d take it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mustonen
I assume the reason for only 0.6” lift is that it’s the most they could get from just shocks/springs, and they weren’t going to invest in other parts to get more.
What do you think of this AKB https://www.kia.com/us/en/sorento
Logically - a minivan is the correct answer for this type of vehicle....
To attempt to convince the form-over-function significant others; you need to demonstrate the benefits. Rent a minivan for the next vacation / road trip / camp trip / etc... the benefits become obvious in use.
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Not available in the US, but my Honda StepWGN AWD Minivan is the shit. The Sienna is the US rival, not available here in JP.
SUVs really only win in the clearance world in 2021. AWD vans with studless snow tires absolutely shred winter roads. Logging roads? Not so much.
I’d never buy an SUV in Japan. Tahoe? Only if I didn’t need a third row and also wanted that logging road clearance.
Modern minivans are not your mom’s minivans.
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I drove an AWD sienna for a few years. Nice enough, but I don’t miss it. Capable enough in the snow, but no rally factor. Turning off ESC meant turning off traction control too, which was a bummer. It’ll put power to the wheels to keep you moving in the most basic and predictable sense. It was still a big heavy unwieldy vehicle.
By contrast, the kids still talk about it and very much miss all the room they used to have.
We traded my wife’s Outback in on a Grand Cherokee Limited X. I opted for the Hemi and tow package so that we could haul our trailer if we had to.
Wife loves it. Super comfy to drive, pano sunroof, and that great blue colour.
My only complaint is the front air dam is kinda low, and I scraped it leaving the dog park one day. That’s going to cost me a few bucks to fix.
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Thanks for the advice, all.
So, I guess we're really humping the hell out of minivans. :D I mean, I like them, have used them, and totally get their utility. But like literally every other vehicle, they have downsides. And, at the end of the day, if someone doesn't like a car, they shouldn't spend $40k on it. That's how I felt about the Highlander Hybrid. On paper, it was great. In reality, it felt like a monument to suburban ennui.
It looks nice and seems like a good value, but 7" clearance won't do.Quote:
Originally Posted by liv2ski
Side note: The missus wouldn't go for it, but the soon-to-be released full-sized Bronco with a manual transmission(!) would be fun. On paper, it looks like a more modern and affordable 4Runner, but I'm guessing dealers are only going to offer the expensive trims at well above MSRP for a while.
Another note on the van: I didn’t feel like I lost tons of storage room with the wagon I have now, though on paper I certainly did. Kids carved out their little kingdoms, meaning room to put shit was still fairly limited and dogs being in the cabin was chaotic at times.
My sienna is an ‘06. Do the newer models, or the new one, have more comfortable 3rd row seats? The spare tire for the awd model (donut or full size) is a good change. 36 mpg for the hybrid sounds rad.
Our sienna is trashed from rural living and large family, but mechanically, it’s great.
There’s a 4wd hi-ace and a delca (sp?) in my nearby town. I get fomo whenever I see them, which is sometimes daily.
The rough forest roads that I often drive in the summer get a lot of use. I’ve seen plenty of trashed sedans, SUV’s, and trucks on these roads. I’ve been one once when we took our sienna to lake faucherie (if you know where that is) and I limped out on a donut (I’m convinced that there wouldn’t have been an issue if I wasn’t driving on worn all season tires - we use AT tires on the van now). I’ve also seen plenty of untrashed vehicles, but stomaching the idea of taking a brand new vehicle out there.... on Sunday, I scratched up a side panel a little bit on my land cruiser on some brush trying to make room for a tow truck (towing out a newer model Tacoma) on one of those rough roads. The tow truck also was scraping brush.
I don't have much experience with the older models, but the 3rd row in ours seems pretty comfy. 71 year old, fairly tall in-laws spent a couple hours in the 3rd row last weekend and didn't have any complaints.Quote:
Originally Posted by bodywhomper
3rd row stows away similarly to the prior models (one lever on the back of the seat - folding the seats away takes about 3 seconds). Accessing the 3rd row is pretty easy - lots of room to move around the 2nd row. No moving / folding of seats required to get in back (unlike all of the 3rd row SUV's I've seen). And with the 3rd row in place, there's still room in back for a double stroller + a mountain of baby gear that's required anytime we leave the house.
We do have Toyota brand bias, but I'm liking our 21 Highlander awd hybrid after 6k miles.
I was equally unimpressed with initial drive quality, but after driving several others came around. I wanted to get the new sienna, and liked it a lot on the test drive, but wife felt it was too big. I did like the drive of the Honda better, but same mpg as my Tacoma, old, and bad review on electronics. I also wanted the Volvo xc90, but wife didn't like 3rd row and the dealer didn't have it charged, so I didn't get to experience the full 400 hp. The Kia seemed nice, but I wasn't going to pay more for a Kia than a Toyota. We got our late Nov when gas was $2 gallon, so dealer came down a lot on price. We typically keep our vehicles >10 years, so didn't bother driving any domestic or VW. But was shocked at the msrp on an explorer hybrid. 3 car seats layout was important for us.
Did San Diego to Missoula for xmas with 5yo, 3yo, and 1 mo...plus all my gear(roof box), no issues/complaints with smaller size than van. Normal MPG is around 35.
Gen 3 moved the rear row back a bit compared to Gen 2 -- giving it more space but less trunk space.Quote:
Originally Posted by bodywhomper
FWIW, I now have 25k on my 3.5" lift on my Gen 3 Sienna with no problems. Slight decrease in gas mileage but still handles/drives like a minivan and not a full size.
Did you drive the highlander with the bigger touch screen? We got the model with smaller, like that better.
Attachment 376324
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Thanks. The 3rd row of gen 2 siennas sucks for somebody adult sized. I feel bad for the 6’1” teen when he’s back there, but he hasn’t complained about it (yet).
How much worse did the gas milage get with the lift kit? This is on my wish list for our gen 3 sienna adventure-mobile.Quote:
Originally Posted by doebedoe
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We thought about getting the RAV4 prime, the Sienna or the all-wheel-drive Prius. We ended up getting the Prius because basically it’s the car we need, and we can keep our beater Honda odyssey as a spare car, but there were no RAV4 primes shipped to Washington, and there were no Siennas within 500 miles of our house.
The only downside we thought with the Sienna was not being able to remove the second row (because we basically drive with one second row seat in the odyssey), and use the rest of the back for crap.
If we didn’t have the odyssey we definitely would’ve found a sienna
I'd guess the lift itself is responsible for about 1mpg on the highway. But I added a very non-aero big ass roof box, heavier tires, and an awning at the same time -- all told a loss of about 2mpg.Quote:
Originally Posted by fleaches
We leave our bed setup in all the time except when we need to haul -- since it sits behind the third row and doesn't take up space. Also have a little kitchen setup (https://imgur.com/a/EKr7c0m) that stays in and we can still add one of the 2nd row seats though that is rare. Kitchen takes about 3min to go in/out.
406: I think we tried the XLE model because it was the only one available. Like I said, we wanted to like it and the 35 mpg is amazing. But neither my wife nor I particularly cared for it. To be clear, the Highlander Hybrid is an objectively good vehicle. We just weren't wild about it ourselves. It's too bad because I'm a big fan of Toyota. (RIP, my 2001 Tundra.)
If you're really going to drive this on dirt roads regularly, and want ample space for kid stuff, and like Toyota -
Why not Sequoia? Or Tundra + shell?
Wha?!!Quote:
Originally Posted by plugboots
Can you still fit full size plywood sheets in the back of the new sienna’s? Do they still have a relatively high payload capacity?
Fwiw, I have friends (family of 4 with 2 teens and no dog) with a rav4 prime. It replaced an outback. They like it. They are skiers (like 20-40 days/season). They usually use a larger 4x4 truck for off-road and camping needs.
If it's just dirt roads and not really high clearance -- then you're paying a big premium for Sequoia and Tundra. Plus sliding doors rule for camping and in the city.Quote:
Originally Posted by El Chupacabra
Not to mention interior volume. And the new Sienna gets about 3x the mpg as a Sequoia.
If they made a camper version of a Sienna it would be so legit. Just remove all the seats and add some overhead storage bins and you're 90% there.
I have an 06 Sequoia and love it. It's a road trip beast. But it gets abysmal gas mileage and I don't think they've improved much over the years.