Another What Car Thread: Big-ish SUV's (or Minivan?)

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.

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Originally Posted by bodywhomper

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.

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Don’t harsh my buzz, man!

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.

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Originally Posted by bodywhomper

I’m not sure what awd system(s?) are like on a sienna: viscous coupler, open differential, atrac, etc.

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Viscous coupler

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

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Originally Posted by klauss

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

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I read .6 as 6” and was pretty impressed. But 0.6” hardly seems worth the effort.

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Originally Posted by Mustonen

I read .6 as 6” and was pretty impressed. But 0.6” hardly seems worth the effort.

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That's not what your girlfriend said.

I've been AWD Sienna curious for a while now. Wife refuses to drive a mini though.

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Originally Posted by snowaddict91

That's not what your girlfriend said.

I've been AWD Sienna curious for a while now. Wife refuses to drive a mini though.

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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."

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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Originally Posted by Mustonen

I read .6 as 6” and was pretty impressed. But 0.6” hardly seems worth the effort.

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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.

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.

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Originally Posted by liv2ski

What do you think of this AKB https://www.kia.com/us/en/sorento

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It looks nice and seems like a good value, but 7" clearance won't do.

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.

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Originally Posted by bodywhomper

My sienna is an ‘06. Do the newer models, or the new one, have more comfortable 3rd row seats?

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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.

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.

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Originally Posted by bodywhomper

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.

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Gen 3 moved the rear row back a bit compared to Gen 2 -- giving it more space but less trunk space.

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.
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