Tell me about your minivan

[riser4]

Yeah, gen 3. If the sweet green Siennas weren't like 50k, I'd honestly consider an upgrade.
As far as racks go - pretty much all major vans support 2 inch hitches and have 3-4k towing capacity, so you're free to use basically whatever racking solution you'd use for trucks or SUVs. I have a northshore 4 bike one for mine, the lowest 2 settings allow the hatch to open without removing the bikes.

I m good with the handling in my FWD 2011 gen3 Sienna. It's a minivan. That said, it got a lot better when we replaced the struts and some other attached front end suspension/steering/attachment parts that in hindsight were way too worn. It got rid of some awful noises too.

[gravitylover]

If anyone knows of a good minivan for sale around $7k lemme know. I know, bigger budget needed but that's not happening right now. I prefer 09-12 Siennas, 11-14 T&C or Caravan but open to ideas and even a fly and drive if the price works. Thanx all

[bagtagley]

4th gen Odyssey didn’t have transmission issues like the previous gen. It has some annoyances (dual screen system), but is the nicest to drive of the three, IMO. T&C is a hot rod and has some nice features, but has a noticeably cheaper build and based on a small sample of friends and neighbors isn’t as reliable nor bombproof as Honda and Toyota.

[riser4]

If anyone knows of a good minivan for sale around $7k lemme know. I know, bigger budget needed but that's not happening right now. I prefer 09-12 Siennas, 11-14 T&C or Caravan but open to ideas and even a fly and drive if the price works. Thanx all

Last year of gen2 and first 3 years of gen3 Sienna. I like the gen3. I like mine too much to sell it.

[Todd Zander]

05 sienna? Its in a garage lot on my way to work, in NH

[Brownski]

If anyone knows of a good minivan for sale around $7k lemme know. I know, bigger budget needed but that's not happening right now. I prefer 09-12 Siennas, 11-14 T&C or Caravan but open to ideas and even a fly and drive if the price works. Thanx all

If you’re willing to go a few years further back, Astros and Safaris are back in play. Nice, lower mileage vehicles are more and more rare though.

[doebedoe]

If you’re willing to go a few years further back, Astros and Safaris are back in play. Nice, lower mileage vehicles are more and more rare though.

As someone who has owned a few...they make sense if you're using them as a camper/adventure van. And they rock for that -- good AWD, easy to lift, easy interior to build out.

But if you want to do typical minivan things too -- haul kids, crush road trips, etc -- they suck compared to most any modern van. They get sub 20mpg, crap safety features, suck to work on mechanically, and are not that comfortable to drive for long distances.

[bagtagley]

But if you want to do typical minivan things too -- haul kids, crush road trips, etc -- they suck compared to most any modern van. They get sub 20mpg, crap safety features, suck to work on mechanically, and are not that comfortable to drive for long distances.

WHAT!? I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THE SQUEAKS AND RATTLES!!

[RootSkier]

We’re debating putting a deposit down on a new Sienna hybrid. Mind answering a few questions?

How were the seats during the trip? We test drove a used 21 and my wife thought the seats in the 2nd/3rd rows were uncomfortable. What trim level do you have? We test drove an LE and are wondering if the seats are better in a XLE or higher.


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We have a 2021 Limited AWD and it straight fuqs. Just got back from a 3000-mile trip with four bikes on a 1-up and I love just about everything about it. The approach angle with the bike rack is pretty bad, looking at one of the lifts discussed above.

The second-row seats in the Limited are awesome. No experience with lower trims.

[gravitylover]

If you’re willing to go a few years further back, Astros and Safaris are back in play. Nice, lower mileage vehicles are more and more rare though.

05 sienna? Its in a garage lot on my way to work, in NH

It's got potential but I'm finding older ones like that now and they're mostly worn out. There's also the rattle and squeak factor that everything older than about 2010 has going on, old plastics and such...

WHAT!? I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THE SQUEAKS AND RATTLES!!

Astro/Safari are just too old now for a family hauler and long distance work road tripper for me. As mentioned the shit mpg and lack of safety stuff takes them out.

[riser4]

Even 10 years out has squeaks and rattles. I just put $1600 into my '11 with 114K on the clock. It helped that a local independent did the work and not the dealer or Midas. Their prices were 2.5x or 2x respectively. But it was worth it in today's market. The front end no longer sounds like it's going to fall off. And the exhaust doesn't make it sound like a truck. 3 years ago I would have just traded it in on another 2 year old used model like I did with this one.

[skaredshtles]

It's got potential but I'm finding older ones like that now and they're mostly worn out. There's also the rattle and squeak factor that everything older than about 2010 has going on, old plastics and such...

This, coming from you, is quite amusing.

Here's the deal - you buy a "mostly worn out" Sienna or Odyssey and that fuckin' thing will start and drive for YEARS, unlike your Euro-heaps.

[El Chupacabra]

This, coming from you, is quite amusing.

Here's the deal - you buy a "mostly worn out" Sienna or Odyssey and that fuckin' thing will start and drive for YEARS, unlike your Euro-heaps.

This. And it can't be that hard to find one.

Located this in 15 seconds. It's at a dealership, so I assume it'd be cheaper private party, but even at dealer price... Not that bad.

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...Type=spotlight

[Brownski]

This, coming from you, is quite amusing.

Here's the deal - you buy a "mostly worn out" Sienna or Odyssey and that fuckin' thing will start and drive for YEARS, unlike your Euro-heaps.

This is actually why I started thinking Astro/Safari for GL. Buying a 10 yr + old car is hazardous no matter what. You really need to look at the details of individual vehicles. A really mint 2005 AWD Safari (admittedly hard to find) might be a better choice than a thrashed 2012 Sienna, even if the mileage is the same. Any of them will be better than an old LandRover

not AWD but an example

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...ckType=listing

[gravitylover]

Oh I get all that but when I'm working I'm on the road 300-400 miles a day and creaky shit becomes intolerable pretty quickly. While I might have had a few stinkers I don't do all-out beaters but I'm seriously $$ constrained this time. I had it pretty well together until Subaru (and Toyota) ruined my motor for me and 30k other people and I got stuck having to trust our old truckster that was never intended for that kind of use. When those were done they weren't worth squat and neither was the other Subie that aged out sitting in the driveway so, as y'all know, they got tossed for not much more than $37 Between that and covid wrecking my income for 2 years I'm tapped for what to throw at a car.

The Rover was a decent truck if I had had a lump of money to throw at it in one piece rather than trying to nickel and dime it but that blown income thing got in the way. Ehh whatever, it's gone, and it's time to move on which is why I'm grudgingly doing the right thing, albeit on a tight budget. The fam and I need a minivan so I'll suck it up and with some patience, I'll find a Sienna that fits the bill. The old Astros were always high on my list but they aged out and now some of the modules and asstd other parts that are going bad on them are irreplaceable so you have to have access to parts cars. I'm over the hard to service shit for the time being. Of course my passion is always going to be with the oddballs and esoterica but this time has to be different

[doebedoe]

The difference between a early 2010s Sienna and my 2003 Astros is night and day from a highway miles crushing perspective. A 5-6hr drive in the Astro worked me. A 5-6hr drive in the Sienna is much less exhausting.

Plus it has space enough in the engine bay you do shit if you need to. And parts are easy.

[doebedoe]

This seems clean...but near 10k for a 2006 with 171k on it... https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...0790362900893/

There's an active FB group for AWD siennas that has listings regularly.

[gravitylover]

As I get further into it I'm starting to find them like this. One thing that's probably only a thing around big metro areas is most of the minivans for sale were cabs/Ubers/Livery Cars and they're hammered. If they run they're worth $7-8k for the shitty cab companies so the market is skewed.

What's the FB page?

[riser4]

The difference between a early 2010s Sienna and my 2003 Astros is night and day from a highway miles crushing perspective. A 5-6hr drive in the Astro worked me. A 5-6hr drive in the Sienna is much less exhausting.

Plus it has space enough in the engine bay you do shit if you need to. And parts are easy.

I'd rather do 6 hours in my '11 Sienna than my '16 Highlander.

[doebedoe]

What's the FB page?

https://www.facebook.com/groups/248873005616875

[XXX-er]

we had a fleet of those astro's back in the day so I've had to drive a few and the handling/ driveability of them did not impress me especially compared to the normal mini-van, also mileage wasn't great. I also had a chev 1500 normal van and there wasn't much difference so ymmv but I didn't see the point of the astro platform

I do see people fix up the 4x4 versions of the astro, put bigger tires with Mags and racks on the roof for carrying more shit

[gravitylover]

Yeah I could see building an AWD Conversion with a pop top.

So on a 08-10 Sienna AWD what are the specifics I should be looking for? What's the timing belt service intervals? Most of the stuff I'm seeing in my price range has 150k+ (which is kinda scary) and unless the mechanic wrote something or put a sticker under the hood it's tough to know what's up. I do bring a stethoscope so I can listen to stuff around the motor, other than the usual is there anything that I shouldn't be hearing? I don't know squat about the Toyota VVTi sounds.

[doebedoe]

As long as it's a 2007 or later, it has a timing chain and not a belt. Good for the life of the engine.

Check doors function. See how worn out the suspension is. Ensure shifts are smooth. Ideally records of transmission service.

[doebedoe]

As long as it's a 2007 or later, it has a timing chain and not a belt. Good for the life of the engine.

Check doors function. See how worn out the suspension is. Ensure shifts are smooth. Ideally records of transmission service.

[gravitylover]

As long as it's a 2007 or later, it has a timing chain and not a belt...

= Gold. Same on the fwd?