Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore takes us on a walkaround tour featuring the exterior and interior of our long-term 2023 Toyota Sienna Platinum. The minivan includes optional rear seat entertainment, 2nd-row leather seats with a footstool, and collapsable 3rd-row seating.
Associate Editor Joel Stocksdale wrote:
We're in a period of serious automotive interior design experimentation. And the results are deeply mixed. On the one hand, we're seeing some really clever use of materials and lighting. On the other, we're seeing automakers change control schemes that have been standardized for decades, often making them less useful and intuitive. Shifters have been a particularly popular subject for these reimaginings with automakers trying out dials, buttons and a cadre of monostable stalks. Our 2023 Toyota Sienna, however, doesn't mess with success, and we're deeply appreciative.
To read more about the 2023 Toyota Sienna Platinum and other Toyota news click the links below:
https://www.autoblog.com/2023/03/03/2023-toyota-sienna-platinum-awd-long-term-update-shifter/
https://www.autoblog.com/cars-for-sale/make1-Toyota/model1-Sienna
TranscriptGREG MIGLIORE: Hey, everybody. Greg Migliore here. Next to me is the 2023 Toyota Sienna Hybrid in platinum trim. It's a very nicely-equipped minivan. We're here in the suburbs. There's a soccer field over there, jungle gyms, a park, a guy walking his dog. What better place to walk around a minivan?
Again, this is the Hybrid, so that means it gets 35 miles per gallon. That's combined. It's very fuel efficient I like it. You get up to 500 miles. A little over that as far as range. So you're not going to spend a lot of time at the gas station with the Seattle Hybrid. It's a nice vehicle. It's the latest addition to our long term fleet. This is "Autoblog Garage." Let's walk around it.
So if you want to look kind of snazzy at soccer practice, we do have some chrome alloy wheels. They look pretty good I think. You got the Toyota logo there in the middle. Again, this isn't the most stylish. Design is subjective, if you will. I kind of prefer the Kia and the Chrysler, but I also think it's a pretty good-looking vehicle. So it's a minivan. Pick your flavor.
What is the best feature of a minivan? Well, there's a couple, but sliding doors is one of them. Basically, any child of any age, preschool and up, can jump right in. Car seat, of course. The dog could just saunter right out in. It's a very nice interior. A lot of easy just getting it into the vehicle.
I can tell you what I do preschool pick up and drop-off, minivans are so much easier because the doors don't swing out. It's a competitive situation. Usually, there's a time crunch. With the sliding doors, boom, you get out, kid gets out, away you go. You're already in the line with the teacher. It's a good thing. When the door swings out, you got to worry about who's next to you. People are coming and going. It's one of the many time-honored features of minivans that people love.
Then back here, we actually went with a tow hitch because, hey, you might want to go up North, go out West, and take a road trip. You might want to tow some things. So, again, it's very well-equipped. There's a lot of different options in the minivan segment right now, a lot of choices.
I think maybe the stylish one is the Kia Carnival. That's really exciting-looking. You've got the Pacifica, the Hybrid. From Chrysler, that will give you a plug-in. And, of course, the Honda Odyssey. That is, perhaps, maybe the most well-rounded one, but they're all very competitive. You can't really go wrong in this segment, and I think the Sienna is one of the newest ones and, again, it's a very competitive vehicle.
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Look at all of this space inside the Sienna. Plenty of room. You might find it interesting, the first two rows are actually leather, and in the back, this is kind of like a faux leather. I mean, come on, who really needs third row leather seats? That's OK. You're going to make it.
Tons of room in here. I like those rubber floor mats too. As you can see, they're a little bit dirty. That's OK. Very easy to clean. Makes a lot of sense. Now if you want to go with the third row, it's very easy to set up. You got the straps right here. Now, I have it down because right now, you just have the family up there, and then you have all of this space.
You got a couple of cup holders back here. You could even plug-in, and there's the volume switches for your third row passengers, which I think is pretty neat. But the big thing right now with the minivan is it's all about space. Even if you're in the third row, it's still pretty, like, roomy and comfortable, relatively speaking, of course.
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Welcome inside the Sienna. It's a nice place to spend time. Heated steering wheel. This is nit-picking, but this part is heated, this part is not. I have kind of poor circulation. I like my full steering wheels heated, but it's OK. It keeps you kind of warm. Heated vented seats, which could operate this way. Nice infotainment system. It's right in the middle, easy to use, easy to see. Fairly easy to use, let me put it that way. You can set up the audio this way. Menu gets you right there, a variety of different things. You can also project your phone onto the screen too. So a lot you can do here.
I like the brown leather. I like the kind of like faux wood trim, this kind of, like, cream is nice too. It's pretty good. Lots of cup holders. Lots of cup holders. If you own a minivan, you're probably drinking Starbucks. I will tell you, they are not the affiliate partner, but they get enough of my money. So let's put it that way.
Here's a phone charger up here. You operate it with that. There's plenty of USB ports in this thing, which is nice. It's all about the function. More cup holders. Set your counsel right here is a good probably 2-feet deep if you will, foot and a half. Over here, you get the door pull, cubbyhole, cubbyhole, two more cup holders down there, and then a ledge right here.
Then come out over here. Here's another ledge. This is nice because it keeps your phone in check if you're like going around the corner. Then this is just kind of like a nice, like, architectural feature. I think it looks good. So inside a minivan, it's all about the function. This one's pretty comfortable.
Aesthetically, I think it's pretty pleasing, if you will. And like I said, connectivity, cup holders, I mean, that's what you want in any car. But in a minivan, you really need that all over the place, and that's where the Sienna really delivers. Welcome inside the second row of the Toyota Sienna. This is arguably the most important spot because this is where the kids are. So here's the charge ports. Optional. Rear seat entertainment. My son filed this within, like, 30 seconds of being in the car. I didn't even know it was here initially, and he found it.
Headphones right here, remote control. There you go. As you can see, there's plenty of space back here. We do have the seats up front. So it's a little, like, this is a little extreme, but there is a lot of room. This is more comfortable than some airplanes I've been on.
Let's see what else we have. Here's the vents. Here's the lights. As you can see, there's also many ways to open the door, which is nice. You can do it this way. You can do it this way. So that works. Here's some. Pull up the shades. It's getting a little sunny out like it actually kind of is. That's good. You also have a moonroof right up front over there, which is good. And overall, it's a very nice place to spend time.
You want to put your feet up? There's a switch over here. And check it out. You have, like, a foot stool. This is really comfortable. This is nice too. I think it's important to have. Like, I mean, you're going to spend a lot of time vacuuming. But with these mats, you can just kind of basically dump the stuff out, which my kid likes cheese fish. There's a few of them there. This is a realistic test. Let me tell you that, right? Also, I forgot to vacuum it up. But hey, who's counting?
More cupholders, more ports, everything you would need to do to just relax for a long or a short road trip you could do in the second and mostly the third row too. So it's a very nice place to spend time. We've got a couple, like, good for like drink bottles, water bottles. That could be-- or your phone, l that type of thing.
As you can see, let's say you're back here. You're late for school. You're late for soccer practice. The soccer field's over there. There's a Golden retriever sprinting across the diamond for some reason. You got to get out. Boom! You just do that and you're out. So, again, this is-- it's like the modern day troop transporter, family transporter. It's very, very usable, and here, very comfortable.
The third row, another very important place. It's pretty roomy. I remember growing up in minivans and the third row was pretty tight. It was kind of cool because you could go back there and listen to your Walkman back in the day and, like, sort of be away from like the rest of the family.
Volume here. You can plug-in your headphones. Over here, same thing. Also some charge ports, which is good. Cupholders, more like for smaller drinks, if you will. Juice boxes, if you will. We've got one of the sides up, one of the sides down so you can kind of see how it looks like.
Even with the seats up, there's a bit of room back there, which is practical. Not super tall. I'm about 5' 10." Decent space back here. I mean, realistically, this is where like the younger kids are going to probably go, if you will. If you have teenagers or something, they're going to ride the second row, or maybe they're driving you. Who knows.
But bit of room back here. Pretty nice place to spend time. It's basic. It's functional. This is almost like an old school harder kind of plastic, but that's OK. That's how it's supposed to be. You throw the soccer ball, the lacrosse sticks, the hockey sticks, the baseball glove, back here is going to take a beating. But if you need to put people back here, the dog would love it. Let me tell you that. She could definitely have her own third row and ride in style. It's a decent place to spend time and it's pretty comfortable.
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So let's look under the hood. 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine. You have three electric Motors in the Sienna. This is an all-wheel drive model. We have an ECVT. So CVT makes sense. It's a Hybrid. The total system output is 245 horsepower, and it will get you 35 miles combined fuel economy. That's pretty good. Check it out. It's a pretty compact engine compartment. Everything you need right here is right out in front. So that's inside.
So this was the 2023 Toyota Sienna Hybrid minivan. It'll cost you a little over $56,000. That will get you the platinum trim. It's very fuel efficient. Some would say it's stylish, some might not, but it's definitely distinctive. It's a minivan, it's comfortable, it has a million cup holders, it's great for hauling the family, and it's definitely an interesting vehicle.
If you like the "Autoblog Garage" series, please like, share, and subscribe. It helps us get the word out about this. Please get into the comments. Let us know what you did with your minivans, your crossovers. Maybe you're a Toyota Sienna owner. How's it working for you? Let us know. For "Autoblog," I'm Greg Migliore.
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