Toyota Sienna

My wife is looking at a 2005 Toyota Sienna van for our daughter. What's the hive know about these? This one has 125k miles, one-owner local vehicle. Regular Maintenance at two Toyota dealers. Timing belt has been done. Dealer has a super duper internet price of $10.5k which isn't so great. $12.5k on the lot price. Credit union says $6-10.1k.

Googles says the siding doors can be problematic and expensive to repair, but it doesn't look like Siennas have the Honda Oddessy tranny death watch. They do seem to eat tires about every 30k miles. I drove it. Its boring as vanilla ice cream.

Relevant to my interests. I'm looking at a 2005 with 74k. They are asking $9k. Inside is nice but the outside has a lot of door dings and whiffle ball bat dents.

My cousin has one (AWD version) and does exactly ZERO maintenance on it. It runs, drives, goes interstate without flaw. Apparently a few months back he hadn't checked the oil in 20K or so miles and it started making a "horrible knocking noise". He took it to a mechanic (while knocking) who filled up the crankcase and cured the problem. It has since made the round trip from Wisconsin to Kentucky, overloaded, twice. It's got 140K miles on it and is an automotive cockroach.

We have owned our 06 Sienna LE since Jan of 07. We got it with 17k miles as a former rental car. It was a certified Pre-owned car, and was in great shape aside from a few nicks here and there. It has been nothing short of prefect in our time with it. I have done all of the maintenance aside from the timing belt, and spark plug change. I wanted to do both, but the dealer wasn't too expensive so I just had them do both to save me the hassle.

This van eats up miles on the highway like no other, and man it has some serious power! I love it, and so does the wife. It hasn't had any troubles that I can remember. We only have one power slider on the right side, and it has been trouble free so far. The left side manual slider is really sticky now, but I think it just needs some lube, I'm just not sure what to lube it with. We just drove it to and from Niagara Falls, ON in July, and it was awesome. I forgot the factory 06 battery did die while at my brothers house a week or so after our trip to Canada, but again it was 8 years old, so I think we got our moneys worth out of that.

The rear brakes make noise when it has been sitting overnight and there is moisture in the air, but that could be from my poorly adjusted brake swap. It will be a sad day when we have to give up the van! I did notice this weekend that there is a spot of rust starting at the top corner of the windsheild that needs some attention soon, but otherwise the van is holding up well. I have done nothing to the transmission, and I know I should, but so far no problems. Knock on wood.

We paid $21k for ours with the 10 year/100k mile warranty extension bumper-to-bumper to go along with the CPO 10/100 powertrain warranty. I don;t think we used either part of that warranty. It was in for a recall inspection of the spare tire cable, and while it was in there I had them look at the power slider that stopped working from the inside button. Turns out someone had switched the child safety lock switch. Good luck with your dealings we love ours, and will get another in the future(hopefully distant future).

Chris

I haven't spoken to my sister in several years, but last I did they still had their mid-00's Sienna. It was completely rock solid and bullet proof.

May I suggest a more budget friendly alternative. The '06+ Kia Sedona. I've had ours for 7.5 years and 104k very hard miles. Also bulletproof and can be had thousands less than the Sienna.

Great to hear. We are within $250 of a deal last I heard. They actually told my wife that at the $9750 plus mats (it ahs none)and new sparkplugs (maybe already installed) we offered they would be losing money on paper. They want 10k. They may have even dropped it to $9850. We shall see.

I know I'm trying to buy a first gen one out of a guy's garage that's been sitting for 3+ years- was a survey truck, it's awd- and it's a v6. Much boost shenanigans would be had.

mndsm wrote: I know I'm trying to buy a first gen one out of a guy's garage that's been sitting for 3+ years- was a survey truck, it's awd- and it's a v6. Much boost shenanigans would be had.

This in AWD Sienna = ALL the shenanigans in the world. Ever. Forever.

http://youtu.be/Ifv5FPxy5QI

Swank Force One wrote:

mndsm wrote: I know I'm trying to buy a first gen one out of a guy's garage that's been sitting for 3+ years- was a survey truck, it's awd- and it's a v6. Much boost shenanigans would be had.

This in AWD Sienna = ALL the shenanigans in the world. Ever. Forever. http://youtu.be/Ifv5FPxy5QI

You already knew where I was headed with that- Bisimoto who? Boy it'd be hilarious to launch on a GTR and just eat it for lunch.... with the car seat in it. And look confused like Hammond in the XJ220 van.

Bought it at $9800. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Congrats on the purchase!! Check back in a few months and tell us your thoughts on it.