2021 Toyota Sienna Review_ More than just a great minivan _ CarGurus #ToyotaUSA

I might not have any kids of my own, that doesn't mean I can't appreciate a good minivan. And the Toyota Sienna is a real good minivan. After giving us essentially the same car for the past 10 years, Toyota has finally redesigned the Sienna for 2021. It's said that good things come to those who wait. After a week with the Sienna, I can announce that that statement has never been more true. Luckily, you don't have to wait to subscribe to the CarGurus YouTube channel. Subscribe below, and don't forget to hit that bell so we can let you know every time we publish a new video. Clearly, someone at Toyota has passed around a memo that says, green is good. The company has slapped great green paint on a number of models over the last few years, but normally, you had to pay extra for it. There was the Army Green 4Runner TRD Pro, the 86 Hakone Edition, and at Lexus, a Nori Green LC 500. But with the Sienna, this green, called Cypress, is a no-cost optional color, and I love it. Do you love it? Besides the great new paint, the 2021 Sienna sports a new, redesigned, and more attractive look. The front end is inspired by Japanese bullet trains. And while still unmistakably a minivan, look at this car side-by-side with a Toyota Highlander. Because I've got news for you. If you like how the Highlander looks, then you like how this looks. With these two, the distinction between crossover and minivan is nearly imperceptible. So say goodbye to any illusion that minivans don't look cool, but crossovers do. That just doesn't hold up anymore. The XSE trim is supposed to look sportier than the rest of the trim lineup. I like the look of the Sienna without the XSE treatment, so I'd skip it. Also, it doesn't come in green. Power sliding doors and a power rear tailgate come standard on the new Sienna. On our tester, we also have motion-activated doors controlled by waving your foot below this Wi-Fi symbol on the running board. When your arms are full with groceries or children or, I don't know, soccer balls, anything that makes opening or closing your minivan door easier is going to be a welcome addition. Now let's get something out of the way. Every week, we review cars that are graciously loaned to us by the automaker, and this week Toyota lent us a very expensive Sienna. This limited trim is not quite the top of the heap, but it's not cheap, and unfortunately, buying the cheapest Sienna in 2021 will cost more than it did in 2020. There's no more L trim, so that means the prices start at $34,460 rather than $31,565, and we're not counting the $29,715 CE cargo van trim, although there's no word on that returning either. Now, all that said, it's great to see that Toyota has only raised the price of the LE trim $75 over what it was in 2020. And the LE comes very well-equipped. You get LED headlights, DRLs, and taillights, heated power wing mirrors, three-zone climate control, second-row sunshades, a 9-inch touchscreen with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, oh, and a hybrid powertrain. If you're concerned about the elevated cost of the new Sienna, here's the headline to pay attention to. New minivan promises 33 miles per gallon. You heard that right. Toyota says that in combined driving, the 2021 Sienna should get 33 miles per gallon. 33! The last minivan only got 20. When you're budgeting for a new car, how much do you consider the cost of fuel? Let us know in the comments. To put the Sienna's fuel economy into dollars and cents, if you drive this car 12,000 miles per year and gas costs $250 a gallon, you'll save over $560 per year compared to a non-hybrid 2020 model. $560 per year! That's almost $3,000 over five years of ownership. And if you're worried about repair costs, know that Toyota includes the hybrid components as part of the powertrain warranty, and the battery gets a 10-year, 150,000-mile warranty. Oh, and if you think 33 mpg sounds a bit optimistic, know that on my test loop, I averaged 34. Making matters even better, a Toyota Sienna is kind of fun to drive. Re-engineered on the TNGA-K platform, which also underpins the Camry and the Avalon, the Sienna feels surprisingly agile. It's a big car, so there's some weight transfer, but you won't be disturbed by excessive body roll high above the center of gravity. I wouldn't say that it corners like it's on rails, but it is less jarring than an SUV. The 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine pairs with two electric motors for a total system output of 243 horsepower. It's managed by a continuously variable transmission that likes to hold ratios, so rather than dropping down a gear, the Toyota Sienna kind of claws along as it's trying to get up to highway speed. In an otherwise very refined powertrain, it's the only noticeable shortcoming. And other than that, I mean, things are pretty quiet and pretty smooth in here. The all-wheel drive system is managed by the electric motors, so there is no mechanical transfer case. This helps maximize interior space, and you can see the torque distribution on the driver information display. You can add optional all-wheel drive to the limited trim for $1,800, but that price bump is not consistent across all the trim levels. On some of them, it's a little more, and on some of them, it's a little less. You can read Jason Fogelson's full review for a breakdown of those prices at CarGurus.com. With this instrument panel, it feels like we're in a car, not a van. Similarly, this seating position feels lower. Compared with a Land Rover Defender, this car feels tiny, even though we all know it isn't. This central console, which Toyota calls the Bridge Console, adds to the Sienna's car-like effect, but it eliminates one of the big benefits of minivans. Space in between the front seats. There is space beneath the bridge, but you can't see it very well. You're not going to be searching through your bag when you're stopped at a red light. And that's probably safer, but it doesn't help you when you're hunting for Sophie the Giraffe as your one-year-old is screaming in her car seat. The back seat is spacious. There's huge legroom for the second row, although maxing that out cuts the third row pretty tight. There's definitely a middle ground that the family is going to want to decide on. The third-row bench is nothing special, but it's reasonably comfortable. You can spec an upper-level Sienna with ottomans for the second row. You'll also find plenty of space for all your stuff, but, I mean, of course you will. It's a minivan. There are cubbies everywhere. The trunk has a deep floor that swallows up the third row when you want to stow it. Total cargo capacity measures 101 cubic feet behind the front row, but you have to physically remove these middle seats, leave them in here, and capacity measures 75.2 cubic feet. Safety is an important consideration with any car, but it's doubly so with minivans. I may not have children to cart around in this Sienna, but most shoppers will. Toyota offers Toyota Safety Sense 2.0 as standard equipment on the Sienna, as it does on most of its models. You get automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, full-speed adaptive cruise control, lane departure alert and steering assist, lane trace assist, and road sign recognition. Despite costing nearly $50,000, our limited-trim prototype doesn't actually have a head-up display, so all that information is shown here on the driver information screen. If you buy a top-tier Platinum trim level, you do get a 10-inch HUD. This tech doesn't just make the Sienna a safe car to drive, it makes it an easy car to drive. Strap in, set the cruise, and you can cover hundreds of miles in this car without breaking a sweat. Other noteworthy tech is housed in this 9-inch touchscreen. It's easy to see and only mildly frustrating to use, which is a step in the right direction for Toyota. The optional navigation system consistently put me on a logical route, and I appreciate the hard buttons and the knobs for volume and tuning. The tuning knob is a bit far, especially if you have short arms, so remember to preset your favorite station so that you can use the seek buttons on the steering wheel. We have 12 JBL speakers in our test car. The audio sounds good, but not brilliant. I wouldn't want to downgrade to the base 6-speaker system. Assuming you're open to buying a minivan, it's hard to go wrong with the 2021 Toyota Sienna. Whether you care about safety or practicality or even driving dynamics, this is more than just the best minivan in the segment. It's one of the best vehicles on sale today. Even with a starting price north of $34,000, the hybrid Sienna still offers great value. It leads the segment in fuel economy and even beats some smaller, lighter vehicles. And if you think the Toyota Highlander is a great-looking crossover, then I'm sure we can agree that this is a great-looking minivan. Thanks for watching. For more videos, including last year's review of the 2020 Sienna, subscribe to the CarGurus YouTube channel. You can read a full, written review of this car over at CarGurus.com, and I look forward to hearing from you in the comments. We'll see you next time.