By accessing this website, you acknowledge that Edmunds and its third party business partners may use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies to collect information about you and your interactions with the website as described in our
Privacy Statement, and you agree that your use of the website is subject to our
Visitor Agreement.
Comments
Close the door of your Sienna. Are only the front two lights on? (meaning the ones above the driver and passenger) If those are the only lights on, hit the remote to lock the doors. The last two lights will go off immediately. If the alarm armed, then all your doors are indeed closed and you should not have any battery drain.
If any of the (5) rear lights are on, either one of the three rear doors are open or someone has left a rear light on. To see which one it is, hit the remote to lock and arm the alarm, if it does lock (and does not annoy you with that lengthy high pitch noise), then someone has left the lights on. If it didn't lock check the rear hatch to ensure it is really closed or the left side door as it can be difficult to get either properly closed due to the excellent seals on these new vehicles.
on this christmas trip with three kids and lots of stuff, we couldn't stuff all the gifts and belongings on the trip home even with one of the seat folded in the third row. this of course gave us pause to the versatility of our '01 town and country.
i notice that the sienna has a deeper "pocket" behind its third row but it seems to be almost as impractical as my van since one can only stack stuff so high coupled that with the different size and shape of the stowed items, i.e. luggages, baby chairs etc. (parents with small infants know what i mean
sad to say but we are also looking into a suburban after visiting a friend of my parents who owns an '03 model. his 'burb (as he puts it) can hold 45 cu feet of cargo behind the third row. however his 45 cu ft seems more useful because of its overall "shape" (more horizontal than vertical as in the sienna and the chrysler).
this is the reason i really need opinions of those with more than 2 kids and who carry lots of stuff. we travel alot out of town because both sets of grandparents are living in different states.
i would hate to have to purchase a behemoth like the 'burb but if needs to ... --laura
In our Sienna, day to day we use 3 10 gallon rubbermaid totes in the bottom of the well which we use for when we go shopping. We can then stack more stuff on top. 18 gallon totes will also fit in place of our 10 gallon ones.
In our case we hope to not use a rooftop carrier in our yearly trips to visit family as we bought a 8 passenger version. This allows us to fold the 3rd row down and have tons of room back there.
The split folding rear seat also affords more opportunity to adjust your storage to human space ratio.
My suggestion would be to bring all the suitcases and other items you normally would bring on vacation or elsewhere to the dealer and try packing it in. See what fits. If it doesn't then you have your answer.
Good luck.
dako_tian: wow, you got a great deal on the yukon xl. i too don't mind paying for the convenience. -- laura
So far we generally use it with the three seats in the second row unless we need to carry a friend and or long items.
I'm guessing that they tried to pick the spot that would cause the fewest complaints to leave out.
Count yourself lucky though. My Yukon XL SLE, while it does have shoulder belts in 7 of the 8 seating positions (the middle, third-row has only a lap belt) and while having Latch anchors for all three positions of the middle row, it has no Latch points at all in the third row and only one tether point for the third row (the middle position).
When we go on vacation, we will make due by putting my daughter's forward facing (under 40 lbs.) css in that third row, middle position using the lap belt and the tether. My son's booster seat will go into the middle row, middle seat (that is if the passenger side middle seat will clear to allow third row access!) so that everyone in the car will have should harness security (our family's 4 plus SIL's 4 with 2 big-enough-for-regular-seatbelts kids).
I could see that the slightly-tighter access in the Sienna might have been too close for comfort (literally). However, the css position options would have been greater!
The locking ability of the seatbelts make it quite easy to get a good tight install without a locking clip.
As for the 3rd row having only two LATCH points, I suspect they really wanted to install only one, but due to the ability of the seat to fold independently, they ensured that you had at least one LATCH position at any time the rear seats could be occupied.
Nissan offers only one LATCH point in the center rear position, I couldn't get info from Ford as to how many and where they offer LATCH. Mazda appears to only offer them in the second row, Chrysler has one in the third row (as well as the two second row seats) from what I can glean and Honda offers them only in the second row.
Of course, all the options and changing suppliers and design modifications, affect what might be there. They cannot reasonably be expected to keep the manual up on each and every change, I suppose. (Interestingly, or not, the online manual available on MyGMlink.com for my specific VIN is quite different than the actual manual that came with my vehicle -- the one with the vehicle is more accurate.) I guess you just have to crawl around it, like I did, to see exactly what is there.
Another thing I found interesting was that the MSRP changed during the model year for the Yukon XLs I checked online (GM makes the actual stickers for dealer inventories available online). The earliest VIN numbers were the lowest and the MSRP jumped up a varying amount as the VIN numbers increased. I didn't look to see if made in Mexico or not made any difference. I'd never heard that a manufacturer altered MSRP throughout the year, but I suppose it sounds reasonable to do so....
There was a transmission software upgrade in November that changed the shifting behavior. It seems to have taken care of most peoples issues, the biggest current issue is the local dealer paying attention to the TSB list to do the update.
The revised software is installed on all new Siennas since that time (including mine from late December). I've heard no complaints from any new owners.
We are very happy with our Sienna and recomend them highly, There are 3 other people at work that have them and all are very happy. One of them bought one of the first Siennas delivered in our area in late March, no problems.
The dealer says it cannot find anything wrong but I don't believe they know what they are looking for. I explained the problem but they have had no luck in finding the problem.
My next step is to have someone video the dash board while I am driving to capture the light and beeping sound for some video/audio proof.
The car is a good one, drive it in confidence.
If I'm forced to complain about something, I too agree with KKLOTZ about the sound system. But then, we are at the age where that matters less. More time is now spent on NPR talk radio news & sports than Led Zeppelin, Van Morrison, or AC/DC...
AND, we expect to spend NO time at the dealer service area, as is our experience with other Toyotas' we've owned or purchased for commercial use.
Steve, Host
With plug in headphones and/or wireless headphones the passengers can listen to any of the audio sources....fm/am/tape/cd through the RSA unit, while the speakers in the car play from the same source as is being played over the RSA or play from another source.
If the RSA is playing the same radio band as the front, then the RSA must listen to the front's choice of station. Same with the tape or cd, if the front is using that source the rear must listen to the same track.
When front and rear are listening to different sources, the rear seat can choose the station and or track by using the remote.
Wired headphones have volume control on the unit. Wireless headphones have volume control on the headphones. They will automatically turn off after a few minutes of silence to save battery life.
If the front unit is turned off [as opposed to volume turned low] the rear unit may not operate.
It is possible to let the kids listen to the millionth replay of Kermit the Frog over the front unit, while the adult driver uses headphones to privately listen to ribald morning radio or boring public stations.
Maybe on the next generation Sienna, they will go to electric steerig which can be programmed to allow for more feel if you so desire.
Many other manufacturers make much better use of the variable effort solutions than does Toyota.
It has been snowy and icy and it handles that great. ABS works great. I'm sure the new tires have something to do with it, but it sure does stop reliably and rarely slips or slides.
No steering or tranny problems.
No rattles, sqeaks, or other noises.
No transmission issues. In fact you can barely tell its shifting unless you push it and its kicks down a gear. One of the early samples I drove last year had the jerking problem but none of the others have had it.
No steering or engine problems here. I'm planning on 5000-6000 mile oil changes like I usually do. I used to change the oil at 1000miles in new cars but I think I'm just going to the 5-6k interval this time or 3 times a year.
Fuel economy is about what I expected at a little over 18mpg and my driving style. It may be improving slightly over time but I will not know that for a few months. I would be happy with 20-22mpg. 18-20 is acceptable for its size and weight and the AWD.
My only real issue is that he estimated fuel economy is not very useful. It reads 4.5-4.9mpg higher than the calculated. The weird thing is that the DTE (distance to empty) calculation is correct so it does actually calculate fuel economy correctly at some point but the lies about
Other than this problem the van has no problems. Get about 27 mpg on the highway and 20 with mixed highway/city driving.
But I asked my service rep. about it and he said it could be fixed under warranty. I decided to do it.
I could've kicked myself for having had the repair made. Because the solution was to drop a totally new instrument package into the car.
Which meant that my odometer dropped from 16K to about 0, and the doorsill gained a yellow sticker describing the odometer change. And that sticker was a little controversial when I traded the car.
So I recommend asking what the solution will be before giving the go-ahead.
I'm guessing that it is really giving you an instantaneous estimate of the current MPG usage, not a cumulative figure.
Think about it. If it were giving you a cumulative MPG figure, then you should be able to watch your MPG drop as you sit with the car idling waiting for your wife to come out of the store. With my wife, the wait is long enough that it would make a significant difference! ;-)
Consider this: let's assume the computer shows you are getting 25mpg. Which means, if the DTE calculation is completely accurate to the nearest mile, that the fuel gauge is accurate to within 1/25 of a gallon (about 5 fluid ounces). I sincerely doubt that any fuel gauge on any production automibile in this country is that accurate. This is assuming that DTE is to the REAL empty (ie, van runs out of gas at the same time DTE shows 0) instead of allowing some leeway.
Perhaps it simply looks accurate because there is some leeway built into the 'fuel remaining' portion of the equation coupled with the overestimated mpg reading.
Example: computer calcs 25mpg with 2.0 gals remaining (according to gauge)= 50 DTE. Actual mileage is 20mpg with 2.5 gals remaining (actually in the tank)= 50 DTE.
This is based on 2 tanks with a reset at the time of fill-up. Numbers were very similar each time.
21gal*18.1mpg(calculated, same pump, 306miles/16.9gal)=380mile range.
306miles/18.1mpg=16.9gal used or the 16.9gal it took at the pump.
21gal-16.9gal=4.1gal remain
DTE should be 74.2miles. DTE estimated 75miles. Thats really close. Last time it was 78 acutal -vs- 80 estimated, also very close.
MPG should be 18.1mpg based on use. MPG estimated 22.7mpg. If DTE were based on estimated MPG then it should have been >90miles. I want to know what the difference is in the calculations. How is it getting the MPG number to calculate DTE?
Now the calculated amount simply must be relying on the gauge-measured quantity of gas (unless Toyota has conspired to prove me even more wrong by installing a flow meter!?!). Assuming, for cumulative reading, the computer is using the same odometer readings you use, then it will depend on the relative level of the vehicle and any other variations in the gauge reading between the way it was at your begin point and how it is at the end point.
Further, the DTE calculation must make some assumptions about either the way that you will drive, or use some generic average mpg figure, or use the actual average that you are getting at the time (requiring constant recalculation). In any of these cases, there might well be some fairly consistent variation from the overly-high reported mpg.
Add in the point rorr made about some undoubtedly-built-in safety buffer (they don't want to get calls from customers like, "HEY! The DTE said I had a whole mile left when I ran out of gas on the Toll Road!?! I'm SUING!!!"), and I can see where the reading you observe might happen.
Interestingly (or perhaps not?), a similar discussion about speed/odometer readings for Odysseys a couple years ago had people reporting different variations from actual speed/distance readings between these two gauges that one might well assume were interconnected (like 4.5% error in speed measured using elapsed time and highway mile markers, while there was a 3% error in distance measured against those same mile markers).
I wonder why they just dont report the MPG calculation that DTE uses as the estimated?
Anyhow, the warranty is coming up in June. So, need to make the decision to buy an extended warranty ($1700) or take my lumps, trade it in, and go for a Sienna.
The local dealer quoted me a good price for the trade-in (actually $1500 higher than what I had calculated on Edmmunds.)
So, I need to decide to dump the car now and get what I can for it and purchase a Sienna, or hold onto the Ford, buy the warranty, and cross my fingers & toes.
Any thoughts out there ? Any ex or current Windstar owners have an opinion ?
Thanks for your time.
On any vehicle without factory NAV there are a number of different ways of adding the functionality. One can go with a standalone unit from a company such as Garmin or go with a GPS unit in combo with a pocket PC/Palm or portable computer.
Any of the aftermarket solutions can move from car to car and some can even have integration with your stereo (I know of several people that have run the line out to the left front input of the amplifier to hear it through the stereo).
An advantage of the aftermarket units is that you can change the destination without stopping, (or modifying the OEM solution to work underway) allowing the passenger to make changes to the destination or find a restuarant, hotel or other side destination in mid course. This is a very distinct advantage. Another is that you won't have to keep paying for the whole system over and over again as you upgrade cars, just upgrade the program (which you have to do with the factory systems as well).
I make a very expensive mistake.
I will be purchasing an XLE Pkg 12 this week and donating my 95 Windstar with 85K miles to charity as it is worth $200 at trade in (currently experiencing major transmission problems).
Run, don't walk to the Toyota dealer!
Thanks.
One of the happiest days of my life was when I got rid of my Tortoise, which is what the Windscar is based upon. Once in a while the rental agency will try to give us a Tortoise to drive, I refuse to drive them, they are so rickety, underpowered and noisy. JUNK!
Of course, the 2004 Sienna rates just as well. But then, I don't think you'll find one on the rental lots for a while yet....
I'm looking for a second car for my only-two-day-a-week commutes. The increased depreciation of the Taurus, coupled with its high safety ratings is leading me toward saving $5000 or so on buying a low-mileage used one rather than a comparable Accord. With such low use and the money saved, I can afford a lot of repairs. Besides, I have an exceptionally good Ford dealer nearby (as experience with my recently-sold 1999 Ford F150 Supercab showed).
Question- do the steering wheel controls on the Sienna light up when headlights are on?
First, the factory NAV ends up costing you less when compared to a good aftermarket NAV like Alpine, Pioneer, Kenwood, Magellan, etc.
Second, the factory NAV also comes with a back-up camera. It would costs you a lot more to add a back-up camera to an aftermarket NAV.
The under $1K NAVs are okay, but they are not as good or as fast as the DVD-based NAV.
Second, the factory NAV is warrantied along with all the other equipments in your van. This works out great especially if you get the extended warranty since it will cover the NAV too.
Aftermarket NAVs are warrantied for no more than 1 yr.
3rd, factory NAV just looks sooooooooo much better and cooler on the dash than aftermarket NAVs.
4th, if you plan on keeping your van for 10 years like I do, by then you'd want a new NAV TECHNOLOGY anyway. NAVs are like computers. In 10 years, they're probably not all that great anymore. You want the latest and hottest NAV at the time. Yeah, man, in 10 years, I expect a 1 Petahertz--that's 1 million Gigahertz---I had to look that one up
They have a motorized screen too, but that will cost you $2,500 plus labor.
Bottom line, you can add an excellent NAV to any vehicle, but it will cost you at least the same if not more than the factory NAV.