With a new baby, my wife decided we need a minivan, so I’m looking at some used ones - probably 2001 or earlier would fit our price range. The Honda Odyssey and Dodge Caravan have some reliability issues, but the Sienna seems pretty solid from what I can tell. Does anyone have experience with a 1998-2003 Sienna? Any trouble spots? How do the seats fold or come out? Are they fairly easy to maintain?
Mom’s got a 2000 Toyota Sienna XLE with 120,000 miles on it. It’s had absolutely no reliability problems whatsoever–just standard maintenance.
I think there are a couple of different configurations for the back seats. Mom has captain’s chairs in the second row and a split bench in the third. They all fold down, and are relatively easy to remove as well (though heavy).
I have a 1999 Sienna XLE with 90K miles. I don’t recall any unusual repairs, just scheduled maintenance, and a new battery. It is the most reliable vehicle I have ever owned (it is the 5th new car I’ve bought since 1979, and has a better service record than my wife’s 1996 Camry).
I have the 7-seat configuration, which is two captain’s chairs in the second row. The seats in the second row will fold all the way forward to act as tables. They move forward and back to adjust for whoever needs more leg room. The seats can be completely removed by flipping up two levers underneath the rear of the seat and lifting the seat out. Mechanically, the process is very easy but the seats themselves are a little heavy to move around. I think the left & right seats are identical so you don’t have to remember when you’re putting them back in. The only problem is that the design of the second row doesn’t leave much space for entry and exit to the third row, which is difficult if you’re not too spry. Your choice is to climb in then go back between the two second-row seats, or fold a second-row seat forward and try to go in behind it. My 76-year-old MIL sat in the third row with the kids last week and we had a helluva time getting her back out again.
The third row is two seats that form a bench to seat three (two shoulder belts and a center lap belt). The seats fold forward almost flat to make room for cargo. These seats are also easily removed by levers accessed through the rear, although there is definite left and right seat. Again, easy to unlatch but heavy.
None of the seats have the new top-latch for new child seats.
I have taken all the seats out to transport large or long items. Some long items, like 2x4’s and 8-foot fluorescent bulbs (yes, 8 foot) go it by just folding the third row down and they go in the gaps between the seats in the first two rows. The cargo space behind the third row is reasonable but not as big as some other vans (my neighbors got a Voyager for that reason). It has never been a problem for me, as we usually have the back three seats free to fold down anyway.
We have had this van since my daughter was 2 and my son was a fetus, and it is a great family car, with room for half the soccer team. We got leather seats, which I like, but the driver’s seat is showing signs of cracking on the left side from getting in and out. I occasionally use leather treatment for it but probably not enough. Cloth seats are harder to clean and don’t have the luxury appearance but don’t get so hot in the sun or cold in the winter.
We have two-zone climate control (front & rear) and I don’t know if it’s an option or standard but I recommend it.
I get mileage around 21 MPG with a mix of highway and suburban driving.
My next-door neighbors have a new 2006 Sienna and love it.
If you have any questions for me feel free to email me at my username above at Seigle.net.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We know about all that. But what’s up with the spelling? There’s only one “n” in Siena!
Some troglodyte in the marketing dept at Toyota needs to be shot.
No, actually there ARE two “n” in Sienna.
The trog is cleverer than you think…
I think we have 50K on ours. No significant problems, gets decent mileage.
The rear seat is split, so you have 3 options you can combine:
-fold down 1 or both halves
-fold them down and then "tumble them forward, giving you more room behind them
-remove one or both.
If you just have one kid strapped into one of the second row captain’s chairs, you could remove both halves of the back row and the other captain’s chair and haul a ton of stuff.
The roof rack has a max carrying capacity of 150# or so.
Drives pretty much like a car. My wife likes the Matrix, so the Sienna is pretty much my car.
I love mine. Seven years, 70,000 miles. Some minor problems with the computer tis year. Less than $1000 to fix.
I see. They didn’t name their car after a beautiful jewel of a city tucked away in the rolling hills of Tuscany. They named it after rust-colored dirt.
Yeah.
:dubious:
I have an '04 version, right after they enlarged it 40%. I wish I had bought a used '03 as my version is like driving the Titanic around. Great handling and very reliable, but I miss being able to pull into a normal sized parking space.
I know three people that have older Siennas and all are quite happy with it. I think it is a wise choice.
After a color in an painter’s palette – it’s artistic, man! Could have been Umber. 
No, seriously: they named it after one of a list of names that included non-Japanese words picked out of various dictionaries as well as completely made-up words (“Camry”) and that were then focus-tested for public acceptance.
Yeah - one of the reasons we chose Sienna over Odyssey. Even tho the Odyssey was larger and less $, we didn’t need those extra couple of inches of eidth taking up space in our grage and in parking spaces every minute of every day, for the sake of the rare occasion that we might actually need it.
(Also, with 3 kids, the seating in the Sienna made more sense to us than the Odyssey. The split rear in the Sienna allowed us to remove 1/2 for extra luggage on trips, whereas with the Odyssey, the entire rear seat folded down. So, with 3 kids and luggage our option in the Odyssey was to remove the 2d row seats and put luggage there, with all 3 kids sitting in the rear seat. In the Sienna, we could seat 2-2-1, with a “L”-shaped space in the back for luggage.)
I know where all of these sennia’s are made. The toyota plant that assembles them is in Princeton, Indiana, not too far from me (about 20 miles). My wife’s company assembles all of the seats for them along with the interior door panels…
Not really sure that had anything to do with the OP, but you buying one helps my wife keep her job… 
It uses the Camry drivetrain (did in '99, might still today). It’s basically a Camry with a beefy suspension and a van body.
It also has much better performance than you would expect from a mini-van. It has plenty of power and handles great. Once I rented a Caravan and it was a dog. No response at the gas pedal.
Sure. Go ahead. Undermine my sense of intellectual superiority. Rend asunder my fragile pseudoacademic ego. Destroy my vaunted aspirations to highdomity, you heartless brute.
My wife drives a 2003. (The last year before the body change). Just had our 50K service. No major problems. Had a squeeky rear brake drum which was fixed under warranty. We have also replaced the tires. (Went with the Michelin Hydroedge) Looked at the Honda and bought the Toyota since it was about $4000 cheaper. Previous van was a Plymouth Voyager (Dodge Caravan clone). Started leaking every conceivable liquid before we even make 100K. Do not buy a used Caravan, Windstar, or GM van. None of them will make it past 100K without major repairs.