2015 Toyota Sienna Limited AWD review

2015 Toyota Sienna Limited AWD review

Pros

Comfortable Seats

Available AWD

Interior Quality

Cons

Captain's Chair Removal

Exterior Design

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If you have a growing family and need a good all-weather vehicle to transport the kiddos safely, you’ve come to the right place.

What about a vehicle that’s also good for weekend excursions to the beach or mountains?

Yep, the 2015 Toyota Sienna is perfect for that too.

Over the weekend we drove the top of the line, 2015 Toyota Sienna Limited. It came with all-wheel-drive, seating for seven and some rather unique functionality, which our passengers really enjoyed.

A little too much . . .

What’s New for 2015?

Limited Features & Options

Interior Design & Features

Engine & Fuel Mileage Specs

Driving Dynamics

Conclusion

2015 Toyota Sienna Gallery

What’s New for 2015?

The 2015 Toyota Sienna gets a few exterior styling changes (grille and taillights) but comes with some badly needed interior upgrades.

There is a revised suspension and stronger body structure too.

Limited Features & Options

The Toyota Sienna Limited AWD ($42,780) includes 18-inch alloy wheels, a different grille from the other models, LED running lights, auto-dimming and power-folding outside mirrors.

There are front and rear sunroofs along with front and rear parking sensors, upgraded leather seating, driver memory settings, a heated steering wheel, navigation system and a 10-speaker JBL premium sound system.

This Limited tester also came with Roof Rack Cross Bars ($185), remote start ($499) and all season floor mats ($475).

Total MSRP including destination: $44,824.

Interior Design & Features

The Toyota Sienna, like most other minivans on the outside, is a rolling box on wheels. However, Toyota made some needed improvements to the interior’s design and materials quality. After all, it’s what’s on the inside that everyday families are most interested in when they look for a vehicle.

The interior is nicer than the outgoing model and gets a more user-friendly dash and nicer interior trim throughout.

This Limited came with comfortable, heated leather seats and simulated wood cabin accents.

The quality of materials is improved and Sienna gets a new dash design that’s a lot more user friendly and attractive. Limited comes with second row captains chairs that slide all the way forward, making the vehicle useful for carrying large items.

They also slide back, making extra room for passengers to get very comfortable on longer trips.

We took the guys out to lunch Saturday and they were like little kids trying out all the options on the captain’s chairs.

We could hardly get them to leave the comfort of the back seats after arriving at Poncho Villas for lunch.

What we really found interesting in the new Sienna was the utility of the rear area behind the front seats.

The captains chairs can be removed (not easy) but the third row seat has a simple, one motion stow capability underneath the floor.

This opens up the rear area for any type of multi-purpose use.

We took the Sienna into the mountains for the night and used the huge open area to sleep as we camped out in the Colorado mountains. Just throw down a couple of sleeping bags and you’ve got a comfortable camper mobile.

The rear window even comes with pull down shades for privacy.

Engine & Fuel Mileage Specs

The 2015 Toyota Sienna is powered by a 3.5-liter V6 engine that delivers 266 horsepower and 245 pound-feet of torque. A six-speed automatic transmission sends power to all four wheels when equipped with the Active Torque Control AWD system.

Fuel mileage is an EPA estimated 16/23 city/highway mpg and 19 combined mpg with all-wheel drive.

Driving Dynamics

Toyota says they strengthened the body structure and tuned the van’s suspension to improve ride comfort and handling. Let’s be honest: you can only improve the driving dynamics of a minivan so much. However, the 2015 Toyota Sienna feels safer and has a more comfortable ride than the previous model.

We would rate the Sienna a 3 on the fun to drive meter.

The 3.5-liter V6 delivered enough power to get us up over a high mountain pass with ease – which is as much exertion as any owner will need.

The six-speed transmission is smooth and kept the engine’s power up when we needed it.

It’s not a performance hound, but families aren’t looking for that in a functional, multi-purpose vehicle like this one anyway.

The 2015 Toyota Sienna is comfortable, delivers competent handling and feels safe – that’s all that really counts to families shopping for their next vehicle.

Conclusion

The 2015 Toyota Sienna Limited AWD is an ideal family hauler. Remote power sliding doors on both sides makes it easy to load and unload the kids, dog and any cargo easily – in this aspect, the

removable and stowable rear seats may be the Sienna’s greatest virtue.

You can haul the soccer team, whatever equipment you need and even use it for a camping vehicle.

All-weather capability is a huge draw for families and this minivan is the only one available with all-wheel-drive.

And that makes the 2015 Toyota Sienna the most versatile minivan on the planet.

2015 Toyota Sienna Gallery

Photo: Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. Automoblog’s ratings range from 1 to 5, with 5 being the best.