2004 Toyota Sienna

Ever since Honda introduced its new Odyssey minivan in the fall of 1998 and Chrysler followed with the redesigned Town & Country in 2001, the automotive world has used these two vehicles as the yardstick to measure every other minivan built. There have been several other minivans introduced since, but these two have continued to retain the title of the ultimate family haulers. But, we think that's all going to change when the all-new 2004 Toyota Sienna hits dealerships in March 2003.

Under the stylish new sheetmetal, the Sienna rides on a five-inch longer wheelbase with a turning radius that has been reduced by more than three feet.

This is not to say that the current generation Sienna is a bad vehicle. On the contrary, it's a great minivan. However, even by its own admission, Toyota knows that the current Sienna has room for improvement. So, Toyota pulled out all the stops in its efforts to learn what minivan buyers want to see for this, the fourth generation Toyota minivan. At the heart of this research was a 53,000 mile road trip around North America undertaken by the Sienna's chief engineer, Yuki Yokoya and his engineering team. This trip took the group through every state and province in the United States, Canada and Mexico. What did they learn? Well, plenty.


Crossing the Mississippi River on a narrow bridge between Tennessee and Arkansas, the team noted how the Sienna needed more stability in a strong crosswind. On the gravel roads of the Alaska Highway, the need for all-wheel-drive became apparent. But, it was the little things that Yokoya's group discovered along the way that it hoped would make the next Sienna a winner with buyers and passengers. These included the need for roll-down windows in both sliding doors to allow second row passengers to catch a breeze when they'd like and a "conversation mirror" that allows the driver to keep an eye on the goings on in the back seat.


The result of this seat-of-the-pants research is an almost completely new minivan built on a new assembly line at Toyota's Princeton, Indiana plant using parts, 90 percent of which are made by North American suppliers. The 2004 Sienna rides on a new, more rigid chassis that has a five-inch longer wheelbase and four-inch wider track width, while the turning radius has been reduced by more than three feet. On the road, this equates to a smoother ride and better handling making the Sienna possibly the most nimble and quietest minivan we've ever tested.

Standard features include power windows, door locks and mirrors, AM/FM/Cassette/CD with six speakers, and front & rear air conditioning.

The larger dimensions of the new Sienna also carry over to the interior, with increased roominess in every dimension. In total, its interior volume has increased by nearly 45 cubic feet. Sienna comes with one of two distinctly different second-row seating setups that are easy to adjust, tumble or remove. In its seven-passenger configuration, Sienna features second-row captains chairs with a passenger-side chair that can be moved side-to-side, offering either a bench or a bucket arrangement. In its eight-passenger configuration, Sienna features a second-row, three-way split/folding bench with a middle seat that can be moved almost 13-inches closer to the front seat, making infants and toddlers in child-seats more accessible. Standard equipment on all models is a 60/40 Split & Stow 3rd Row(tm) bench seat that folds flat into the floor. Either side of the seat can be stowed separately with a low-effort, one-hand operation. With the entire rear seat stowed and the second row seats removed (each weighing around 50 pounds), 4 x 8-foot sheets of plywood can be loaded flat onto Sienna's floor.