Toyota Sienna 7-seater of 8????

[marchmommy]

Ladies,

We still haven't bought a new car (posted a few weeks ago). Now we're down to leasing a Toyota Sienna--can any of you recommend either the 7 seater or the 8? We have a 2 and a half year old DS and a 9 month old...do the seats differ b/w the 2? Your help, as usual, is so much appreciated. In this stressful world, I always find posting here so helpful and such a balm to my stressful life...

[RwnMayfair]

We have the 7-seater, though one of the dealerships we were at did show us an 8-seater (even though we weren't interested in it). Anyway, the main difference between the two is that the 8-seater has an extra somewhat-more-narrow-than-normal seat between the two seats in the middle row. (I also don't remember the two "normal" seats having the arms that they do in the 7-seater, but I can't swear to that.) You can move that extra seat foward some so that it's closer to the two front seats as well. (The salesman stated this as something that would be a great benefit with an infant carseat.) The extra seat can also just be removed, as well. And in order to get into the third row, you have to fold down one of the middle row seats. So the 7-seater is definitely easier to get in and out of the third row with, because you don't have that extra seat to contend with.

We went with the 7-seater because we figured we'd honestly just almost never need an eighth seat. That, and I wanted accessability to the back row without having to fold a seat down. ;) (We keep the two captain's chairs in the middle row right next to each other, rather than seperate too, which helps with that.) If you can do so, I'd see if you can see one of each at a dealership, since that'll help clarify what the heck I'm talking about above. ;) Otherwise, they do have interior pictures of both on Toyota's website as well, though that's not going to be quite as enlightening as seeing it yourself. :)

-Melissa

Taran, November 20, 2003

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_emerald_18m.gif - Eighteen months!
http://lilypie.com/baby2/031120/0/5/0/-5/.png
http://lilypie.com/days/050821/4/0/0/-5/.png

[o_mom]

>Ladies,
>
>We still haven't bought a new car (posted a few weeks ago).
>Now we're down to leasing a Toyota Sienna--can any of you
>recommend either the 7 seater or the 8? We have a 2 and a half
>year old DS and a 9 month old...do the seats differ b/w the 2?
>Your help, as usual, is so much appreciated. In this stressful
>world, I always find posting here so helpful and such a balm
>to my stressful life...


We looked at this as did my sister and there were two sticking points on the 8 seater for both of us.

1. The eight seat van has three small seats in the second row vs. two captains chairs. If you have car seats in two of them, it makes access to the back row very difficult as they are designed to "tilt" up for access and you can't really do this with a carseat in it. (At least that was our impression at the dealer.) So it seemed that most of the time we wouldn't have the third seat in anyway. Although it would be available for occasional use, I think only two of them have LATCH.

2. The 8 seat is only available on the lower trim lines so there are several features you can't get - power sliding doors and leather come to mind.

Depending on how long you lease for, if you plan on buying at the end and if you are thinking about more kids, the eighth seat may or may not work well. For example: In two years, your 2.5 yo will be 4.5 and possibly in a booster. If you have another baby, then you will want the older one in the back and be able to buckle his own belt so you don't have to climb back every time. Think also about long trips if an adult wants to sit in the second row with one child, the larger seat of the 7-seat would probably be more comfortable.

HTH!

[marchmommy]

O Mom,
That was very helpful. May I ask which van you went with? B/c I'm wondering if maybe we are better off w/the Honda--for the same price (cloth, w/DVD)...Any thoughts?

[o_mom]

>O Mom,
>That was very helpful. May I ask which van you went with? B/c
>I'm wondering if maybe we are better off w/the Honda--for the
>same price (cloth, w/DVD)...Any thoughts?

LOL! We went with the Honda, but only because we were buying used and the Sienna was redesigned in 2004, so there are/were very few used ones available. If we were buying new it would have been a much more difficult decision. They were both very similar on the features.

We have a older Honda, and were able to get the EXL since we bought used. The things I really like are the leather seats - spills just wipe off, the power sliding doors and the factory DVD. What I don't like are the center "console" - basically a tray with zero storage and the third seat is all one bench - new ones are 60/40 split, so you could have someone sitting in the third row and still use the cargo space.

I know the 2005 Honda has the split seat, but I'm not sure if they put a true storage console in. The Toyota did have a console and the split seat.

Oh yeah, the third row of the Sienna is about 2 inches wider than the Odyssey - this can make or break getting three carseats or booster seats in that row. The Sienna also has 2 LATCH positions in the third row where the older Odysseys don't have any - not sure on the new ones.

Hope this helps - I think eaither one would be great, just a matter of what features matter most to you.