rickhamilton620
has a fetish for terrible cars
New Sienna no longer top rated minivan:
From the moment I saw the interior in press photos, I knew it was going to be disappointing. Nasty shiny plastic from the third row back, a rock hard plastic dash that doesn't even try to emulate the soft, squishy stuff, but instead has a odd, almost woodlike grain to it. To be fair, Odyssey and Sedona also have hard plastic dashes, but at least they do a credible job of looking like soft touch plastic. In any case, regardless of brand, when paying upwards of 40K for a minivan on the high end, I'd better get some nice interior materials.
It sucks, because overall, Sienna would seem to be a great all rounder. It's finally nice to drive, with the SE handling better than the prior "sporty" (relative term) handlers, Ody and Sedona, looks great, and has a wide variety of seating, powertrain, and trim level options.
The 2011 Quest's interior looks amazing, nearly Infiniti like. It'll be interesting to see how it fairs in real life.
Autoblog said:It's generally accepted that every new iteration of any vehicle is somehow better than its predecessor. And that's true of the 2011 Toyota Sienna minivan, which is festooned with more goodies (like a 16.4-inch widescreen monitor for rear-seat passengers) and a sportier flair (complete with a sporty SE trim) than the previous generation Sienna. The only question that remains, then, is this: Do those improvements automatically equal a better vehicle?
According to Consumer Reports, the answer is no. And surprisingly, it's not even close, with the new Sienna's overall test score of 80 paling in comparison to the 2010's overall score of 94. The main culprits cited by CR for the plummeting score are poor fit and finish and excessive interior noise ? bad enough that CR claims it's not possible to have a proper conversation between front and rear passengers.
From the moment I saw the interior in press photos, I knew it was going to be disappointing. Nasty shiny plastic from the third row back, a rock hard plastic dash that doesn't even try to emulate the soft, squishy stuff, but instead has a odd, almost woodlike grain to it. To be fair, Odyssey and Sedona also have hard plastic dashes, but at least they do a credible job of looking like soft touch plastic. In any case, regardless of brand, when paying upwards of 40K for a minivan on the high end, I'd better get some nice interior materials.
It sucks, because overall, Sienna would seem to be a great all rounder. It's finally nice to drive, with the SE handling better than the prior "sporty" (relative term) handlers, Ody and Sedona, looks great, and has a wide variety of seating, powertrain, and trim level options.
The 2011 Quest's interior looks amazing, nearly Infiniti like. It'll be interesting to see how it fairs in real life.
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