2025 Toyota Sienna

Pros

• It gets great gas mileage with the standard hybrid powertrain.
• It’s easy to get in and out because the inside is big.
• There are lots of windows that let in natural light and a camera that can see everything around the room.
• You can get an all-wheel drive.

Cons

• Slow speed, especially when the vehicle is full of people and things.
• It’s hard to stop smoothly because the brakes don’t feel even.
• You can’t move the seats in the second row.

How is it to drive a Sienna? Since the Sienna only has a hybrid drivetrain, it accelerates very smoothly but goes much slower than most vans, even the previous Sienna with a V6. It takes an extra second to hit 60 mph. You don’t notice the delayed acceleration when you’re going around town. But you’ll notice it when you’re going up a hill or turning onto a freeway.

Even though it’s not the fastest car in its class, the Sienna is still competitive. It feels more like a car than an SUV when you drive it. The steering allows for long highway drives because it distributes the weight evenly. It’s not heavy, and it’s easy to turn when moving slowly.

The main worry is the strange, grabby feel of the pedal, even though the emergency brake works well. It might take a lot of work to stop smoothly at all times.

How does the Sienna make you feel? After being behind the wheel for a few hours, we had no trouble. People really like how flexible this is, even though it’s a basic tool in the class. The Sienna is more comfortable in the second row because it has broad front and rear folding doors that make it feel like a business-class car. You can choose to have four-zone temperature control, which adds one more zone to rivals’ standard three-zone climate control. It does a good job of keeping the cabin at the right temperature.

Noise can be scary. The cabin is calm and quiet as long as the engine is not running at full speed. Everyone in the house will know when you call for power. A big drone sound comes from the engine and continuously variable automatic gearbox (CVT). The optional in-car speech projection system works well to fix this problem because it sends sounds from front-seat passengers to speakers and headsets in the back. Don’t scream right now; save it for when you need it.

How is the inside? The Sienna is the first to go. It’s easy to get in and out of because it’s tall. The driving stance can be changed a lot and is very helpful. The only two things we don’t love about the huge touchscreen in the middle are that it can be hard to see in direct sunlight and that some buttons on the far side feel out of reach. Every other main control is set up logically and works properly.

Of course, the view from the house is nice. A clear view of the Sienna is possible with an available surround-view camera system, which makes things even easier. Having a digital rearview mirror also makes it easier to see over headrests or big loads in the back. The folding doors and hatch in the back can be opened and closed without touching them. To use them, you swipe your foot over them.

What’s wrong with the tech? The infotainment system has both physical buttons and a touchscreen with quick response times. Because the menu is shown twice, you can pick how you want to see it. The system’s audio directions work well with everyday language, and the built-in navigation is easy to understand and use. It also comes with built-in support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto on smartphones.

A simple intercom system, Wi-Fi, and lots of USB ports on all three seats are some of the tech features inside that make the area stand out. Modern tools that help drivers have also been shown to work well. Tuning your adaptive cruise control well will help you avoid the sudden and harsh stopping that we see in some other types.

What’s going on with storage? The Sienna is another minivan that is very helpful. Under the third row, there is a large cargo room with hooks for the seatbacks. The seats in the second row slide forward easily, which makes them a great option for moving. The seats in the third row can be folded down by hand so that they almost lie flat on the floor. The second-row seats are more challenging to remove than they are in some other minivans, so the maximum amount of goods that can fit is a little less. This is a very big problem.

There is also good room for personal items. There are sixteen cupholders, several level door pockets, and a large shelf between the front seats that can hold a purse. It is easy to place car seats on these points. The Sienna has five seats, which can fit eight people, and four seats, which can fit seven people. Kids who are old enough for booster seats can easily use buckles.

How much fuel does it use? We got the first plug-in car from Chrysler. The EPA says it could still get 30 mpg even in mixed mode if the EV battery ran out of power. At the time, that was amazing gas mileage for a minivan. The EPA thinks that the new hybrid Sienna will get 36 mpg on the highway. (Having all-wheel drive uses one more mpg of gas.) It is able to do a lot more.

We drove over 500 miles in a front-wheel-drive Sienna and got much better gas mileage than the EPA expected. We got an average of 42.7 mpg overall and 44.8 mpg on our slightly over 115-mile mixed-driving test route. We can’t wait to see how the type with all-wheel drive works. Wow.

Is it worth buying the Sienna? When we tested it, it didn’t feel like a final production model, but it did feel well-built and didn’t make any noises. You can feel good touching the armrests, steering wheel, and other areas that you use a lot. These areas are all well-padded and comfy, which contributes to the general feeling of luxury in this area.

At the very least, the base Sienna costs a little more than other base models, but compared to cars with similar features, its price is still reasonable. The top trim level costs a little more than the others, but it has options that make it worth the extra money, like all-wheel drive. It’s the only car that comes with free regular maintenance for two years, a strong warranty on hybrid parts, and roadside help.

If how well a car stops is important to you, the Sienna’s brakes could kill you. At different times, they might understand too much, too little, or do a perfect job. We put a lot of weight on this factor, which is a bad thing about a great car otherwise.

Another thing is that the Sienna has a few extras on top of the basics. When you compare its outside to other minivans, it has a lot of charm. Inside, it has a refrigerator that freezes food and drinks very quickly, a built-in vacuum cleaner, and second-row seats that can be laid back with footrests like those in-flight business class. Also, this hybrid gets a lot more than 40 mpg. This is the wild card of all time.

As of this writing, Toyota hasn’t said anything public about the 2025 Sienna. We’ll change our suggestions if anything changes, but based on last year’s Sienna, the XLE trim is the best choice because it has the most comfort and ease features and the best price. The changes make it feel a lot nicer than the base LE trim, and you can also get a lot of different choices for it, like a back entertainment system.

Versions of the Toyota Sienna

The Toyota Sienna comes in six different trim levels: LE, XLE, XSE, Woodland Edition, Limited, and Platinum. All of them are driven by a hybrid system with a four-cylinder engine that makes a total of 245 horsepower. The Woodlands Edition is the only one that doesn’t come with all-wheel drive. It comes with front-wheel drive. Depending on the trim level, the Sienna can fit either eight people (with a second-row bench seat) or seven people (with second-row captain’s chairs).