Toyota Sienna

I enjoyed the Sienna when we had it for a rental last week in Orlando. I was shocked that I could stand almost upright when installing my 3 yr old's carseat (I'm 5'10"). Can't do that in my Freestar. I also miss the automatic side doors. Unfortunately DH is not ready to trade in my van but I will look into more about the Sienna when we get ready to buy a new one.

Toyota Sienna

the new Sienna's are very car seat friendly, 4 full sets of LATCH in the 7pas, 5 in the 8pas (including the jump seat - which in the Odyssey is not really usable for car seats - but great), shoulder belts and headrests in all seating positions.

Toyota: Sienna

"I love my Toyota Sienna. I have the LE model (I think – not the top-of-the-line), which offers the option of three seats in the second row. I’m not sure whether you could get all three car seats in that row, but suspect that you might be able to at least when the twins are still in the infant seats. The downside would be that with all three seats in the second row, the third row would be essentially inaccessible. There’s also plenty of cargo room even with all three rows are in use. Finally, I’ve had the car for almost three years and have had ZERO problems with it."

Toyota: Sienna

"I am expecting twins in March. I have a 3 year old son and a 5 year old daughter. I have been worried about how to set up the cars with carseats and such. We already have a minivan (the latest Toyota Sienna) and I really like it. It can be set up to get back to the 3rd row with little problem - we have the 7 seater but it comes in a 8 seat version - in which you may be able to fit 3 carseats in the middle row. My husband just traded in his 2 door car for a Volvo XC90 (suv) just because it has a 3rd row. It will not be easy to get the kids in the 3rd row but it does have a built in booster in the middle row which is fine for our 5 yearold. But we don't plan on using the Volvo as the everyday car but felt more comfortable with both cars being capable of toting all 4 kids. I don't think there is a perfect solution but there are some cars out there that can accomodate 3 carseats in the backseat - it wasn't an option for us."

Toyota: Sienna

"We have a Toyota Sienna and it has worked well with our twins and their older sibling. We opted for the one with 7 seats, which means it has two captain seats in the middle row. You can slide one seat over giving access to the third row. It worked well when we had the infants in car seats in the middle row. We could easily strap my older child into the third row. Now that the twins are in car seats and the older one in a booster, it works equally as well to have a booster and car seat in the third row and one car seat in the middle row. One recommendation is to look for one that has storage under the seats. It wasn't available when we bought ours in 2004 but I have seen it in friends' vans and it is a great feature. As far as bells and whistles, we opted not to get the dvd player since I was always bumping my head on it when I strapped in car seats on rentals. We rented a minivan for the weekend as a trial to see if we could handle the size. One other idea is to bring at least one car seat with you when you test drive cars so you can see how easily it will be to access different configurations. It was a pain but well worth it."

Toyota: Sienna

We have a now eight year old daughter and 4-year old b/g twins. We bought a Toyota Sienna w/8 seat option about 3 ½ years ago and it's a great fit for a family of five. It gives us the option of having all three in one row (it does fit three car seats, which a lot of SUVs don't in one row) or having our oldest (and her friends) in the back. It was important to us when the twins were born not to have our older daughter forced to sit alone in the back, so at the time that ruled out all minivans except the Sienna. Now the Odyssey also has an 9-seat option, but I'm not sure the middle seats are as wide. You should actually bring three car seats to look at it to make sure.
We did look at a couple of SUVs with third rows, but they were smaller inside and harder to navigate (in the Sienna, the third row folds down really easily and also splits 40/60, and one of the seats in the second row folds forward with one hand to access the third row).

Toyota: Sienna

"From what I've been able to gather about this issue, it all boils down to ONE THING: Honda Odyssey vs. Toyota Sienna. I haven't been able to get to the bottom of it, because there are enthusiastic proponents of each. The debate rages! I have a feeling that nearly every response you get is going to be for one or the other minivan.

I love my Toyota Sienna. While we only have two kids, we constantly use the third row. The rear seat is split so you can have it all up, all down, or just one or two seats up. Even with the entire third row up, I have room in the rear for a stroller, booster seat, diaper bag, and whatever shopping I'm doing that day.

I think the absolutely best feature (available on many minivans) is power sliding doors. The convience is wonderful when you have a baby in your arms and are trying to get a toddler in/out of the vehicle. However, the real reason I love them is that they automatically stop closing if they feel any resistance -- which is wonderful when you have a toddler who really wants to close his own door. I have tested this feature several times just to ensure it is working properly. I had my hand shut in a car door as a child and I never want that to happen to one of my kids.

The other features I love on my minivan are proximity (kinda like sonar) sensors and the back-up camera. The proximity sensors are on the front two corners, the rear two corners and straight back and give you are warning as you are approaching objects (beeps that increase with frequency as you get closer). The backup camera is nice just to get another visual view before you backup.

I also like the built-in sun shades on the windows. They are actually independent of the windows -- so you can roll the windows up/down while leaving the sunshades up."