2011 Sienna v. 2011 Ody v. older Sienna

So my wife's CR-V is getting crowded and we're looking for a minivan. Top contenders are:

2011 Sienna LE w/ 4 cylinder. It's only available in 8 passenger, though I don't see much use for the 8th seat. I like that I can put our huge Britax Advocate in the middle row and slide it enough to still sorta have access to the rear seats RF or FF. I'd love having the latest bells & whistles but miss having 3 across seating in the middle row though. I love having that in my truck. Makes it easy to sit inside in the winter while we're putting on coats or messing with buckles, etc.

2011 Odyssey They've said they'll have 3 across seating in the middle row, but haven't said much else. I can wait and see, but don't want to wait so long that I miss out on my third option

2nd gen Sienna LE w/ 8 passenger. I'd get the 3 across seating I like, but wouldn't get all the neat new stuff they're putting in cars these days, some of which you could say are safety improvements. I'm stopping by the dealer tomorrow to check one out, Advocate in hand.

Goals and constraints:
2 kids now and no telling how many we'll end up with. Maybe 3? 4? I intend to keep this van for at least a decade. Safety, convenience/versatility, and fuel economy are all high priorities. Flashy looks or sporty performance are not at all important. I'd rather not have leather and refuse to have a sunroof of any kind, which puts some limits on the options available. We've never bought new but have been saving a long time and I'd like to put my family in the safest and most practical set of wheels we can get our hands on.

What would you get? Why?

I have the 2009 7 pass Sienna and love it. Yes, I liked some features in the new Sienna but I hated the seats and the 8 pass is useless. My 2009 is not as fancy but it works great. I love the 8 pass 2nd generation so much better too.

Would love to know about the odyssey.

So I just spent some quality time with an 09 Sienna LE w/ 8 passengers and...
I love how they did the seats. You can actually use them. All of them. I even sat the Advocate in the rear center seat and tried sitting on either side. Except for elbow room, it was fine. Leg room is fine in all positions. (I'm 6'1") I have no idea why Toyota changed anything behind the B pillar for the 2011. I wish they hadn't.

I saw side airbags in the pillars near the front and 2nd row, but not the 3rd. Anybody know if there's one side airbag to cover back 2 rows or if the 3rd row is airbag-less?

I have a 2008 7 passenger Sienna and was at the dealership having my oil changed so I took a look at the new Sienna. I was pretty disappointed to see what the 8th seat looks like now. It looks useless, I remember when we were decided between the 7 passenger or 8 passenger 2008 that the 8th seat was quite a bit bigger than it is in the new one. Also, they removed some LATCH anchors from the back row. The 2008 has 2 full sets of anchors in the third row and the new Sienna only had 1. I was dumbfounded as to why they decided to take that out. It didn't impress me the way I was hoping it would.

npauli said:

So I just spent some quality time with an 09 Sienna LE w/ 8 passengers and...
I love how they did the seats. You can actually use them. All of them. I even sat the Advocate in the rear center seat and tried sitting on either side. Except for elbow room, it was fine. Leg room is fine in all positions. (I'm 6'1") I have no idea why Toyota changed anything behind the B pillar for the 2011. I wish they hadn't.

I saw side airbags in the pillars near the front and 2nd row, but not the 3rd. Anybody know if there's one side airbag to cover back 2 rows or if the 3rd row is airbag-less?

Click to expand...

I concur on liking the previous generation (2004-2010) model over the redesigned 2011 model. The side curtain airbags cover all 3 rows in the 2004 and newer Siennas, not sure if there is a separate curtain airbag for each rear row or a single long one, and a quick search isn't yielding me a suitable photo showing the deployed side curtain airbags, but the Sienna's third row is included in the side curtain airbag protection either way. :thumbsup: Side curtain airbags were optional in the 2004 and 2005 Siennas and standard equipment in the 2006 and newer model years, and stability control was optional until approx the 2007/2008 model year, and IMHO those are must haves safety-wise. Call me a biased 2005 8-passenger Sienna owner if you will, but I'm not impressed with the shrinking of the second row center seat nor with the reduction of top tether anchor equipped seating positions in the 2011 model - more details on that (and my griping and that of other disappointed posters, lol) are in the Car Safety forum's earlier 2011 Sienna thread at http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=108226.

Jeanum said:

I concur on liking the previous generation (2004-2010) model over the redesigned 2011 model. The side curtain airbags cover all 3 rows in the 2004 and newer Siennas, not sure if there is a separate curtain airbag for each rear row or a single long one, and a quick search isn't yielding me a suitable photo showing the deployed side curtain airbags, but the Sienna's third row is included in the side curtain airbag protection either way. :thumbsup: Side curtain airbags were optional in the 2004 and 2005 Siennas and standard equipment in the 2006 and newer model years, and stability control was optional until approx the 2007/2008 model year, and IMHO those are must haves safety-wise. Call me a biased 2005 8-passenger Sienna owner if you will, but I'm not impressed with the shrinking of the second row center seat nor with the reduction of top tether anchor equipped seating positions in the 2011 model - more details on that (and my griping and that of other disappointed posters, lol) are in the Car Safety forum's earlier 2011 Sienna thread at http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=108226.

Click to expand...

Yes, what Jean said

I also love my 05 8 passenger sienna, and really think that toyota did it a disservice by shrinking the middle seat and removing 2 full sets of latch.

Yup, I'm another one disappointed by the new 2011 Sienna. The 8th seat and plenty of LATCH points was one of the few features the Sienna had against the Odyssey. Lose that, and it becomes a somewhat crappy van.

Yet another vote for the older Sienna. I love my 2008. Not a fan of the 2011 at all.

My sister was in the market for a minivan very recently and opted for the 8 passenger 2010 Sienna over the 2011 Sienna and the Odyssey.

We just bought a 2009 Sienna Friday and I am absolutely amazed at how many LATCH points there are. I was expecting to see one in the very rear seat, but two? Wow! I love how much leg room there is, and how my children don't look squished in it. Granted we had a 2002 Saturn L200 before so anything is better, but this is an amazing van.