Another comparison: 2011 Kia Sedona or 2008 Toyota Sienna (8pass) - Canada

Hi all

I have come to this website for a lot of reference, so I thought I would post a question of my own:

We are looking at buying a minivan as we have a 2yr old and are expecting twins..

I have done a tonne of research and decided that I loved the 2008 Toyota Sienna 8-passenger, except for the price...

For that same price (~$18K CDN) we could get a 2011 Kia Sedona, 7-passenger.

The Kia isn't as pretty and has fewer sets of latch/ top tethers.. I just love that 8th seat in the Sienna (in the 2008 it's the bigger one), and the Sienna is a bigger van overall, which I think it better for cargo space.

But maybe the newer Kia is a better choice?

Anyone have any thoughts?

Well, it's really up to you. When we were choosing between older/higher miles Odysseys & Siennas vs newer/less miles Sedona, we chose the Sedona, and we are happy with the choice. My opinion is that Honda & Toyota vehicles have such a great reputation for reliable cars that the price on their used vehicles is inflated. Now, some would say that the higher price is absolutely worth it because they ARE more reliable... but it's really super hard to find hard data on reliability to say that for sure. I figure that even if a Sienna lasted 50k miles longer than a Sedona, but the Sedona that I can afford has 80k fewer miles than the Sienna, then I'm coming out ahead with the Sedona (if that makes sense).

The top tethers are not a huge concern of mine, as my kids don't sit forward facing in harnesses for more than a couple of years, and I am unlikely to have more than 1 in a FF harness at once, so having 3-4 top tethers is plenty.

The 8th seat in the Sienna is really nice though if you have only 3 kids (I have 4), since you can put all 3 of them in the middle row if you want.

We haven't had any cargo space issues in our Sedona (2008; not sure what changed between ours and the 2011).

There are pros and cons either way - and honestly I think either choice is fine.

I was looking at Sienna vs Sedona as well. We always figured we would get a Sienna when my Safari dies. But I looked at two comparable vehicles (same age, mileage, trim level, condition) and the Sienna was $15,000 while the Sedona was $8,000. As I said to DH, even if the Sedona were to have a few more things go wrong, that $7000 buys a LOT of repairs. I also agree that the Sienna & Odyssey have inflated used prices due to their reputation.

Thanks for the replies!

I think the top tethers are a deal maker/ breaker for me because I foresee about two years of having 3 kids forward facing... And I can envision putting all three in the middle row to have space for camping stuff (whether in car seats or not).

And the Sienna has power sliding doors and DVD package which are both niceties (or just more things that can break..)


I think to be totally fair I'll have to go test drive the Kia at least, but I am leaning a lot toward the Toyota Sienna. I guess I should also see what my husband's opinion is...


Probably looking to buy one in a the next week or two so I'll update