Sienna or Outlook?

If you were going to choose between these two which would you pick and why?

I am going to trade in my Pacifica in the next couple months I think. The third row is very inconvenient to access so I'm not happy putting DD1 back there when DS is born.

I need something with AWD or 4WD and these two both offer it, have great safety ratings, and are within our budget. I also want something with decent cargo room - especially since we will be taking family trips with 3 adults and 3 kids in seats when DS is born. That's a lot of luggage.

I haven't driven or seen inside either of them yet but will probably be renting an outlook tomorrow.

I would choice the Outlook but I am the first to say I will never under any circumstance own a minivan. Plus I only buy American manufacturer vehicles.

Depends.... are there captain's chairs in the Outlook? If not, then I would say Sienna, because I have an Envoy (similar to the Outlook) and the 3rd row is a PITA to access. I basically have to leave one seat folded over all the time to let anyone get into the back seat.

I'm the opposite. I prefer minivans for families cuz they're just so much more efficient. Besides, you likely directly support american jobs more if you buy most Toyotas or Hondas instead of American manufacturers (who have a lot of their plants in Mexico and Canada).

codex57 said:

I'm the opposite. I prefer minivans for families cuz they're just so much more efficient. Besides, you likely directly support american jobs more if you buy most Toyotas or Hondas instead of American manufacturers (who have a lot of their plants in Mexico and Canada).

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That is very false (seeing as GM alone has 4x's the plants as Toyota or Honda in the US alone) but I won't highjack this thread.

MissAllyLou said:

Depends.... are there captain's chairs in the Outlook? If not, then I would say Sienna, because I have an Envoy (similar to the Outlook) and the 3rd row is a PITA to access. I basically have to leave one seat folded over all the time to let anyone get into the back seat.

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The Outlook does come with caption chairs as an option. I agree the Envoy isn't a great set up when trying to access the 3rd row. This is why I went with caption chairs on my Tahoe. The Outlook or any of the GM crossovers are completely different in how you access the 3rd row compared to the SUV's. Plus the 3rd row on the cross overs are a lot more roomy then in the Envoy/Trailblazers. I would say even more roomy then in the large SUV's like the Tahoe/Suburban.

When we get a new car, we're getting an 8 pass. Sienna.

Our reasons:

-Toyotas and Hondas have nice high retained values
-Most tether anchors and sets of LATCH (the 8 pass. Sienna has 5 full sets!)
-I like the way it looks (okay I'm a girl and choose the one that looks pretty)
-My husband likes the way it drives (he's more into that than me)
-Readily available around here as a certified used vehicle
-We don't do SUVs
-Love the cargo rack!

Oh, and all Toyotas sold in the US are manufactured in the US, last I heard (from my husband who used to sell Toyotas.) So a Sienna IS American-made.

I'm not sure if every last Honda and Toyota sold in America is made here, but it's very high up there % wise. If you look the more common "family" cars, its definitely true. Oddy and Sienna are made in the US, while I know Chrysler's minivans are made in Canada. Ford has had their Mexico plant mentioned a lot lately for producing stuff that's getting more popular. GM is pretty split btw Canada and Mexico altho the Outlook is still built in Michigan. In any case, Honda and Toyota's trend (along with many other "foreign" manufacturers, including Hyundai, Nissan, BMW, and Mercedes) is to build more of their cars here and to open more plants in the US. A Honda plant for the Civic just went online in Indiana and Toyota just opened up another design center in Michigan near Ann Arbor. Meanwhile, the domestics are shuttering more and more US plants and pushing everything out to other countries.

Anyways, I like minivans cuz you pack more into a smaller space. Makes it easier to park, has a lower center of gravity, and tends to save gas. Unless you get some killer snow drifts on your driveway, stability control and snow tires should be more than enough for those of us who live in the colder climates.

codex57 said:

I'm not sure if every last Honda and Toyota sold in America is made here, but it's very high up there % wise. If you look the more common "family" cars, its definitely true. Oddy and Sienna are made in the US, while I know Chrysler's minivans are made in Canada. Ford has had their Mexico plant mentioned a lot lately for producing stuff that's getting more popular. GM is pretty split btw Canada and Mexico altho the Outlook is still built in Michigan. In any case, Honda and Toyota's trend (along with many other "foreign" manufacturers, including Hyundai, Nissan, BMW, and Mercedes) is to build more of their cars here and to open more plants in the US. A Honda plant for the Civic just went online in Indiana and Toyota just opened up another design center in Michigan near Ann Arbor. Meanwhile, the domestics are shuttering more and more US plants and pushing everything out to other countries.

Anyways, I like minivans cuz you pack more into a smaller space. Makes it easier to park, has a lower center of gravity, and tends to save gas. Unless you get some killer snow drifts on your driveway, stability control and snow tires should be more than enough for those of us who live in the colder climates.

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And you know why the domestics keep having to close plants & lay American workers off is because Americans are buying more foreign vehicles.

Go look at how many domestic manufactures employee here in America (directly & in directly) it is 6x's that of Toyota or Honda. Sure they make vehicles in other countries but it is also part of an agreement with those countries too employee their workers where they sale vehicles. At the end of the day your dollar is staying very little in the US market when you buy a Toyota or a Honda as it is when you buy a GM or Ford vehicle.

As for gas mileage the GM crossovers get the same gas mileage as the Toyota & Honda minivans.

Ahem, instead of turning this thread into another American vs. foreign brand debate, it would be best to focus on the OP's specific questions comparing the specific models in terms of their family friendliness, cargo room, and carseat placement. Thank you.

Another thing to consider between the OP's two vehicle choices would be the sliding rear doors on the van vs. hinged rear doors on the Outlook. The sliding doors can improve rear access for loading kids in and out in tighter parking spaces or a smaller garage vs. hinged rear doors. The Outlook wasn't available at the time we were vehicle/van shopping to replace our Saturn Vue back in 2005 and ended up with the Sienna. I'd honestly have trouble deciding between the two now, but the rear sliding doors would definitely factor in for me due to the tight parking spaces at many places around here, and our garage is pretty tight as well. :twocents:

Another reason I like minivans. You can't give another car door dings with the sliding door. I cringe whenever I see a kid get in or out of a vehicle in a parking lot. Many have a bad habit of swinging the doors open. Hard. Same with the adults now that I think about it, just not quite as often as the kids.

Plus, little kids have a bit easier time getting in to minivans cuz they're just a bit lower usually. Or, more senior folks.

I have a Sienna and we looked at the Outlook/Acadia/Traverse at the State Fair auto show on Tuesday. The Sienna definitely has more cargo room and 3rd row space although the GM crossovers didn't seem nearly as bad as a lot of the 3 row SUVs.

There were two with a 2nd row bench to look at and the passenger side seat does slide forward and fold up out of the way for easy 3rd row access. The folding seat on the Outlook was broken or something though. I couldn't get it to fold for anything. I realize there's a lot of people climbing in and out of and messing with these cars, but I didn't find that particularly impressive.

With an AWD Sienna though you'd have the option of just moving one of the captain's chairs toward the middle for totally open passenger side 3rd row access. With the captain's chairs in the crossover, you'd be climbing around a car seat.

codex57 said:

Another reason I like minivans. You can't give another car door dings with the sliding door. I cringe whenever I see a kid get in or out of a vehicle in a parking lot. Many have a bad habit of swinging the doors open. Hard. Same with the adults now that I think about it, just not quite as often as the kids.

Plus, little kids have a bit easier time getting in to minivans cuz they're just a bit lower usually. Or, more senior folks.

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To avoid door dings I don't park near other vehicles. Hey I need the exercise as does everyone in this world and I have to perfectly healthy legs so I will use them. This avoids me or my children giving anyone else door dings plus keep my vehicle looking brand new.

The only thing I wish GM would have done differently on the crossovers was have more top tether spots in the 3rd row.

Parking away from people isn't usually an option for me in the city and parking garages. And with small kids in the dark or in bad weather I wouldn't if I could. I love our van. I would go with the Sienna for the LATCH positions, slidiing doors (esp. power), gas mileage, lower center of gravity, access to third row. In hot weather it is nice to have the doors open up so much and ventilate. And I think sitting in the third row of a van offers an adult more head room adn the ability to bend at the knee that many crossovers have issues with.

Rosey said:

Parking away from people isn't usually an option for me in the city and parking garages. And with small kids in the dark or in bad weather I wouldn't if I could. I love our van. I would go with the Sienna for the LATCH positions, slidiing doors (esp. power), gas mileage, lower center of gravity, access to third row. In hot weather it is nice to have the doors open up so much and ventilate. And I think sitting in the third row of a van offers an adult more head room adn the ability to bend at the knee that many crossovers have issues with.

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:yeahthat:

Here we have assigned parking spaces and every one is full! There's no way you can avoid parking next to people, and when out in public, I wouldn't, so much safer and usually there are no spaces where you're not next to anyone anyway!

jen_nah said:

To avoid door dings I don't park near other vehicles. Hey I need the exercise as does everyone in this world and I have to perfectly healthy legs so I will use them. This avoids me or my children giving anyone else door dings plus keep my vehicle looking brand new.

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We tried that. We'll park in the middle of the parking lot with plenty of spaces around us. What happens? Someone decides to park RIGHT next to us. And it's almost always really close (unnecessarily so) and it's ALWAYS a big honking truck or SUV.

I mean, they have literally over 10 spaces all over to choose from. Sometimes more. Yet they still choose to pick the spot right next to our car. Jerks do it on purpose, I swear.

I don't know how the outlook is, but I really liked the fact that the back windows for the third row in the sienna rolled down, so people in back don't have to be hot. Also, there are vents back there. Maybe I'm just not up to vehicles of the 21st century though?

There are vents for all 3 rows of the Outlook and in some models there is separate backseat climate adjustment from the front seat.

We have an Outlook, though I never test drove the Sienna to compare that... Here are my thoughts on the Outlook:

- 2nd row space between the seat and front passengers is really nice. I can sit outboard with the passenger seat all the way back and my knees don't touch. (I'm 5' 7" with a 31" inseam.)

- I've been really impressed with the stabilitrack & traction control system. There is a definite difference in handling - though our last car didn't even have ABS, so it is harder to compare there.

- Cargo room is great with the 3rd row down. It's ok with the 3rd row up - I can't compare to the Sienna, but it's enough to have a combi flare stroller and our groceries behind the 3rd row.

- Accessing the 3rd row would be difficult if you had a 2nd row bench with 3 harnessed seats - the only way to easily access it would be to go in through the liftgate in all honesty because you can't flip either side of the bench forward with a seat installed. This is probably the biggest drawback to it in my mind - though we've never transported anyone other than the sales man in the 3rd row.

- The headrests tilt forward and are non-removable with the bench seats. There's also no headrest in the center position in either row. Not a problem if you have a harnessed seat that can go there though... The bench has to be reclined when installing seats with LATCH or if there is a ff'ing seat that the headrest is interfering with. The recline removes the interference, but it does mean that an adult passenger wouldn't fit as well back there when the seat is reclined - at least not ablt to have the seatbelt snug across the shoulder, there'd be a space. This would be a non-issue if you got 2nd row captain seats though.

- If you have a 2nd row bench, the middle seating position is narrow and some carseat installs are very difficult there - on the flip side, others are pretty easy.

Plus things, the Outlook comes with lots of standard features that you'd have to pay more for on most vehicles. It rides smoothly and handles nicely. You don't feel like you're driving a big vehicle despite the interior space. There is plenty of leg room for all 3 rows of seating depending on how you adjust the 2nd row. For the most part we've had good reliability - nothing that has stranded us or had the vehicle in the shop overnight... one problem occurred strictly due to -35 *celcius temperatures and all it did was make the gas gauge/remote start not work. We've just recently had a power steering pump leak that our truck will be going back in to have it replaced, but aside from that we've had nothing but regular maintenance stuff and it will be 2yrs this Feb. since we got it.

Things that I don't like - the doors do swing open quite widely. This is probably one of the biggest drawbacks in my mind - though I like having doors that open like a regular car... I just don't like the extra space they need to fully open. I'd also really like more top tether anchors, and head supports in the middle position of each row.

Overall we've been really happy with it, and I'd definitely buy one of the same platforms if I was doing it over - the only thing I'd do differently would be to price compare the Acadia and the Outlook since I've read that in some cases you can get a deal on the Acadia that brings it down to the same price as the Outlook and I like the looks of the Acadia a little more.

So there's my thoughts on the Outlook anyways. Maybe that helps with likes/dislikes anyways even if I can't give a comparison? The Outlook is our 3rd Saturn and we've been very happy with all of them. :thumbsup: (Though I wouldn't exclude an Ody if I was shopping tomorrow. )