2023 Toyota Sienna Reviews, Pricing & Specs

For plenty of shoppers, the minivan aesthetic is a hard sell. Perhaps the sliding doors and slab-slide designs recall memories from our childhoods, when we were buckled up in the back seat with Cheerio crumbs in the carpet and mom or dad in the front seat, trying to decipher their Rand-McNally road atlas on the family trip.

For whatever reason, the arrival of the 1990’s body-on-frame SUV spelled eventual doom for the minivan’s social status. However, many of those big, bulky SUVs soon gave way to car-based crossovers which, to improve aerodynamics, dropped the truck-like designs and morphed into what are essentially high-riding minivans (sans the sliding doors). With that context, we’d argue that the minivan is not nearly as unstylish as it might seem. In fact, with its larger cargo capacity, easy access, and creative interior features, the minivan is the smart choice for most families.

Toyota has invested clear effort to rid the Sienna of its minivan style. For one, the front-end styling resembles a Japanese bullet train. And although most trims feature 17-inch or 18-inch wheels, the front-wheel-drive (FWD) iteration of the XSE trim level features 20s.

There are plenty of trim levels, too. Shoppers can choose from a base LE Sienna or move up the ladder to the XLE, sporty XSE, or upper-class Limited trims. For 2023, there’s also the new 25th Anniversary Special Edition trim, which sits just below the Limited trim level, price-wise.

Value-conscious Canadian shoppers willing to skip all-wheel drive (AWD) can consider the XLE trim. It adds standard standard power-sliding doors and a standard power liftgate, both with kick sensors—the latter two options become more valuable the more children you’re tasked with shepherding into your Sienna.

Inside, the Sienna is easy to love. We drove a Platinum trim model for this test drive (note the Platinum trim is not available in Canada, though many features are equipped on the Limited) and were quickly smitten by the lovely and high-quality brown leather upholstery (the exact colour combination shown is not available in Canada). Similarly, our Sienna test car had beautiful wood-grain accents on the centre console.

Toyota sells the Sienna with seating for seven or eight passengers, although you’ll need to settle for either an LE or XLE trim if you want the larger human capacity. On the bright side, those eight-seaters with a middle bench seat can support three-across car seats in the middle row, secured with LATCH anchors.

When Toyota revealed the fourth-generation Toyota Sienna in 2020, it dropped the traditional gasoline engine and fitted every model with a hybrid.

Toyota uses a 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine mated with two front-mounted electric motors, plus a third rear-mounted electric motor for all-wheel drive (AWD) trims. The powertrain components combine for 245 net system horsepower, specs that look a fair bit less impressive than the competition.

There’s not quite enough power for the Sienna’s ample size and weight, and its continuously variable transmission (CVT) tends to claw its way up the rev band—it’s just not the best-sounding powertrain. Compared with the more powerful Odyssey, we grew a little weary of the Sienna’s lackluster acceleration.

However, we’re thrilled with the Sienna’s chassis and steering. The platform is sound and surprisingly nimble. The Sienna is easy to drive around town, despite its size, and it cruises on the highway with no problem. Considering this is a big minivan, the Sienna is genuinely fun to drive.

In particular, the Sienna’s light steering feel is great for driving in the city. It’s rare to find a minivan with this sort of tidy turning radius. Toyota offers a few drive modes in the Sienna—EV, Normal, Eco, and Sport—but we’d recommend keeping the Sienna in normal mode. Eco mode extends the CVT’s simulated gears a bit too much and dampens the throttle way too much. EV mode is largely useless; it hypothetically lets you drive the Sienna on electric power alone, but we were unable to stop the gas engine from engaging every time we tried it. Finally, Sport mode simply isn’t dramatic enough to convince anyone that they’re not driving a minivan.

Minivans are beautiful bastions of cubbies and nooks and shelves and bins, and the 2023 Toyota Sienna is no exception. The interior storage solutions are brilliant. There’s plenty of space for a large bag or purse in the open cubby below the centre console, and a long shelf extends from the middle of the dash all the way in front of the passenger’s seat. That shelf is perfect for a phone, and in higher trims, it comes equipped with a wireless charging pad.

The Sienna also has a big bin in the centre console and enough cupholders so everyone on board can have at least two drinks. Three-zone climate control is standard, and four-zone climate control is equipped on higher grades. Keyless entry is not standard, but push-button start is.

At 5,175 millimetres long (and add 10 mm for the XSE models) and stretched over a 3,061-millimetre wheelbase, the Toyota Sienna is a big vehicle. Shoppers looking for three rows of seats in a smaller package may be drawn to the marginally smaller Toyota Highlander. That said, the Sienna’s minivan platform makes amazing use of space. Unlike in a three-row crossover, there’s a huge amount of cargo space behind the Sienna’s rearmost seat.

Thanks to a deep floor, the Sienna delivers 949 litres of space behind the third row and, with that seat folded into the floor, it offers 2,129 litres. Total cargo space comes in at 2,860 litres. Although those figures dwarf the Highlander’s (453 litres behind the rear row, 2,387 litres max), the total cargo space number does fall short of other competing minivans. The reason is that, unlike the Honda Odyssey, the middle row of seats cannot be fully removed from the Sienna. Nor can they fold into the floor, like the Chrysler Pacifica’s stow-n-go second row. If you need maximum space, consider one of those competitors. If you expect to have people in the second row regularly, however, you likely won’t mind the Sienna’s permanent middle row.

Additionally, the second row captain’s chairs are incredibly functional regardless of occupant height. Our test car featured extending ottomans for a bit extra thigh support, which are standard on Limited and available on XSE AWD. The middle-row seats also slide forward and backward on a long track. Slide them forward, and the Sienna’s third-row seats can accommodate genuine, life-size adults with actual legroom—not something you can say about most three-row crossovers. Heated front seats and a heated steering wheel are standard, while ventilated front seats and heated second-row outboard seats are included on highest grades.

Toyota has some impressive new technology on display in models like the 2022 Tundra and the 2023 Sequoia. Unfortunately, that tech is not on display in the 2023 Sienna.

Instead, the Sienna makes do with Toyota’s older infotainment interface. Pretty much all the core features are still there—SiriusXM satellite radio, Bluetooth connectivity, standard Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, an optional navigation system, and the Sienna boasts seven USB ports. The older entertainment system interface also benefits from some physical buttons, a functional feature that’s rapidly disappearing from modern cars. While touchscreen buttons look nice, they often require you to take your eyes off the road for longer than you’d need with a physical button.

However, the interface looks and feels old, and it can be a bit clunky to use. For instance, both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay require a wired connection. Additionally, to access Android Auto, we needed to enter via the menu view every time; there is no dedicated button, tile, or icon. Even selecting the audio tile when playing music via Spotify on Android Auto didn’t take us to the desired software. Instead, it took us to Toyota’s music player, showing our Spotify selection on a decidedly not-Spotify display.

Outside of the old design and a few quirks, however, the Sienna’s technology is reliable. A 9-inch touchscreen didn’t seem impressive to us on paper, but we were pleased that it didn’t look undersized in person. The 12-speaker JBL premium audio system in our press car also sounded good; in Canada, this is standard on Limited and available on the Sienna XSE AWD.

If the 2023 Toyota Sienna’s infotainment tech underwhelms you, rest assured that the minivan’s standard safety technology will impress. The Sienna comes standard with a host of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) including automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane-departure warning with steering assist, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, automatic high beams, and adaptive cruise control. These valuable safety features, many of which are part of the Toyota Safety Sense package, are particularly important in a family car that’s likely to be used for driving with kids aboard.

It comes as no surprise that the 2023 Toyota Sienna was awarded 5 stars in crash tests facilitated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). And the 2023 Sienna received a Top Safety Pick+ designation from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

When it comes to safety, Toyota clearly doesn’t mess around. That said, its competitors from Honda and Chrysler are also Top Safety Pick+ winners (the Kia Carnival received a Top Safety Pick award, but not a TSP+). And Toyota doesn’t fill the Sienna with some of the more gimmicky features found in family haulers. For instance, Honda offers CabinTalk, an intercom system that helps the folks in the front seat communicate with kids in the way back. And Chrysler has its FamCam—a rear-seat camera system that lets Mom and Dad keep an eye on their rear-seat progeny.

Having kids is expensive, and that extends to your transportation needs. Shuttle one child around regularly, and you probably won’t outgrow a typical compact crossover. Upgrade to two, however, and soon enough you’re driving them around with their friends, and three rows become a necessity. So, how much is that extra row going to cost you?

The Toyota Sienna minivan’s new car MSRP starts at $41,650, not including a $1,930 destination fee. The top-tier Sienna Limited trim soars at $59,670.

However, remember that all Sienna models use a hybrid powertrain. That means you can expect significant fuel savings when compared to gas-powered minivans and crossovers. Natural Resources Canada rates the Sienna with AWD at 6.8 litres per 100 kilometres in the city, 6.6 on the highway, and 6.7 combined. With FWD, the numbers are 6.6 L/100 km city, 6.5 highway, and 6.6 combined. For reference, NRCan estimates the Chrysler Pacifica, Honda Odyssey and the Kia Carnival at 10.6 combined, and the AWD Chrysler Pacifica is rated at 12.0 combined. There is one PHEV on the market—the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid that delivers excellent fuel economy—but that model starts at well over $50,000, and that’s taking into account the federal government rebates.

The Sienna, like all family haulers these days, is a big investment as a new vehicle. But with its excellent fuel economy, it’s a more frugal purchase than its competitors, making it an ideal choice for budget-conscious families.

Note: Images and video show a US model.