The 2022 Toyota Sienna Woodland Edition.
Regardless of what the headline above may be insinuating, I’m not going to try to sway you to love the minivan. Most people either love them – or hate them; in some cases, they need them and the voluminous spaces they offer, but cannot ever fully embrace their disposal until the kids are much older.
While it is easy to pinpoint what the biggest turn-off is for potential buyers, the exterior design, it is also easy to state without doubt that there are way more selling points if you head inside the box. If you have a family and need space, I urge you to head right in.
The new Toyota Sienna Woodland is based on the previous XLE trim, the most popular in the lineup. This 2022 Sienna Woodland offers an impressive standard all-wheel drive and a boost of 0.6 inches of ground clearance. This may not be enough to sway SUV enthusiasts but it will likely grab the attention of some on the minivan fence.
On the outside, everything is not as expected for a minivan. I think it was brilliant of Toyota designers to minimize the horizontal headlights up front and make the nose appear sleek and aerodynamic. The trapezoidal grille on the bumper is very bold, not minivan-like, nor is it overshadowed by anything – which gives you a chance to not focus on the other more traditional minivan design elements heading over the hood and to the rear.
At the rear, you have a convergence of all the wonderful character lines and rocker panel contours that are very appealing and add to the overall design. However, they have to end somewhere and at the rear, it all comes together in a rather busy bundle. On the big plus side, the black plastic rear bumper on my tester definitely provided a bit of durability and some attitude that this was a minivan prepared for anything.
Inside the cabin, you have room for seven in a 2/2/3 configuration. Minivans are all about having space and Sienna is no different. Look for cargo capacity that hits 33.5/75.2/101 cubic feet depending on the seat positions.
My tester had standard black, faux leather upholstery, featuring an upscale bronze stitching. The kids may not notice it, but you can admire it. There is a high center console with attractive aluminum trim, analog gauges, and a 9-inch touchscreen display that makes visibility easy and safety part of that equation. I still love the featured Toyota console shifter, it’s feels perfect for this minivan interior.
The front row occupants have a high seating position, and the Sienna is perfect for a short or long road trip. The interior surfaces are soft-touch and feel rugged, which goes hand-in-hand with Woodland’s appeal, and the real-world requirements of a family’s minivan.
Both the front and second-row bucket seats are very comfortable and supportive. While the second-row seats slide fore and aft to accommodate third-row passengers, their backs only fold down onto the seats, which adds cargo flex, but they cannot be removed for the benefit of more utility space.
My Woodland tester came with the $1,415 rear-seat entertainment system, which features an 11.3-inch, display on the roof over the second row and an HDMI input in the second-row console. The kids will love it on short and long trips!
The Woodland Edition features cargo-hauling capacity outside the van with a roof rack with crossbars and a tow hitch rated for 3,500 pounds towing capacity.
While Sienna’s power output makes it the least powerful minivan out there, I honestly could not tell the difference, which probably speaks more to how parents drive their minivans. If you jump on the pedal, the quick shift from EV-only movement to immediate gas-inspired growl, along with the CVT transmission, can me a cumbersome lull that takes a second or two to even out.
The 2.5-liter inline four-cylinder engine is paired with two electric motors, one per axle. I found the torque with the two motors to be very impressive. The front and rear electric motors put out 199 and 89 pound-feet, so there’s plenty of get-up-and-go available.
I know it’s called the Woodland, but truth be told – even with a suspension boost, the Sienna only has 6.9 inches of ground clearance, not nearly enough to really let that all-wheel drive get you too far off-road.
The Toyota Sienna earns top marks for crash and collision-avoidance testing, and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety rates it as a top performer. Sienna comes standard with full-speed adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane departure prevention, lane tracing, and blind-spot monitoring, to which the Woodland Edition adds parking sensors with automatic braking.
My Woodland Edition tester had a respectable base of $45,350 and a final landing price of $48,325 including delivery, processing, and handling. This is a great option for minivan scaredy-cats who might just consider all the upside inside the Sienna.
• John Stein is a freelance journalist based in Chicago. He has more than 25 years’ experience driving, testing, and writing about the automotive industry, its latest innovations, and vehicles.
Copyright © 2022 Shaw Local News Network
Copyright © 2022 Shaw Local News Network