Tell me about your minivan

[riser4]

Pay more attention to the mechanicals than the exterior... Make sure all of the recommended intervals were followed and if you don't have proof, do it preemptively. Keep on top of that fucker. It's built to withstand being ridden hard and put away wet, but if you care for it proactively, it will be so much better.

Which dealer? Did they seem overall trustworthy?

Plattsburgh is only an hour away and I've used advertised prices from their dealers to shave a few dollars off some recent purchases at my local dealers. I'm not sure I'd want to buy a new car over there and have to go back for service. Dont tell my locals that part so i dont lose any leverage. However it expands the net for used cars maybe. I'm wary of getting a flood damaged car given the storm history lately so my choice of a reputable dealer matters.

Any VT folks deal with buying a NY car and registering it in VT? Hassle? Extra cost to account for in the equation?

[gravitylover]

Yeah I'm going to do the 100k service ASAP so I have a base going forward. It was Della Toyota and if the saleswoman I worked with is representative of the rest of the group I'd be happy to work with them again. I am still surprised at how easy it was to get them to give me a reasonable trade value on the POS. The fact that all of their fees only added up to $222 puts them ahead of just about every other dealer I have worked with. I also appreciated them correcting the issues found in the PPI.

[riser4]

Ok, I used a Della Subaru price from their web site to get my local dealer to knock some more money off the price of my latest Subaru. Plattsburgh is further than Burlington but closer than Barre, so it is close enough to not be an empty threat.

[Brownski]

Congrats on the purchase GL. I think you will be happy with that one

[gravitylover]

Congrats on the purchase GL. I think you will be happy with that one

Thanx.
So, this is what a minivan is supposed to feel like huh? What a HUDGE difference from the Caravan/T&C and even over the Odyssey. Maybe the AWD changes the dynamics of the rear end that much? I dunno but what a pleasure on those long days on the road. The handling is surprisingly good for a minivan, I think the SE suspension mods compared to the other trims makes quite a difference.
Now that I have the first 1500 miles behind me I can definitely feel the rear shocks needing replacement, does anyone know if there's a sportier option than OE or the KYB Excel? Why is it that every vehicle I have had for the last ten years or so are so hard on sway links? This is no different, big surprise because they are mostly so light and flexy with small ball joints for the weight on the front end of most new vehicles. Mevotech has a new HD option with grease ports that look like they might be worth $20/pr more than the others so those are already incoming. I guess with 98k these things are expected so it is OK. Other than needing front pads and rotors which is also expected if the original owner was following the maintenance schedule the thing runs great and doesn't seem to need anything and it still gets the original MPG estimates, although I have no idea if the 60k tranny service was done so I might do it just because. That leads to an interesting situation, the dealer told me they couldn't give the info for the original owner but they accidentally left the registration and insurance card in the overhead compartment when they cleaned it out (poorly). I was thinking of writing a letter and sending it with this stuff so the person can dispose of it as they see fit since it has their name and address and asking if they are comfortable sending me some history details. Is that too weird?

[bodywhomper]

It’s a little weird to contact the previous owner, but you’re doing them a pretty nice favor mailing that back to them. Years ago, somebody mailed me my drivers license that they found at a parking lot trailhead. I didn’t even know I’d lost it! It really made my day.

I felt like a super hero today




Damnit!

[riser4]

In response to my pimped sienna thread drift in the mega jillions thread: https://youtu.be/3zIPAXePzhk?feature=shared

[bodywhomper]

Just joined the ranks of new tech. Picked up a twenty one awd Sienna with twenty five thousand miles. Holy shit there’s a lot of tech going on! It took me a while when driving home last night to figure out how to turn off the lane departure. It’s all very exciting. We have 90 days of bliss before we have to start paying down the loan and start a life living on beans, squirrels, and miners lettuce.

We need to figure out if we want an extended warranty. I haven’t found many complaints/issues on these vans so far to drive me to consider an extended warranty, but maybe I’m not digging deep enough or looking in the wrong place?

Ours came with the stock fabric floor mats. I’ve always lived with aftermarket rubberized mats. The van will live outside in the dirt with fifty inches of precip a year. Anybody have suggestions of brand? W three brand? Tuxmat? I’d love a trunk mat that can expand to cover a folded down third row. Are there brands with folded trunk mats that serve that purpose well? I’m struggling to figure that out.


Traction control: on icy slick and steep roads, is it best to turn off the traction control or keep it on? How about loose and steep dirt roads? We might fork out the $$ now for the winter tires if I can find some on sale. Seventeen inch wheels. I have read that peeps caution away from Camry wheels because of vehicle weight.

[skaredshtles]

<snip> Ours came with the stock fabric floor mats. I&rsquo;ve always lived with aftermarket rubberized mats. The van will live outside in the dirt with fifty inches of precip a year. Anybody have suggestions of brand? W three brand? Tuxmat? I&rsquo;d love a trunk mat that can expand to cover a folded down third row. Are there brands with folded trunk mats that serve that purpose well?

We have had really good experience with Weathertech mats. Looks like they do a trunk mat for the Sienna as well as deep floor mats. Check them out.

[J. Barron DeJong]

We have had really good experience with Weathertech mats. Looks like they do a trunk mat for the Sienna as well as deep floor mats. Check them out.

We have these in the front of our Sienna. Would recommend.

I remember correctly the matching ones they offer for the middle and rear seats end up forcing you to put the middle seats in a fixed position - can not slide back and forth. We do not have those, still just the stock carpet mats.

[bodywhomper]

We have weather tech brand in our older sienna. They have been good. I’ve also read the second and third rows weather tech for the new model sienna do not allow much movement of the second row. I’ve read there are other brands that allow for full range of movement of those seats. But I have no experience with those other brands.

Still curious about some kind of folding cargo/trunk mat.

[bodywhomper]

Another Toyota Sienna hybrid minivan question: reliability. My thinking is not to get an extended warranty through the dealer. I have not seen much info about these things having issues, but maybe I am missing something. I know they’re still fairly new.


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[riser4]

Congrats!

[bodywhomper]

Thx!

[gravitylover]

So those front brakes on my Sienna that looked cooked were pretty bad. It's actually kind of amazing that they worked at all much less as well as they did! Other than a soft pedal it really wasn't that bad. Well, as they came apart they really came apart. Those anti-vibration things on the back of the pads had fallen off due to the rust under them, the hardware turned to dust as the pads fell out and the slider pins didn't slide at all. Amazing. So far the Power stop Extreme pads and RotoMax Industrial rotors feel pretty damn good.

[singlesline]

New dream unlocked: Ford gets back into the minivan game with somethign like a Transit Connect body built on top of the Maverick chassis

I think it works: https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/com...4-door-pickup/

Could suddenly be the killer mountain town vehicle. AWD, middling but functional tow capacity, decent ground clearance even if they lower it a bit. Given the maverick was cheaper than the old Transit Connect despite having a far better drivetrain and suspension, you&#39;d think they&#39;d be able to box in the bed and add more seats without blowing up the price.

[toast2266]

New dream unlocked: Ford gets back into the minivan game with somethign like a Transit Connect body built on top of the Maverick chassis

I think it works: https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/com...4-door-pickup/

Could suddenly be the killer mountain town vehicle. AWD, middling but functional tow capacity, decent ground clearance even if they lower it a bit. Given the maverick was cheaper than the old Transit Connect despite having a far better drivetrain and suspension, you'd think they'd be able to box in the bed and add more seats without blowing up the price.

Would be cool. Seems like the sort of thing that'll be available everywhere except North America.

Seems similar to a Renault Kangoo.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[Brownski]

Would be cool. Seems like the sort of thing that&#39;ll be available everywhere except North America. Seems similar to a Renault Kangoo. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Already is. Ford sells their Transit Custom/ Tourneo mid sized van all over the world already. It&#39;s just a hair bigger than a Chevy Astro and is available in AWD

[plugboots]

I just went on Ford’s website and the tourneo is not available with all wheel drive. (U.S.)

[bodywhomper]

We have these in the front of our Sienna. Would recommend.

I remember correctly the matching ones they offer for the middle and rear seats end up forcing you to put the middle seats in a fixed position - can not slide back and forth. We do not have those, still just the stock carpet mats.

We ended up getting three-w liner mats for our twenty-one sienna. Fitment is great. Second row seat movement is unchanged. Cheaper than weather tech mats that I was looking at.

[Brownski]

We ended up getting three-w liner mats for our twenty-one sienna. Fitment is great. Second row seat movement is unchanged. Cheaper than weather tech mats that I was looking at.

yeah, you&#39;re right. I stand corrected. Maybe they had AWD in a previous midsized transit. I feel like I remember reading some long articles about the transit when they first brought the full size version to the US and them saying it came in fwd, AWD and RWD in Europe. Maybe I&#39;m conflating it with something else

[Meconium]

The 130" wb full size (US) Transit is 9" longer then Toyota. AWD was offered in that 130" wb after 2020 but not passenger van. The 5 seater awd crew van was available along with the cargo. It's basically a minivan. AWD 130" crew is a unicorn unfortunately

[Meconium]

https://youtu.be/vbaaFcghY_M?feature=shared

[Meconium]

What is the code to show YouTube link and plays within the forum? That button is still broken. Above link is history of a small van

[MarcusBrody]

New dream unlocked: Ford gets back into the minivan game with somethign like a Transit Connect body built on top of the Maverick chassis I think it works: https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/com...4-door-pickup/ Could suddenly be the killer mountain town vehicle. AWD, middling but functional tow capacity, decent ground clearance even if they lower it a bit. Given the maverick was cheaper than the old Transit Connect despite having a far better drivetrain and suspension, you&#39;d think they&#39;d be able to box in the bed and add more seats without blowing up the price.

This has been my longtime dream and for a while it looked like it might be possible. When Ford discontinued the current Transit Connect, they rebranded a VW in the EU and news reports said that they were going to make the new US version in their Hermosillo plant, where the Maverick (and Escape platform mate) are built. But then they couldn&#39;t even meet demand for existing models coming out of the plant, and it seems to have been nixed.
I own a Transit Connect and it&#39;s really hard to beat for gear lugging utility in a small package. I waited a long time on the reserve list for a Maverick hybrid, before passing as I decided the van body was more useful to me. But I do think Ford put a whole lot more thought into the details of the Maverick than into the passenger Transit Connect, so I was hoping we got similarly clever (even if cheap) touches for the new van. Like you say, a Transit Connect on the AWD hybrid Maverick platform would be a pretty much perfect outdoor gear vehicle.