2021 or 2022 Toyota Sienna AWD as road trip vehicle

[Mel]

Congratulations! I’m also a member of the Sienna club, and love it. I’ve also got a RAV4 hybrid (non-hybrid sienna, wasn’t an option when we bought) & can’t say enough good about them. They’re also incredibly tough - our Sienna just had a huge tree fall on it (long story) and between being slowed down by hitting a power line and landing on the crossbars, there was no damage to the van at all!

 

[Wendy]

Congratulations! I’m also a member of the Sienna club, and love it. I’ve also got a RAV4 hybrid (non-hybrid sienna, wasn’t an option when we bought) & can’t say enough good about them. They’re also incredibly tough - our Sienna just had a huge tree fall on it (long story) and between being slowed down by hitting a power line and landing on the crossbars, there was no damage to the van at all!

Thanks. Wow about your Sienna!
My brother loves his RAV4 hybrid. He gets quite a bit of snow where he lives and says the AWD is great.

It’ll be awhile before mine shows up; I saw this list of vehicles on order at the dealer’s…it was pretty long! (Most were RAV4 hybrids…popular vehicle)!

 

[Wendy]

 

[James]

Nice!
Tow hitch?
Will you be putting snow tires on or using one tire?
If one, you have some choices. Looks like what comes with it is the Bridgestone Ecopia H/L 422 Plus. (According to TireRack)
I would say it’s inadequate for a snow adventure.

Here’s a few-
- Falken WildPeak A/T Trail, A/T 3W
-Michelin Cross Climate SUV, Cross Climate 2
-Vredestein Quatrac Pro, XL
-Goodyear Assurance Weatherready

The A/T Trail will be the beefiest if you’re planning gravel road adventures. The XL, “Trail”, version will be about 8 lbs heavier than the car oriented tires. ( all the rest) The non XL, 5lbs.
XL means they handle more load. Since you’re likely to load this thing up, might be what you want.

@jmeb , what tires do you use?

 

[Wendy]

Nice!
Tow hitch?
Will you be putting snow tires on or using one tire?
If one, you have some choices. Looks like what comes with it is the Bridgestone Ecopia H/L 422 Plus. (According to TireRack)
I would say it’s inadequate for a snow adventure.

Here’s a few-
- Falken WildPeak A/T Trail, A/T 3W
-Michelin Cross Climate SUV, Cross Climate 2
-Vredestein Quatrac Pro, XL
-Goodyear Assurance Weatherready

The A/T Trail will be the beefiest if you’re planning gravel road adventures. The XL, “Trail”, version will be about 8 lbs heavier than the car oriented tires. ( all the rest) The non XL, 5lbs.
XL means they handle more load. Since you’re likely to load this thing up, might be what you want.

@jmeb , what tires do you use?

Yup, there will be a tow hitch.
I want to put winter tires on it, for sure.
Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[James]

Just to be clear, those suggestions are for leaving tires on the whole year. (All weather tires)
You could also go with one of them to be covered for shoulder seasons, then switch to full winter tires for winter. That’s what I’m doing for the coming year.

 

[jmeb]

@jmeb , what tires do you use?

Most seasons: Cooper AT3 4S. Although I bet Falken Wildpeak AT Trail is very similar.
Winter: Hakkas.

 

[DanoT]

Falken has come out with a tire called Rubitrek. They are a winter rated tire that I put on my truck camper and will leave on year round. They are less aggressive that Falken Wildpeak with a deep but narrower gap between lugs vs Wildpeak and the Rubitrek has plenty of syping for icey conditions.

 

[Wendy]

Just to be clear, those suggestions are for leaving tires on the whole year. (All weather tires)
You could also go with one of them to be covered for shoulder seasons, then switch to full winter tires for winter. That’s what I’m doing for the coming year.

Yeah, I usually put winter tires on my vehicles then switch for the other seasons.
Part of it will depend on what the stock tires are.

 

[James]

Falken has come out with a tire called Rubitrek. They are a winter rated tire that I put on my truck camper and will leave on year round. They are less aggressive that Falken Wildpeak with a deep but narrower gap between lugs vs Wildpeak and the Rubitrek has plenty of syping for icey conditions.

Looks like they don’t come in 235/65R17 for the Sienna.
The Coopers do-
Cooper Discoverer AT3 4S
2lbs lighter than the Falkens. Rated to 118mph, Falkens 130mph. Not that I’d really want to do 105+ in a stock Sienna.
Here’s the unfiltered Tirerack list-

 

[snwbrdr]

You should check out the realities of a hybrid on the highway. Oh, and the awd. My sister had a hybrid Highlander back when gas was approaching $5/gallon. The thing is, if you did 80 on the highway, you saved no fuel. I think it used more. So, hybrid for her actually didn’t save fuel.

Maybe they’ve fixed this, but worse was the awd system. They had an electric motor for the rear axle. So, the fine print no one read reared it’s head the first snowstorm. If the rear wheels spin, the motor shuts off so it doesn’t burn out. This lead to getting stuck in storm 1.

All those things may have changed, but best to check it out. Esp the awd. That really was terrible. (The tires were also so bad Yokohoma had a recall. At the time the size was so odd there was hardly any choice)

I will say I drove a rented Sienna, brand new, full of people into nyc the summer before the pandemic. Very nice.

Back in the day, that highlander was a 3.5L V6-hybrid, so the mileage was marginally better.

The current hybrid for both the Sienna and Highlander is a 2.5L 4-banger with the 3 electric motors (AWD).

and doing around 120 kph (about 75 mph) up and down mountains.... video below averaged 32 mpg on the HiHy with the 2.5L 4-banger

Like any car, tire traction is a must, so you should be using a 3PMS-rated tire, to get the most out of the e-AWD system.

But on the HiHy, there is a "Trail" button that is useful in the stickier situations, something the Sienna doesn't have.

 

[Wendy]

The dealer contacted me yesterday, and my Sienna has a build date of Oct 4. I should have the vehicle by the end of October or the beginning of November. The price came in just a little lower than I expected, which was nice.

It will be going on a winter road trip to Duluth in early January, so I’ll start looking for snow tires.Stock tires are P235/60R18

 

[Jwrags]

Just got a Costco flyer in the mail today. At the end of the month they have Michelin CrossClimate 2 tires at a $150 off a set of four. Not sure if they have your size but they are 3PMS rated and I have found them to be excellent in all conditions.

 

[pete]

@Wendy

Agree on the Cross Climates, great reviews but their not snows. Be great if you can get the factory treads swapped for a delta. I always tell myself if buying new, ild work the deal on condition of an upgrade.

Otherwise, question may be if you think your travels are on plowed roads over deeper snow.

Plowed I like the Michelin ice x snows, work great on our Explorer.

 

[James]

For your non winter tire, will you go all weather?
I might be inclined to go with a heavier tire like the Falken Wild Peak. Or, one of the all weathers that has the SUV option.
I say that after getting the Continental Dws06+. It’s an excellent tire, a drivers tire, but it’s light. (This is the 55 profile) It’s weakness is roads that have those cracks and splits to the asphalt. On the Ford Escape it’s ok, but a heavier vehicle I’d say not. Now maybe they beef it up for the 65 profile, hard to know. Regardless, for the Sienna I’d want something fairly substantial and not light.
Something like Nokian WRG4 SUV would be a good all weather.

 

[Wendy]

For your non winter tire, will you go all weather?
I might be inclined to go with a heavier tire like the Falken Wild Peak. Or, one of the all weathers that has the SUV option.
I say that after getting the Continental Dws06+. It’s an excellent tire, a drivers tire, but it’s light. (This is the 55 profile) It’s weakness is roads that have those cracks and splits to the asphalt. On the Ford Escape it’s ok, but a heavier vehicle I’d say not. Now maybe they beef it up for the 65 profile, hard to know. Regardless, for the Sienna I’d want something fairly substantial and not light.
Something like Nokian WRG4 SUV would be a good all weather.

I’ll get winter tires first, and stick with the stock tires for the other months for a year or so. Then replace.

 

[Philpug]

What other wheels fit these? Is there a chance to find some "take offs" from SUV's or trucks that have same pattern with beefier tires?

 

[jmeb]

They are a pretty common toyota 5 x 114.3 bolt pattern. Number of their SUVs and some other manufacturers have them.

 

[snwbrdr]

What other wheels fit these? Is there a chance to find some "take offs" from SUV's or trucks that have same pattern with beefier tires?

The lower trims of the Sienna has 17" wheels with beefy sidewall tires

 

[Wendy]

The lower trims of the Sienna has 17" wheels with beefy sidewall tires

That now only applies to the LE trim.
The XLE trim for 2022 is now just the Woodland edition, which will be my vehicle.
I was assuming it would have 17” wheels but they are actually 18”.
Are there R18 passenger/SUV tires with an aspect ratio greater than 65 out there? Is that what @Philpug means by “beefy?”

My other thought is to just go with a very good all weather tire and be done with it. Don’t over think things. @James A reason for this is wacky weather patterns. With clímate change, there are more extremes….and those weird warm spells in winter aren’t great for snow tire rubber. My Outback has separate rims with snows, and it can be great, but….then we get some stupid warm days in February or whatever and then I’m driving on rubber that behave like a pencil eraser, LOL. (I’m keeping the Outback …will be husband’s main car…and once the one set of those tires (winter or “regular” tires) are done, we may switch to good all weathers and be done with it).

When we move in 2023, the 2 top locations we are considering may both have some warm spells in there, but one more than the other.