Why You Should Buy A Toyota Sienna Platinum AWD Over A $60,000 Luxury SUV

The axiom’s still true — if you want to experience the most effective form of family car, buy a minivan. They’re spacious, they’re practical, and they offer packaging crossover utility vehicles could only dream of. Look, here’s one now. For decades, the Toyota Sienna has been a go-to for family transportation in North America, and this latest 2025 model adds even more toys to keep you sane and your kids entertained.

On paper, this minivan has the stats of a first-round draft pick. A hybrid powertrain gifts the Sienna fuel economy figures most minivans can only dream of achieving, and headline gadgets like a fridge and a vacuum are things you’d brag about to other parents in a display of school run one-upmanship.  However, all that luxury and economy comes at a cost.

This 2025 Toyota Sienna Platinum with all-wheel-drive, a 1,500-watt inverter, and rear seat entertainment stickers for an astonishing $60,270 including freight, or $72,608 in Canada. That’s a lot of dosh for a people-hauler, yet this top-trim minivan makes a remarkably good case for itself.

Why Does This Car Exist?   

Like cheese or gravity, an absence of the Toyota Sienna would make the world weirder than the presence of it. After the false starts of the Van and Previa, Toyota lined up a conventional front-wheel-drive minivan with dual sliding doors, let North America have it, and started a dynasty. Admittedly, the original Sienna had its shortcomings: the third row didn’t fold into the floor, the overall footprint wasn’t quite as commodious as the long-wheelbase domestic minivans of the time, and in-cabin storage was weirdly light, but it was successful enough to build off of.

Indeed, the fourth-generation Sienna is now virtually unrecognizable compared to the original model, featuring hybrid power and toys the families of Y2K could only dream of having. It’s also now in the middle of its lifecycle and still enjoying strong demand. As a result, Toyota hasn’t needed to change a whole lot for this facelift. New wheels, adoption of Toyota’s new infotainment system, an interior radar system for your kids, and a new top trim level with a vacuum and a fridge is about the extent of changes, as those in the know still recognize that a minivan is still the ultimate form of family transportation.

Does It Do Minivan Things Well?

As anyone who’s lived with a minivan knows, this genre of vehicle is less about what it looks like on the outside, although the Sienna’s blend of Vellfire and Shinkansen is certainly nothing to sneeze at, and more about what’s going on in the cabin. Let’s start up front. Right off the rip, the dominant fixture of the Sienna’s front row is a high center console with twin armrests right at elbow height. In addition to offering two cupholders for caffeine and two more for hydration, Toyota’s been able to fit in a well-placed, totally conventional T-handle shifter, and a cavernous storage space below the console’s deck for bags and stuff. Where’s the wireless phone charger? It’s in a shelf that runs basically the entire width of the dashboard, a sensible and stylish touch. Like in most current Toyotas, you also get plenty of physical controls for your HVAC and seat conditioning, a pleasing mixture of soft-touch and stitched materials, and a sensible infotainment system with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Overall, I reckon it’s a job well done for front-seaters.

Any good minivan should be full of convenient features, and Toyota certainly hasn’t scrimped in that department. For instance, on this top trim, there are four different ways to open each sliding door, with the most convenient for external hands-full access being rubber touchpads on the rear door handles and surprisingly reliable, if a bit slow, foot-operated opening thanks to subtly labeled kick sensors in the sills. Once those rear sliding doors are open, not only is the floor nice and low, but there are two nearly full-height grab handles to make easing into and out of the Sienna easier.

Once you’re inside, long-slide second-row seats offer a choice of gargantuan second-row legroom and usable space for seven adults, albeit not both at the same time. The third row folds into the floor swiftly, USB-C ports are absolutely everywhere, and every seat is full-sized-adult comfortable. Speaking of seats, the one big coup the Chrysler Pacifica pulls over the Sienna is the ability to fold its second-row seats below deck, although you only get this magic trick on V6 models and not the plug-in hybrid. Oh yeah, the plug-in hybrid. It’d be nice if Toyota offered a plug-in Sienna, but considering I saw fuel economy as ridiculous as 43 mpg on one stretch before the temperatures took a dump, it’s hard to complain much.

Indeed, the hybrid powertrain is one of the biggest advantages of the Sienna over its counterparts. It’s proven tech, having been on the market in this configuration for several years, it requires zero changes to your driving habits, and it just works to provide excellent gas mileage. Even with just 245 horsepower on tap, it doesn’t feel as labored as you might expect compared to more powerful V6 vans, and extensive sound-deadening keeps the din of the 2.5-liter four-banger reasonable, even if the note under wide-open-throttle acceleration does somewhat resemble that of a Cuisinart pulverizing a whole coconut. For most shoppers, the fuel economy figures matter more than anything else, which makes the powertrain perfectly fit for purpose.

What About Luxury?

Let’s circle back to that asking price for a second. There’s no way around the fact that $60,270 as-tested is an enormous amount of money, the price bracket that machines like the Acura MDX, Lincoln Aviator, and Cadillac XT6 sit in. To compete with those sorts of vehicles, the Sienna Platinum needs to offer all manner of creature comforts, and boy, does it ever deliver. The indisputable highlight of high-trim Sienna minivans is the presence of second-row captain’s chairs with their own retractable footrests, just like you’d get in a Maybach. Okay, so they aren’t powered like you’d get in a Maybach, but no Maybach offers a third row, so it washes. What’s more, these thrones are also heated. Sure, they aren’t ventilated like you’d get in a Kia Telluride, but Kia’s largest crossover doesn’t give you footrests, so that’s also a tie.

As for other toys, the fridge-freezer genuinely gets cold enough for icy treats, and the integrated vacuum is a surprisingly convenient novelty. It’s no secret that humans are messy, so being able to clean up after kids and in-laws alike without hauling the Dyson all the way out to the garage is a certified boon. Just use some common sense and don’t try to Hoover up the predictable results of all-you-can eat shrimp. Oh, and then there’s the JBL sound system. With plenty of punch and decent enough clarity, it offers better staging and sound reproduction than say, the Cadillac Escalade’s lower-tier AKG system, or the Infiniti QX80’s Klipsch system. Strange, but true.

One of the big luxuries in the Sienna that you won’t notice on a spec sheet is ease. From the panoramic view out to light yet accurate steering to a classic driving position immediately letting the driver know where the edges of the van are, you can whip the Sienna around town in a way that’s shocking for something the same length as a BMW X7. However, it’s not just nimble, it’s also comfortable, with suspension that soaks up groundhog-sized potholes and a structure that only transmits the occasional judder inherent to essentially driving a box on wheels with a flat floor. The Sienna just feels effortless, and at the end of the day, isn’t that a luxurious trait?

Add it all up, including the roller blinds for rear seat passengers, heated and ventilated leather front seats, surprisingly fair-quality rear seat entertainment screen, and extensive veneers that give the cabin more wood than Barry Bonds, and the result is a minivan that can genuinely go toe-to-toe with $60,000 luxury SUVs while beating them on rear-seat comfort.

Would I Buy This One?

There’s no getting around the fact that $60,270 is an enormous amount of money for a minivan, but even still, the Sienna Platinum would be at the top of my shortlist. Sure, the Chrysler Pacifica Pinnacle has matching pillows for your kids to beat each other senseless with, the Kia Carnival offers similarly luxurious second-row seating, and the Honda Odyssey doles out surprising pace and VTEC dort noises in equal measure, but when it comes to posh minivans that your kids can grow from toddlers to teenagers in, the top-shelf Sienna is the one to go for. Not only is it shockingly economical for a living room on wheels, the fridge and vacuum are genuinely useful, and the resale value is nothing short of outlandish.

However, thanks to incredibly strong resale value, high demand, and limited supply, getting your hands on a high-spec Sienna can be difficult. Across America, you can still find monster markups on these minivans despite us being years past the peak of the COVID car shortage. The biggest flaw of the Sienna is that Toyota simply isn’t building enough of them. From a manufacturer’s perspective, this isn’t a bad problem to have. From a consumer’s perspective, a Kia Carnival might be a seriously tempting alternative. However, if you can find one of these loaded Siennas at a price you’re happy to pay, it absolutely deserves your consideration against a litany of luxury crossovers.

(Photo credits: Thomas Hundal)

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