2003 Toyota Sienna LE from North America

Summary:

Our family puts lots of miles on this because they all would rather drive it than anything else

Faults:

Nothing whatsoever.

General Comments:

The one and only item on this car is that the rear brakes have begun squealing. I inspected one side and found that the design does not let the break wear dust out. There is a lot of the dust accumulated in the drum area. I believe that cleaning will take care of the squealing. Our first and only complaint at nearly 50,000 miles.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 19th March, 2005

2003 Toyota Sienna LE V6 from North America

Summary:

Giving me a headache

Faults:

My front Shifter lever got broken @ 38,000 KM, and rear brake drum got squeky and they replace the rear drum. I had my transmission oil flush @ 38,500 KM b/c it turn brown before 48,000 KM. And now I'm scheduling it for maintenance @ 46,000 and my trans fluid is not red anymore. My head gasket blew @ 38,000 KM.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 14th February, 2005

2003 Toyota Sienna XLE AWD 6 Cylinder from North America

Faults:

Poor performance of run-flat tires.

General Comments:

The run-flat tires are hard to find and very, very expensive to replace. The tires on my 2004 Sienna needed to be replaced after just 10 months and 15,000 miles due to uneven wear. The new tires cost $250 each, with a total cost of $1,200 to have all 4 tires replaced on the vehicle. Dunlap, the tire manufacturer, does not offer any mileage warranty on the tires. Toyota disclaims any responsibility for tire-related issues. This means that tire maintenance will cost $100/month for this vehicle. Moreover, it will take a couple of weeks for the new tires to arrive because they are on back order. Since there is no spare tire for this vehicle, the long wait for replacement tires is a serious issue in an emergency replacement situation. The problem with uneven wear on all 4 tires leads me to wonder whether the all-wheel drive system on the vehicle is properly mated with the run-flat tires.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 4th October, 2004

10th Jan 2005, 10:37

No word about how often you rotated the tires. We suggest every 5000 miles. We also ask people to keep an eye on their tire pressures, they change a pound a month so that can change the wear dramatically. What kind of usage did you do to the car? Was it lightly loaded or heavily loaded most of the time. About 65% of the stopping force is on those front tires so rotation is crucial.

Tires get a lot of heat period. Sometimes the composition of the rubber may not agree with the temperature of the pavement or the road surface itself. The Dunlops represent state-of-the-art technology. In the real world with all the variables available one user can level the best technology while others have no trouble. I have sold 8-9 of these AWD vans and my buddies have sold many more. We would be hearing about it if others were having your experience. Sorry for your experience anyway. Toyota put the tire under the side to make the room in the back that everybody wanted. Then they couldn't use the mini spare with the AWD setup and people really wanted the AWD. So compromises were the solution.

2003 Toyota Sienna LX Regular - not sure from North America

Faults:

After the winter of 2003/'04 there was rust appearing on the inside of the lower front door panels.

The rust was worse on the driver's door.

The rust showed up on the two door gaskets as well.

On my hands and knees I could see the rust on the door panels.

The paint is worn off the edge of one door sill completely.

Bare metal is showing on one door sill more than the other.

There are no sill covers, or protection for the door sills, except for a coat of paint on the door sills of the new vans.

This fact of bare metal showing is unacceptable for a Toyota under one year old.

I do not climb into the low built Sienna. I sit on the seat and then swing my feet over the door sill to enter the van completely.

A dealership did some work on the door panels; but, he did nothing with the door sills.

He applied a strip of vinyl tape across he problem areas, after repainting the inner door panels, I believe.

I am dissatisfied with the service on a newly - designed van that obviously has a problem with the front door panels.

I have had two previous Toyota Siennas with no problems.

The back of the van is too low to handle a trailer hitch well.

The trailer hitch 'clunks' into many driveway curbs - even with very slow driving.

Generally an excellent vehicle to drive.

Ann Bourne.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 6th July, 2004