thebarefootbadger
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2021
- Messages
- 91
- Reaction score
- 123
I purchased a 2021 Sienna in August. It's the first year the Sienna is a hybrid. The Sienna is a minivan, similar in size and shape to a Dodge Grand Caravan. For a number of reasons I haven't converted this to a full time camper yet, but I have played around with that for the summer. Here's my reporting so far:
The Good
I'm averaging 36 mpg. Even going long distances on the highway at 75 with the AC on it's still hovering around 32. (This according to its internal calculation, I haven't done it manually.)
It's about as big as you can get without being obtrusively huge. I park in a parking lot like anyone else, I can go through a drive through or car wash, put it in the carport and, with care, park it in a little old 1950's garage. It's super easy and comfortable to drive, like car and not a truck but with better view and seat height than the average car.
With the seats out it's got a ton of room inside, for a car.
The Not So Good
The fancy schmancy dashboard electronics are a royal pain. I still haven't properly figured out how to work the darn heat. Believe it? I can talk into thin air and the car practically drives itself, but I can't work the HVAC and the radio to my satisfaction. Welcome to the 2020's.
The car is basically a giant foam egg designed to haul children around. The second row seats do not stow and they are definitely not designed to be removed, although it was less of a hassle than I anticipated. The car was clearly 100% CAD designed. Not only are there no right angles, there are unwieldy pieces of plastic everywhere and it's not even symmetrical from side to side. The floor is this spongy weird utterly non-flat thing that basically requires a dedicated and built up wood floor on top of a lot of gadgetry that shouldn't be removed. This is really frustrating because as a tiny person, I was with difficulty able to stand almost upright in the stow well of a Dodge Caravan. This appears to be the same height from the outside but it's easily 8" shorter inside. Still fine for sitting up straight, but standing is an absolute no-go.
It makes me laugh sometimes, but it can seem like every single idea I have has been thwarted by the manufacturers. "Oh, I'll tilt the passenger seat forward and use that as a backrest for a seat I make." No, I won't, because the seat doesn't go further forward than 90 degrees. "Oh, I'll put a slipcover over this seat and add some pockets and so on." I will but it will look like crap because the shapes of the seat resembles something that got melted in a fire. "Oh, I'll build a box to put in the old seat well (the third row seats do stow)". I might, but the floor of that well isn't even vaguely flat, I'll lose half the volume of the space. "Oh, I'll put the bed all the way at the back". No, I won't, because the rear end of the car is aerodynamically pinched. "Oh, I'll put a Vantastic in the ceiling". Nope, all the HVAC for the rear runs through the roof.
The Well, Duh ...
When I bought this I didn't think too much about the fact that I didn't want to tear up a brand new vehicle, and I don't want to mess with my warranty or insurance. Making it into a real camper would be awesome but it would involve gutting more or less everything, as leaving all the unnecessary wiring, plastic fantastic and foam in place takes away at least 20% of the actual room inside.
The fact that the second row seats don't stow makes it a lot less useful as a general "hauler" - without them I can fit a full sized mattress and box spring, but with them in, it's actually way LESS usable floor space than my Prius. This also means it's a challenge to create an easily removeable setup, because I have to build a pretty complex floor to have a flat surface for any 'furniture' I create, and then remove that floor to put the seats back in.
Takeaway
In about six years I'm going to be really excited about tearing this thing to bits and doing a real build on it. I'll probably have mastered the electronics by then, haha, and the resale value / warranty won't be an issue any more. It does have the potential to be the ideal sized personal camper car, but it's not a useful "convertible".
The Good
I'm averaging 36 mpg. Even going long distances on the highway at 75 with the AC on it's still hovering around 32. (This according to its internal calculation, I haven't done it manually.)
It's about as big as you can get without being obtrusively huge. I park in a parking lot like anyone else, I can go through a drive through or car wash, put it in the carport and, with care, park it in a little old 1950's garage. It's super easy and comfortable to drive, like car and not a truck but with better view and seat height than the average car.
With the seats out it's got a ton of room inside, for a car.
The Not So Good
The fancy schmancy dashboard electronics are a royal pain. I still haven't properly figured out how to work the darn heat. Believe it? I can talk into thin air and the car practically drives itself, but I can't work the HVAC and the radio to my satisfaction. Welcome to the 2020's.
The car is basically a giant foam egg designed to haul children around. The second row seats do not stow and they are definitely not designed to be removed, although it was less of a hassle than I anticipated. The car was clearly 100% CAD designed. Not only are there no right angles, there are unwieldy pieces of plastic everywhere and it's not even symmetrical from side to side. The floor is this spongy weird utterly non-flat thing that basically requires a dedicated and built up wood floor on top of a lot of gadgetry that shouldn't be removed. This is really frustrating because as a tiny person, I was with difficulty able to stand almost upright in the stow well of a Dodge Caravan. This appears to be the same height from the outside but it's easily 8" shorter inside. Still fine for sitting up straight, but standing is an absolute no-go.
It makes me laugh sometimes, but it can seem like every single idea I have has been thwarted by the manufacturers. "Oh, I'll tilt the passenger seat forward and use that as a backrest for a seat I make." No, I won't, because the seat doesn't go further forward than 90 degrees. "Oh, I'll put a slipcover over this seat and add some pockets and so on." I will but it will look like crap because the shapes of the seat resembles something that got melted in a fire. "Oh, I'll build a box to put in the old seat well (the third row seats do stow)". I might, but the floor of that well isn't even vaguely flat, I'll lose half the volume of the space. "Oh, I'll put the bed all the way at the back". No, I won't, because the rear end of the car is aerodynamically pinched. "Oh, I'll put a Vantastic in the ceiling". Nope, all the HVAC for the rear runs through the roof.
The Well, Duh ...
When I bought this I didn't think too much about the fact that I didn't want to tear up a brand new vehicle, and I don't want to mess with my warranty or insurance. Making it into a real camper would be awesome but it would involve gutting more or less everything, as leaving all the unnecessary wiring, plastic fantastic and foam in place takes away at least 20% of the actual room inside.
The fact that the second row seats don't stow makes it a lot less useful as a general "hauler" - without them I can fit a full sized mattress and box spring, but with them in, it's actually way LESS usable floor space than my Prius. This also means it's a challenge to create an easily removeable setup, because I have to build a pretty complex floor to have a flat surface for any 'furniture' I create, and then remove that floor to put the seats back in.
Takeaway
In about six years I'm going to be really excited about tearing this thing to bits and doing a real build on it. I'll probably have mastered the electronics by then, haha, and the resale value / warranty won't be an issue any more. It does have the potential to be the ideal sized personal camper car, but it's not a useful "convertible".
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With big vans so hard to find and insanely overpriced, I like the idea of modding minivans and SUVs, as the used ones are more reasonable. In addition to gutting, you can cut the roof out and make a taller extension, like the hightops made for the old vans. Ground clearance is terrible on the minivans though... badly need a lift and bigger tires for offroading... or just start with an SUV.
