2025 Toyota Sienna Road Test and Review

2025 Toyota Sienna Platinum ・ Photo by Brady Holt

We love minivans. These all-business family haulers provide incredibly roomy interiors that similarly sized SUVs and crossovers could only dream of. And they have the convenience of sliding doors that open at the push of a button and that a child won't smack into nearby cars.

Most minivans have big V6 engines. They’re smooth, quiet, and powerful – and not especially economical, especially when you’re running lots of short errands or idling in school pickup lanes or fast-food drive-thrus.  

That’s where the 2025 Toyota Sienna comes in. Priced from $39,185, it’s sold exclusively as a gas-electric hybrid that gets an EPA-estimated 36 mpg. Between its incredible fuel economy, its optional all-wheel drive, and some notable family-friendly features, the Sienna is a longtime minivan standout. And it’s newly updated for 2025 with styling tweaks, a new infotainment system, and additional optional equipment. We just spent a week testing the updated 2025 Sienna. Keep reading as we go through its pros and cons so you can see if it’s the right large family vehicle for you. 

Hybrid Efficiency

Toyota popularized the hybrid more than two decades ago with the iconic Prius, and the same technology powers the 2025 Sienna. An electric motor pairs with a four-cylinder gasoline engine to assist with acceleration or even let the engine shut off entirely while you’re coasting or even accelerating gently. The hybrid system’s battery recharges while the engine is running and can also recapture energy from the van’s brakes. You don’t plug it in like a Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid. 

The result is an EPA-estimated 36 mpg in either city or highway driving with front-wheel drive. The optional all-wheel-drive system adds a second electric motor to power the rear wheels if the van needs extra traction; the AWD Sienna averages 34 mpg in the city and 36 mpg on the highway. We matched the 36 mpg estimate in our front-drive test vehicle. 

The Sienna’s biggest strength is in everyday driving rather than the open highway. That’s where the electric motor can help out the most – and where non-hybrid vans fare the worst. You can often creep through stop-and-go traffic or sit idling while burning no gas at all for several minutes at a time. However, if you’re mostly looking at road trips, a gas-only van comes a lot closer to the Sienna’s efficiency. For comparison, a Honda Odyssey gets an EPA-estimated 19 mpg in city driving (barely half the Sienna’s city rating) but 28 mpg on the highway. 

2025 Toyota Sienna Platinum ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Updated Interior With New Features

The 2025 Toyota Sienna gets an updated interior with a bigger new touchscreen on most trim levels. All Siennas had a decent 9-inch screen last year, while most trim levels now have a 12.3-inch unit running Toyota’s latest infotainment software. (The base LE actually shrinks slightly to 8 inches.) In addition to more screen real estate, the system now lets you connect your phone to Apple CarPlay or Android Auto wirelessly rather than via a cable. 

Not everything about the new system is an improvement. When you’re using Toyota’s own infotainment system on the screen rather than your phone’s apps, you're mostly looking at empty space. And Toyota makes you switch among different views, like radio information versus a GPS map, rather than arranging them side by side like in the old Sienna. And Toyota also moved some hard buttons onto the screen, where it takes more concentration to tap them. 

We still find the Sienna’s controls generally easy to use overall, at least. And we love the big open area under its center console. A newly available built-in vacuum cleaner lives in the center console bin, and the new FridgeBox feature means you can keep food and drinks cool in that bin. Don’t expect the cabin to be quite luxury-grade even on a top-trim Platinum like our test vehicle, and the woodgrain trim is a dated touch, but it’s well built. 

2025 Toyota Sienna Platinum ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Maximum Legroom

The Sienna has comfortable seating for seven passengers on most trim levels. A removable second-row jumpseat squeezes in between the captain’s chairs to fit an eighth person, but curiously, it’s only available on the base LE and next-up XLE trim levels. Does Toyota think that big families don’t want high-end amenities? 

The driver enjoys a power-adjustable seat on all trim levels, and all but the LE include heated front seats. Ventilated front seats are available on upper trim levels as well, but you need the top Platinum for a heated steering wheel or heated second-row seats. 

Our favorite seating feature is the Super-Long Slide second row. It’s pretty descriptive: They have 25 inches of fore-aft travel, creating an incredible amount of legroom when you aren’t using the third row. The upper Limited and Platinum trim levels also have a La-Z-Boy-style footrest. My kids were sad to see the Sienna go after our weeklong test. Super-Long Slide is restricted to seven-passenger Siennas. 

2025 Toyota Sienna Platinum ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Flexible Cargo Hold

Like rival minivans, the Sienna has a big cargo well behind the third-row seat. You fold the third row backward into this space when you need more cargo room, and it also gives you lots of luggage space when the third row is in use. In the Sienna’s case, you get 33.5 cubic feet behind the third row, which is 62 percent more than you’d get in a similarly sized Toyota Grand Highlander crossover. Folding down the third row opens up about 75 cubic feet behind the second row, depending on the fore-aft position you choose. 

The Sienna has less maximum cargo room than most vans – 101 cubic feet. That’s because the second-row seats can’t fold into the floor or remove. They fold up against the front seats. Folks who carry cargo more than passengers might prefer a Chrysler Pacifica’s 140.5 cubic feet of maximum space. On the other hand, the Sienna’s cargo room already beats most crossovers, and it just takes a couple seconds to push the second-row seats all the way forward. 

2025 Toyota Sienna Platinum ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Easy to Drive

The Sienna has a smooth ride and low-effort steering. It’s a low-stress van to drive. Just don’t expect anything fancy or sporty. 

The hybrid powertrain pairs a non-turbo 2.5-liter four-cylinder gas engine with an electric motor for 245 horsepower of total output. That’s comparable to rival V6-powered vans, so you don’t have to worry about safely passing and merging. It’s noisier, though, and doesn’t sound as smooth and rich as a good V6.

Similarly, while the Sienna won’t jolt kids awake when it hits a bump like a Chrysler Pacifica, its body shudders like a big empty box. The Honda Odyssey feels more solidly put together – not that the Toyota will literally fall apart, but that the Honda feels more like a luxury vehicle. The Odyssey’s steering also feels more direct and responsive than the Sienna’s. Driving enthusiasts will be happier in the Honda, though many other minivan drivers will sense little to no difference. 

2025 Toyota Sienna Platinum ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Some Sportiness in the Design

While the Sienna isn’t the most fun-to-drive vehicle on the market – or even the most fun-to-drive minivan – Toyota gives it some styling verve. Slim headlights dip down toward a big grille, and a bulge over the rear fender is borrowed from a two-seat Toyota Supra sports coupe. 

Toyota lets you take the standard Sienna styling in one of two different directions. The XSE has some sport-themed styling details, such as blacked-out wheels and trim. And the off-road-themed Woodland Edition has slightly higher ground clearance and its own unique wheel design. 

Overall, the Sienna’s styling hasn’t changed much since it debuted for the 2021 model year. This year’s update brought only new alloy wheels on select trim levels. But it still has some personality without being objectionably over the top. 

2025 Toyota Sienna Platinum ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Priced From $39,195

The 2025 Toyota Sienna starts at $39,195 for the base LE trim level. Standard equipment includes a power-adjustable driver’s seat, push-button starting, a wireless smartphone charger, tri-zone automatic climate control, power sliding doors with built-in sunshades, blind-spot monitoring with a rear cross-traffic alert, and adaptive cruise control. It comes exclusively with eight-passenger seating. 

We think the XLE, $43,995, will check most folks’ remaining boxes. It has leatherette upholstery, heated front seats, a power liftgate, the bigger touchscreen, eight speakers instead of six, a moonroof, quad-zone automatic climate control, and a choice of seven- or eight-passenger seating (the former including the Super-Long Slide second row).

Or perhaps you want the sporty flavor of the XSE ($46,640) or the outdoorsy Woodland Edition ($50,425), which each also add a few more features to the XLE. You can also get the Limited ($50,200) with genuine leather, ventilated front seats, the La-Z-Boy second row footrests, a 12-speaker JBL stereo, and the option to buy the built-in vacuum plus the FridgeBox for $260. The top Platinum is the only way to get some features we love – a heated steering wheel and a surround-view parking camera, plus a head-up display and heated second-row seats. But at $56,145, it’s a tough sell. 

Most trim levels let you pay about $2,000 extra for all-wheel drive, though it’s standard on the Woodland Edition. 

2025 Toyota Sienna Platinum ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Sienna vs. the Competition

When you’re looking for an economical minivan, the Sienna faces three main rivals. The closest competitors are the newly introduced Kia Carnival Hybrid, which is a traditional hybrid like the Toyota. It has a slightly peppier though slightly less economical engine than the Sienna. It has a fancier cabin with more tech features (like a camera that lets you check on kids in the backseat), but less storage space. And it has a slightly higher starting price but more standard features. So you’d choose between them based mainly on whether you prefer simple functionality (Sienna) or a higher-end experience (Carnival) – except that the Kia also has more cargo room. 

The Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid that we mentioned earlier is a plug-in hybrid. It can run using only electricity for about 30 miles at a time if you’ve charged up its big battery, but it gets just-OK mileage of around 30 mpg once you exceed its range. It can be a good choice if you wouldn't typically drive much more than 30 miles between charges – many people wouldn't – but the Sienna would do better on longer drives. Plus, the Sienna tends to cost less and ride more smoothly. 

Next, the all-electric Volkswagen ID.Buzz is a nifty choice. It’s a hoot to drive and uses no gasoline at all. When you can charge at home, that gives it much lower operating costs than even an economical Sienna. It’s also a head-turner with lots of space inside. But it starts for around the same price as a fully optioned Sienna (around $60,000), and with a 231-mile range per charge, it’s not convenient for long trips. 

Finally, if you’re interested in just about any big family car, you’d also shop the Sienna against the gas-only Honda Odyssey and non-hybrid versions of the Pacifica and Carnival. These vans have smoother, quieter engines; the Odyssey has sharper driving manners and more comfortable eight-passenger seating; the gas Pacifica (though not the hybrid) lets you fold the second-row seats into the floor; and the Carnival has the most value for the money. Just don’t forget about their extra fuel costs versus the extra-efficient Sienna.  

2024 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Final Thoughts

With more passenger and cargo room than a Toyota Sequoia full-size SUV yet better gas mileage than a Toyota Corolla economy sedan, the 2025 Toyota Sienna is a standout family car. 

It’s neither the fanciest nor the least expensive van you can find. And the big new touchscreen isn’t perfect. But the Sienna is a well-rounded vehicle with some standout qualities that you and your family should appreciate – from the limousine experience of the Super-Slide seats to the money-saving fuel efficiency. 

2025 Toyota Sienna Platinum ・ Photo by Brady Holt