Shortly after Chrysler's initial minivan success, now almost 15 years ago, virtually every manufacturer rushed in with their own interpretation of the genre. There were aggressively styled minivans, minivans with car-like swing-out side doors, huge truck-based minivans, svelte compact minivans, and mini-minivans. None significantly diverted buyers away from today's Dodge Caravan. It seems the American public has a rigid minivan dress code: car-based platform, front-engine, front-drive, center aisle, room for seven adults, dual sliding doors. This left the radically styled, mid-engine, rear-drive Toyota Previa, which was also underpowered (or, horrors, supercharged!) and overly expensive, as an also-ran.
For the past several years, competing manufacturers have been dropping their diverse interpretations of what a minivan could be in favor of ever-more-Caravan-like designs. The latest attempt to duplicate the class master is the all-new Toyota Sienna: The first time a Japanese maker has tried a direct frontal assault on Chrysler's minivans. Clearly, it appears Toyota management drove a Caravan over to the engineering building and said, "Make this."
But is it a better Caravan? Since price is often the crucial deciding factor in a minivan purchase, our first priority in assembling this comparison was matching bottom lines. Also, since the Grand Caravan accounts for almost three-quarters of Dodge minivan sales, we put the Sienna up against Chrysler's long-wheelbase people mover. This is Dodge's ballpark, so it picks the bat length. The window stickers on our test vehicles came within $870, with the Sienna, an LE model, boasting the lower mark ($26,345 to the Dodge Grand Caravan SE Sport's $27,215). Though there were a handful of differences, features were very close.
When Toyota sets out to clone something, it does an excellent job of morphing in its own unique flavor. The Toyota had 15-inch aluminum wheels (a $610 option), while the Dodge wore 16-inch steel wheels as part of the $3515 Sport package (16s aren't available on the Sienna). The Dodge Sport package also gave the Grand Caravan body-color cladding (the Sienna wore a dull gray lower section) and a rear anti-roll bar, the latter not available on the Sienna. A keyless entry system, something we've come to look upon as vital as air conditioning, was included on the Dodge as part of a $235 package, but would have required the addition of a $440 security group on the Toyota. When these are the biggest discrepancies, it's clear the Sienna is very price competitive with the popular Grand Caravan.
Our two testers hailed from the middle of their respective product lineups. The Toyota was an LE-halfway between the low-ball CE and the luxo XLE. The Dodge was the Sport variant of the SE, positioned between the base Caravan and the top-level LE. The Dodge came with the 3.3-liter/158-horse, iron-block OHV V-6; Dodge's 3.8-liter/180-horse engine is available only in the more expensive LE. The 3.3 is capable of running on a mixture of 85 percent alcohol and 15 percent gasoline, though our testing was done on straight dino juice.
Toyota offers only a single powerplant but it's a jewel: a 194-horse DOHC, four-valve, all-aluminum V-6 that's a near-twin to that under the hood of the Lexus ES 300: Remember when four-cam/four-valve V-6s engines were once the province of expensive sports cars? The Toyota's higher compression ratio (10.5:1 to the Dodge's 8.9:1) helps it produce more power and better acceleration, but requires the use of higher-octane fuel. Though the pushrod Dodge is plenty potent, in comparison to the turbine-smooth Toyota, the 3.3 sounds and feels as rough as a potato skin in an In-Sinkerator.
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