Twins - Prius v Five and Sienna Limited

I don't know if this is an appropriate thread for this forum but the similarity between our 2012 Prius v Five and the 2014 Sienna we got last week is striking in many ways. The photo of them parked in the driveway reminded me of the Arnold Schwarzenegger/Danny DeVito movie "Twins".

I know these two vehicles are from the same company but numerous design details are nearly the same ... the twin panoramic non-opening moon roofs in the Prius vs. the twin opening moon roofs in the Sienna; the twin glove boxes in each; the triangular little side windows ahead of the front doors, the rear "spoilers" above the back windows of both; the locations of the gear shift levers; the way the sheet metal is stamped on the insides of the front doors. And of course that they are both the same Blizzard Pearl makes them look even more similar.

A curious aspect of the Sienna is that it has many of the features that were on the original European Prius +/v but which were not included on the Prius v Five sold in the U.S.: daytime running lights, rear side and back window privacy glass, rear side window roller blinds, rain sensing wipers, side turn signals on the exterior mirrors. And of course, our Sienna is a 7-passenger vehicle which is what the Prius +/v in Europe usually is. And the Sienna has a power driver seat with memory which we dearly wish had been available on the Prius v. I sure wish the Prius v had a power tail gate - my wife can barely reach it to close it.

I only wish the Sienna got half as good gas mileage as the Prius v. The Prius v hardly varies from 40 mpg. Having driven the Sienna just less than 500 miles at fairly low speeds during the break-in period, it's averaging only between 18 and 19 mpg.

The Sienna is going to be our "big" vehicle. I installed a class III 3,500/5000 pound tow hitch on it on Saturday and will tow my utility trailer with it and perhaps a much larger trailer during a move to a more moderate climate and retirement within a few years. I may someday put a hitch on the Prius but it will likely be used only to carry a bike rack.

The Sienna and Prius have lots of other features in common. Both have the ATP package with PCS and radar cruise control but the automatic braking on the Sienna seems substantially more aggressive. Both have seven inch navigation screens and JBL audio systems but the Sienna arrived without the Entune I was told it would have. As much criticism as Entune gets, I find a lot to like about its Bing search feature and Pandora interface and will sorely miss it in the Sienna.

For us these two vehicles seem like the perfect combination and I'm betting that we will still be driving them 10 years from now. I suspect we will get quite a bit of kidding from friends and family about these twins.

 

Yes, our Sienna has pull-up window shades on the four rear side windows and appear to be of the same design as the ones on the Prius v/+ sold in Europe, the UK and Australia. They seem redundant since the rear side and back windows have privacy glass but they further darken the interior so that rear occupants and watch videos when it is sunny. Here is a photo from last week's airport run when my wife saw the Sienna for the first time - it shows the shades. And a second photo taken from the third row seat - I had the Sienna over a week before I discovered it is power adjustable!

It is a bit like driving a bus but the view from the driver seat seems very much like the view from our Prius v - can't see the hood and I'm pretty tall.

 

No, our Sienna is FWD. I wanted AWD but it is not available with the Advanced Technology Package. Only vehicles with PCS or a PCS-like mitigation system and with adaptive cruise control were considered. Fuel economy of the AWD version is lower - rated at something like 16 city, 23 highway.