Hybrid Sienna ???

Havent heard of this yet, or seen one of them in any autoshows. What I hope is for them to make 4 cyl hybrid, maybe compensate with a bigger electric motor and battery. For me, the highlander V6 hybrid is not that economical. Why make a V6 hybrid when the available 4 cyl base model is capable of doing the job.

wouldn't make any sense. Why bother having a van when it won't pull anything or haul any kind of weight and be a complete dud on the road. Just go for a small hybrid car, that makes more sense.

US have always fascinated with bigger engines, woah V8, yeah V6!. In Europe and Asia. 4 cylinders and diesels are common to find. They have the Toyota Innova with 2.0(1TR-FE) and 2.7 (2TR-FE) petrol engines that seats 8 people. Toyota Previa with 2.4 (2AZ-FE) Engine and carry

1. The Toyota Hi Ace carries upto 15 people with a 2.5 4cylinder diesel engine.

I dont expect to see a Sienna pull a boat, its basically a mom mobile, no offense to the guys driving this one, and the hybrid hilander has the toyota note that it is not designed to be driven off road. The hilander is already available with 4 cylinders, adding an electric motor for additional power inseatd of a V6 wouldn't make it that bad.

The Sienna is rated to pull up to 3500 lbs. Sticking a weak four banger in it and making it a hybrid would make it useless. Don't make business sense. Only an idiot would buy it.

Many of us Americans who have traveled abroad would LOVE to see a

2.5->3.0 liter diesel in vehicles like the Tacoma, SUV's, minivans, etc... This past spring, I was in Iceland, where I again saw all kinds of vehicles that I wish I could buy.

Screw big V8's! Give us the turbo diesel! I don't need neck snapping acceleration, I want decent towing and hauling torque in an efficient package!

Never did I see a Sienna carrying 3500 lbs. The average Sienna users I see everyday carry a child seat, grocery bags, kids in soccer uniforms. They are forced to buy the 6 because they need 7 seats. If there was an option of a 4 cylinder option people will buy them. Its available in Europe and Asia but not in the US because some americans think 4 bangers are weak. I mean its hard to believe Al Gore's son got his prius to 100 mph right.

You should travel to Europe and Asia sometimes, that will make you the smartest guy there.

Silly you. The Sienna can in fact pull up to 3500 lb trailer. The Sienna weighs 4400 lbs, it is no lightweight. I don't know what the pirus weights, but it will be considerably less than the Sienna. I get

28 MPG on my Sienna on a trip. Not bad for a 4400 lb vehicle which can pull up to 3500 lb load. If you want better gas milage then get a tiny car that weighs a lot less.

I'd be ok with a diesel, they can develop a lot of pulling power.

I have driven an Isuzu 3.0L 4cyl intercooler turbo diesel in Asia. It runs as good as all those ford expeditions with triton v8s with better mpg of course.

Did some googling and in japan the van is called the Estima, and they are releasing a hybrid.

I dont understand Japanese language, but the engine shows 2AZ-FXE, the same engine on the Camry Hybrid?. I wonder what the exhaust heat recirculatin system is.

Yeah, we've been waiting for Toyota to release a hybrid minivan in the US for a while, but as for when...

In Japan, Toyota already has 2 minivans (MPVs) available. In 2001, the Estima was given a hybrid drivetrain (the THS-C/e-four design). (The gasoline Estima used to be sold in the US under the Previa name.) In 2003, the Alphard was given the THS-II/HSD. In 2004, the Estima was re-introduced to Japan with the THS-II/HSD.

(use a translation like

or to read the Japanese: to see the hybrids Toyota has inJapan.)

Unfortunately, the closest that we have currently available in the US is the hybrid Highlander and RX400h (Kluger/Harrier hybrid), which use the THS-II for SUV design.

There was a poll on the hybridsynergydrive newsletter a little while back asking readers to vote on what model they'd next to see hybridized, and if I remember correctly the answer was the Rav4!

At one time Toyota stated plans to have a hybrid drivetrain available for all of their models by a certain date, but they've been pushing back that date in the last few reports...

You might like to know the Honda Odyssey is getting great milage with it's engine design which turns off three cylinders while crusing. I've heard reports on a trip up to 30 MPG. That's a couple more than I get on my Sienna.

A friend of mine was kind enough to read the Japanese web site, and it says that the hybrid minivan has a 4 cylinder engine. That is good news. It seems to have lots of other technological improvements. The question is whether or not it will be sold in the USA.

Morton

"EdV" ...

We have been pulling our mid-size popup trailer, 4 people, a load of camping gear and a canoe on top since 1998 in our Sienna. It does all this well for 190K miles. Tomes

The Prius has a thermos bottle which can keep the coolant hot up to three days. This warms the engine more quickly on cold start.

Also, hybrid vehicles deliver more performance per amount of fuel consumed. Electric motors have all torque at zero RPM unlike gas. Normal hybrids (synergy drive sys.) have three motors, and some have four.

Synergy drive system vehicles also rate SULEV or better (even the Lexus versions which ARE performance oriented).