2006 Toyota Sienna XLE Limited AWD from North America - Comments

Nothing at all.

When my wife and I saw this van, we definitely fell in love with it. Our Sienna XLE limited is silver shadow in color with the grey leather interior.

Ours has every option that Toyota could ever imagine in it. Everything from the DVD Entertainment system to the power folding third row seating, this van has it.

How do we like this van? Well, we just love it a lot! It rides like a dream, handles great, and is pretty good on gas, despite its 6 cylinder motor. The versatility of this van is just wonderful. We can take our kids on road trips, and they have a ball with it. It's great for when you have to do a lot of shopping because with all of the seats in place, you can easily put a weeks worth of goodies behind the 3rd row of seats. With the second row seats removed, and the 3rd row seats stowed, you can easily use this as a flea market or as a garage sale vheicle to buy your cool findings.

There is a down side to this van, and it concerns those dreaded run flat tires. I know quite a few people who own Sienna's with the run flat tires, and they too have a disliking to the tires like we do. Why did Toyota ever think of putting such not so good run flat tires on a minivan that has quite a loyal following? What were they thinking? My wife and I have complained to our local Toyota dealer about this problem.

Their response? We are not alone with the same problem with the run flat tires. This van rides great with them for now. However, once we start having problems with these tires, I will easily take the van back to the Toyota dealer and have then put better tires on it. If they give me a hard time, then we will take the van, and put better run flat tires on it ourselves.

Other than the tire problem, we automatically and strongly recommend buying one of these vans. You and your family will automatically make this van your family friend and will love it dearly like we do. Just test drive one, and you will buy one quickly.

I agree, that we love our 2006 AWD Sienna minivan. But, I have had and am in the midst of issues with the run-flat tires and the low tire pressure indicator system. It began at my 5000 mile service when I was told that my vehicle was completely out of alignment and all four tires were shot. Toyota fixed this problem and replaced all four tires, but it took an axle replacement a two day stay for me in a hotel room (I live 3 hours from my dealer). After the hotel cost, they ended up sending me home in a loaner while they continued to try to resolve the alignment. In the end, I was told that the alignment issue had to do with the car being improperly tied down to the car carrier.

This past December I had a flat due to a rock in the sidewall. It took me a couple of days to figure out why I was hearing road noise as the low tire indicator did not come on. It was not until the car began pulling significantly, that I put the pieces together to indicate a tire. The tire was repaired, but, there are no tire shops within a 50 mile radius of my rural home that can deal with these tires.

Now, in April, I have two more road hazard flats in the tread area and they tell me my tires are not repairable. These are some FRAGILE tires. I have never in all of my years of driving had this many flats. The dealership I took the vehicle to for repair was completely unaware of the Dunlop warranty on the tires or the Toyota Service bulletins on these tires. I left the dealership nearly in tears at the cost of replacing two tires. Through determination and frustration, I began making phone calls to the dealership I purchased the vehicle from, Toyota National Care, and then to Dunlap. These calls and research on the internet are how I have discovered a multitude of issues with these tires and the possible remedies. I am not done yet.

Though we love the vehicle, and previously had a '94 Toyota Landcruiser running strong at over $185,000 miles, we will think again about purchasing from Toyota in the future.

I too have a Toyota Sienna and LOVE the vehicle. However, after 14,000 my run flat tires are dangerously bald and needed to be replaced. I have replaced the tires with regular tires as I will not continue to replace tires on a yearly basis! Toyota should dump using these tires immediately. I see in the other forums that they have been having this same problem at least for the past three year. Inexcusable!

Tire pressure monitoring??? A reliable design was first introduced with the Hummer. Basically to lower pressure and allow flotation in deep sand condition (Iraq and other suppliers of oil) High pressure can be resume to climb palatial stairs (Saddam's). Unfortunately, for civilian purpose, the sensors will tilt with a 5psi differential. Causing your ECM to display codes. Expert recommendation: send a diagram to Toyota without violating patented design!!

Reliability issues needs time to be resolved. Usually from the source it has been duplicated from: German, French, Swedish and American.

I was just told by the dealer that my 2006 Toyota Sienna AWD, which we purchased new, needs all 4 tires and brakes replaced. The van only has $14,900 miles on it. They are picking up the cost of the tires because of the issues with the RFT's, but I have to pay for the labor and the brakes plus alignment and balancing.

I basically drive it to and from my kids school and the market. I think the longest trip I ever took it on was 150 miles round trip. I love this van, but if I have to replace the tires and brakes at the next 15,000 scheduled maintenance then I am dumping it and getting the Honda!

We got this one because of the AWD, but we live in Northern CA so it's not like we have to deal with snow unless we go to Tahoe, and that is only a couple times a year.

I loved my 2006 AWD Toyota Sienna, until the problem with the run flats. My dealer has refused to replace the tires and was not helpful, and down right rude. We found out about the class action law suit, only to find out that our vehicle was not covered because the car was built a few months after the cars covered in the law suit. You would think, under the circumstances, with the ongoing problems with these tires, that Toyota would want to make their customers happy. Wrong! Do yourself a favor, stay away from the Sienna with run flats! And because of the very very very poor customer service, you would do yourself a favor to stay away from Toyota!

We are in the market for a new car and after a lot of researching and making the rounds of dealers we were converging on the AWD Toyota Sienna. It was the perfect car for us as far as features and functionality. Because of the Run Flat Tires we have now crossed the Sienna off our list and are considering our other options. If the tire issue did not exist I would now own a Sienna. Because we live in the snow belt and on a mountain we need AWD or a regular 4WD vehicle. What a disappointment. The word is spreading. How many others walked after deciding that they did not want to live with the tire issue?

I own a 2005 Sienna XLE. It came with Bridgestones. I had a flat with one and had the dickens of a time getting it fixed. One Toyota dealer in NH could not even replace it. I had to buy a brand new tire.

3 months later, my original dealer replaced all four tires (including my brand new replacement) with Dunlop tires.

Almost 2 years later, (25,000 miles) driving back from Florida, a rear tire failed. I was barely able to limp to a tire place who did not carry run flats, so I put on a regular tire.

The same day, about 200 miles up the road, the other rear tire failed! Again I was barely able to limp to a Toyota dealer who sold me a brand new run flat. I was told that my two front tires were badly worn.

I am about ready to dump the Sienna, despite otherwise liking it, over these crappy tires. I would like to replace them, but hate the thought of buying a spare and jack and carrying them in the back for the rest of my ownership.

And that is exactly the issue, in case others are reading this. There is no place to put a spare. This vehicle was designed for run-flats. Bad situation. Sorry to hear about it.

I am amazed at the amount of money people will spend on something like the Sienna, and how quickly they are willing to take a huge loss by selling it, over something as silly as tires. I am more inclined to think it is a crisis of confidence, created by greedy dealerships and lack of ethical response by Toyota regional reps and Toyota corporate.

I own a 2005 Sienna XLE Limited AWD. I was aware of the RFT problem before buying the van. Of course it has a mounting point for a reduced size spare, welded into the tire-well behind the wide side of the 3rd row seat. It cost me $800, by the time I paid for the wheel, tire, restraining bolt, and (poor-quality) upholstery matched cover. But I have a spare and can use whatever tires will fit the rims.

I have two problems:

1) I bought snow tires (another $700), which has extended the odometer life of the original run flat tires. So I spent $1500 total, and screwed myself out of "free" set of replacement run-flats.

2) The paint is bubbling and peeling off the 17x6.5" Toyota factory rims. Even though I brought the Sienna to the dealer inside the 3 Year / 36k mile warranty period, the dealer and regional rep deny that this is a warranty issue. The dealer even had the audacity to criticize me for not bringing the Sienna to them for service.

This is the same dealer who tries to fleece all their customers by convincing them to follow the harsh duty maintenance schedule, who delivered my Sienna to me minus one of the two $125 "master" keys, who I had to take the van back to because dozens of dead bugs vibrated their way into the interior courtesy lights from the headliner area that they promised to clean before delivery (someone had left the sunroof open a crack in the lot).

This is also the same dealer who tried to sell my wife a $500 tuneup on her Matrix at 60k miles (120,000 mile spark plugs, self adjusting valves, and electronic ignition? I think not.) And who cannot seem to find the source of the surging idle problem on the Matrix.

I don't trust those bozos any further than I can throw them.

Oh, and the summer tire / snow tire change-over receipts with recorded mileage that I kept in the glove box? Missing.

Guess I trusted them a little too much.

Peeling paint on the aluminum rims has been a continuing problem that Toyota has known about since the 2004 model, according to web posts I've found. The rims on my 2005 XLE AWD starting bubbling around 18 months after we bought it. I took postings of 10 other people with a similar problem to the dealership with no luck. Toyota zone rep accussed me of not washing the rims enough. Their zone reps best offer was to "give" me 2 rims if I purchased two at a cost of over $900. I have also gone through the Dunlop RF debacle. Toyota replaced four tires. Subsequently I have purchased two more - one of the initial replacements got a bubble, the other a split and failed on the highway. Neither were warranteed because they were "warranty replacements." This is the first and last Toyota I purchase.

I love my 06 AWD Sienna Van, but I hate the run flat tires. I was told that all 4 tires needed to be replaced after 23,000 miles. That was 8 months ago. Since then I have had to replace 5 tires due to the tires pulling away from the rim. The first 2 tires were replaced under warranty since I only got 3 miles down the road when the front two tires failed.

6 weeks later the front two tires failed again. This time I was on a trip and was lucky to be near a Toyota dealer ship that had two RF Ts in stock. The service department there told me my tires had been installed improperly, however they replaced the tires under warranty.

It is now 6 months later and again I have had a tire fail with it pulling away from the rim. This time my dealer informed me that the tire had hit something because there was a small scape on the side of the tire. Yes, I barely grazed a rounded curb and you could hardly see the scrape. However, the dealer and Toyota corporation said that was a road hazard and I would have to pay to replace the tire. Because I could not find a dealership or tire shop that carried RF Ts I had to be towed over 200 miles, which was quite expensive.

My advice to anyone buying a Toyota would be to think again, go elsewhere and save yourself much aggravation.