Toyota Sienna vs Hyundai Santa Fe Sport

A friend of mine once owned a T-shirt that said: “Mini-van, mega-fun.” He doesn’t have kids. He wasn’t married at the time. Yet he drove a Chevy Astro, which he used as a surf wagon, a beach hangout, a camper, and more. He has long since swapped it for a vintage Porsche 911 wearing significant patina, but he still recalls that old Astro fondly.

Minivans have a way of making themselves members of your family. You buy one when kids (or grandkids) arrive, you raise children with it, you road-trip in it, and you haul sporting equipment and materials for home-improvement projects in it. It becomes an integral part of your clan’s history, in much the same way that station wagons did back in the 1960s and '70s.

Weirdly, it's this association with family, however, that turns people off to minivan ownership. During the week we evaluated a 2018 Toyota Sienna SE, the woman two doors down told my wife, in relationship to our test vehicle: “I just don’t want to be seen as a mom.” They do have an image problem, that’s for sure, which is why there are just five primary competitors left in the space.

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