When asked to do a partnership with Toyota Canada, we were so excited to have a vehicle with the cargo space to finally be able to do a bedroom makeover for our kids. The 2021 All-Hybrid Toyota Sienna was the perfect vehicle for us to do it.
Okay, the back story. A few months ago, my daughter Eva decided she was going to become a world-class climber. Her first climb? Her crib – and it took her all of ten seconds to climb it. So now that she can easily climb out of her crib, we thought it was time to move her out of the spare room and into a bunk bed with our older son Ben. We live in a smaller inner-city home, which means space is at a premium. Every room must be as efficient as possible if we are going to make it all work. It’s what we expect from our home, and what we also expect from our vehicle.
We love living in the inner city because we are close to so many local shops, and we’ve never had the need for a second vehicle. However, when you don’t have a second vehicle to share the life’s everyday needs, you come to expect a lot from the one you have. We need our vehicle to haul the entire family (comfortably!) and our stuff all around the city; to and from the kids’ places like school, the grocery store, the hardware store, and everything in between. Our vehicle must have comfort, plenty of cargo space, and excellent fuel efficiency – and honestly, that’s what you get with the 2021 Toyota Sienna.
Seriously, my mind was blown! That sort of fuel efficiency is usually reserved for compact cars, not vehicles with this much power
One Feature That Blows My Mind
To me, the most impressive feature of the 2021 Toyota Sienna is the fuel efficiency. Toyota does this by using a 2.5L four-cylinder hybrid engine. This engine will do 6.7 L/100km combined in the AWD configuration. Seriously, my mind was blown! That sort of fuel efficiency is usually reserved for compact cars, not vehicles with this much power (245 hp) and cargo capabilities. Which is precisely what we are going to use it for today; hauling our whole family to a big-box curb-side pick-up location, getting all the things we need to makeover our kids’ room.
I think we can all agree that 2020 and 2021(so far) has been weird. Let’s get that out of the way. The days of going into a store with your kids and feeling carefree about all the touching and licking are gone. These days, many stores offer curbside pick-up, and to be honest, I like it. Hauling your young kids into a store is already challenging enough. I mean, I do look forward to the day we can comfortably go back into the stores, but until then, curbside all day! Because let’s face it, keeping your kids entertained and comfortable in a Toyota Sienna is easy. For instance, the one we are in has a premium, 12-speaker audio system to hear all the subtle nuances of songs as complex as “The Wheels on The Bus.” Additionally, there are charging ports everywhere for their devices, and the Sienna comes with a rear-seat entertainment system. In short, it has everything to keep your kids entertained while waiting for your curbside pick-up.
So Many Features To Handle Kids and Cargo.
When it’s time to make the pick-up, everything is made easy and efficient with the Toyota Sienna. Backing into the parking area is a sinch with a backup camera. Toyota Safety Sense 2.0 gives you a polite warning if you’re getting too close to any cars or objects. A digital rear-view mirror gives you a camera display of the area behind your vehicle, just in case those kids or boxes are obstructing the regular rear-view mirror. Furthermore, Opening the back hatch is easy with either a push of a button on the keys or the back door. Or, if your hand’s area already full, wave your foot under the bumper, and the back door will open by itself. Once the door is open, we have plenty of cargo space for everything needed to do a makeover of our kid’s room, even with the third row up! However, if you need a little more room (think long boxes and 2×4’s) you can easily collapse the third row for even more space, and when I say easy, I mean it. One hand is all it takes.
Finally, for the big reveal! What did we decide on for the room? Well, you’ve probably picked up on a theme when it comes to my family. We are practical and enjoy functionality, so we kept things simple. We went with minimal trinkets and decorating with maximum storage and functionality – because that’s who we are. So it’s no wonder why we enjoy the Toyota Sienna so much, because, despite its dramatic look, there wasn’t anything dramatic about using it to pick up all the things we need to make over Ben and Eva’s room. We expect our family vehicle to be comfortable, highly functional, and reliable when moving us from location to location – and with the 2021 Toyota Sienna, that’s precisely what you get.
