With 30 Extra Horses, 2017 Toyota Sienna Becomes America's Most Powerful Minivan

Updated for 2015 with a revised interior, an invisible facelift, and improved LATCH access, the 2015 Toyota Sienna was nevertheless mechanically identical to the Sienna of 2011-2014. The Toyota Sienna was America’s best-selling minivan in calendar year 2015.

For model year 2017, the Sienna remains visually identical and continues on the third-generation platform, but Toyota is installing the Tacoma’s direct-injection 3.5-liter V6 underhood and linking it to a new eight-speed automatic.

With a 30-horsepower jump to 293, the 2017 Toyota Sienna is now the most powerful minivan on sale.

This is a long way from the 187 horsepower, 2.7-liter four-cylinder that served in the base Sienna in 2011 and 2012. Compared with the outgoing V6, the new 3.5-liter engine’s torque output rises by 18 lb-ft to 263.

The new engine reaches peak torque at 4,700 rpm, just as the old mill did in 2016. Maximum horsepower arrives at 6,600 rpm, 400 revs higher than in the 2016 Sienna.

Yet more power does not equal more fuel consumption. City mileage rises by 1 mpg to 19 in front-wheel-drive Siennas; the van’s EPA highway rating rises from 25 mpg in 2016 to 27 mpg in 2017. The all-wheel-drive 2017 Toyota Sienna’s city figure jumps by 2 mpg to 20; its highway number climbs from 23 to 24 mpg.

The Pentastar V6 in the Sienna’s newest rival. The 2017 Chrysler Pacifica makes 287 horsepower, four more than the 3.6-liter in the 2017 Dodge Grand Caravan. The Pacifica, with a nine-speed automatic, achieves a rating of 18 mpg city, 28 highway. With a six-speed automatic, the Grand Caravan’s mileage is more akin to the all-wheel-drive Sienna at 17 mpg city, 25 highway.

Kia’s 3.3-liter V6 sends 276 horsepower to its front wheels via a six-speed automatic. The highest-mileage Sedona is the SX at 18 mpg city, 25 highway. The Nissan Quest is the only minivan in America equipped with a continuously variable transmission. The Quest’s 3.5-liter V6 produces 260 horsepower. EPA rates the Quest at a best-in-class 20 miles per gallon in the city. Highway mileage, at 27 mpg, is 1 mpg shy of two competitors. The least-powerful minivan in America, aside from the commercial-van-oriented Ford Transit Connect, is the Honda Odyssey. Honda will replace the Odyssey shortly, but for now, Honda’s 3.5-liter V6 shuffles 248 horsepower through a six-speed automatic and achieves 19 mpg city, 28 highway.

As we all know, there’s nothing more important in America’s minivan wars than horsepower.

Despite a 7,015-unit year-over-year decline from the discontinued Mazda 5, America’s minivan market is up 19 percent in 2016.

At this pace, automakers will sell more minivans in the United States in 2016 than at any point since 2008.

Thanks to horsepower, obviously.

[Image: Toyota.com]

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and on Facebook.