Toyota Sienna or Chrysler Pacifica

No aftermarket parts. It does have a good amount of features as it’s an EX-L. The rear entertainment system as been a constant problem and finally gave up a couple months ago. I pulled the fuse for the infotainment which includes RES as far as I’m aware and the drain still occurred.

 

A draw that large usually is alternator related. I’ve had them still charge but kill a battery in minutes. Easiest way to tell is car off, alternator gets SUPER hot

 

I would go to a local electrical shop that rebuilds alternators / starters / generators, etc if you live in an area large enough to have one or more of those.

They can often test on vehicle directly at the alternator, or at worst remove it for a proper bench test. Then rebuild it correctly should it prove to be the problem.

Using a DVM at the battery is an ok to get by general test, but a full test is needed in a case like this.

Even if you ultimately trade it in, stopping the dead battery cycle is a good thing to do in the meantime while you are still using it.

Nothing worse than getting pushed into a corner to buy a vehicle out of desperation. Shopping and negotiation, especially in this market, needs to have both time and the ability to walk away on your side.

When we tip over into full recession, dealers will slowly retreat into more tolerable prices as they get hungrier.

 

how is this even a question

 

We bought the new sienna. 2022 Sienna XSE and we love it. We bought it in May and we already have over 9k miles on it with some of the trips we did. The mpg is great, it is pretty comfortable. Only thing i would say is for the price we paid, we expected more especially since we paid 5k above msrp but i would pick this over the pacifica anytime. Back in May as well, we rented 2 pacifica's for a road trip since the sienna wasn't ready and we had to return the first pacifica because it had a check engine light with the vehicle only having 16k miles. The second pacifica was fine and i did like it initially but after driving the new sienna, i like it alot.

**We bought a new sienna because we used to have an '06 sienna that got totaled back in March so we really were corned when it came to buying a car and we just wanted a sienna.. and this was the only one available the soonest.. the lead time for these can vary greatly


In regards to your honda, i do hope you end up finding the cause of the issue and maybe if you do, that can be your utility van if you still want to get a sienna.

 

Just throwing this out there, I was having power draw issues for awhile with my 2019 Odyssey . It was driving me crazy till I finally put a workbench in my garage. While standing at the bench I noticed the interior lights would come on then a quick beep with a blink of the flashers and everything would turn off. I thought my wife was accidentally tapping the fob or the extra fob getting attention from a ghost. Yup the extra key happened to be in its usual hiding spot three feet from the drivers door... hiding spot moved into the house and my problem went away.

 

If your tired of electrical gremlins stay away from Chrysler products. Geez their dashes are crazy.

 

The new Sienna is nice but since it’s new it has a lot of recalls and such. As with any new design (regardless of who makes it) I’d wait a couple of years before getting one.
With that said you could also look at a KIA Carnival. I have a 19 Sedona and it’s been a good van. The Carnival is even nicer.

 

Had the Pacifica for a week on vacation. Liked it at first but by the end of the week I was less impressed. It was a fine van, but it felt budget and had a few minor issues with it (including the engine dying once). It was fine but the only one I would buy would be the plug in hybrid.

The scienna is bonkers recently with slightly used ones going for $10k over msrp. That said the local dealer who a few months ago said they couldn't get a new one for a year has now called, texted, emailed, and called again (all in the same day) trying to get me to take a look at one of the three they have on the lot...
It is a nice van. The CVT is slightly annoying but Toyota has done a decent job keeping it calm. Felt comfortable on test drives and the fetures were nice. The fuel economy is amazing too. It is ugly however...

 

I was told it's a 24 month wait for a new Sienna.

Another vote for the Kia here. I'm not sure about the new ones but the previous Kia van used to be about $25k vs $45k for a Sienna.

 

The Toyota dealership I work at gets a few Siennas a month. They quickly sell.