u/le_pedal

I've slowly been test driving, researching, and window shopping the Sienna Gen 3 for months.

The Sienna seems to hold its value extremely well, and I'm currently looking at spending < $30k on a Gen 3 AWD. I'm mostly indifferent between early vs. late Gen 3 (6-speed vs. 8-speed), assuming condition/mileage are comparable. This puts me at mileages around 100k.

I see it the options are roughly....

• Upper-$20k Gen 3 AWD Sienna — Solid platform with tons of space, AWD, but you're spending pretty serious money on an older vehicle.
• ~$10k more for a Gen 4 Hybrid AWD — newer, much better fuel economy, but now we're talking $35–40k+ and still likely around 100k miles.
• Go older — wait for a really clean, low-mileage Gen 2 AWD and stay under ~$20k.
• Abandon the minivan idea — get an older large SUV (Highlander, Suburban, Pilot, etc.) or go smaller with a Forester/Outback.

My use case is pretty specifically a four-season adventure vehicle. I'd be taking the rear seats out and/or keeping the third row folded/stowed most of the time, and using it for camping, skiing, biking, and canoe trips. I'm in the heart of the great lakes snow belt, so it would get four dedicated snow tires, which is a big part of why I'm attracted to the AWD Sienna. This is replacing a 2nd Gen Xterra that I pushed to nearly 200k before rust took over and made it a headache.

The other compelling option is a Forester/Outback. For one person, I can just make one work for sleeping with some ski/camping gear, and Subaru's AWD + four good snow tires is about as good as it gets for winter driving (there's one in my driveway). I'd expect the Subaru to get over 30 MPG on long trips. But obviously the Sienna gives me a completely different level of interior volume and flexibility.

I'd especially love to hear from current/long-term Sienna owners: how are you feeling about the vans as they've aged? Do feel like the Gen 3 was a great purchase? Or are they starting to become a headache with age — expensive repairs, drivetrain issues, AWD-specific problems, rust, etc.?

Basically, I'm trying to figure out whether the Sienna's reputation for being a long-lived, relatively trouble free vehicle still holds up once you're buying one today with significant age/mileage already on it. In my price range, the mileage is centered around 100k plus or minus a bit.

I'm curious where people currently land on the Gen 3 Sienna value proposition, especially if you're shopping in the upper-$20k range.

Is $25–30k for a Gen 3 AWD a sweet spot, or is it the awkward middle ground where you should either spend more for Gen 4 or go substantially cheaper/older?

Thanks everyone!

I've been dragging my feet on a new XC bike but seeing the 9 told me I need to find an 8. Struggling to find any in stock, no surprise there.

Suggestions? thanks!

I usually canoe camp in MSL or similar in that area. I love it there, but the constant wind wore me out having to paddle on whitecaps across the lake each day. I'm planning wind-immune alternate destinations or at least some routes that have less wide open lake crossings.

Any input on the below? Thanks!

• Bog River Flow → camp at Hitchins Pond, or potentially portage across the upper dam into the narrow east end of Lows lake. If camping in Hitchins pond then a day-trip attempt up through the upper dam toward Lows Lake if wind allows (turning back before the open crossing if not).
• Raquette River from Axton Landing — This looks narrow, twisty, no portage needed, seems to be the "nobody has a bad time here" option.
• Wanakena → Dead Creek Flow (Cranberry Lake) — the Wanakena leg looks pretty narrow/sheltered with not much fetch until you hit the main heart of the lake...
• Stillwater Reservoir, somehow launch from the eastern end near Grassy Point/Beaver River — no portage from the launch, but reading some pretty serious warnings about a "legendary" prevailing west wind on this one. Launching from, what on google appears to be "Beaver River" seems to set one up for some wind blocked island hopping instead of committing to the open water. I can't really tell if there's public/DEC parking on the east/south-east side of stillwater.

Looking to get 4 new tires bought, mounted, balanced soon.

After having a nightmare experience getting a prior set of tires to balance, I'd like to get the next set somewhere that has a reputation for attention to detail and good experience overall.

Looking for input from the locals here, thanks.

Just curious if anyone has dealt with this situation - thanks. I found a some info on this but it was 9 years old and seemed to vary by location.

Size smalls are really hit or miss on me. I'm either literally swimming in them or they are too tight. Usually, the size small is geared towards a 5'10" 150# person which is depressing for me of course.

I test drove a toyota at carmax, was a serious buyer. I was going to the bank later that week to transfer the amount into my account. 23k listing. A few days later I refreshed the ad to make sure it was still listed (it was a crazy work week for me). It shot up to 27k listing, so they added 4 grand onto it without any notice.

That kinda rubbed me the wrong way because it was already priced aggressively but I had accepted mentally the first price. Anyways, that was a month ago and it's still on the lot. Do they ever reduce the cost "with the market" or whatever?

I ask this since I already know that they are a no haggle, no negotiations company.

I’m trying to figure out what the absolute peak of simple, overbuilt, dead-reliable used cars is under $20k.

Not “nice to drive,” not “best features,” not “modern tech” — just: easy to repair, cheap parts, well-documented, and basically unkillable if maintained even moderately well. The one non-reliability factor I'd be willing to give some weighting to is safety, assuming more modern typically means progressively more safety features/design approach.

I know maintenance history matters a lot on used cars, but I’m trying to separate that out and focus more on what platforms are inherently forgiving and mechanically simple.

I keep circling back to things like older Toyota Corolla/Matrix (especially manuals), or something like the Lexus LS430 or even an earlier gen Prius — cars with a reputation for absurd longevity and low drama ownership...

Curious what people think is actually the top of the list here. What models are the closest thing to “buy it, do basic maintenance, and it just refuses to die”?

Does anyone know what Strava was hoping to accomplish with the latest mobile app update? It feels so cluttered, unnecessarily fancy and bloated.

Was the new app supposed to make using the service easier or more fun? Or did it bring new useful features that maybe I haven't found yet?

Sister Friede, Ringed Knights, Spear of the Church, any probably more I'm forgetting.

....never stand a chance!

Running a Pyro with a +10 pryo flame and Great Swamp / Witches rings is making the boulder hit like a truck too.

Can a STR build get close to the real world Damage output of the MONSTER Dex twinblades build?

They missed pick up on Monday morning and every day since then they've said a truck would come get it that day. Well it's been 5 days and no pick up. The most recent convo with them, today, the guy on the phone said it likely won't get picked up til Monday a full week later. What a pain.

Also, their shift notes on the WM App said things like "tried to pick up, trash can was not present" or "Trash can was empty" which are all total BS.

Is this typical for WM? What is a better company to go with?

The last few weeks I've been thinking of coming up for some weekend canoeing, but my Windy app kept showing average winds of 15 MPH with gusts of 30-40 with 'perfect' timing on the weekends primarily. Is the windy forecast 'over-reacting' or has it been a rough, whitecap-filled experience on the larger lakes the last few weeks?

Good job! LOL! Old website from last year was fine. Who's getting paid to make it worse?