The seats are front and middle buckets, and a rear bench.  The buckets all feature folding armrests and of course their own seatbelts, but you can’t do a Captain Kirk-style dramatic turn because they don’t rotate.  All of the seats are upholstered in soft gray cloth.  The middle buckets sacrifice passenger capacity for comfort, allowing siblings to travel without getting in each other’s space, and on each other’s nerves.  Baby (in her child seat) will have to sit in the rear bench, as it’s quite a long reach across the buckets to hold her bottle or toys.  The rear bench slides forward to increase luggage room, and the seat flips up in case you decide to bring the whole toy chest.

The Previa’s excellence at coddling its occupants doesn’t end with the seats.  The MacPherson-strut front and torsion-beam rear suspension filters out bumps and ruts while still remaining comfortably firm.  No yacht-like wallowing ride here.

Some minivans are based on delivery vans, exhibiting all the qualities of their donor vehicles: dull-witted steering, spongy brakes and even steel bars on the rear window.  The Previa, for its part, is based on the Toyota Camry.  That doesn’t exactly quicken your pulse, but it does speak volumes about what we can expect from this van.  Indeed, all the qualities that make the Camry a comfortable but unsatisfying drive—soft suspension, pillowy ride, numb steering—work in the Previa’s favor.  You don’t drive a minivan to carve up traffic, after all.  You just want to get to your destination without jarring your wife or waking up your sleeping kids. 

There is still a touch of wind noise as you go past 80 km/h, but the mechanicals go about their business like an efficient librarian.  The 2.4 liter 16-valve inline-4 with variable valve timing delivers 157 horsepower and an adequate 225 Nm.  The engine is just about inaudible, with imperceptible gearshifts.  Initial throttle response is tepid, but bury it and she’ll respond with a muted growl. 

The steering doesn’t provide any feedback, but it is as precise and sedan-smooth.  The Previa turns obediently, its 16-inch wheels providing good grip.  Braking is confident, comprised of discs all around, aided by ABS and EBD.

The Previa is 45 mm shorter than the Camry, so she’s quite manageable in traffic and in parking.  There’s sonar at all four corners to help in tight spaces; it’s quite useful at the front, as the hood plunges down beyond your view.  You can also use the sensors to alleviate boredom in traffic as you watch pedestrians and vendors approach the car.

You’ll have to resort to that because compared to its rivals, the Previa is rather short on toys.  There’s not an LCD screen or Playstation input in sight.  We don’t really miss them in this van, as we can feel where Toyota has spent its money.  The Previa’s comfort and satisfaction level go deeper than being able to watch Finding Nemo for the nth time.  For parents, the rewards lie mostly behind the wheel.

Like the exterior, the interior is equally radical if a bit daft (orange wood trim).  Everything is logically placed and the A/T column shifter is easier to use than it looks.
Luxurious 2nd row seats have separate arm rests.  They also recline and slide depending on the space required by the passengers.
Dual sliding doors with wide openings give the Previa high scores in ingress/egress.  The sliding doors also have power windows--a rare feature in its class.
There's not much luggage space here.  3rd space though can slide and fold, but not independently.

subjective ratings >>>