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At first, I wasn’t sure if Toyota had just missed April 1 by a few weeks — time has blurred for all of us during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. But no, the 2022 Toyota Sienna Woodland Special Edition is real. It’s a sort-of-off-road minivan, featuring a higher ground clearance and Toyota’s hybrid all-wheel drive as standard equipment. It’s being billed as an adventure vehicle — not truly an off-roader — better able to tackle camping trips and dirt-road family adventures than a standard Sienna minivan but stopping well short of being capable of much more than a standard Sienna in the rough.
Related: 2021 Toyota Sienna: 4 Things We Like and 4 Things We Don’t
You won’t be going far off the beaten path, but it does come with some useful features that cater to the increasing desire of families to get out of house lockdown and out into the wilderness … a little.
AWD, Not 4WD
The new Sienna Woodland Special Edition comes with a few interesting items, most notably a redesigned suspension that adds an additional 0.6-inches of ground clearance via some new shock absorbers and springs. Toyota pairs this slightly taller stance with its class-exclusive hybrid AWD system, which uses a standard front-wheel-drive Sienna minivan with an added electric motor powering the rear wheels. That motor can use up to 80% of the van’s driving power at the rear wheels or leave up to 100% of it at the front wheels, depending on terrain and traction conditions. The Woodland Special Edition does not use an actual transfer case or driveshaft from the motor to the rear wheels, and there is no locking four-wheel drive. This is a dirt-road machine, not a true off-roader.
The towing rating is unchanged — you can drag up to 3,500 pounds behind the Sienna, which is enough for an all-terrain vehicle or a personal watercraft but not likely enough for most family camper trailers. Electrical power for personal items, useful on a day-trip or camping excursion, is available through a 1,500-watt power outlet; that’s significantly more than the typical 150-400-watt outlets Toyota typically provides for in-cabin use. Up top, there are standard roof rails with crossbars for additional carrying capacity.
Woodland Edition or Urban Cruiser?
Visually, there isn’t anything remotely “woodsy” about the Woodland Special Edition. Your two available colors are Midnight Black Metallic and an exclusive color … Cement gray. Seriously? Why would you create an outdoorsy special edition and paint it Cement gray?
Blacked-out chrome and black badging adorn the exterior, and 18-inch wheels are standard. Inside, it doesn’t get any woodsier, with black sport-trimmed seats with unique stitching throughout, accented by dark faux wood trim. The Sienna’s flexible, useful interior is retained, with standard super-long-slide second-row captain’s chairs, Split & Stow 3rd Row Seat, kick-activated sliding side doors, heated front seats, sunshades in the second row and a grand total of seven USB ports throughout the interior. Keeping everyone entertained will be the job of the standard navigation/infotainment system with a 1,200-watt JBL premium audio system and 12 speakers.
There’s no pricing yet for the 2022 Sienna Woodland Special Edition, but it’s expected to arrive in dealers this fall. Toyota has pledged to donate $250 for every one sold to the National Environmental Education Foundation, with a guaranteed minimum donation of $250,000.
The donation seems to be the most outdoorsy thing about the Sienna Woodland Special Edition, however, given that there aren’t any earthy colors, special durable interior fabrics or even a set of rubber all-weather floormats to be found. Toyota might have confused an urban cruiser special edition with its intended woodsy model because as we all know, nothing says “outdoorsy adventure” like a murdered-out, Cement gray, leather-lined minivan on all-season tires.
Related Video: 2021 Toyota Sienna Review
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