Should I sell the Taco?

https://youtu.be/y3UKI0ciMRY?feature=shared

So MY ideal situation would be to own BOTH a new Sienna hybrid AWD as a passenger/family car, and an older pickup with a hitch mounted T-bar for fishing and other dirty jobs.

I hope this helps.

Agreed. Our van, the  Honda Odyssey's indispensable for the families needs outperforming our SUV. I installed stock roof racks on the van last summer and thought to myself, well damn that’s tall. I would recommend getting extended roof rack bars with a set of hullivators.  These days I prefer the nostalgia of the old  standard 22re toyota pickup that’s pretty much ready, attached, and loaded for kayak fishing stuff at all times.

Yep, this would be the ideal situation.  If I had to pick one vehicle, it would be a full sized diesel truck at this point.

Super happy with our 3.5 Ecoboost F150... Good point about salt water dripping onto the top of the car. F150 is also aluminum body panels - no rust for me, haha.

I'm not concerned about the exterior.  I've been dripping saltwater into the bed and on the cab of our pickups for years without any noticeable rust intrusion.   I'm more concerned about throwing salty wet gear ( and other funky stuff) into the interior of a car I can't hose down afterwards like the bed of my truck!

Super happy with our 3.5 Ecoboost F150... Good point about salt water dripping onto the top of the car. F150 is also aluminum body panels - no rust for me, haha.

I'm not concerned about the exterior.  I've been dripping saltwater into the bed and on the cab of our pickups for years without any noticeable rust intrusion.   I'm more concerned about throwing salty wet gear ( and other funky stuff) into the interior of a car I can't hose down afterwards like the bed of my truck!

Fair point for sure.  The alum body doesn't really change how I interact with my truck. As a whole, the truck is pretty awesome. Tons of power, decent mpg for a truck, tons of cabin space for my family, and huge payload and tow capacity. It really does everything I want a truck to do, and it does everything very well.

Super happy with our 3.5 Ecoboost F150... Good point about salt water dripping onto the top of the car. F150 is also aluminum body panels - no rust for me, haha.

I'm not concerned about the exterior.  I've been dripping saltwater into the bed and on the cab of our pickups for years without any noticeable rust intrusion.   I'm more concerned about throwing salty wet gear ( and other funky stuff) into the interior of a car I can't hose down afterwards like the bed of my truck!

Perhaps a good set of all weather mats would offer sufficient protection from the crud. You can pull em out and wash them as needed.

https://www.weathertech.com/toyota/2024/sienna/

I hear the car topping concerns loud and clear, however cant help but have an image of OG Raydon's solution to car topping. At a simply fishing years ago, we were setting up camp and I saw Raydon getting ready to get his yak (AI? Revo?) off the top of his rig so I strolled over and asked if he wanted a hand. He turned around, threw me a huge smile and said that he got it, so I stepped back and watched in shock as he pulled the boat off the top of his rig, and let it drop to the ground 

Im concerned about not being able to stand up on top of the rig, as I can stand on the top of my trucks shell right now.

Fair point for sure.  The alum body doesn't really change how I interact with my truck. As a whole, the truck is pretty awesome. Tons of power, decent mpg for a truck, tons of cabin space for my family, and huge payload and tow capacity. It really does everything I want a truck to do, and it does everything very well.

I took a hard look at the F150 hybrids, and they have done a lot of good things with that platform! The upcoming Ram Charger is in a similar vein, but more like a BEV that true hybrid.

Perhaps a good set of all weather mats would offer sufficient protection from the crud. You can pull em out and wash them as needed.

https://www.weathertech.com/toyota/2024/sienna/

We already do.  Sometimes after a long trip, I just don't want to deal with the gear till the next day though.  Also, the more tired I am, the more careless I am about tossing things into the car where they belong, lol.

I hear the car topping concerns loud and clear, however cant help but have an image of OG Raydon's solution to car topping. At a simply fishing years ago, we were setting up camp and I saw Raydon getting ready to get his yak (AI? Revo?) off the top of his rig so I strolled over and asked if he wanted a hand. He turned around, threw me a huge smile and said that he got it, so I stepped back and watched in shock as he pulled the boat off the top of his rig, and let it drop to the ground 

Im concerned about not being able to stand up on top of the rig, as I can stand on the top of my trucks shell right now.

Cartopping on a Sienna is doable, but not as ideal as a truck.  I used hullavators on the Sienna to transport everything from revos to AIs. It gets the job done without breaking your back.

Fair point for sure.  The alum body doesn't really change how I interact with my truck. As a whole, the truck is pretty awesome. Tons of power, decent mpg for a truck, tons of cabin space for my family, and huge payload and tow capacity. It really does everything I want a truck to do, and it does everything very well.

I took a hard look at the F150 hybrids, and they have done a lot of good things with that platform! The upcoming Ram Charger is in a similar vein, but more like a BEV that true hybrid.

Ours isn't a hybrid, but I would have considered a hybrid if I could have found one when looking.  Ford didn't make very many of them until the last couple years. I looked hard at the specs of all the packages and got mine specifically for the tow and payload capacity ratings - 13k towing and 2k payload. We rent RVs a couple times a summer, and I wanted to have no hiccups with towing a fairly large trailer. We do a lot of house projects too - I hauled home a pallet of flooring at 1700lbs and it handled it like a champ. Bricks, pavers, lumber, whatever I need, no big deal.

Fiver brought up some good points. While doable, There are some cons in using a mini van for kayak trips (wet/smelly gears inside cabin, challenge of car topping, and may be impossible to open the rear hatch door once the kayak is loaded on the roof. Sienna has rear spoiler that can catch). But if your main reason for getting a Sienna is to drive the family around, then a minivan can’t be beat (very roomy inside, Better gas mileage than a truck, AWD for snow trips, compact enough to drive around small spaces/parking lot, cheaper registration than a truck). If you can keep both vehicles, I guess that would be ideal.

I like the new Sienna van. 

I wouldn't own one, since it is just me and the wife.  but I can see the appeal.  on the other hand, I love my Tacoma's.  I have two for the moment.  will/should sell one soon. 

Vansectomy!  And yea, it’s reversible.
I was in your shoes long ago. Got rid of my pick up and got a Mazda MPV at the time. Looking back, it was a great decision.
Kids are adults now and I’ve proudly been driving an F150 for over 10 years.

If it’s in your budget,crewmax tundra has tons of space and you still have a truck