Toyota Venza vs. Toyota Sienna

I'm trying to balance suburban life while having something I can sleep in and like Toyotas but can't afford a Taco.  Anyone sleeping in their Venza?

I have a 2013 Sienna which I use for camping all the time. I am 6' 3", so it gives me a glorious amount of room to spread out. Getting ready in the the mornings is pretty plush too, while sitting on one of the fold-away seats with the heat running. The AWD works pretty well too; I have gotten back to some interesting THs with it, though I am also pretty conservative with OHW travel. No regrets with this vehicle.

Yeah, finding an AWD version in Texas won't be easy but the Sienna is on my target list.

My friend Kathryn has the Venza. They are kind of hard to find, but it is a nice hybrid sort of vehicle. Not a sedan and not a SUV. 

The Venza AWD was on my short list of cars for a while, but i hated the faux column shifter and could not see myself buying a car that actively annoyed me (ended up with a Volvo XC60 AWD) .  It is basically a slightly less tall version of the Lexus RX, and I used to sleep in my old RX every once in a while.  The fold down area in these types of cars need a pad, but a solid pad takes up a ton of room and an real inflatable ends up being pretty tall.  Sitting up in bed regardless of what you go with if you are fairly tall (I am 6') isn't comfortable.

It is harder to set these up for comfortable road trips if you go out as a duo, but you could make a pretty sweet set up for solo tripping. 

Thanks for the feedback fellas.  I had a Chrysler T&C and other than being a total PoS it was a great vehicle for camping in and hauling people and gear.  I'm now more of a solo type person so was looking for something smaller but mini-vans are hard to beat when it comes to being compact but lots of room.

I recently purchased a 2008 Toyota Highlander, used, with relatively low miles. I’m currently building it out to live in since I’ll be working In the RRG later this month.

I’ve found it has lots of space and can comfortably fit a twin size mattress over the fold-down seats.

It handles bad roads like at the red relatively easy and has a fair amount of clearance. I went with the Highlander mostly for the space, AWD, and availability on the used market.

Thought about the highlander but they seem a little more expensive than the Sienna or the Venza.  I actually felt like the Venza should be underpriced for a Toyota.  The Sienna was so overproduced that I think it keeps the used market in check.  Basically looking for Toyota quality at a lower price point.   Kinda like picking the ugly one at the dance to increase my odds.

I always assume I'm the dumbest ugliest one in the room.  :)