Live Thread: One week with a 2024 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro

Tom Suddard said:

Now that the Tundra is out of my driveway, I'm back to driving my electric F-150. Obviously I'm a fan, since I bought one. 

Ignore the powertrain, which I wasn't a fan of, and here's the difference I see between the Toyota and the gasoline F-150's I've driven: Every single part of the F-150 seems to be the result of a focus group of people who actually use the truck to do truck stuff. The two vehicles are pretty similar on paper, but vastly different in real world use. From little stuff like which side of the bed the power outlet is on (Ford's is designed for right-handed people standing on the ground, Toyota's seems deigned for left-handed people standing on a step stool) to big stuff like Ford's drastically smaller mirrors that don't block forward vision but also have a far better field of view for towing. When you hook a trailer to the Ford, it walks you through enabling all of the driving assists--adjusted for the trailer--you paid extra for. When you hook a trailer to the Toyota, a message pops up saying it's disabled everything because you're towing. The Tundra has a big hump in middle of the rear floor, which isn't a deal-killer for hauling people but means you can't stack rubbermaid bins on a flat floor like you can in my truck.

I didn't test the Tundra off-road, which is what it's apparently made for. But ignore the lift and big tires, and I just don't see why you'd pick this over an F-150 if you're going to use a pickup truck as a pickup truck. 

Agreed, I've felt for years that the Big Three pickups feel like the result of vicious natural selection. They're tools that have been honed to do the job they're intended to do. Lots of interior touches that are intended to Do Work. This is based on a number of Dodge and Ford pickups from about 15 years ago with cloth interiors, I have no opinions on King Ranch trucks or origami tailgates :)

The Toyota trucks I've been exposed to (1989 pickup, T100, 2000 Tundra, slightly later Tundra, another slightly later Tundra) felt like they're getting less and less good at their job as they get newer, with more and more efforts to make them like big Camrys. Even something as fundamental as tire pressure and choice - the later Tundra came with tires and tire pressures that were intended for comfort, and it wore them out very quickly with the wear patterns typical of underinflation. I've watched a previous generation Tundra get blown all over the road with a 20' trailer while my Dodge with a 28' was tracking straight and true - that Tundra eventually was destroyed when a small Airstream went into a tankslapper and rolled the truck and trailer.

Apparently quite a few of the new motor Tundras got traded back in fairly quickly. The prior gen with the 5.7L seems to be strongly preferred

So, some more thoughts on the Tundra. After driving it around town last night I agree with Tom, the blind spots caused by this mirror are huge. Like blocking my view when pulling out of my neighborhood huge. It also only averaged 17 mpg for me between a little highway driving and in-town trips, I get that its a big truck but I expected with a hybrid to see higher numbers than that but is not far off the 19 mpg combined that Toyota says. On a positive note, the color looks spectacular. My wife and a few neighbors commented on how cool it looked. 

Try out 4 low. See if it is still beep crazy. 

In reply to TJL (Forum Supporter) :

Soft and numb are generally what you want for the most "off-road" package. I'm not even going to guess at how many of these make it well off-road, though.

I've spent more then a few minutes in  new gen Tundra having owned a '22 limited since early '22.

 I put 45,000 km on it nearly all of it loaded with tools and or lumber and nearly 10k of that hooked to a 30' towhauler.....no tow mirrors available on a limited so no visibility blocking ugly a** units on mine.

 If the internet is to be believed I should've had to replace turbos multiple times and at least 2 engine rebuilds and yet weirdly was rock solid.

 While no engine problems should always be the target the research done that I've seen shows that 0.5% of the trucks sold suffered an engine failure.

 Tech was a little frustrating and glitchy at times,fuel economy was ok for a full size truck and out towed my previous titan xd gasser in every way except braking while returning significantly better mpgs.

 Life has changed and no longer have the camper nor the need to haul tools around every day but couldn't give up a truck after nearly 40 yrs of one in the driveway so traded it on a new Ridgeline nearly 3 months ago.

 I was able to trade it even for the new truck with trade in being approx 4k less then paid new with tax savings.

 I'm not too confident in the resale value of a Lightening given deep discounts on new and slashes to production going forward.

 So far the Ridgeline is great but its only slightly better on fuel then the Tundra,so is the Honda bad or the Tundra better then expected?

 If I could get the big screen and twin turbo power in the Ridgeline it would be pretty close to perfect for me.

Edit....I see Toyota just recalled all 22 and 23 non hybrid Tundras in to be inspected for engine damage.

 Bugger,on the plus side Toyota has a long history of dealing with issues vs the big 3 sticking they're heads in the sand and waiting for warranty to run out.