Living in the heart of Big Three country, we’ve seen what can happen when a Japanese automaker is turned loose on the U.S. market and sets out to conquer a product segment. Now, with the finally full-sized Tundra, Toyota is poised to take a whack at the last bastion of profitability for traditional domestic producers.
But is this new Tundra pickup as good as Toyotas are reputed to be, almost holy in their lack of flaws, filled with goodness beyond the offerings of the domestic manufacturers? That’s what we asked, grabbing the driver-side assist handle and stepping up to the wheel of a Tundra Double Cab, the middle-sized model between the Regular Cab and the ultra-sized CrewMax.
After seeing Toyota’s folksy “working man” advertisements, we expected to be greeted by plywood, barbed wire, and bare steel. Instead, sliding into leather bucket seats, grasping a thick, leather-wrapped steering wheel fitted with controls for audio, cruise, and a Bluetooth phone connection, we found the Double Cab replete with every luxury, from bi-level dual-zone climate control to a 440-watt ten-speaker JBL audio system to navigation and a backup camera.
Over the course of our journey, we became fast friends with the Tundra. There’s good power—if a slightly abrupt throttle response—from the 4.7-liter iForce V-8, which generates 271 horsepower and 313 pound-feet of torque, the same engine powering 2006 Tundras. The interior is quiet, with only hints of road or wind noise. The ride is stiff, firmer than most 1500-series trucks, but not harsh; even those with minimally padded butts reported comfortable seats. Steering response is brisk and tight, though more heft to the steering would be appreciated.
Switching over to the passenger seat, we explored the dual glove boxes (the top one is large enough for a full-sized Thermos), dual cup holders, and a small cubby between shifter and cup holders suitable for maps. The center console offers support for hanging file folders and room for a laptop, and the lid accommodates business cards, tissues, writing instruments, and paper.
Next, we drove a Double Cab with a full eight-foot bed and the big-money 5.7-liter iForce V-8. This new engine puts an end to jokes about Japanese horses being smaller than American horses; it has plenty of grunt, push, and power. It was so quiet that we checked the tach twice to ensure it was running when parked. The 5.7 produces 381 horsepower at 5600 rpm and enough torque—401 pound-feet at 3600 rpm—to pull 10,300 pounds on regular gas. It’s coupled to a new six-speed automatic transmission including two overdrive gears and either a 4.10:1 or 4.30:1 final-drive ratio.
The Tundra CrewMax, competitor of the Dodge Ram Mega Cab, claims best-in-class legroom in front and back. At 44.5 inches, its back seat legroom is almost ten inches more than a Double Cab, so much so that a standard cowboy might barely toe the front seat. Plus, that rear seat slides and tilts, something no other pickup offers.
Toyota says its “command and control” interior design creates a separate driver’s environment of platinum-colored plastics, glare-free gauges set deeply into the instrument cluster, and easy-to-reach buttons, dials, and plug-ins. It’s luxurious and handsome in SR5 and Limited grades. On the other hand, the DX Regular Cab work truck version uses manual controls and rubber mats instead of carpeting.
Among thirty-one variants of Tundra, Toyota offers 4x2 and 4x4 versions of each cab style. One is a TRD (Toyota Racing Development) off-road package with BFGoodrich Radial T/A off-road tires mounted to eighteen-inch alloy wheels, Bilstein monotube gas shocks, bumper-mounted foglamps, and front frame rail-mounted tow hooks. Feeling a little brazen, we opted for a Double Cab off-roader with the 5.7-liter engine and worked it pretty good on greasy backwoods tracks, sliding down frame-grabbing embankments once or twice.
Seldom has there been such a lack of drama during corporal punishment. Even dragging the chassis off and over hills produced little reaction and nary a protesting squeak or rattle. With 4x4-specific A-Trac active traction control, it wouldn’t even fling chunks of slimy mud for photos. Independent wheel spin sensors and torque management across the axles saw to that.
Inevitably, you’ll ask if Toyota has produced a better truck than the new Chevrolet Silverado or GMC Sierra, or Ford’s F-150, last updated in 2004. Silverado and Sierra offer more diversity, with eight powertrains ranging from 195 to 400 horsepower, a trio of cab styles and bed lengths, and a maximum tow capacity shared with Ford of 10,500 pounds, 300 pounds short of Toyota’s max.
Two of GM’s 5.3-liter engines are E85-capable, an application Toyota won’t offer until next year for its 5.7-liter V-8 Tundra models. GM also boasts five engines that can cruise fuel-efficiently on four cylinders, thanks to Active Fuel Management cylinder deactivation. GM will offer a massive 6.2-liter L92 V-8 on the Sierra Denali with 400 horsepower and 417 pound-feet of torque. However, only that engine comes with a six-speed automatic—the others get a four-speed unit.
Suspension basics are similar across the board, with leaf-spring rear setups and coil-overs in front, but where Toyota chooses a boxed front/open C-channel rear frame, GM and Ford’s frames are fully boxed. We’d put a few dollars behind the domestics and their generations of experience, but not the whole 401K until we can make a true side-by-side comparison. In our testing, the Tundra impressed us as solid, well designed, and impeccably executed with a combination of workingman features and Lexus-like luxury amenities. The same, however, can be said of GM’s new trucks.
Here’s the long answer: the new Tundra is on par with the best truck in the world, and that would be the new Silverado/Sierra range from GM. It was designed in and for the USA, and it is built in Indiana and Texas, with most parts built in the USA including engines and transmissions. Whether it sways loyalties and makes its 200,000 first-year sales projection (or its reach goal of near 500,000 units, according to company insiders) is up to consumers, many of whom will likely give up their Fords and Chevys to give the Tundra a try.
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