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Professor @ Jul. 27 2008 said:
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Congratulations! I drove two yesterday at a demo. One had a 10,000lb trailer hooked to it.
Your thoughts?
r8
I drove an extended cab/double cab 6.5' bed at a Toyota Prove It test drive at my local Tractor Supply. My wife went along with me. We went on about a 4.5 mile loop. I had driven a crew max last fall. After driving it I took the regular cab 8' bed on the same route pulling a 10K lb load. All three trucks had the same wheelbase with different cab/bed combinations to sort it out.
I'm a long time GM fan. I drove GMC, and Tundra back to back. Both were hard loaded CrewCab 5.5-5.8" beds. The Tundra impressed me the most. Road wind noise was less. The ride was very good. Fantastic compared to my ¾ ton, but even better than the new GMC The 6speed auto is sweet, and I think with the ratios would fit for pulling my trailer. I currently have a 99 GMC Sierra 2500 (LD 8600 GVW) with a 6.0. With my trailer it always seems to want a gear that does not exist between 3rd and OD(4th). The 4.30 with the double OD in the Toyo seems like it would have a ratio to allow a slight lower gear in unlevel terrain.
I was impressed with the little features in the Tundra, like blue tooth. Rear seat room in the Tundra was much better than the GMC. I ran the driver's side seat all the way back on both the Crew max and the double cab. The seats front (and rear in the crew max) recline further back for the long trips. There are many storage compartments in the Tundra. I like being able to drop a laptop in the console. My wife comment on the ride and quietness in the cab, but she was comparing it to my 9 year old 178k mile truck. (however I previously test drove it back to back against new ones and had the same comment). The roll down rear window in the crew cab version is a nice addition. The rear gate drops gently etc. Parking turning radius seemed to be better than the others.
The 10k load pulled flawlessly although the route limited me to 50mph. Acceleration from the 10 or so stops was very good. It was on a very short trailer that was overall lower than the bed rails. No wind resistance. I'd sure like to pull my enclosed trailer with one and likely will propose that when ready to buy. I'd like to see how it pulls at 75mph compared to mine.
I have has the opportunity to drive quite a few other new full size trucks the last few years.
Negative things I noticed "“ yes, I'm nitpicking it. It is a great truck and I has to think hard about it.
The shift pattern/selector (the column shift in particular) was a bit confusing but I'm not sure how to make it better with a 6 speed. I'm sure it would be fine once I was used to it.
I didn't see a way to make it auto shift 1-5 and stay out of 6th gear. That was one of the things I hated with the early version of the 5speed Allison in the HD GMs
The hard loaded Crewmax limited had an electric motor for tilt and telescoping wheel. I found it to be a bit slow compared to the manual versions in the other SR5 models. I tilt mine up to get in and out and it would not be as quick and easy with the electric version.
Rear seat. On the Crewmax, the back of the rear seat folds down to stack cargo on it. Others have a design allowing the bottom to lift up exposing the floor. I think the floor is a better place to stack cargo in the rear seat area, making it more secure than elevating it to near window height. The double cab Tundra may fold up. I didn't try it.
Consumer reports give them a pretty low reliability rating for the 4wd version. I'm looking for a 2wd and they are the highest ranked of all the full-size trucks. It is also ranked the highest in owner satisfaction in CR. I'm sure the initial low number on the 4wd will come up pretty quickly. Toyota seems to stay on top of the game.
The only thing that keeps me from buying one is that mine has been paid off for a few years. It is kind of hard to justify buying a new one when mine still is a decent truck. However"¦. Pushing 200k miles has me thinking about it. I've pulled my trailer with a 5.4 F150 and a 5.3 Chevy 1500. While they will pull it, neither pulls it as comfortable as my 6.0 2500 GMC. There is no doubt the Tundra will fill the gap and get me back to a ½ ton vehicle for a smoother ride.
