Well, the board's been kinda dea, makign work DRAG by, so I thought I'd talk about the Tundra again, since we have no good Presidential debates going yet, or anything liek that.

So, why do so many people dislike the Tundra? Prior to 2006, when it was smaller, everyone said it's not a real truck because it's only 7/8th's the size of the big three, Toyota doesn't know how to make a truck, the 4.7L while faster than Ford's 5.4L, and Chevy's 5.3L, was too small, not powerful enough, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. But, out the other side of their mouth, they said the Tundra had the nicest interior on any full-size truck (a contradition of their 7/8th's analogy), and the best ride.

2007 they launched the redesigned Tundra. Now it sports a blended frame, that's far stronger than the one it replaced, it's far more powerful than any fullsize truck on the market (save the 6.0L 400 HP Sierra Denali), and now it's 9/8ths the size of the Big three. Now it's too big (I never heard a man say something was too big, especially a truck), the tailgate is unreliable, and the Frame doesn't seem to be as strong as Ford's.

Is it jut me, or do some people complain an awful lot about little stuff?

There's a word for that...

Women (Complainers).

What's your take?
----------------------------------------------

 

My take?

Your going to get burned by dumping that much gas on a fire.....

 

I like Toyota's emblem, a nice oval shape.

 

My take? I give all trucks a fair go. I've ridden/driven in all of them (Tundra, Titan, Chebby, Dodge, Fords, etc). The main reason I don't like the Tundra is the looks. Inside and out it is just plain UGLY to me. Pug bulging nose (and we have two black pug dogs), gauges 6" down in a hole, interior that looks off center, giant radio, etc. The interior was comfortable and daaaayum, all the cubby holes and cup holders. I've got almost as much storage space in my Super Duty, but I wish I had the cup holders. Drivetrain? That sucker can run. But, the *non serviceable* transmission scares me. Also, it didn't ride as well as a half ton truck should, or so I thought.

 

I like it so much I'd rather drive this:

 

Haven't driven one, but I liked the one I saw in the car show last year. I was more enamoured by the single cab long bed than their fancy one. I figure I can drop a toolbox back there to hold my gear, two dirtbikes behind it and still get the tailgate closed...provided the tailgate is reliable.

But to pour fuel on the fire...If I had a Tundra, which of the current presidential candidates should I run over? While doing that, what tires would be best and which oil should I use? Finally, for the system, should I go ported or sealed?

That should get everyone on the fire!

 

Answers:

Clinton

Continental Tires ( top quality )

I'm sure 5W-20 Motocraft oil would make that Tundra last FOREVER!

Sealed.

It's safe to assume you are as serious as I am about this....

 

Bighersh, good question really and I'll try and stay unbiased. As I said in a previous thread, I went and saw this thing at the recent Detroit Autoshow. I figured probably, but considering their ranking right now, the display area was a ghost town, Lexus doubled the people viewing. Great, let's go see this thing I tell the old lady. The hood was popped and let the impressions start:

-There is absolutely no room in this bay and it's really not a big engine. Kinda like a full size van.
-It has less ground clearance and sits low in the front, easier to work in the cramped engine bay.
-All components looked small, cheap and thin, THIN is the overall impression on virtually every inch of this truck.
-The paint looks good I'll say, alot of metallics in their broad range of colors.
-Wheels look tiny and not very wide.
-The looks I'll never grow to like, color helps, but very little.
-Nothing felt durable aside from looking flimsey.
-The front door handles felt thin, very thin, plasticey and cheap as dirt. I seriously thaught I was gonna break something off. These handles are hard to explain but thin and breakable come to mind. The rear door ones that look different and are part of the doors fold feel and work much better.
-Sitting in it, the seats were ok, leather was average for leather, but it had no headroom, very narrow and even my old lady who is small felt it should have been alot bigger.
-The back seats had alot of room, maybe they take up the slack.
-The interior was very untruck like, ugly and alot of unused storage holders that are unnecessary. It looked like there was a slot for a wallet and a pack of cigarettes and a small cup and a large cup and etc etc.
-The tailgate, oh my! Pro: opening it you can let it out of your hands and it won't slam down, it aides you both ways. When you do shut it, rattling of all kinds comes out, no solid feeling here AT ALL. We all know the byproduct of that means, right? Cough cough, fold, breaking.
-The underside looks regular, nothing stand outish, bolts look small and everything is pretty mediocre.

Going at this with an open mind, I was further convinced it was thin and cheap. The tailgate should be strong, is not, and it lead me to believed the same of the truck overall, in and out. Don't get me wrong, it will serve many well probably a good couple of years but don't parade like it's the coque of the walk here rooster. No way! It's basically a larger Ridgeline. And for the amount of money these are? What the hell are you paying MORE than a comparable Ford for? 81 more hp's? I'll spend the 5 grand I'd save buying the F-150 and get a damn blower. 450 hp's and that's that.

A loaded Tundra that I saw was 49, almost 50k. It probably had it all, but a 450 hp Chip Foose F-150 was 55k. The choice is obvious then.

These are just MY IMPRESSIONS, not right or wrong and not up for debate. You asked a simple question, I gave it my best answer. Gas mileage was comparable to Dodge's on the sticker too, not really a good thing either.

PS, I like this things look WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA better than the Nissan Armada and Infinity QX56. Why? To me, Nissan's look like the weird sharp angled crap Toyota rejected. The Titan looks a hair better than does the Tundra, not saying too much there either. Again, my thaughts.

 

That's an interesting comment. I thought the seats were very comfortable and the interior was absolutely huge. Of course, I was driving a standard cab Ranger at the time. I'll have to compare it to my beautiful F150 at the next car show.

 

When I saw the bed of the truck banging up against the cab while offroading, that pretty much answered my question which one was better built Ford vs toyota

 

My stance on the Tundra is well known around here

 

SMIGGS,
You only come up in these threads... Why is it that you don't contribute to the forum on a day to day basis?

 

Well, unlike some, I'm not a nutswinger. And why does it seem I only come up in these threads, what other competitor to the F150 actually comes up here besides the Tundra?

The 09 Ram did for a week or so. But someone always starts a Tundra thread.

 

No thats exactly my point... By these thread's I mean any thread that is discussing the competition of the f-150. You are always singing the praises of other models and taking cheap shot's at the f-150. I guess I'm just trying to figure out why. And regarding nutswinger... I'm not the one who goes out of his way to stick up for a product I don't even own. Thats a nutswinger

 

I'm glad this came up today. The main reason that I hate tundra's was completely personified right in front of me just a couple hours ago. I was sitting in the barbershop, getting my hair cut. This older guy (50ish) who was quite obviously in the midst of a mid-life crisis was getting his thinning hair cut. He had the harley shirt and coat, earrings, bug-eye looking sunglasses, when he left he had his hat on backwards.... I could go on, but lets just say he looked just like the douchebag that he was. Anyway I overheard the conversation he was having while getting his hair cut. It was tundra this and tundra that, truck of the year, blah blah blah. Most of what I heard went something like this:
db: "No! I really don't need 4wd."
barber: Suprised, since we live in the mountains of Montana where everybody needs 4wd "Really, why not?"
db: "Well, its got traction control, or the option of posi. If i leave it in traction control mode it gets around great. It works soo well, that if you just start to slip it will get right back on track. It gets around better than the other trucks do in 4wd. I really can't see why you'd need it in this truck."

To sum it up... why do I hate the tundra? Not because it has a weak frame, or crappy tailgates or they are built cheaply. Because everybody I've known that has one or wants one is a complete idiot, that doesn't understand what is truly important when making a truck.