Toyota's Rugged Tundra

by Thane Peterson

Editor's Rating:

The Good: Power, speed, towing capacity, nice interior, rebates through July 2

The Bad: Quality glitches, high price, no diesel engine, average fuel-efficiency

The Bottom Line: A terrific full-size pickup truck?but not a world-beater

Reader Reviews

For years now, Toyota (TM) has seemed like a juggernaut, relentlessly gaining market share worldwide to the point that it is now overtaking General Motors (GM) as the world's biggest automaker. But as Toyota's sales soar and models proliferate, you have to wonder whether the Japanese company is becoming more like other companies, with all the same problems and glitches and disappointments.

Take a look at the new Toyota Tundra pickup truck and you'd almost think Toyota was a Detroit automaker. The '07 Tundra, which first hit showrooms earlier this year, is an attempt to correct a previous misstep on Toyota's part; the old Tundra, which first came out in 2000, never sold very well.

The new Tundra is much improved, and aimed right at the heart of Detroit's biggest profit center and last area of dominance?full-featured, full-size pickup trucks. But, at least for my money, the Toyota doesn't blow the competition away.

The new Tundra is at best a match for GM's new Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks, which came out at about the same time. Meanwhile, the aging Ford F-150 and Dodge Ram 1500 are due for redesigns for the '09 model year that will likely make them far more competitive. The Ram, in particular, is being heavily discounted right now, which is putting price pressure on the Tundra (and Silverado/Sierra and F-150, for that matter).

Uncharacteristically, Toyota has been plagued by glitches in its most important product launch in years. The most recent example? Camshaft problems have cropped up in '07 Tundras powered by the biggest available 5.7-liter V8 engine, for which 71% of customers have so far opted. Toyota says the problem has caused about 20 of the big V8s to fail so far, out of about 30,000 sold, but says it believes it can avoid a voluntary recall of all Tundras with the engine. "We think we've isolated the problem to a metallurgical [deficiency] at a supplier," a spokesman says. "We shipped whole new engines via airfreight to replace the ones that failed, which impressed the customers. We think we've resolved the problem."

Still, in January Toyota had to recall more than half a million previous generation 2004-06 Tundras?as well as 2004-07 Sequoia sport-utility vehicles?because of ball joint failures, so the camshaft problems on the new model are an embarrassment.

Adding insult to injury, the new Tundra only earned a four-star rating for driver safety in head-on crash tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That left bragging rights to GM, DaimlerChrysler (DCX), and Ford Motor (F), whose full-size pickups all earned five stars in the test.

From a marketing standpoint, Toyota also has gone mega with its new "Made-in-Texas Tundra" at a time when soaring gasoline prices are forcing the market to go moderate. The Maxi Cab version of the Tundra, which the company says accounts for about one-quarter of sales so far, has an even roomier cab than the Dodge Ram 2500 Megacab and rear doors that are roughly the size of those on a Cadillac DTS. When you outfit a top-of-the-line Crew Max Tundra with options such as a rear seat entertainment system ($1,670), a navigation system ($1,650), a sunroof ($810), running boards ($345), and 20-inch alloy wheels ($920), the list price goes mega, too, surpassing $48,000.

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