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In short, I still love it. I miss my Tacoma, but it was just too small for family duty when the dog would come with us.
I bought the Tundra for the main purpose of pulling our travel trailer. We've used it for that as well as trips around town, Home Depot runs, kid drop offs, etc. I've put about 5000 miles on it in the first year. For us, that's significant as we don't drive that much. At two years, my GS has 2500 miles on it and at three years, our Highlander has 10k on it.
It handles the trailer beautifully! You can obviously feel it back there, but the truck just pulls and pulls and acceleration, hills, and maintaining highway speeds while pulling the trailer are super easy. Our trailer isn't that big, but the Tundra could certainly pull more. We took it all over Washington state and Oregon last summer, and have several camping trips planned for this summer.
The truck did admirably in a significant snow storm last year, easily driving us around in 8-10 inches of snow, for most of which I just left it in RWD and had no issues.
It has become a road trip favorite for the family, as it has just a ton of room for all of us. Even the dog likes it.
I've done a few mods/additions to it. As I've mentioned in my other thread, the chrome grille was just too much for me, so I swapped it out for the TRD Pro grille.
I also blacked out the TUNDRA lettering on the tailgate and added a bed step.
Next change is to add a transmission oil cooler. As many of you know, Toyota dropped it from the Tundra in 2019, stating that it wasn't really needed. I monitor my temps, particularly while towing, and it gets warmer than I am comfortable with so I have one on order and will add it as soon as it comes.
One day I was returning home from dropping the kids off at school and saw the Google Maps car go by. A few months later, I found it!
To say I am pleased with the truck is an understatement. I do really like the new Tundra, as well as the RAM 1500s, but I expect to keep this Tundra for the long haul. I love the styling, the engine/drive, the huge interior, the comfort, etc.
I would say the negatives are gas mileage (which I knew going in), lack of a heated steering wheel, lack of auto wipers, and that there isn't an outlet in the bed, like I had in my Tacoma, which I frequently used.
Thanks for taking the time to read the thread. We are looking forward to our first camping trip of the year very soon!
Nice! We are going to be camping at Sequoia National Park in July. Although she doesn't travel with us much, here's our protector, local squirrel and racoon killer
Nice! We are going to be camping at Sequoia National Park in July. Although she doesn't travel with us much, here's our protector, local squirrel and racoon killer
Beautiful dog!
Originally Posted by LH1
Great pics and beautiful truck! That brown leather interior is so amazing.
Its odd, I remember your thread when you got the Tacoma but I had no idea you traded it a year ago.
HUGE improvement switching the front end to the TRD bits.
Thanks! I was a bit undecided about the saddle brown leather to begin with but it has grown on me. I only had the Tacoma for a little over a year and really loved it, but we just couldn't pull the trailer on long trips with the dog on board in the truck with us. We really would have to take two cars and who wants to do that? The Tundra completely resolves that issue.
I am so happy with the TRD Pro grille. Much better than the chrome, in my opinion.
I agree that the auxiliary transmission cooler was probably a wise investment, provided that it fits properly and does the job. If Toyota doesn't think that they are needed any longer for heavy towing, then I'm the Tooth Fairy....just one more excuse, IMO, for cost-cutting on their part.
I can understand a simple grille-replacement, but how did you black out the lettering? Did you have to (carefully) coat them with a black substance, or do the letters come off the sheet metal and stick back on again in a different color?
Me, I like chrome myself (except for glare in bright sunlight), but I guess to each his own. Some people preferred the sportier look of the blackout.
Nice! We are going to be camping at Sequoia National Park in July. Although she doesn't travel with us much, here's our protector, local squirrel and racoon killer
I recall one CL member has a beautiful German Shepard named Daisy, that looked like that, but I cant recall if it was you.
You said that he (she?) goes after squirrels and raccoons. I'd caution against that for two reasons. First, both are occasionally found to be rabid. Second, while squirrels are relatively easy prey for big dogs, raccoons are a different story. They have long, extremely sharp claws, stand and fight, and can do a lot of serious body damage to dogs, even big powerful ones like Shepards.
I recall one CL member has a beautiful German Shepard named Daisy, that looked like that, but I cant recall if it was you.
You said that he (she?) goes after squirrels and raccoons. I'd caution against that for two reasons. First, both are occasionally found to be rabid. Second, while squirrels are relatively easy prey for big dogs, raccoons are a different story. They have long, extremely sharp claws, stand and fight, and can do a lot of serious body damage to dogs, even big powerful ones like Shepards.
That's my Daisy! That is my dog you are referring to. It is true that Racoons have pretty powerful claws, but she has powerful jaws that can instantly crush bone. She got into it with Racoon one night and well, poor racoon. She did have a slight injury, but it wasn't bad. She's also got into it with a couple of skunks...those results were not so good for her. She has all her shots including Rabies.
The bone you see her chewing below, she literally crushed that into pieces, it took her maybe 3 or 4 days
I can understand a simple grille-replacement, but how did you black out the lettering? Did you have to (carefully) coat them with a black substance, or do the letters come off the sheet metal and stick back on again in a different color?
They sell custom made kits that you just stick into that recessed lettering on pickup truck tailgates
I agree that the auxiliary transmission cooler was probably a wise investment, provided that it fits properly and does the job. If Toyota doesn't think that they are needed any longer for heavy towing, then I'm the Tooth Fairy....just one more excuse, IMO, for cost-cutting on their part.
I can understand a simple grille-replacement, but how did you black out the lettering? Did you have to (carefully) coat them with a black substance, or do the letters come off the sheet metal and stick back on again in a different color?
Me, I like chrome myself (except for glare in bright sunlight), but I guess to each his own. Some people preferred the sportier look of the blackout.
Thanks. As Steve correctly noted below, the TUNDRA letters are black adhesive backed inserts. You can just buy them online.
Glad you're enjoying the truck. I agree, the TRD Pro grille looks so much better than the stock one that came with the truck. Will you be trading this in for one of the new ones in a couple years?
Normally, I'd be bothered by buying the last year's model with an all-new design right around the corner. But in this case, I think your unit looks better than the new one. Well played!
Normally, I'd be bothered by buying the last year's model with an all-new design right around the corner. But in this case, I think your unit looks better than the new one. Well played!
I know what you mean! There was a time in my life where I never would have done that, but now, all three of my vehicles are last years of those models. We chose to stick with the 2019 Highlander Hybrid because we wanted the V6 drivetrain and weren't digging the 4 cylinder setup. My GS is the last year they made them. And my Tundra is a last of model year too!
When I bought the Tundra, I did know enough about the new ones to try to make an informed decision. I actually really do like the new Tundras, but wanted to give some time to see how the rollout went. They're still expensive and hard to get, and there are reports of some teething issues, so I'm plenty happy with my choice. I will likely move up to the newer Tundra at some point, but not yet. I love this truck enough that I am truly not in a hurry to do so.
I know what you mean! There was a time in my life where I never would have done that, but now, all three of my vehicles are last years of those models. We chose to stick with the 2019 Highlander Hybrid because we wanted the V6 drivetrain and weren't digging the 4 cylinder setup. My GS is the last year they made them. And my Tundra is a last of model year too!
I've become the same way. It used to be really important to me to have the latest thing, latest car design, latest phones, etc but as I've gotten older I just don't care.
Except for phones and computers (which my company pays for ), I never really cared about having the latest and greatest. When it comes to cars, I've always waited for the new models to come out and I will buy the previous years model, which I've always gotten discounted and thousands less than the "newer" model. For example when I bought my 2006 Camry SE, the redesigned 2007's had come out, I made the dealer find me a 2006 which he had to have shipped from SoCal. The only exception was when we bought our 2013 Sienna, my wife had totalled our 2004 and there were no 2012 models available. My Polestar is the other exception, 2022 was the only model year they had, and with EV you want the latest due to the speed they are advancing
06-20-22, 08:29 AM
A Year with the Tundra
That brown leather interior is so amazing.
Did you have to (carefully) coat them with a black substance, or do the letters come off the sheet metal and stick back on again in a different color?
