Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Any Tundra pilots here?

Looking for a new truck. It's personal preference, but I've ruled-out a Dodge (and I currently own one), Chevrolet and possibly the Ford F-150.

I'm looking hard at a Ford F-250, 6.2L, but having a rough time finding one in the right color/gear ratio/options that the wife and I can agree on. For the same amount of money, I can buy a Toyota Tundra.....it sure does check a lot of boxes, but if I buy one, I don't want to start drinking mocha lattes and wearing skinny jeans.

The only complaints I hear about are fuel mileage, seats and beds rusting underneath at the corner welds....nothing Fluid Film won't handle.

For you guys who are driving a Tundra, what are your thoughts?

I drove a 2011 tundra until 2018. My son has it now. It has great power, very comfortable and was very reliable. Also did well off road. Rural driving I'd average 16/7 highway I could do as well as 20. I upgraded to a diesel due to towing needs, but if I needed a half ton truck I wouldn't look at anything else.

Happy Tundra owner here. 2007, Brake pads at 120,000. Starter pooped at 215,000. My Tacoma has been trouble free, but it only has 70,000. You can google "million mile tundra's", there are 2 of them now, running parts in the oil industry.

Mine is a first-year (2000) model and the fit, finish and ride is way better than any 4x4 I've ever owned (Suburban, Yukon, Explorer, Lariat, LandCruiser[ride]). Hard to beat Toyota quality and resale.

I had a 2013 Tundra CrewMax with the factory dealer installed supercharger in it. 540 horse. I would still get 14 to 15 MPG on the road. But when I hooked up the toyhauler I got 5 or 6 MPG and on a 22 gallon tank you were looking for gas stations all the time. It had 70,000 mile on it when I traded and the dealer gave me $40,000 trade in. That pickup never gave me a minutes trouble the whole time I had it. Comfortable to travel in and I really like the looks of it.

Good trucks, and yes they are trucks not grocery haulers, they work well, no they are not a 2500, course they haul a good bit of grocery's too.

Mine 07 has 162,000 on it BUT I just put timing chains and all pertaining parts in it, seems chain stretch is fairly common with this engine, still it has been a good truck til now. yes they are not great on fuel, 15-17 , they need a rear locker but overall they are good trucks. mine has seen it's fair share of hard sprints, likely why I had to put chains in it, have friends with 300,000+ on theirs with no issues at all.

never any front end parts other than brakes, no driveline issues till the chain started slapping, never a trip to the dealer since I drove it off the lot and it's a first year build truck.

Both million mile trucks were 4.7s , likely the most durable V-8 ever produced, will the 5.7 match that? I seriously doubt it, just not in the same league.

I would almost bet one of the other 3 would not have made it 13 1/2 years with no issues.
Would I buy another? Likely would.

TOYota's are great if you're only 5'6" tall.

That may be a problem.

It's nonsense. The Tundra cab is huge inside, particularly the Crewmax.

I'll have had mine 5 years in Feb. Its been a good truck and I plan to keep it another 5 years, at a minimum.

What year is yours? Both Tundra and Tacoma of mine are 2007, I am 6' and when the seats are all the way back I can't reach the pedals and barely reach the steering wheel????

You're correct on the million mile Tundras. That 4.7 was an incredibly durable engine.

That said, the 5.7 has a great track record for durability too. I know several guys that have their 5.7 over 500k. And one acquaintance, a surveyor, is just about to turn 700 kilometers. None of them have had problems beyond alternators, starters, water pumps.

My wife has an older tundra, '08 with tye 5.7 engine. Runs liked a raped ape,gets decent mileage. A few years back I was working in Chicago,staying in our 32' travel trailer. Wife came to visit just before the job ended so that we could go see that depressing dump of a city. On the way home the transmission in my '06 GMC. Started overheating. I put the trailer on her Toyota and pulled it home with her tundra. I gotta say it did a fantastic job handling the trailer. I was particularly impressed with the braking on the Toyota since her truck didn't have a trailer brake set up at that time.

I have a 2020 Tundra limited Double cab ... great truck.

Ford Eco-boosts are OK, but it costs 4 - 6 Grand to replace the boost parts when they hit 180-200k... so it all evens out.
So if you were only planning on keeping the truck 5 years... the Ford might be better (still rolling the dice a bit).
Other than that the Tundra is going to last forever.

Tacoma’s are smaller for tall guys - I had a Tacoma Double Cab... the insides of the Tundra = the same as any other brand.

Fuel tank capacity of the Tundra is?

Maybe two different sizes?

26 Gal standard 38 Gal optional




From what I've seen, there are quite a few Tundra drivers on the 'fire.

I just sold my 2008 Tundra to get a 2021, since the V8 is going away in the 2022 model year. After 13 years that 2008 was the best truck I've ever owned. No rust anywhere, but we don't have salted roads here. Went through a starter and a water pump, other than that just maintenance. Still felt like it was new driving down the road, even after years of logging roads.

The Tundra is a great 1/2 ton truck, runs and drives great, and is an awesome vehicle for the sportsman IMO. They are dead nuts reliable, and hold their value like crazy. Driven reasonably you're looking at probably 13-14 mpg in the city and around 17 on the highway. Even though it is rated to tow 9-10K lbs, if you're going to regularly pull 7K+lbs, I'd look at a 3/4 or 1 ton. The payload is pretty wimpy too, at around 1400 lbs.

If you need the towing and payload of a 3/4 or 1 ton, the Tundra is not for you. Otherwise, they are hard to beat. If you wait for the redesigned 2022 Tundra, the V8 goes and in comes a twin turbo V6 with supposedly more towing and payload capacity.

Good luck in your search.

PS Skinny jeans and Mochas are optional!

I just sold my 2017 TRD 4x4 with 5.7L at 65k miles. I really liked it for a 1/2-ton truck. Only a couple of complaints with it in the end, both of which I was aware of before buying it.

Had one warranty item. It blew fuses when the map lights were turned on.

Good deal on the jeans and Mochas, as I want to maintain my bad-ass facade.

I got a 2014. Gas mileage isn’t the best 14.7. I am 6’4 and the crew max has lots of room. As far as seats go, I like them. Chevy trucks are made for Leperchaun’s. One feature that I really like is being able to adjust the headlights with a dial on the dashboard.

My 2014 Tudra Crew 4x4 had 75k on it when I traded it. In that time it had a cold start sensor go out that would remind you of trying to start an old carbed truck when it was about 20* outside. Nav system went out twice, and complete infotainment system went out twice. If I kept it around 70 on the hwy it would get 17-17.5mpg, at 75 it would drop to 14. I don't miss it, as both the GMC Sierra 4x4 Crew and current Ram 1500 Laramie Ecodiesel run circles around the Tundra.

I ran an 08 for a while, and ended up selling it after 6 months or so. My complaints :

Rides like a buick. Very floaty and lumbers through turns. Probably should be a good thing, but I couldn't get used to it.
To go along with that, when towing moderate loads (6-7000 lbs), there's a bit more sway than I'm comfortable with coming out of corners. Tried to correct that with tires and never could.
With a canopy, if you put anything in the bed you are sagging. Easy enough to address, and maybe not even a problem if you don't haul a lot of weight.
Mileage sucks, doubly so when towing, and the tank is too small. They addressed the tank size issue later.
I hate the giant center console. There's a lot of room, but it ends up a black hole for stuff because it is all one compartment.

Otherwise, great trucks, and super comfortable. I went back to a 1ton diesel and dont see that changing anytime soon.