2007 Toyota Tundra SR5 from North America - All Comments

I drive a 2007 Tundra CrewMax with the 5.7 liter engine.

Every day I am more impressed by this vehicle.

To me, the engine is stronger and the sheet metal is stronger than that on my previous vehicle, a 2000 Silverado. The Tundra also has features and innovations that make it unique. It has unbelievable safety features and incredible acceleration.

My 2000 Silverado was a wonderful vehicle, but it took a lot of trips to the dealer to make it right.

The Tundra is truly a remarkable vehicle, with no trips to the dealer, which I regard as truly remarkable after my experience with my 2000 Silverado.

10:53.

I can believe your Toyota lasted as long as you say - some do. But, I could also give the exact same kind of testament regarding my domestic trucks/vehicles that have lasted just as long, and in some cases quite a bit longer than the mileage your Toyota is at, and I am not even implying that your Toyota is necessarily going to die any time soon.

But the fact remains, the domestic trucks can undeniably haul more than Toyota, given their much tougher construction. The cast iron engines are in the trucks for a reason. GM has both aluminum and cast iron versions of their series III V8's, so they could just as easily put an aluminum engine in their trucks, as a cast iron. Yet they (wisely) choose to put a cast iron engine in, because cast iron, as a metal, is clearly a tougher than aluminum, capable of withstanding higher loads, for longer periods of time, at more extreme temperatures than aluminum. I challenge anybody to provide scientific evidence to the contrary.

In terms of durability of the end product (i.e. the assembled engine), we could argue all day about who's truck lasts longer, but at the end of the day, the domestic trucks can rack up the high miles as well as anyone, and based on what I have seen better. Achieving better than 200K+ miles on all of my domestic trucks/vehicles with very little or no problems is evidence enough of that for me.

"I may be wrong, but a Tacoma owner with a 200,000 mile vehicle may not be able to afford a loaded Silverado F250 Series to even comment with first hand ownership."

Yes, you are incorrect at least in my case. I own a Tacoma with well over 200k and make over 6 figures for my income. Enough to easily buy a fully loaded Chevy Silverado with all the trimmings or even a BMW or Mercedes. Yet I drive a 12 year old small econo-truck with lots of miles on it why? Perhaps it has something to do with intelligent financial fortitude.

I got my truck for a number of reasons. For one I knew it would be top-notch quality and last for years with few if any problems. So far that part has been quite true and even now the fit, finish, and appearance of the truck has held up very nicely. If you knew nothing about model years, you'd think I still had a somewhat new truck. I also got my truck in particular because the engine is well laid out: the plugs are all in a row and not hidden under some useless plastic shroud. Things are easy to get to and allow me to do all the work myself, which is another money saving advantage.

My truck cost me $10k out the door. A fully loaded Silverado is over 40k, or approximately 4 times the cost of a small Tacoma. Yes, they are totally different trucks, but when talking money, there is a massive difference. While I'm sure there are a few 'lucky' Silverado owners out there who got one of the 'good' ones, I seriously doubt equivalent aged Silverados are holding up as well as my Tacoma, meaning the vast majority of their owners have probably already bought another 40k Silverado. So let's do the math: 10k versus 80k.

Lastly, my truck gets around 30MPG. A loaded Silverado might get 17-20MPG, but more than likely between 14-17MPG. Gas is over $3 a gallon where I live. I drive 50 miles each way and that costs me roughly $50 a week. A fully loaded Silverado driving the same distance would cost double that, if not more.

If you look at it this way, it isn't really a surprise that the average US citizen has -0.08 in savings. When I see these construction workers driving full-sized Silverados with a trailer full of toys behind them, it isn't a surprise to me that our country is in such serious debt.

We live in a country that is filled with people that think they HAVE to drive the absolute most expensive car their incomes can support, when in reality if people simply drove something adequate and economical, they might be surprised at just how much they can save. I plan on retiring young. I would never be able to do so buying a big plastic fully loaded truck every 5 years.

There's your answer.

20:01 Well, it's kind of hard for GM to screw up a cast iron block, so that's what they use. The block isn't the reason their engines are substandard, it's all the other shoddily assembled, cheap parts.

Toyota has the talent and the technology to make an engine with an aluminum block run much farther and longer than GM can with an iron one. And the Toyota will get you better gas mileage and not wear out the suspension in the front end because of the pointless extra weight of a cast iron block.

Argue it all you want to, the proof is in the fact that these Toyota's with the alum. blocks will outlast a GM every time under the same treatment.

You can't fairly compare the Silverado, Dodge Ram, or Ford F Series with the Tundra. For those of you old enough to remember the Chevy El Camino and the Ford Ranchero; these were vehicles which were basically passenger cars with a box on the rear. They were not built for heavy payloads or serious hauling. Such is the case with the Tundra... a glorified Camry with a box grafted onto the rear... in no way is the Tundra to be considered a serious truck. Back to the drawing board, Toyota!

18:33 small trucks in your comment... but this is a larger truck and the domestics dominate the market with more capability and a warranty. A Tundra could not begin to pull, or do the work that I do on a daily basis (both at work and recreation on weekend). I am glad you clarified that issue.

Plain and simple: The Tundra has only been out since what 99 or 2000? And people are getting frantic and wetting their pants? Sitting here saying their domestic truck is the best when they had all these years to make it light years a head of Toyota but now it is within a ten foot pole? To me it looks like GM and Ford have walked all over the map in desperation to do anything but build a great product, or make any innovations. Funny how GM and Ford teamed up to build a transmission. Must mean they are allies in some kind of foreign war, which the domestic truck guys do not see for some reason...?

16:55;

I don't know why, but that was really funny. Just a side note. Finally some truthful comical relief.

Once again, you can't say that the Tundra is not a real work truck. I can't tell you how many new Tundras I see being used in fleet service around here for construction crews and landscaping services.

Here's the thing. Toyota will keep right on improving on the Tundra until it will eventually far surpass the Domestic trucks. They have an ample supply of cash and capital and resources to do so. Meanwhile Ford and GM are just trying to stay alive and out of the quagmire they've gotten themselves into with union.

What it boils down to is that Ford and Chevy will keep right on puking out poorly manufactured, cheap trucks while Toyota keeps improving and innovating. In less than 10 years they went from the T-100, to the first Tundra, and now the 2nd Tundra that in many people's opinion is now as good, and probably better than the domestic competition. Come the 3rd generation of then Tundra and I can guarantee that the Tundra will be leaving both Ford and Chevy behind for good just like they did with the Camry when Ford was still building Ford Exploders and Tauruses that blew head gaskets.

19:49 within reach? last year Ford F Series alone sold 7 times more than Tundra... very limited comparison as well. I would never be able to tow my boat with a Tundra yet a Ford or GM can easily do so. Maybe you should compare to cars...

I worked construction for a little while, and I never remember seeing a Tundra at any of the builder supplies we went to. The only thing I remember seeing were huge Ford Diesels and Chevys.

As someone who has been buying vehicles for well over 50 years, all I can say is that the Tundra is an incredibly well built vehicle.

I agree with one of the previous posters that there is no way that Ford and GM should have let Toyota catch up with them so quickly. I don't know if it is a statement about the ineptness of Ford and GM or a statement about how good Toyota is.

As someone who has always wanted to buy domestic where possible, it took quite a bit to have me buy a Tundra. But, after a great deal of research, it became evident to me that the Tundra was at least the equal of Ford and GM, if not better than Ford and GM.

Also, rather surprisingly, I found that the Toyota dealers seemed more interested in selling me a Tundra than Ford and GM dealers were in selling me their product. Probably the reason that I haven't bought a Toyota in the past was because I found Toyota dealers very difficult to deal with. However, this time, I found more than one Toyota dealer who was easy to deal with.

I am convinced that Toyota went out of their way to listen to pickup buyers when they designed the new Tundra. While I found both the Ford F150 and the GMC Sierra to be nice vehicles, I found even more nice things about the Tundra.

I can't decide whether the post about a Tundra being a Camry with a pickup bed was in jest or was serious. However, all I could think of was that if the bed were big enough, I could probably haul three or four Camrys with my Tundra. Equating a Tundra to a Camry has to be a joke, unless you are equating the quality.

I don't know if it is true, but I a guessing that the Ford and GM, etc is cheaper than the Toyota? Here in the UK, we do not have any of the pick ups mentions - but in relation to the cars, Ford and Vauxhall (GM) are definately 'build 'em cheap, pile them high' and you get what you pay for. I am guessing this is the same with pick ups in the USA. The Toyota is probably better made, but the domestics will give you a better deal upon purchase and probably not be so well looked after. The domestics will do the job, but the Toyota will do it just that little bit better.

19:33 Well spoken. A lot of past domestic truck owners are now realizing that the Tundra is more than a match for a comparably sized Ford or Chevy truck, and the sales numbers reflect it, with Tundra sales always gaining momentum while the others lose it.

I know a few people with new Tundra's that have been their first Toyota's, and they're extremely impressed. A good friend of mine just traded an '06 Ram (with the V-6) because he'll soon be buying a large camper and the Ram wouldn't tow it. So, he looked at F-150's, Silverado's, and Tundra's. He's had Chevy trucks before and had bad luck, as well as saying he wouldn't buy the Silverado based on looks alone, commenting about the big, gaudy plastic grille on it. He ended up deciding on the Tundra, but in the end didn't want to spend the money for it, so by default he bought the F-150. Now he wishes he'd spent a little more and gotten the better truck.

I think that's where a lot of these F-150 sales come from. People end up just 'settling' for a Ford instead of buying what they really want. Sometimes I don't blame them. If you aren't planning on keeping it very long, the Ford will do, but for those of us who like to keep and drive a reliable vehicle for many years after it's paid off, Toyota is the only choice that makes sense. Now my friend looks at every Tundra he sees, wishing he had bought one instead.

A guy at work had proudly bought a Toyota Tundra, and you're so right -- I just can't decide which aspect of it is the most superior to domestics.

Could it be that the Toyota has to be downshifted two gears to get up a hill, and even then it wheezes like an asthmatic sucking air? Although it is pretty cool how the whole body shakes, including the stick shift, just idling, as though the engine is missing.

It's also pretty great that the cab is so small and cramped that it's nearly impossible to fold yourself into it. I suppose that midgets would find that superior.

After being subjected to that thing a few times, I really can't understand all the hype over the Toyota Tundra! Whatever you guys see in it, more power to you, but you couldn't give me one of those rattle-traps!