2007 Toyota Tundra SR5 from North America - All Comments

17:03 I get the impression that Chevy's are notorious for being cheaply made and falling apart early on because it's without a doubt true. What country have you been living in for the last 30 years? GM went downhill a long time ago and everybody knows it. Even people FROM GM have been on television citing their numerous and ridiculous mistakes and oversights.

Shall I mention their losses this year; last year; the year before that? Only now do they attempt to make a reasonable product, taking their cues from Toyota's ideas from 30 years ago. Cars that get reasonable gas mileage, for example.

How about attempting to make a quality product, finally? Not that they are yet, but at least it's occurred to them that that is a good idea.

I've driven many vehicles of that era with 350's and I owned one for a while. Junk. You can't pass a gas station, the horsepower is not at all impressive for an engine that size, and it doesn't do a whole lot more than make a lot of smoke and noise.

The rust issue really depends on where you live. I live in CA and cars out here last forever and ever. There's literally hundreds of 80's vintage hondas, toyotas, and yes- even Fords and Chevys all driving around with the original paint. My 96' Tacoma looks like the day it rolled off the assembly line.

I also have a 55' Mercury that hasn't sat in a garage a day in it's life. It too has remarkably little rust. That said, I grew up in the South and vehicles there tended to look pretty awful in general after they reached the 10 year mark. The humidity just ate them alive. If you live in the Midwest or in the snow belt, then your car is going to get eaten by road salt. So condition has a lot to do with location.

14:06 exactly buy a Honda or a GM not a new Toyota. Why defend Toyota using Honda as an example anyway?

The 350 LT1 in my 1995 Chevrolet Caprice had a rod knock and it only had 100,000 miles. It was driven very carefully by an elderly couple for the first 60,000 miles and then we had it till it had 125,000 miles. Beautiful car, but we had many paint/rust issues. Quality control issues and then problems with engine knocks and the opti spark.

I live in the salt belt/northeast and always park both my new SUV and full size truck in my garage. At work I park in a parking garage. Rather than roll up garage doors at home I have carraige doors which work great for the larger (longer) vehicles. There are discussions to sell new individual car condos with 24 hour secure access for those concerned about the elements as well as vehicle theft/vandalism. People in the Northeast can minimize the element exposure by keeping them clean and garaged. I have had muscle cars over the years garage kept and covered inside that were also extremely clean. By the way GM's small blocks are plentiful, easy to work on, tough and durable. The newer Mustangs are easy to work on as well. Although I prefer GM, my older sons first car a 95 Mustang GT Convertible was a lot of fun easy to build and show. Working on blown engine crammed in a small FWD import has to be a pain.

There are a lot more contractors than you realize, as America is becoming more and more a service economy less so manufacturing. The number one selling vehicle is a full size truck and has been for decades... do you feel they are mostly utilized for pleasure running empty, or that they are being used on a daily basis on commercial, residential and farming applications? If your home for example needs updates, repairs roofs, siding, heating, cooling, plumbing, drives, walkways, stucco, siding, chimney repairs etc etc I am at a loss on how a small hatchback with a rope to tie the lid down will do.

Hmm...that is funny because if you open the hood of many imports there is more room to fit things than in the trunk. Probably could fit a V6 in a CRV and so on... my 99 Accord inline 4 has a large empty expanse to its older brother V6 Accord we have, so I do not know what you are talking about a crammed compartment.

Yes, my 305 and 350 Chevy's both had plenty of room, but everyone seems to forget their V6 and smaller engines suck to work on.

BTW... I have worked on many GM vehicles that had stuff crammed in so bad we had to take the car apart to get to simple things like alternators, etc.

Score 1 imports... Domestic 0.

I must admit that this thread is quite funny; seriously I almost wet myself from some of the comments.

To the guy from Kentucky who wants people to bring their Toyota trucks to him, so he can ram them with his truck to prove how the frame will get all twisted up. I have some news for you, if I T-bone your truck with a Metro the same thing will happen. So you are proving very little by your comments.

I also believe the same person said they are loading thousands of pounds into the bed of a Ford Ranger and not even seeing any strain placed on the truck. First, you are talking about a 1/2 ton truck (1500 max), a 1/2 ton is 1000 pounds. When I see the word thousands, I tend to think of 2000+ pounds. So that would be double the rating of the truck. Not only would you see a major strain on the truck, you would very likely snap the axle. Not to mention by adding that much weight to the back would cause major problems with you ability to steer. You also tried to say that you can tow 10,000 pounds with a truck rated for only 2200 pounds (5800 max). Even if you had the 4.0 (160hp/ 225foot-pounds of torque) this would be a miracle.

If you still insist that you are telling the truth, then I invite you to come to Oak Ridge TN and prove it. I am positive I can come up with the proper weights, at the lab to test your claims. I would just bring an extra ride home if I were you.

To the guy who thinks that there is no way for an Aluminum alloy to get within 300 degrees of Cast Iron. First I assume you are talking in F and not C, even though we normally measure melting points in C. What would you like to bet? The Melting point of Iron is only 2802F / 1539C while Aluminum is 1220F / 660C. So to make an alloy that would raise the temp by 1300F isn't that hard. By making it a 60% Aluminum and 40% Iridium alloy it would be over 3000F.

To the guy who claims that Steel gets its strength from Iron. I would have to disagree, the iron is what makes steel weaker. The Carbon is what makes it strong. The more Carbon the stronger the steel is. Not to mention Steel isn't the strongest material around, there are quite a few plastics that more than double the load strength.

To all the people who keep relating strength to weight. Please stop they are not even remotely related. One has nothing to do with the other. If it did Lead would be really strong.

To the guy that claims to have driven his truck with it setting on “H” with no water and just stopping to let it cool down and it still runs fine. First, if you actually did this you deserve the blown engine you received from it. So how do I know you didn't do it, well that is quite simple. If you raised the temp in your engine that high even after you shut it off it would continue to rise. This would break down the oil and fuse together every moving part in the engine. As far as your “I just stopped and let it cool down then continued driving” comment, even if you managed to shut down the engine before it fused together, it would take hours for that Cast Iron block to cool down and only 5-10 minutes for it to over heat again. Cast Iron doesn’t release heat very well.

To the guy that made the claim that Ford and GM are losing money due to their need to honor their pension plan. You make wish to read some of the recent news. Both Ford and GM wanted to stop paying the pensions of their retired workers, and if it wasn't for the courts stopping them, they would have. So much for honoring the American workers who gave them 30 or 40 years of hard work.

To those who claim they buy a new vehicle every 2-3 years. Do you know how much money you are wasting, especially if you are leasing? Let’s say guy “A” is buying $30,000 vehicle, after financing it is more like $35,000 (6 years loan $500 payments) and that is with perfect credit. Now at trade in with the vehicle in perfect condition and low miles, guy “A” will be lucky to get $17,000 just enough to pay it off. Putting guy “A” ’s price for the vehicle at $30,000 ($10,000 a year), of course this just keeps doubling every 2-3 years and guy “A” is always making a car payment and throwing money away.

Now if guy ”B” kept the vehicle for 8-12 years, that means guy ”B” has 3-7 years without a car payment. This allows guy ”B” to save $18,000-$42,000 by placing guy “B” ’s normal payment into a savings account (the worst interest) guy “B” would have $19,000-$47,000. Now by the time that guy “B” is ready to buy a new vehicle guy “A” is up for his 5th new vehicle and has wasted $150,000. Guy “B” still has $12,000 left in savings, meaning he is up $162,000.

Yes, I am guy “B”, I haven’t made a car payment in over 15 years. In 1995 I bought a used 1992 Toyota 4x4 V6 manual, which was the first vehicle I paid cash for. I still have this truck and use it for my hunting and fishing vehicle. In 1997 I bought a 97 Saturn SW2, which is now my current daily driver. In 2006 my wife decided she wanted a new car so we paid cash for a 2006 Mercedes CLS500C, which is what she wanted, I would have preferred the AMG model myself. Some people have asked me why I don’t get a new vehicle for myself and the answer is simple, I will be retiring before I am 50 right after my youngest graduates. Regardless of which type of vehicle or brand you like you really should keep it for as long as possible.

To the guy with the problem with the Free-Trade agreements, while I will agree that it is killing the American manufacturing industry and putting millions out of work, we have no one to blame for it except the large manufacturing companies that lobbied and paid for it, companies like Ford and GM. You don't have to take my word for it, just look at how long it took Ford to open its first plant in Central America and close a plant in the U.S. Of course business wise this makes perfect sense. Why pay an U.S. worker $15 an hour, plus benefits when they can pay some Third world worker $5 a day or less. Foreign companies had nothing to do with them coming into existence. In the words of Ross Perot "That sucking sound you will hear will be jobs leaving the US."

Now on to my real reason for posting, if you don’t own a Toyota and never will, then why are you on this tread talking? Am I really supposed to believe your comments of how bad they are? This doesn’t just go for the Toyota treads either, but for all of them. If you don’t own the vehicle in question, why are you making judgements on how well it works? What are you basing your knowledge on, because we already know you don’t have one, so it isn’t first hand. That is right it is your uncle’s, neighbor’s, cousin’s, roommate’s, sister’s, best friend’s, mother’s, boyfriend knows a guy who had one and it spent 2 years out of the 3 that he owned it in the shop and it only had 200 miles on it.

I came here hoping to get some honest opinions and reviews from people who own one, but instead I found yet another site packed full of people arguing the same things with no first hand knowledge to pass on. Just more of the same "my truck is better and yours is junk because it wasn’t made by (insert company name here)".

20:06...so a front wheel drive engine replacement is easier than with rear wheel drive. Whats your secret?

5:43's is the most objective and balanced comment that I have read here in a long time.

Anybody that says "Brand X is perfect" and "Brand Y is always junk" is only making themselves look foolish. All major brands are pretty good, and pretty equal if you take care of them. Somebody once pointed out that I've owned a dozen cars on Consumer Report's list of used cars to avoid. Funny, but I thought they were great. For me, they were dependable, nice to drive, easy to maintain, and never needed major repair. Whoever put them on that list did me a great favor by scaring people off and letting me get great deals on good cars.

Not only do some brands have a (not necessarily justified) reputation for reliability, but in general buying a brand new car is supposed to equate to reliability. Perhaps, but it's nothing more than being sold peace of mind. The most I ever paid for a car was $3,750, and have been driving it for a year with no problems and no repairs; how could I have possibly been better off paying $25,000 for a new car of ANY brand? Even if it dies at the end of the year, I'd still be $2,500/year ahead just on what I saved on car payments. By the end of the 5-year car loan, that would be a savings of $12,500 even if I had to buy a new $3,750 car every year. That's what I have done, and those savings over the years have gone to pay off my house 20 years early, and poured into my retirement funds and savings.

I've quietly gone about building a fortune with the help of driving old cars like '70's, '80's, and more recently '90's Dodges, Chevies, Pontiacs, Plymouths, Fords, Mercuries, Cadillacs--cars that were 5-15 years old that I picked up for anywhere from $350 to $3,750 and drove for 5-10 years. Unlike some of these other braggarts, I have never made "6 figures" but I am a millionaire nonetheless (and that is not in "assets"), and it's because of responsible spending, aggressive savings, and not being a slave to brands or trying to keep up with the Joneses.

Nobody would be impressed to see my beat up old Dodge truck coming down the street, but I really don't care. Maybe that's the difference. Some of you seem to feel as though you have to convince everybody else that you're doing the right thing by driving a Toyota, Ford, or whatever. You aren't satisfied to mind your own business, but believe anybody else who drives something different is an enemy for attacking your values.

If I see a cheap Toyota for the right price, I'll pick it up, I don't care. But if they have the reputation for "holding their value" so I can't get a good deal, then I'll buy the same year Chevy for 1/3rd the price and drive it past 200,000 miles and then be on the lookout for the next beater.

Needless to say, I am not affected by the sub-prime housing market, the credit crunch (what a laugh!), or the plummeting Dow. When these real-estate speculators lose their houses and have their Cadillacs repossessed, I'll be there to scoop them up for 4 or 5 Grand.

05:43 Thank You! Somebody else with a functioning brain. That's nice; uncommon however, lately. I've told these ridiculous Ford and Chevy owners most of that stuff at one point or another, but they can't separate fact from opinion. Here are some more you may have missed if you need a laugh: I was told that my Tacoma doesn't fall apart off road like a Ford would because it doesn't weigh as much as the Ford...OK.??? Maybe this is the same comment, but one guy told me he can put 1000 pounds on the TAILGATE of his F-150, and that it only squats 2 or 3 inches. Uh huh. Here's a REALLY good one: somebody said that people are going to start buying more domestics because the quality of imports isn't good. Is that not the definition of IRONY as well as a complete disregard for reality? I love reading here.

21:20 What absolute guarantee do you have if fuel consumption decreases prices will follow? You can survey individuals that may not use a truck in their profession and yet still have a spouse that does. Manufacturers realize market niches and produce vehicles based on demand. Since the number one vehicle sold in America is a full size truck for decades are you able to accurately assume your premise is correct? Why not eliminate personal aircraft, all watercraft such as boats, jetskis, snowmobiles, recreational vehicles, travel trailers to name a few during your survey. There are large manufacturing facilities providing jobs and tax revenue that would be lost however. Seems like you are a prime candidate to not own any motor vehicle and walk 100% to work, shopping and any or all available free time. I use my full size truck and find it more practical and useful than strictly owning a car.

05:43,

Just because some things might defy simple logic, doesn't mean it can't happen.

Take the loading up the ranger for example. Yeah, I've done something very similar to that, and gotten away with it. Doesn't seem very plausible, but I still did it.

And for the over-heating part. I have had a car (an explorer) that used to over heat like that. As odd as it may seem, I did turn it off and let it cool down then keep on driving.

In response to the statement that weight doesn't equal strength. It, in fact, does. We're not talking about lead here, but about steal and aluminum. More of each equals a stronger base. If what you're saying is true, then it would be so that a fully boxed frame that is 1/2" thick is stronger than a frame that is 3/4" thick. See my point? Just as long as we're dealing with CONSISTENT materials, i. e steal and aluminum, NOT lead or something that has nothing to do with anything, the latter is true. More=stronger.

Encase you didn't notice, this thread was started to be a discussion board, so everyone has the right to post here. However, if you wish to use the "what right do you have to be posting here" argument, I would advise you check out the domestic reviews where some of the first comments are "Toyota this, Toyota that. Should have...Toyota...not...domestic..."

Are WE really supposed to believe your comments about how wonderful Toyotas are and how horrible domestics are? That definitely isn't a one-sided argument, but indeed goes for BOTH sides of the spectrum.

22:32 You know what? I'm about ready to throw in the towel. More material does NOT mean more strength; SOMETIMES it does; sometimes it does NOT. It is NOT a fact, like you think it is. Ask an engineer, ask a person that designs or builds bridges.

Toyota's, by DESIGN, do not flex as much nor are as sloppy as a Ford or Chevy; this is obvious to anyone who has owned a Toyota as well as a domestic. Take an S-10 for example. They rattle when they are brand new. My Tacoma still doesn't have a single squeak or rattle after 10 years. After 10 years, if the cheap generic motor in your S-10 hasn't blown up yet, which isn't likely, and you're still driving it, it will rattle like a bag of tin cans. A Toyota will not.

To 22:32.

Weight is the force of gravity placed on an object and is proportional to its mass. Whereas, strength is the amount of force divided by the area. There is no relation between strength and weight. You are correct when you said “We’re not talking about lead” but if weight and strength were related then it would apply to all materials, including lead.

You do know that fully boxed (square) is not the strongest shape, didn’t you? (See above about how strength is determined) The strongest would be a cylinder (circle).

Quick someone call N.A.S.A. and let them know that more equals stronger. More equals more and that is it. You keep mixing up terms and trying to some how say you are right.

I went back and re-read my post to see if I left out something, and lo and behold here it was in black and white… ”This doesn’t just go for the Toyota treads either, but for all of them.” Please explain how and where I said how wonderful Toyotas are and how horrible domestics are.

To 11:20.

It is nice to meet another person who understands how to live a good and debt free life. I get a kick out of some of the people around my neighborhood, big $400,000 to $700,000 homes with Porsches, Mercedes, Audis, BMWs, and Vettes, just to name a few, setting in the drive way. Yet, when you go inside their homes you quickly realize how far they are in debt by the lack of furniture.

I use to love the commercial that was on TV with the guy talking about all the stuff he had, just to have him say he is in debt up to his eyeballs and someone please help him. Maybe someday people will become aware of how much money they are wasting with all those loans and credit cards. They say the average American uses close to a third of their monthly income on interest.