2002 Toyota Tundra SR5 from North America - All Comments

Okay guys, why not take this debate into another (just as pointless) direction. Ginger or Mary Ann?

"I have had domestics that I made out big time, that appreciated with notes wanting to buy under the windshield often."

All you have to do is look on Craigslist or your local paper and compare what the asking prices are for Toyotas and Hondas versus anything the big three make. More often than not, 3 and 4 year old Toyotas will be maybe 75%-80% of their price from new. But I know for fact that the equivalent Domestic model is always at a severe discount. I've personally seen used 2 year old fully loaded Chevy Silverados and F-150's with lesser asking prices than a stripped 4 cylinder Tacoma. In fact, some domestic trucks these days are so cheap it's almost convincing to buy just because some of them are sitting with prices that are 50% or more cheaper than a Toyota. Dealers and sellers obviously can't hardly give them away.

And in regards to cars... all I have to say is Ford Taurus. Those cars are totally worthless as soon as they leave the lot.

10:44 When I shop for a new full size truck, it does not matter if Chrysler is owned by Benz, Fiat or whomever is signing the checks this week or in office.

The Ram is a great full size truck and I would recommend them without hesitation for towing especially. Also Silverado and Ford F Series.

What does escape me is how someone can condemn an entire manufacturer that:

#1 Does not now or ever has owned/lived with a full size truck

#2 The vehicles that were owned are 11-20 years ago, most purchased with 60-90,000 miles on the odometer. I buy new and maintain my own since purchase. It would be similar to taking a chance buying a rental car with 90,000 miles on a vehicle from the day you got it... could have had an easy life or many wannabe race car drivers.

#3 There is never acknowledgment it switches quickly over to a political comment when there is no vague reply available.

The number one reason I buy a full size truck is applications for one... load carrying, towing functionality. Unless you have a true application and have invested in a new or late model full size, this seems to escape the small car/small truck mentality. To comment on one, how about acknowledging why people have them vs. who is in office, who owns whom etc. I know I have many more features, applications addressed and far superior warranty than Tundra and Tacoma is not in the same category. Your warranty is safe commented 3-30 by President Obama if you need to be political. I go in test and buy my vehicles as no one pays for mine except me anyway.

11:36 Exactly right. Not a single new domestic. Because they proved to me to be junk years ago, so I stopped buying them. As I expected, Ford and Chevy fans expect me to rush out and buy a new domestic because they've 'improved' so much. Heck, they might even be approaching the kind of quality that Toyota had 25 years ago... no thanks. Instead of gambling my money, I'll keep buying what I KNOW is a quality vehicle... Toyota.

Granted, I chose to gamble again, and bought a Hyundai after I sold my Tacoma back to Toyota; we'll see how that pays off. So far, much more reliable than any of my domestics ever were. Ford may be improving, they MIGHT even be a good car now. When I'm sure that they are, and they prove it with a 20 or 30 year history of STAYING good, like Toyota has, I might consider buying one. Not now, and not for a long time. I know what junk they've always been to date.

To another commenter, yes, my Dakota was totaled. I'm not sure what that has to do with anything; I said that the 318 was a RELIABLE engine. Not even approached Toyota quality, or efficiency though. Clearly not enough research and design. Other than that, the truck was crappy. '95 Dakotas were notorious for bad automatic transmissions, and as I said, the sheet metal was garbage.

With ALL of my Toyota's, everything was practically perfect. Best engines in the world (along with Honda), no transmission or rust issues, extremely efficient, even much better wear of the interior knobs/switches and fabric. Toyota is just superior in all aspects, unless you need to tow something that you'd need an F-350 for. Toyota doesn't make them, because they're not financially productive. Just part of the reason that they're doing well while GM and Dodge are nearly finished, and Ford hangs in the balance.

I love it how government politicians, who never produced anything in their lives and cannot even run their own budget without trillions of dollars worth of deficits, are now trying to tell the car companies how to run their businesses. That is asinine. Welcome to nationalized industry, which was so obviously the devious intention of these "bailouts" all along. It is not the government's place to get involved in these types of things in ANY capacity. I hope everyone is seeing the true colors of our politicians.

What's totally ridiculous about this argument is that even now, with the entire US auto industry very likely close to bankruptcy, pro domestic guys STILL think that everything these companies did was perfect, and that despite the fact that these same companies never truly came close to matching Toyota or Honda on quality, continue to be confused and angry that others have pretty much written the big three off years ago.

They build JUNK. Plain and simple. Sure - they might make a few "recommended" cars here and there, and I'm also sure there's at least a few Chevy Vegas with 300,000 miles. But overall, the big three have been poorly managed, poorly run, and the products they make have been totally manufactured with corner cutting techniques for so long that the big three does not know how to build a decent car or truck for that matter.

Now despite what pro-domestic guys think, I'm totally all for a GOOD American car company. For example - a car company in California called Tesla is getting ready to build an all-electric family sedan that actually looks good and goes 300 miles per charge. Now THAT's the kind of car the big three should be building. But instead they never weaned themselves off of big trucks and SUV's. That goes hand in hand with the comment I hear on here all the time: " Small car/truck mentality" Call it what you want, but "Big car/truck mentality" obviously doesn't make car companies ultimately successful.

But the bottom line is the big three are failing for a reason, and it isn't from building good products. Sorry.

"Poor sales has NOTHING To do with car quality and everything to do with the economy. Hyundai is doing well because it makes both fuel-efficient, affordable cars and the top luxury car in the market (Genesis) at a bargain-basement price."

That's part of it, but the bigger issue is that Hyundai has their risk-free purchase program. If you lose your job, they'll take the car back. That assurance in this economy is what has really made up much of their sales performance.

22:47 "Exactly right not one new domestic"

Should have been "I have never owned one single new or old full size truck domestic or import." Ever.

With that being understood, it's easy to see the reiterating with small car/small truck economy lack of understanding of why individuals own full size models. To then say Toyota has addressed it all is incorrect, and to jump to the F-350 extreme is still not the answer either.

If you want to devote so much time on a full size truck review, at least understand why people buy them. It's not just price or how cheap. It's applications, function and usage being addressed.

The number one vehicle sold in America for over 20 years has not been cars, but full size trucks. There may be those that worry over depreciation, usually those that are economy vehicle oriented. I do not, and my friends as well do not feel that as the utmost concern. It's capability, strength and dependable service with a strong written warranty in place.

What I tow is more expensive and depreciates more rapidly than my truck. Is it worth it? My family thinks so... it's fun, time together and quality of life worth every penny.

I enjoy my full size truck much as perhaps you do with a small model in a different way. You off road empty. I never will, but you like it.

Putting a dollar and cent value on everything you do limits a great deal of quality ownership, features and benefits of full size truck ownership. Maybe some day you may own one and maybe it will be a Tundra so as to minimize the "Toyota" comment, which can be everything from a Yaris to a truck.

The Tundra is too small for us, and we do not own a F-350 class either. The great ongoing political debate goes on and on... I would rather hook up my nice new full size truck and have fun as a family. Maybe others on here can share why they invested and own a 2009 full size truck on here and get off the small car/small truck kick.

Well, of the Big 3, with GM and Chrysler out of business, that should reduce the number of comments made on Toyota sites by about 2/3 according to my math.

Keep telling me how good the crappy new Silverado is after they aren't even in business anymore. I believe I'll stick with Toyota. Even if you don't like them, at least they'll be in business next week.

If GM goes out of business (HIGHLY unlikely) you import fans most likely won't be buying ANYTHING. If the U.S. auto industry goes under, so does the ENTIRE ECONOMY. It will result in a depression greater than that of 1929, and a total collapse of the entire job structure of this country. If you don't have a job, you won't have money to buy anything.

Sadly, people have been so duped by the Japanese auto industry that they honestly think destroying our country is OK. Sorry, I don't agree. I'll buy domestics. They're more reliable anyway, and have much better warranties, which will be honored regardless.

20:56 There have been literally millions of full size trucks sold and it is unlikely that the applications for them will ever vanish. There are many nice examples everywhere again full size to buy.

Since you have never owned one, and will continue to own "Toyota" meaning Tacoma small trucks, how this will have any consequential effect or bearing is unlikely. There are also zero Honda full size trucks and the Tacoma is certainly not full size.

I see a lot of full size trucks (few F-350), but still literally hundreds on busy weekends at our boat ramps. They are full size domestics, full size SUV's including Hummer H1's-H2's, even a nice Lincoln Blackwood that drive similar long distances regularly. I have yet to see a single Tacoma, never a Ridgeline and very few Tundras ever.

The imports I have seen are Mercedes, Porsche etc. usually that have called ahead to pull their boats off the high and dry racks or have permanent slips.

So out of literally hundreds of boats, they are not rolling in Tacomas and Ridgelines, Honda's only small pick up.

I suspect if there ever were a shortage of new domestic full size trucks, one can buy a second low mileage one and spread the wear and mileage over 2 trucks. At any rate, full size truck applications are not going to disappear, and recommending the only small truck Honda has or the Tacoma or even the limited Tundra is not applicable.

Again maybe say "Tacoma" instead of "Toyota" to clarify your full size truck analogy to clarify to those that do not know you do not have the topic indicated on the review heading.

11:53 Very funny. Like I said, the humor does me good. Lots of good stuff in there.

GM going out of business is highly unlikely?? Have you watched the news in the last 6 months? It's very likely. And we import fans will still be buying cars. With a Toyota badge on them, as always, because they are more reliable, because they're built with higher standards. You go ahead and back a dead horse if you like.

Simply put, if you really think "GM may go under", you are drinking your bath water, dead horse? What nerve?! I have owned 5 Toyotas and 2 Nissans, of course they are built better, but those back country boys need their Silverados and F150s, let them buy them and quit griping about who is better, no GM, no US economy.

Should Japan and South Korea really dominate our country? Should our police cars be Avalons, Azeras, Sonatas, and Camrys? Do you understand the concepts of thinking strategically, competitive advantage, and market share?

"I suspect if there ever were a shortage of new domestic full size trucks, one can buy a second low mileage one and spread the wear and mileage over 2 trucks. At any rate, full size truck applications are not going to disappear, and recommending the only small truck Honda has or the Tacoma or even the limited Tundra is not applicable."

Good point. Our two family companies routinely get a quarter of a million miles out of our full sized Ford, Chevy and Dodge trucks and vans. Our Rangers (used for light duty and getting to job sites) often go 300,000 miles. None of these FACTS seem to have any effect on the OPINION of our import fan who has never owned ANY new domestic or ANY full sized truck. If you haven't eaten spinach you can't tell me how awful it is!!

As for the silly argument that GM is "going out of business", NO it ISN'T. Bankruptcy does NOT mean out of business. It means SUPERVISED restructuring, which is something ALL of our companies and financial institutions NEED DESPERATELY. ANY company that is losing billions and gives their former CEO $20,000,000 in severance pay DESERVES to be RIGIDLY supervised. It's no wonder MANY companies are in trouble now. But be that as it may, GM will stay in business and their warranties WILL be honored, though no one ever has to use them anyway. We've never had a warranty repair done on any of our GM, Chrysler or Ford vehicles in the last 20 years. They haven't broken down.

I went and looked at new Fords, GMCs, Cadillacs, and Toyotas the other day.

By FAR the Fords had the best build quality and materials. BY FAR. Soft touch surfaces, rich leather accents, NOT ONE THING felt flimsy on any of the Taurus, Flex, Edge, F150s, or Expeditions I looked at. Granted they were all top level trim, but I also compared the top level trims of the others. The doors all shut very solidly, and overall each vehicle had a high quality feel to them.

The GMC was right behind, but the interior materials of the Sierra were worse than the Ford's and still better than the Toyota Tundra. For example, the Ford F150 Platinum had leather arm rests, center console, and dashboard, with brushed aluminum accents. All nicely trimmed and solid. The GMC and Toyota either had rubberized surfaces or hard "tinny" sounding plastic to the touch. No comparison in fit and finish. The fake plasticky wood trim on the Sequoia and Tundra creaked and was poorly aligned, and the plastics were all of horrible quality. The cars were the same way.

The GMC had good build quality, but still the materials were a little lacking. That I can live with. Total cheapness, I cannot.

After driving the F150, Tundra, and Sierra, the Ford drove 100x better than any. Smooth, very quiet, and solid feeling. The Tundra was NONE of these. There was even a rattle in the back.

The Cadillacs are definitely world-class vehicles. The quality and solid feel of them are downright amazing, next to only a BMW or Audi, Porsche, etc.

Nissans now are also a plethora of hard seas of plastics and cheap feeling interiors, especially the Titan and new Maxima.

The dealership experiences were pretty mixed. The Toyota dealership was very bad, pushy salesman, trying to coax me into certain deals, kept trying to steer me away to other vehicles, telling me I should only look at a Toyota because that's all I should have to look for in a quality vehicle, etc. Ford dealership was next, still somewhat pushy, but understood that when I said I was JUST LOOKING, I meant it. The salesman did a good job of explaining features, and generally was fairly low key. The GMC experience was very good. The salesman dressed nicely, was not pushy at all, took the time to explain the features, never once tried to make a deal or offer on a truck that I didn't want, was very respectful and even shook my 12 year old son's hand and offered him something to drink. Kudos right there.

Domestic quality has gone way up, while non-Domestic quality has dropped quite severely. From walking around the lot on the Toyota dealership, I'll NEVER buy one now. I won't tolerate the bad build quality and very cheap feeling of them all when there's worlds better out there.

My next truck will be a Ford F150.

Oh, and I currently drive a Nissan Hardbody SE pickup. Great little truck, but the new quality of the Imports has steered me away completely.