Toyota Tundra named Motor Trend's 2008 truck of the year

Bakemono

Bakemono

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http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071218/UPDATE/712180436/1148/AUTO01
DETROIT -- The full-size pickup Toyota Tundra is Motor Trend's 2008 truck of the year, the magazine announced today.

Motor Trend's editors said the Tundra is a match for Detroit rivals the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado and Dodge Ram in dimensions and performance. The Silverado won the award a year ago.

"The question on everybody's mind was whether Toyota could use its manufacturing and marketing muscle to compete with the big boys on their home turf," Motor Trend editor-in-chief Angus MacKenzie said in a statement.
"The answer can be found in one of the biggest and most capable vehicles in the segment and one that can compete with any American-made pickup truck, at any level."

Featuring one V-6 and two different V-8 powertrains, the Tundra showed impressive performance, load carrying and towing capabilities, the magazine said. The Toyota Motor Corp. product also impressed the judges with various options, such as different bed sizes, wheelbases, cab designs and other packages.

The all-new Tundra beat out the Silverado Heavy Duty, GMC Sierra Heavy Duty and Ford F-Series Super Duty for the honor. Each had to be new or redesigned and released in the 12 months before Jan. 1, 2008 to contend for the honor.

Toyota has been trying to lure owners of Ford Motor Co.'s F-Series pickup and the redesigned Silverado. Both American companies have said they will continue to fight to hold their shares of the truck market.

The announcement of the Tundra's win came four days after Toyota said problems with a propeller shaft connected to the rear axle of four-by-four versions of the 2007 Tundra was forcing it to recall 15,600 of the pickups in the United States.

The problem that prompted the recall did not show up on vehicles tested by Motor Trend judges, MacKenzie said.

"Recalls are inevitable in an industry producing complex pieces of machinery like cars and trucks," he said. "We are satisfied the company has moved fast to rectify the issue and that it does not alter our view of the fundamental excellence of the vehicle."
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If they weren't so goofy looking and expensive I might of bought one instead of my new Silverado. But money talks, so the Silverado rocks.
 
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All in due time, Coles, all in due time. Toyota had a diesel 3/4 Tundra in the works. Last year they bought GM's stake in Isuzu and they have plans for a diesel engine that will be jointly designed between Toyota and Isuzu.
Toyota wants to take it one step at a time. They already dominat the small truck market with the Tacoma, they want to give the new Tundra a few years to become established and respected in the 1/2 ton truck market and then they will go after the 3/4 ton truck market. With Isuzu's diesel engine building expertise (they did design and build the GM Duramax, you know), I see no reason why Toyota cant be successful.
Honestly, I wouldnt own a truck with a diesel in it. Too expensive to buy, too expensive to maintain and diesel fuel costs more than gasoline right now. Whatever you gain in fuel economy with a diesel you more than lose in purchase price and maintenance costs.
 
VenomMod said:
If they weren't so goofy looking and expensive I might of bought one instead of my new Silverado. But money talks, so the Silverado is rocks.
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Not to badmouth your Silverado, but its not all about purchase price. I thought only about purchase price when I bought my Ford F-150 and Polaris 600 XC and Ive regretted those decisions every step of the way.
My brother works for a concrete company and all of their worktrucks are GM 2500s (Chevy Silverados, I think). Well, long story short, he drives those things every day, but his personal truck is a Ford F-250 Super Duty. Needless to say, he isnt too impressed by GM's trucks (or anything else GM makes for that matter).
 
Wasnt the new Tundra the worst Toyota vehicle release in US history? I thought they had all kinds of recalls on that truck. I just saw an ad for $4000 rebates on remaining 07 Tundras, never saw anything like that on any Toyota. They still have 07s left and there are several used ones with really low miles for sale locally. Im a big Toyota fan but was real dissapointed in my 06 Tacoma, against my better judgement I traded it for a GMC (so far so good, wish me luck).
 
Its a first-year and an all-new truck from the ground up. You can expect some issues. I know that Toyota had issues with bad camshafts, which turned out to be something like 20 out over 250,000 engines that had bad camshafts.
Then you have the issue with the weak tailgates (not sure whats up with that one). Then you have the issue with torque converter rumble (apparently it will sometimes rumble when the tranny shifts). Now you have 15,600 4x4 Tundras that may have propeller shaft yolks which were improperly heat treated and could fail.
Whats funny is that for many other brands, that would be considered a pretty short list of problems for an all-new vehicle, but because its Toyota everyone makes such a big deal out of it.
Dont worry, Toyota will get things fixed, as they always have.
Id love to hear about your problems with your Tacoma, especially because Im going to be in the market for one is a year or 2. Ive heard of the weak tailgate issues, squeaky clutch pedal issues, the dreaded lurch while stopped on the auto tranny models and the issues with the 6-speed manaul trannys failing. I post regularly on both Tundrasolutions and Customtacos, so Im pretty up to date with the issues on there trucks. What issues did you have?
 
there is a video on you tube that shows stability testing with ford, chevy and toyota. They hit mini speed bumps one after another back to back basically going like 30 mph to see which frame is the strongest. The chevy was ok but stiff suspension made it bounce side to side. the ford did really good, stayed straight all the way with minimum box movement. The toyota literally flew all over the place, and the frame is so weak the box literally moved a foot up and down from side to side over every bump. It smashed the back of the cab and the box, and the back of the truck was moving in such a violent way that they said the frame cross members in the rear cracked and all the bolts holding the cross members in the back of the truck broke out. I think it even cracked both taillights. I always liked toyota, I've owned a few myself, but they are just turning into a basic car company now. Not really spending as much on quality only marketing, like the rest of em. I stick with real American muscle now.
 
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Wow, That seems to happen when the big time is hit, company's seem to get set on staying at or near the top and lose focus on why they got there.
 
First off I had a 2wd 4cyl 5 speed so my experience is limited to that one truck, I have no experience with the 4x4 or v-6.The suspension was lower in the rear than the front unloaded, when you got to 50% of the rated payload it sagged alot, you could not safely drive it if you loaded it past that (were talking a small load of patio bricks). The seats were by far the worst Ive ever felt, very painfull after 30 minutes. The parking brake was a twist handle that sometimes didnt disengage on the 1st or 2nd try. The carpeting looked 10 years old after 10 months. The engine had an embarrasing 2500 rpm warm up idle and the brakes had a lousy feel and feedback. I dreaded it every time I had to drive anywhere. On the upside it always started and ran. My 2001 s-10 was similarly equiped and it didnt have any of these problems and was very comfy for a cheap vehicle with a bench seat. I traded for a 07 GMC sierra 2wd that has awesome seats and is surprisingly smooth, quiet and refined. I like Toyotas and bought my Tacoma thinking the quality would be equal to their cars, it wasnt. Im sure their SUVs are really nice. DO NOT buy a Tacoma without sitting in it for at least 1 hour nonstop, it seems alot of people do not like the seats. Ive never had a problem before but Ive spoken to several Taco owners who felt the same. This was the only jap brand vehicle that I didnt like.
 
I wouldn't exactly say the Tacoma DOMINATES the small truck market. There are a HELL of a lot of rangers and colorado's and canyon's out on the road. I test drove an '07 Tacoma with the big V6 in it and thought it was a real nice truck, but the prices are WAY out of line on those things. You can get a well setup full size new for what you can get a Tacoma for nicely setup.
 
Bakemono said:
Honestly, I wouldnt own a truck with a diesel in it. Too expensive to buy, too expensive to maintain and diesel fuel costs more than gasoline right now. Whatever you gain in fuel economy with a diesel you more than lose in purchase price and maintenance costs.
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You are right about the purchase price being high on the Diesels, BUT you fail to mention the resale price is also substantially higher as well. If you do some research you will find (at least with Ford) that the initial hit of that engine purchase will follow right threw to resale with the Diesels used value being 4 to 5 grand higher than their Gasoline counterpart.

Yeah the Diesel fuel costs are FRICKIN rediculous, but the improved miledge of a comparable gas truck offsets that to a point. As far as Maintenance? oil changes are higher simply due to the oil capacity of the engine, but most drain intervals are extended with Dieslels so that one also offets to a point.

Todays Diesel engines will "usually" outlast the vehicle they are mounted too, so to summorize at least for me buying a Diesel is a no brainer over a comparable gas truck. PLUS You get that HUGE amount of pulling power

;)! ;)!

just my 2 cents
 
S.X. said:
You are right about the purchase price being high on the Diesels, BUT you fail to mention the resale price is also substantially higher as well. If you do some research you will find (at least with Ford) that the initial hit of that engine purchase will follow right threw to resale with the Diesels used value being 4 to 5 grand higher than their Gasoline counterpart.

Yeah the Diesel fuel costs are FRICKIN rediculous, but the improved miledge of a comparable gas truck offsets that to a point. As far as Maintenance? oil changes are higher simply due to the oil capacity of the engine, but most drain intervals are extended with Dieslels so that one also offets to a point.

Todays Diesel engines will "usually" outlast the vehicle they are mounted too, so to summorize at least for me buying a Diesel is a no brainer over a comparable gas truck. PLUS You get that HUGE amount of pulling power

;)! ;)!

just my 2 cents
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Well put S.X.!!!!!! ;)! ;)! ;)! ;)!
 
If you need a diesel its a no brainer, but if you dont do you really want something that sounds and smells like a garbage truck? Go into the garage of a diesel owner and notice that awful smell that will never go away. And I know, they arent as bad as they used to be but just getting fuel is a stinky proposition. I only like 2 stroke sleds so what the hell do I know, I even owned a Honda Element for 3 years (and liked it) so Im sure I have no credibility with you tough guys. And no, Im not a fag.
 
chitownpete@yahoo.com said:
If you need a diesel its a no brainer, but if you dont do you really want something that sounds and smells like a garbage truck? Go into the garage of a diesel owner and notice that awful smell that will never go away. And I know, they arent as bad as they used to be but just getting fuel is a stinky proposition. I only like 2 stroke sleds so what the hell do I know, I even owned a Honda Element for 3 years (and liked it) so Im sure I have no credibility with you tough guys. And no, Im not a fag.
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LOL, that smell never bothered me, and todays trucks it is all but gone anyway with the new DPF (filters) in the exhaust and that rattle is music to my ears!! Fuel anymore is easy at least around here, 10 years ago? yeah a little tougher.

To each is own man, thats is why I said "for me its a no brainer"

The Tundra is a nice truck, just not for me
 
....edit......??? Honestly walking into a garage should smell! i love the smell of my diesel and the black soot that when I stand on it that covers your crap Toyota, and please tell me you like the smell of your 2 stroke, .........edit.............


edits by Tork, do not post crap like what you had here!
 
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Well my only problem I just hate the smell of diesel fuel, you spill a little while fueling on you, you smell like it all day, I could never deal with the rattle, even though over the years they have gotten much better. IF I had to pull a big trailer ALL the time I would definately have to roll over for a coal burner, but I don't so I won't. For a direct comparison, my Tundra pulling a raceboat, and my friend in front of me with his Dura max from Chicago to St. Louis pulling the same raceboat, he got a full one mile to the gallon better than me, big deal, and I could drive away from him any time I wanted to.

I owned chevys, gmcs, and ford trucks, I went from an F250 to the Tundra, before I bought the Toy I went and drove the 150 and an 07 Sierra, I could have bought the other trucks cheaper, but, I went back in the morning and bought the Tundra. There is no comparison, to the attention to detail, especially over the Ford as much as I hate to say it cuz I am a ford guy, there is NO comparison in power. The interior is as nice as my Navigator.

I think all the bad press is generated more by the US manufacter's being a little scared someone is stepping on a market that they pretty much had to themselves all these years, which is good because a little competion will get them to stop milking all that old tooling they've been using all these years.

As far as Toyota's problems, they all have problems, cams? How many years have small block Chevys been eating cams? FOREVER, Torque converters? My F250 got 3 in 150K miles. You know how I knew when the torque converter was bad? IT RUMBLED. Toyota cams and shafts being made wrong? They're made in the USA, my truck was built in INDIANA. All the United Auto Workers that got laid off, where are they going to work, Toyota.

I think the big 3 just don't like the new kid on the block stepping on there feet.
 
"my Tundra pulling a raceboat, and my friend in front of me with his Dura max from Chicago to St. Louis pulling the same raceboat, he got a full one mile to the gallon better than me, big deal, and I could drive away from him any time I wanted to."

I find this hard to believe! I gaurantee that I would smoke your Tundra will my DURAMAX even pulling my dads 35 foot Fountain. So dont give me you could just pull away from him. I loe my Chevy and there will be nothing ever better than Chevy, Ford, and I hate to say it but Dodge.
 
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