After more than a decade on the market and now four years into the second-generation model, the Toyota Tundra has evolved

The Tundra Double Cab looks right at home at this construction site. (Photo: Simon Hill, Canadian Auto Press)

from being a challenger to an established competitor in the full-size North American truck market. And while sales were well off in 2009 largely due to the shaky economy and much-publicized recalls over unintended acceleration and frame rust, the fact of the matter is that the Tundra remains a damn good truck. Happily for Toyota, it seems consumers are once again starting to realize this, with October 2010 Tundra 4x4 sales up 12.1 percent over the same month last year here in Canada, and 2010 year-over-year sales figures that showed a gain of 28.5 percent as of July in the U.S. — an increase that’s twice as good as the industry average.

Designed and engineered in the U.S. and built in San Antonio, Texas, the Tundra can hardly be called an import competitor — from a North American point of view, it’s an import-brand domestic truck. Like its domestic-brand brethren, the Tundra is available in a wide variety of configurations. There are three cab styles — Regular Cab,

The Tundra, once smaller than its peers, is now one of the big boys. (Photo: Simon Hill, Canadian Auto Press)

Double Cab and CrewMax — and two bed sizes (three if you count the short bed that comes only with the CrewMax cab). Regular Cab and CrewMax models all get a 5.7L iForce 32-valve DOHC V8 producing 381 horsepower at 5,600 rpm and 401 lb-ft of torque at 3,600 rpm, while Double Cab models are available with either the 5.7L iForce V8 or a smaller 4.6L iForce V8 that produces 310 horsepower at 5,600 rpm and 327 lb-ft of torque at 3,400 rpm.

Inside, the Tundra is comfortably and intelligently fitted out, although for its $40k price point our SR5 Double Cab 4x4 test truck sported a fair amount of painted plastic trim — it would have been nice to get chrome surrounds for the instruments, for example, and a few other luxury touches. What our truck’s $2,935 upgrade package did include was a console-mounted shifter and an extremely well thought

The Double Cab features smaller rear doors for accessing its abbreviated rear quarters. (Photo: Simon Hill, Canadian Auto Press)

out front console box that allows this pickup to serve as a well-organized office on wheels. The right-hand side of the console box has room to slide in a 15-inch laptop computer, and the top of the console serves as a stable platform for working on an open laptop. In the centre of the box are hangers for regular size hanging files to keep all the paperwork for various jobsites organized and handy. If you don’t need the hanging files, there’s a nifty drop-in tray so you can keep large items in the bottom of the console box and smaller items in the tray. A pair of cupholders are arranged forward of the console, with pop-out cupholders for the backseat passengers built into the rear of the console. An overhead console box includes the usual drop-down sunglasses holder, plus a drop-down business card holder and a couple of bigger bins for safety goggles or what-have-you.

In addition t

Toyota takes the sporty route in the Tundra's interior design. (Photo: Simon Hill, Canadian Auto Press)

o the console boxes the upgrade package also includes 18-inch aluminum wheels, a tilt and telescopic steering wheel, front bucket seats with 8-way power adjustment on the driver’s side, a sliding rear window, clearance and backup sensors, a lock package with keyless entry and theft alarm, fog lamps, map lights, an auto-dimming rearview mirror with integrated garage door opener, and storage trays under the rear seats. The rear seats themselves are roomy and comfortable, with better legroom than found in the back of many small cars.

Up front, the driver’s bucket is pleasant place to conduct business, supportive and comfortable. Seating material in the SR5 is premium-quality cloth, although the light beige in our test vehicle might prove tough to keep clean depending on how much of the outside your job tends to bring inside. In a nod towards the fact that users of

Front seats are large and comfortable. (Photo: Simon Hill, Canadian Auto Press)

this truck will often be wearing work gloves, the climate controls use easy-to-operate oversize knobs that might be considered either “construction grade” or “Tonka-toy” depending on your point of view.

A couple of quibbles I had were that it is a bit of a stretch to reach to the audio controls from the driver’s seat, and you can’t actually read the audio display in direct sunlight. Replacing the somewhat outdated green LED display with a backlit LCD display would easily solve this problem. While they were at it, I’d also have Toyota rearrange the tuning and volume dials. Due to the long reach, they’ve stacked these dials one above the other nearest the driver, and nine times out of 10 when I went to adjust the volume I ended up changing stations. It’s one of those things you’d likely soon adapt to, but still ...

The

Rear seats do the job in a pinch. (Photo: Simon Hill, Canadian Auto Press)

audio system does at least produce good sound — great sound, actually — and features MP3/WMA audio capability plus an auxiliary input jack, AM/FM radio, CD changer and six speakers. Our test truck’s upgrade package also added XM satellite radio, steering wheel-mounted audio controls and Bluetooth phone connectivity.

On the road, the 5.7L V8 in our test truck emitted a pleasant deep bass rumble and had seemingly bottomless reserves of power, with a corresponding appetite for fuel (estimated consumption is 16.8 / 11.8 L/100 km city/hwy, or about 17 / 24 mpg). Toyota has designed this rig for serious hauling duty (4,670 kg / 10,300 lb towing capacity), as evidenced by the standard integrated towing hitch and a full suite of gauges that let you monitor not just the engine temperature, but also the transmission temperature and engine oil pressure. To get the most out of the drivetrain when towing or hauling heavy loads, the throttle mapping and transmission shift points can be adjusted by pressing a “Tow/Haul” switch. When engaged, the tow/haul mode increases throttle response for a given throttle input, and holds upper gears longer for better acceleration and for less gear “hunting” when going uphill on the highway. It also downshifts the upper gears more aggressively when decelerating to provide increased engine braking. Our test vehicle was a 4x4 model, controlled using Toyota’s proven one-touch system — a simple switch on the dash allows selection of rear-wheel drive, 4-high or 4-low.

The Tundra uses a fairly sophisticated “TripleTech” frame,

The Tundra's full-size box makes no excuses. (Photo: Simon Hill, Canadian Auto Press)

which has fully-boxed frame rails in the front portion, reinforced C-channel under the cab and an open C-channel underneath the bed to provide the best possible blend of strength, ride quality and durability. While some early Tundras suffered frame rust, Toyota repaired or replaced the affected components under warranty and has increased the steel gauge and improved corrosion protection in the new generation trucks. On the road, the engineering efforts pay off handsomely — the frame feels remarkably rigid for such a big truck, demonstrating a minimum of flex or twisting.

The suspension uses double wishbones with coil-over spring shock units at the front, and heavy-duty leaf springs with bias-mounted shocks at the back, giving a 560-kg (1,255-lb) payload capacity. Steering feel is quite good thanks to the front-mounted

The 5.7L iForce V8 pulls its weight and a great deal more. (Photo: Simon Hill, Canadian Auto Press)

steering rack, although you won’t forget you’re driving a truck — hit a bump while negotiating a corner and the tail hops out a bit, just like pretty much every truck since the Model T. I didn’t get an opportunity to really try out the Tundra’s 4x4 capabilities, but rough dirt roads proved an easy challenge for the test truck, even if the passengers did get somewhat jostled around on the bigger bumps thanks to the suspension’s construction-grade DNA. Even on pavement, the Tundra’s ride is fairly firm — it absorbs minor imperfections easily enough, but bigger sharp-edge imperfections such as speed bumps can be transmitted into the cab with a bit of a jolt.

On the safety front, the Tundra has you covered with standard traction and stability control to keep things on the straight and level, and beefy four-wheel disc brakes aided by ABS, electronic brakeforce distribution and brake assist to bring everything to a timely halt. Passive safety is covered with dual front airbags, dual front knee airbags,

The Tundra is one serious work truck that's ideal for playing on the weekends. (Photo: Simon Hill, Canadian Auto Press)

seat-mounted side airbags, roll-sensing front and rear head/side-curtain airbags, height-adjustable front seatbelts, and the best IIHS crash ratings in the segment. Protecting your pocketbook, the Tundra is covered by a three-year, 60,000 km basic warranty, with five-year, 100,000 km powertrain coverage.

With a suggested price range starting at $26,195 for the base two-wheel drive model and running up to $54,025 for a loaded 4x4 CrewMax Limited model, the Tundra is neither the cheapest nor the most expensive truck out there — you can get a basic Dodge Ram for less, and you can load up a GMC Sierra to create a more expensive, luxurious ride. What you do get in the Toyota is a well thought out truck, with an excellent level of standard equipment and world-class powerplant. It all adds up to good value in a serious work truck — I pulled into a local construction site to shoot some photos, and naturally the guys on the job came over to check the Tundra out. Looking it over, they were reasonably impressed and asked me the price. When I told them the test truck, as equipped, rang in at a suggested retail price of $40,155 plus $1,560 destination and delivery charges, they became seriously impressed. “Really?” one of them asked. “Man, I shoulda got a Toyota.”

Interior

Exterior

Mechanical

Safety

Dimensions

Misc

(J005) Standard Gloss Paint

(J004) Standard Black Paint

(B) SR5 Package