Please Yell at this Tundra Noob

Welcome from LA (Lower Alabama)! I wish I had done this before buying. Not that I don't love my truck, but there are a couple of options I would have added that I didn't, because I thought I would never use them or care about them. I've added some on my own, but it would have been nice to just have bought it that way.

 

That is a very reasonable point. When I look at a 5-6k price difference in trims, and then add up the cost for parts and my own time in my head, it doesn’t seem as bad to just factor them in on the initial purchase.

 

There is a lot to be said for this. Unfortunately, sometimes a few things you want are in a package with a lot of things you don't want or have to pay for anyway. When I was getting ready to buy my 2018, I studied all of the options, trim levels, features, packages, etc. It turned out that I had to live with a bunch of features I had no use for to get the essential features I wanted. After considerable research, I approached our local dealer.

I sat down with the salesman and went over my comprehensive list and explained what was important and what I could live with (and what I did not want). He was very attentive and took me seriously and did not try to sell me something that I didn't want or didn't want to pay for. He did not have anything on the lot that lined up (except for one Tundra that had everything except it was 4wd which I did not want).

He took my description and went to look for a Tundra that lined up. He found two, one about 3 hours away and one about 10 hours away, the only two in California that met the criteria. I looked things over and picked the one 3 hours away. He contacted the dealer and they agreed to a trade and that was it, we were off to the races.

I had to wait 3-4 days so they could do the exchange but it all worked out beautifully, I would not change one thing in the configuration of my 2018 Tundra. I am 74 years old and this truck will almost certainly outlast me.

Dan

 

When I bought my '21, I knew I wanted either a Platinum or 1794, in white, with slight preference toward the Platinum as I didn't care for the chrome grille on the 1794. At the time, they were all pretty hard to come by. I found out that a local dealer had an inbound white 1794 with the TRD Off Road package. I secured it with a deposit, then picked it up when it came in. I swapped out the grille, added a transmission cooler, plugged in a wireless CarPlay dongle, and never looked back. I absolutely love the truck. I would enjoy getting a 3rd gen, but have no real plans to do so. I love my truck and have zero regrets.

 

The main thing I wish I knew was that the 19-21's didn't have a factory transmission cooler. I don't know if it would have prevented me from getting one, but I would have had a lower buying limit knowing I'd have to sink a few hundred and my time to get it to where I wanted it.

IMO, the changes to the 2020-21 are enough to warrant buying it over the previous years, as they have push button start, smart handles, no side antenna and Carplay. I only looked at 1794's, Platinums and TRD PRO's. I liked the 1794 interior the most, the TRD PRO exterior the most, but ended up with a Platinum. I do like that I don't have much "de-chroming" to do.

The TRD PRO definitely has the best resell value, but it was missing a couple of features I wanted, such as front parking sensors, that I need as my wife drives my truck sometimes and I'd like for the bumper to remain intact.

Lastly, when you test drive them, be careful with some of the 2020-21 years that are 4x4. There's a lot of folks from that year, including me, who had the needle bearing problem, so buyer beware. FWIW, I bought mine knowing it had the issue and that I'd need to replace it, but I used it to help negotiate it down.

 

Own a 2020 Platinum Crewmax. I'm not a big fan of the 5.5 foot bed. If I were to do it all over again, would seriously consider a double cab with a 6.5 foot bed.

 

Dan, that’s truly some top-notch service from that dealership. Thank you for sharing that story.

 

Ah, thanks for sharing this! I’m definitely going to have to look into the needle bearing problem.

 

Having owned four late-model Toyotas we bought used, and having to do zero repairs on any of them! (only maintenance items -- oil changes, tires, & batteries), we normally don't deviate from the Toyota brand. The one exception is that we own a 3/4 ton vintage emission-free Ram diesel, which we bought second hand ten years ago because we needed a diesel for towing and Toyota does not sell those in the US.

We now no longer need the towing prowess of a diesel, so I'm actively shopping for a 2018 - 2021 Tundra, so I have already done a lot of research on these years of Tundra, so I've read this thread with interest. This was the first time I ran across a reference to a needle bearing problem in the 4x4. Could someone be so kind as to refer me to a thread with details on this issue?

Personally, my target trims are: Limited, Platinum, or 1794. For me, some of my must have options are Blind Spot Monitor and Rear Cross Track Alert. We have those options on our 2017 Rav4 Limited, and having experienced same, we will never buy another vehicle without those safety features. Either feature could easily save one from an accident. Backing out of parking spaces, RCTA is priceless. Therefore on the Tundra, only the Platinum, and 1794 had those features as standard in the '18-'21 years, and some Limited models have them with the right option package. From my research on the Tundra e-brochures, these features are not even an option on the TRD Pro of these years of Tundra.

 

Interesting, I had to go look it up. I thought these features were inherent in the TSS on all 2018 and later Tundras. It turns out these (and the parking assist sonar - which I don't use) comes with the SZ - Convenience Package (which luckily I have with my Tundra).

Kind of hard to read but here it is off the window sticker ($970.00):

 

Interesting. So what model is your 2018 Tundra, SR5? And your truck has BSM and RCTA? And those two features were part of the SZ Convenience Package?

Correct, Toyota Safety Sense does not include BSM and RCTA.

 

Here are two pictures of the original window sticker. Quite a combination of packages and features. You can probably see that it took a lot of head scratching to understand what feature was included (or not included) in various packages. This took my quite a while during research before approaching the dealer.

 

OP, I was in a very similar spot as you late last year. Had settled on a 2.5 Gen Tundra as my next vehicle but shopped around and researched diligently until I found the right truck for my use case. I live in AZ (albeit Northern AZ in the mountains), and ventilated seats were a must. That immediately narrowed my search to Platinum and 1794 trucks.

I found a 2018 Platinum Crewmax with 67k miles private party in Vegas. What I didn't know or realize during the shopping phase, that would pass on to you, is the Platinum trim is the easiest trim to do a chrome delete on. All the other trims have chrome grills (other than maybe the TRD Pro), and chrome bumpers, that most members agree look awful.

Then it can cost a pretty penny to find the necessary parts to delete all this chrome. The platinum only has chrome door handles and mirror caps. A couple hundred bucks later and the whole truck has no exterior chrome and looks so much better. And the platinum interior is a nice place to be, so there's that added benefit too

 

Thanks very much for posting your window sticker. That's very helpful for me. So it appears that I could widen my search for a Tundra by including the SR5, at least any SR5's that happen to have the SF and SZ option packages. The SZ package of course, includes BSM and RCTA, and I would want the SF option package, because it includes the 38 gallon gas tank, which is another must have option on my list.

Is there a website and/or an app where I could go to plug in the VIN of a Tundra and pull up a list of exactly how that specific truck was optioned from the factory? Lacking that resource, it will become more difficult for me to shop SR5's -- this because I am willing to travel to buy the right truck at the right price, and sellers, whether dealer or private party, are not always fully detailed in their listings of how a vehicle for sale is equipped.

Three of the four late model Toyota vehicles I have purchased in the past were out of state. The vehicle as equipped, year, model, miles, condition, and price, in those three cases were such that it was worthwhile for me to fly to a nearby state, buy the vehicle, and drive it home. A mitigating factor in the state I live in for traveling to buy is that there is no sales tax on vehicles purchased from private parties. Even if buying from a dealer out of state, when returning and registering the vehicle, in this state we then pay only county sales tax, not state or local, which translates to a 3% or more savings on sales tax.

 

Re the ventilated seats, interesting, because I also live in AZ, the Southern desert. Some of the vehicles with leather seats that we have owned have not had ventilated seats, including a 2017 Rav4 Limited we now own. The ventilated seats are surely a nice add, but leather without ventilation hasn't been problematic for us in daily usage and won't be a deal breaker for us in our planned purchase of a 2.5 gen Tundra. It does help a lot, I suppose, that our vehicles are garaged and out of the sun at home.

 

I believe Toyota has a site for just this sort of inquiry. I have read about it here on occasion but unfortunately I don't have a link to it. Someone here may chime in and help you out. It would certainly provide you with correct configuration details for sure.

Dan

Edit: here is something that may help:

https://www.supereasy.com/vin-looku...ontains important information about a vehicle.

Dan

 

Thanks, Dan, I will def check that out.

 

Those are all great points. I’m in NC and my butt gets sweaty on decent drives on occasion, so vented seats would be a huge plus. Not a fan of the diamond patterns on the platinum, but I can honestly live with it. It’s just the matter of finding one that’s not 50k+ or from the salt belt.

 

Watch FB Marketplace and Craigslist and wait. Got mine for $36k after probably 4 months of waiting for the right truck to show up

 

I’m still reading through everyone’s advice and input, and I really appreciate everyone’s time. As crazy as it sounds, it seems like the pickings have got slimmer as my search goes on. Just trying to be patient and keep my eye out for the right truck, making the minimal amount of sacrifices. Seems like 3rd gens are anticipated to get better deals as the year progresses, so I’m hoping that convinces someone to make the mistake of trading on their pristine 2.5. Still can’t get over the rate I’m still seeing with issues of paint wearing, body panel fitting, and engines blowing up on the gen3. I’ve seen “a few bad apples” in other car groups I’ve been, but this seems more extreme.