MotorTrend Year-Long TRD PRO review

ColoradoTJ · Jun 24, 2024

cmiles97 said: ↑

If you can trust them, local dealer has a bunch of 6.4L V-8 Challengers and Chargers for less than $45K, a couple below $40k. 485hp/475 ft lbs for that price!

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This is what my wife said after selling my second Dodge product:

"If you ever bring a Dodge home again, make sure you include the cost of divorce..."

40man · Jun 24, 2024

Motor Trend, like a lot of print media, is dying. I think their tv channel died and they are going all digital. They seem to be doing anything they can to survive.

mass-hole · Jun 24, 2024

blenton said: ↑

So I actually did read the article. While honest about a few things, I think it ignored 97% of pickup truck ownership realities and focused on a few whining complaints. Perhaps the battle for truck superiority is waged in that last three percent, but, as noted, those complaints were compared to an out-of-category vehicle and no mentions were made fo the actual competitors.

They praise the auto manufacturer for ditching the V8 (a crowd favorite) in favor of a TTV6 (not so crowd pleasing), then complain that it doesn't get amazing fuel economy pushing a big heavy brick down the road. Complaining about fuel economy is just silly, IMO. They noted that they could best the EPA numbers and achieve 23 MPG, but only averaged 15 MPG. The best fuel economy mod is the driver, so essential they are complaining that they are not fuel efficient drivers.

Still on the subject of the drivetrain, they erroneously claim the the Raptor is "significantly more capable and powerful". Capability is, I suppose, somewhat subjective, so talking about offload prowess, the Raptor is more capable (as it should be and as note, isn't in the same category as the pro). From payload and towing, payload is about the same (it's a 1/2 ton, after all) but I still think the Pro edges it out, while the pro has significantly more towing capacity than the Raptor. Empirically, the Raptor bests the tundra by 11 HP, while being bested in the torque department by 79 Lb-ft. 11 HP sounds pretty negligible - that's about 2%; 79 lb-ft of torque is more significant - 15%. So I suppose their use of the work "significant" is either "significantly nit-picked" or "significantly subjective based on their somewhat a-typical pickup truck use case".

Moving on, their next big complaint was the "horrendous turning circle" that caused them great issue while traversing the starbucks drive thru. Hmm. Ok. I do value a good turning radius and my Gen2 tundra turning radius is phenomenal, IMO. My Gen2 sequoia is even better and turns stupid tight (due to it's shorter wheelbase). I've driven all of one singular gen3 and didn't take any issue with the turning radius. So maybe, MABYE they have a point there.

Next on the list was the Pro suspension. I also can't speak to the pro suspension, but the Gen3 suspension seemed improved compared to the Gen2 stock ride. They also make no note of trying to resolve any suspension issues or even tire pressures - tires being a component of the suspension. And, again, suspension is subjective. If they are expecting a raptor-esque ride, they are missing the biggest point made earlier in the thread about the the mismatched comparison: the raptor is a desert toy that can do truck things while the Pro is a truck that can do desert things. Hence the increased tow capacity.

Tires were also a complaint. I'll give them that 100%. The Toyota-spec'd Falkens aren't good. Neither were the Toyota-spec'd BFG's that came on my tundra. So I replaced them with a some quality tires as soon as the factory tires wore out. This is pretty common with many OE spec'd tires and most vehicle buyers that own the vehicle longer than a year or two understand and accept - even embrace - it. So why replace the tires with the same junk tires and complain they also wore out early? Sounds like the journalists naivety or poor choices. I've made them before. Most have.

Overall, it glossed over the important aspects of a pickup truck - the ability to tow and haul with confidence, safely and reliably - and was even more lackluster than their impressions of the Pro suspension. They did give us two or three sentences, admitting that the tundra pulled their razor on a trailer to the desert like it wasn't even there. But that's it. No elaboration on towing or hauling prowess, just that it did it.

I'll admit, I'm somewhat biased against MotorTrend and general consider their journalistic and entertainment endeavors bummfodder. The brand has, IMO, gone downhill over the last four or five years. Instead of giving automotive enthusiasts a popular voice that chooses the direction of the company and types of articles presented, MT has tried to shove their ideas of what the automotive world should be down enthusiasts throats. I very much enjoyed many seasons of MT's original series and magazines for years; but they have run them in to the ground, changed them for the worse, or flat out deleted them from their repertoire. They've canned or coerced long time stalwarts who don't fall in line with whatever it is they are trying push (EV's anyone? Nah, EV's for EVERYONE...). I don't think I've watched an episode of anything on MTOnDemand for 6 months. It's just not worth watching or reading any more. It's almost like their production material is handed to them from the highest bidder..

OK, ok, I'll end the MT rant. But I'm just being honest about the lens through which I view MotorTrend.
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Any truck with a set of Fox coilovers and some mediocre A/T tires can be a truck and do desert things. That's the problem I think.

NewToTRD · Nov 23, 2024

ColoradoTJ said: ↑

This is what my wife said after selling my second Dodge product:

"If you ever bring a Dodge home again, make sure you include the cost of divorce..."
Click to expand...

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