My '13 Tundra totalled...now what to buy

That's pretty much how a lot of us feel. If youre spending that much on a truck, you want some nice features. It pretty much comes down to how long you will keep it (sounds like you want to keep it a long time). There are people who don't mind a payment and just get a new car every few years with the latest tech, and trade it in before warranty expires or things break. And that's fine if that's what you like. But for those of us that keep our trucks 10 + years, we want reliability without too much tech. Which is what the Tundra offers.

Ill be honest, my dad's Lariat F150 has more comfortable seats than mine and all kinds of convenient stuff. He also has a claim open with Ford for a rod knock they claim is normal. Its the 5 liter though.

 

Not sure about the audio system but doesn’t really matter because they all suck anyways. But for 2k more, I decided to get the limited over the SR5. The blind spot monitoring is nice, but I’m going to lose all that when I change my bumpers. But there’s a lot of little things too. Like leather, on the steering wheel and even on the doors, power passenger seat, auto windows on the passenger side, garage door opener, heated seats, and I’m not sure which package it’s on but my limited has a power sliding rear window. My sr5 didn’t have that. Also, if you plan to dechrome, you get a color matched rear bumper too.

 

I'll bring this up from the dead, with an update. The opinions I received were useful and this may amuse....

Shortly after posting this, I did, in fact, buy a 2019 F150 Lariat SuperCrew 4x4 with pretty much...everything. The 502A package, moonroof, and a ridiculous number of other options. Truck's MSRP was $65k but with rebates, discounts, etc, got it to $57k. Short of going out of state, it was as good a deal as I could find.

The 3.5 Ecoboost was impressive, and the truck was downright quick. It was also very comfortable, although almost too 'soft' for my tastes. Many features, like the moonroof I thought I'd use, I rarely did, and mostly worried about it leaking. Never touched the parallel park assist, nor the guided trailer thing....9/10ths of the display options I ignored completely (do I really care about degrees tilt?). But some of the tech was pretty impressive: cooled seats were nice, and I freakin' loved the exterior keypad. The B&O sound system was nice for the music and volume levels I listen at.

But there were lots of minor annoyances: the auto shut-off at stops, some strange automatic shifting across the 10 speeds...The stupid backup proximity alarm sounding and needing to be overridden every time the tailgate was down....

For the almost two years I owned it, MPG was 20.1, and almost all of my driving was on flat highways. The '13 Tundra, that was totaled, got 16.9.

All that said, I just traded the Ford last week on a 2021 Tundra Limited Double-cab 4x4. It's probably a crappy time to buy but a good time to sell, so a wash. Got a new truck AND will get a check for $2k from the dealership, which is nice.

Why?

1) The 5.5 bed/extended cab on the Ford (and so many others) was a mistake for me. Drove me f*cking crazy, as every time I used the bed, I'd always have to drop the tailgate and strap and worry about the load. You wouldn't think the extra foot makes the difference but it does. Wife and I don't have children so rarely use the rear seating for people, but I DO use the bed. I'm not a contractor so I don't need an 8' bed for dimensional lumber, but still use it often enough I need space within reason....The Tundra's double-cab as perfect for me previously, and will be again, now.

2) Concerns about long-term health. I have just retired. This truck needs to last me 10+ years, easily. The F150 felt...cheap and I worried about all the tech. In fairness, it feels like the Tundra's interior appointments aren't as solid as they used to be, either, but still much more so than the F150. Lots of thin plastic -- just not as MUCH thin plastic. But bottom-line -- I feel much more comfortable thinking I'll get > 100k out of this 2021 than the F150.

 

I think you made the best move OP !



but wait till of some others chime in to tell you how bad the current Tundras suck…

Congrats and good luck!

 

Sounds like quite the adventure, and I am glad you have found a truck that makes you happy.

One thing, in true Tundras.com form -> I wouldn't mind seeing pics of both, the F150 and the new Tundra.

 

I don't have an good pictures of my new truck yet, but was just out in the garage setting up XM stations...here's a quick snap, along with theF150 (I later removed all the decals) -- and god, I hated those fake chrome wheels, and a pic of my poor totaled '13. TBH, I was a little surprised the insurance co. declared it a 'total loss....'

New truck is 'Silver Sky Metallic' - I seem destined to be locked into the 'gray' color family. I really like 'white' for the NC summer heat, and find it doesn't show dirt, but alas.

Edit -- better pictures.

New!




Old



RIP

 

great summary from your time with the F150 and good to know about the gas mileage. when you say it like that, it doesn't see like such a big deal (only 4 mpg diff). welcome back

 

Really, it was closer to 3 MPG different (3.2 to be exact). I'm a pretty conservative driver, and my area is pretty flat (central/eastern NC) so conditions are ideal. I wasn't disappointed with the Ford's 20.1, but wasn't exactly thrilled -- especially as there's lot of hype and claims of 23+MPG. Uh...

 

right, my Dad currently has the same Ecoboost and paid extra b/c of the gain in MPGs you're supposed to get but same as you, it hasn't really turned out that way. he's over in western NC so more hills but still been less than what he thought it would be

 

Great follow-up on the experience. A few months ago I rented an Excursion with that TT V6 and was shocked at the power. I liked the B&O stereo & the interior was nice. I was happy to return to my Toyota.

Congrats on the new Tundra!

 

Thanks for the follow up. Congrats on the new truck!

 

Thanks again, all! I do think I need some running boards. I've been so used to getting in/out of trucks with them that it feels a little weird.

A couple things I wish/regret/notice from '13.

1) I'm surprised the Limited no longer comes with seat 'memory' -- this is always helpful returning the truck to BAU after my wife drives it. 2) The console recesses don't have removable inserts for cleaning, but they seem to be much better thought out, and look easy to clean with smooth corners. Dunno. 3) Back-up camera still isn't great. F150 blows it away, here, especially with the "+" feature to zoom in the trailer hitch for the last foot or so. 4) I know the OEM stereo gets dissed pretty badly, and this isn't the JBL, but it's "not bad?" 99% of my listening is XM with the occasional podcast, so it's a pretty compressed audio source to begin with. 5) Really glad to have adaptive CC and LED headlights. Those were huge improvements on the F150 from the '13 Tundra.

Anyway: I'll certainly say the F150 was an expensive 'sidetrack,' and I should have just bought a '19 Double-cab LTD (and probably would have, if the salesman hadn't been a liar - long story, but his 'discount' price he fought to get his manager to approve was $1,100 higher than the 'click here for your best price' on his own website). This recent trade was really impulsive, but intuitively I feel good about it -- I think we've all had that feeling where you make an expensive impulse purchase, and your conscience is NOT at ease.

 

It feels good to get what you really want. I'm sure you'll enjoy the new truck. I had a similar (but different ) experience with my car.

I had a 2015 Lexus GS350 on lease that I absolutely loved and intended to buy out of the lease, but then the purchase terms were not favorable so I just purchased a 2019 GS350. I had loved the color of my 15, so I really wanted that color again but talked myself into a different color just so it would be different from my 15. I instantly regretted my color choice. So a year later I traded in the 19 GS350 on a 20 GS350 just to get the right color. An expensive round trip, but I am so much happier with it, so it was worth doing the trade versus having the car I didn't really love.

 

Not exact but I had a similar situation. Bought a 2018 F150 over the Tundra and regretted it. Went through a long and arduous lemon law process to get it bought back. Worked out in the end and my 2019 Tundra Crewmax has been outstanding! Should have just bought it to begin with.

 

Same for me, but back in '13 when the '14 Tundras had just been released. At that time the F150 I was looking at had been discounted $16K so in my mind the Tundra was 'too expensive' (I'd have paid $31K or so.)

My F150 never left me stranded, but yeah, regardless of HOW nice an F150 is, and regardless of how much you may or may not like the Tundra having an 'older' interior and all that....there's a 'tightness,' a quality fit to a Toyota that you just will never get with most other trucks. Between that and the half dozen small to moderate issues I had (half of which they could never fix), I was fed up last year and got a '20 Tundra and am insanely happy with it.

 

You should've spent a little time on the F150 forums... you'd learn quick that ecoboost mpg suck and sunroofs were / are a problem with parts breaking and costing a small fortune to fix out of warranty. I had an '11 ecoboost and all highway driving on vacation never got above 19.6 mpg.

 

I know I'm really cheap but I can't imagine caring about the colour that much.

 

Welcome back.

 

I love my 2015 GS350 AWD - and wish that my Platinum Tundra had all of the features of the GS.

 

buy a new TUNDRA

 

I'm not going to lie, I have issues!

The GS is simply my favorite car I have ever owned. Love them!

 

Seems like you basically got to drive the Ford for “free” for 2 years. Not bad

 

I love reading about all the 1st world problems .. one question I have is when I see an older low miles vehicle get totaled} Do you wish you drove it more often? .. as the low miles didn't matter in the end.

Thanks for the update OP

 

Hmm...not so sure about that. I paid ~$57k for the F150 2 years ago, and the dealership gave me $51.5k, so that's a $5.5k loss for depreciation in 2 years. Dealership is also supposed to cut me a check for $1800 (difference Tundra MSRP and trade allowance), but I'm not sure how that figures into things. All I know for sure, is financially I'd have been better off buying the double-cab back in 2019 when dealerships were discounting and there was an incentive....

Nah, the miles were what they were -- I wasn't deliberately trying to keep miles off of the truck, but had another car that I drove frequently instead (and will still do).

Hey - did a road trip this weekend to visit a family member, putting 320 miles or so on the new Tundra. Highway driving in the mountains of SW Virginia and averaged 15.4 mpg, which I'm hoping will improve a bit. I will say the adaptive cruise control, which I use a lot, was much more smooth on the F150 - maybe because of the 10-speed? And when I have the DRCC engaged the display will intermittently show the 'distance between vehicles' indicator. I assume that's normal? A bit annoying.