Fairly critical take on how Toyota has repositioned the Tundra

As far as gen 2 or 2.5, vs gen3 pulling , my guess is gen 3 hands down, more torque at a much lower rpm with a 10-speed behind it, kinda a no brainer which is why Toyota did it

 

What I'm getting at is it could be even better - an HD version would obviously be setup better the deal with the heavy loads, and the the 1/2 ton could be even nicer just driving around. Toyota has to make compromises where the big 3 don't.

And bigger payload/towing numbers don't necessarily mean it does those things more comfortably. That was the big advantage the 2nd gen had over the big 3 - you could tow/haul at it's limits and it was extremely comfortable, almost more so than empty. I'm really curious how the frame/chassis/suspension does when loaded up - is it still very confident feeling like the 2nd gen was or have they compromised a bit

 

Fair concerns. Everything I've read so far though is that the 3rd Gen tows much better than the 2nd Gen. There's a thread on here about towing with it and of the posters are people who came from 2.5 gen. TFL (even though I think they're clowns), actually did a good run up Pike's Peak with hauling an 8000lb trailer and the feedback they gave was all positive, especially coming from the Ford fangirls they are.

 

I am just getting back from a trip. thanks for these opinions (below) on why you would keep the 2.5 instead of going to the 3.0.
Always interested in more opinions whenever a matter is open. In this case as long as I am able to get a crazy amount for trade in value, the matter is open, but on the other side buying at MSRP offsets it. And there are no trucks available to buy anyway. When I was coming back gas was $2.10 Liter. My truck has a 38 gallon tank so 143 liters. I filled from half. It cost me as much as that new boat starting battery I bought, and the battery will last me 5 years. Just saying. rant.

Wanted to mention something that happened a couple of days ago that has me more concerned about the......front tow hooks (lack of on the 3rd gen). The boats we usually launch fishing/bowriders/runabouts go into natural lakes with sand/mud bottoms, many with shallow level entries so sometimes..... you are into the lake (all 4 wheels) to get deep enough to float the boat off. Someone launched a boat with a pickup. The brand doesn't matter. What matters is when he went to pull the boat out, his wheels were spinning and he started sinking down into the mud. Another truck helped him out and hooked up to his front tow hooks.

So this forum and all the discussion about the lack of tow hooks got me thinking about this. What if it was a 3.0 Gen Tundra that happened to? Has someone found a place to hook onto without doing a lot of damage to the front body ?

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if you’re worried about a lack of tow hooks then some the $200 on these

https://www.vividracing.com/-p-1549...CSI8zmiuneq1wkE16Ngn9YdtwUbdiD2saAqRCEALw_wcB

 

How do you even pull from those without ripping the entire front of the truck off? If your nose down at all that’s a lot of digging

better than nothing I guess

they just didn’t design this new truck for that stuff is my thought , too much nose overhang

if your into that bumber replacement is the way to go

 

So in looking at the picture in the link, that places the recovery hooks in line with the front wheels.
Yeah, that's a lot of real estate in front compared to the previous version.
Any pull will also bring an upward motion, so they are not there to not damage anything but to hopefully get you out.
Assuming everything in front of the hooks on the 2022 is designed as a crumple zone and the reason they are so far back. It does make me wonder how Ford and the others can have the hooks in front and still maintain the safety ratings. Why not Toyota ?

 

Toyota looks like they've gone a different direction than Ram especially - the Ram engine is that far back from the bumper as well but this cause a hump in the footwell that's extremely noticeable in the passenger seat. Toyota looks like they've kept the engine, hybrid unit, and transmission out of the footwells but this causes the extra foot of space in front of the wheels for coolers and crash structure.

I bet Toyota could easily come up with a tow hook 'option' that would require either a new front bumper or some cut outs for semi style tow pins, and neither would be overly costly with the TRD off road packages being quite high sellers and would expect that to be the standard to come with that option.

It will be interesting to see how they put tow hooks on the new Tacoma - just cannot see them not putting tow hooks on the Tacoma which has had the better off road gear over the Tundra. And I don't see a reason why the concept couldn't be transferred over to the Tundra, would only need a different bumper.

 

They are just better than others at getting them build probably, the have sold 127,116 Rams thru March of 2022. Toyota has done 37,218 thru May of 2022.

 

Seems like I read they were not as impacted by the chip shortage for some reason. I could easily be mistaken.

Edit: here it is...

https://www.slashgear.com/ram-truck...ckups-as-the-chip-shortage-continues-29688809

 

Now is that figure 1/2 ton only. The big 3 group their entire line up together when it comes to sales figures. If I recall Ford even counts up to the F550 class. Not that Toyota will ever out sell the big 3 but I have yet to see numbers for just 1/2 tons

 

My estimation would be about 7-8,000 lbs with the trailer and 2 horses plus give or take 800 lbs of payload

 

Yeah, after driving both gens, I can confidently tell you that the 3rd hauls just as comfortably if not better because of the significant increase in power and top of the line suspension I've got in my pro. That truck is the best driving truck I've owned to this point. I am a bit biased, as we all are in some ways. But the numbers speak for themselves there. That's the difference in engineering between Toyota and the big 3. They play the higher number war on paper. Where Toyota sets their numbers based on what they know will tow/haul comfortably at the limits they put on paper.

 

I came from a 1st gen Ridgeline, & yes the first thing I knew I was loosing was a ton of functional storage space, with the trunk, & cab storage cubbies etc. I had a lot of organized space to store stuff, stock from the factory, now I have less. Everything that came out of my Ridgeline still hasn’t found a proper storage spot in the tundra yet. Still being creative with some things. It would be even worse with a hybrid.

i have the truck I wanted, not complaining, but confirming above comment about cubic storage space.