Tundra as a family car? Does it make sense

I literally bought mine last week to use a family car. Previously I had a 2 door Jeep. The wife drives a mini-van. But now I can drop kids off at school, leave a child seat in it, and still have plenty of room. We have 3 kids, 14, 10, and 3 and they all love the Tundra. Would I get it for our ONLY vehicle? Possibly. But with a mini van already in the stable it is perfect for us.

 

We use the tundra as our family vehicle..comfortable for the kids for long rides and I also use the softopper, just throw everything in the bed and not worry about tying it down. I dont worry about gas mileage at all, I enjoy it more then our our 4runner.

 

I believe so, I think mine is rated at 9k lbs. We have never had a problem towing the boat which is 23.5ft with a 225 Verado on the back.

 

Interesting thought, and certainly true... but that would be the case with any vehicle, including keeping the minivan (in OP's case). But I know what you are saying.

 

sure did. It's a small back road and they were going about 15mph.

 

Often, SUV payloads are higher than those of the CrewMax. I know our old 2016 4Runner had more payload than my CrewMax. The Sienna appears to have a range from 1245-1565 lbs.

The payload for the CrewMax is really low.

 

Have two kids two dogs. Tow a camper. Coach soccer and can throw the nets, balls, etc. in the back. Have a 4Runner too but on long trips we take the Tundra as it is more comfortable.

 

True. Now that you mention it; I once had to deliver a bunch of brochures for a friend (several boxes full). I loaded them at the printer in my company Explorer to get them to my house (the printer was close to work). No problem. Loaded it on my Tacoma (before I had the Tundra) to take to my friend's house and it was sitting dead on the bump stops. I had to load it in my wife's Odessey ; squatted a little, but not nearly as much as the Tacoma. Drove the 120 miles with no issues. The Tacoma would have been on the bump stops the whole way.

 

Lots of talk about the poor gas mileage that is cited as a potential negative to using the Tundra as the family vehicle - which is true. But doing a bit more analysis on the fuel cost versus the cost of buying either a more fuel efficient vehicle with less room for the family or another alternative which would be the addition of a second vehicle. Here is an example comparing Tundra to a vehicle getting better gas mileage.

Let's assume:
- You drive 10,000 miles per year. A fairly average amount of annual miles for a lot of people.
- And you drive mostly city miles which gives the poorest gas mileage.
- Assume $2.50/gallon for regular gas, even though it's cheaper than that right now.

For the Tundra - Let's use an average gas mileage of 15 mpg because we are assuming lots of city driving. At 10,000 miles/year your Tundra will consume 666 gallons/year.

Alternative vehicle - Let's assume you buy something really efficient that gets 25 mpg, which is unlikely, but possible. You will consume 400 gallons in 10,000 miles.

The difference of 266 gallons (666 less 400 = 266 gallons) per year will cost you $665 per year, which may be considerably less if you compare the Tundra to an alternative vehicle not getting 25 mpg. Or if the alternative vehicle uses premium fuel as many do. However, the cost to drive the Tundra may be worse if you drive more than 10,000 miles/year, you get less than 15 mpg, or if gas prices rise substantially which doesn't seem likely right now. (My average is just under 17 mpg, with lots of highway miles.)

My view is that the cost of additional fuel is small compared to the alternatives. Parking this big vehicle in the city is another matter .....

 

I have a DC and also own a 97 4Runner which is the original family vehicle for my wife and 2 boys. We use the Tundra for all family rides. I get about the same mpg as I do in the 4Runner for the Tundra. And the Tundra has more seating room compared to the 4Runner. The size of the Tundra wasn’t bad at all after you get used to it. I believe I have more benefits from using the Tundra as the family vehicle. And the family is happy too. The wife only drives the 4Runner to go to work now and all other trips are Done in the Tundra. To top it all off, I feel more peace of mind knowing my family has more chance of walking away from an accident in the Tundra too. If you are even considering using the Tundra as the family vehicle, I think it’s very doable.

 

My wife and I are trying something similar to @Geezer. She drives her Corolla to work and I drive the Tundra. Even though her commute is shorter than mine, I'd rather drive the truck because she doesn't want to drive something that big and I'd rather make sure it's being warmed up properly and returning somewhat reasonable fuel economy.

Once the Corolla reaches end of life (which I'm hoping is at least 8 or 10 years away), I'd like to replace it with a compact hatchback so it's still efficient and easy for my wife to drive but slightly more practical so I don't have to take the truck every time we go anywhere that we have to either take something or bring something back.

We're planning to start a family soon so we'll see how that plan holds up to real life...

 

You live in Colorado. Lots of CO folks here have the CrewMax. Lose the Sienna. Get the Tundra. Lots of cool places here for breathtaking road trips and pop up camping.

 

I'm going to have to argue some of these numbers (yes i know you said they can change, see highlighted above). They're softening the total difference. According to some searching, the average is 13000 miles driven per year.
15 mpg for city driving in a tundra seems high. More like 13.
1000 gallons for the Tundra.
Modern cars will get 30 mpg city driving. So 433 for a sedan/coupe
Difference of 567 gallons. Multiplied by your given (i agree with) $2.50 per gallon, we're looking at $1,417.50 per year. Or $118.13 per month.

All in all. Everyone's situation will be different and many can easily make the argument to make the Tundra a family vehicle. Others see it as nonsense. The beauty of forums, the OP gets both opinions and a lot of information to be able to make their decision.

 

All good and valid, but $118/month is not going to pay a 2nd vehicle's monthly payment, insurance, tags etc. Also, most people who do this get a "beater"; lower monthly payment but bigger risk of repair cost every now and then.
I do 40,000 miles a year and it is not worth for me getting a 2nd vehicle when you take everything in account. It is not just fuel cost.

 

Agreed. I also drive 40k+ and have done the math 1000 times, including selling my truck for a 18+ Camry that I could average about 35mpg in. I'd save about $350 per month but I don't like the idea of a smaller car for long distance commuting. IMO, if you can afford it it's safer to be in the truck if you're driving that much. I do a boat load of highway driving and it's always the smaller cars that are totally fubar'd compared to a large truck/SUV when I see an accident.

 

Right Right. I'm not advocating for either way. Just throwing numbers out there. I've tossed around the idea of buying a car for 1-2k that i can run liability insurance on and repair myself as needed. But then i didnt want to go through the hassle of it because i know what will happen. I'll walk out of the house and see two options. A 1997 Toyota Camry or a 2020 Tundra. I'll end up taking the truck and not wanting to drive the car lol

 

Gas prices are pretty reasonable here in CO too. I got 87 for $2.37 the other day.

 

$2.09 here yesterday!

We have used my Tundra for two 4-hour trips already. With a 16 month old daughter and a pregnant wife, the room is luxurious. It's a wonderful road trip vehicle. MPG's be damned, we ride in comfort and safety.

 

We have a 2017 Sienna and 2018 Tundra. If we are going anywhere around town as a family we always take the Sienna because it's easier for the kids to get in, gets better gas mileage, and is easier to park. If both cars are home and I'm running out for an errand I may choose to take the Sienna for parking etc. We only take the truck with kids if the other vehicle is being used. We will take the truck on a road trip if we need the extra cargo space and load capacity as well as 4 wheel drive. For this reason I'm installing a SnugTop to keep cargo enclosed. Good luck!

 

You will definitely be honing your parking skills using a Tundra as a daily driver.

 

My rig is our family car. Truth is, my wife and girls miss my 2005 LR3. It rode like a dream, but started having too many issues. Sold it, but kinda wish I could've kept it. Here's a pic of it:

I love my Tundra as a daily driver though. Taken it on many long distance trips with the family, and my wife loves driving it. All that horsepower makes her smile.

 

I bought my Tundra a year ago last November, so about 15 months ago. It has been my daily driver, and now have 42k miles on it. It instantly became the family vehicle just like the 2016 that I put 60k miles on in 24 months before it.. My smallest of the three teenagers is a 5'-10" 15 yr old female. The others are 6'4" female age 16 and 6'5" 14yr old male that is not done growing.. Crewmax legroom was really the best option I could see, other than maybe the F150, but I refused to go down that road. Suburbans don't have the leg room, and I couldn't see 60K for a Sequoia...

My we go through the gas, in fact last week I spent 1200 miles driving to basketball games and other family functions. Well worth it though knowing that it is reliable, and feels super safe. I hope it only ever gets to prove out the reliability part.

I have thought about getting an older Tundra to keep the miles off this one a bit, but couldn't get it to pencil out. Miles just happen on a Toyota..


In the garage I still have my 2010 4 door Jeep Rubicon.. At 106k miles, I figure I have likely gotten it to the point that I should baby it miles wise..

 

Absolutely. Makes a great family car. Not concerned too much about gas, my other vehicle is a 5.7 V8 dinosaur Lexus LX570. What makes it great is you can put your family in there, plenty of space in the crewmax, throw things in the back of the truck bed without worrying about scratching anything, extremely reliable (don’t have to worry about my family being stranded), and much more safer than a smaller unibody vehicle. Safety and reliability is a higher priority than fuel economy. In a hypothetical worst case scenario there are lots of trucks out there, I would rather keep my family safe in a heavier vehicle than a smaller vehicle.

 

I had a 7 series BMW....found out we had #3 on the way......month before he was born i went to get groceries, came home with a tundra. Legit been the best all around vehicle i've ever owned. I'm now fucked as we have #4 on the way.....

 

I'd say do it.. we have a rav4 but rarely use it bc we like the tundra so much.. with the back up camera parking is easy imo..

Plenty of room for trips.. went to nc a 13 hr trip stopped once the whole way with a 3 and 6 yr old. Gas tank a ++..

 

I only drive the Tundra when necessary, otherwise always drive our sedan. More comfortable, much more fuel efficient, better performance and easier to drive and park.

 

Wishing ford still made the excursion

 

Black wolf has good points. We are usually a 1 car family. I’m also really used to the poor gas mileage in my 4Runner. It seems to me like my tundra and the 4Runner get close to the same mpg. It costs me about the same to fill up both tanks. I have the smaller gas tank on my tundra. The only significant hit on my finances was the full coverage insurance on the tundra and the new car payment. As far as gas goes we are spending an extra 20-30 dollars a week. Worth it