Tundra as a family car? Does it make sense

Lol I drive the Tundra everywhere. I can slide straight into the seat. I rode in a Camry last week and it killed my knees and was very awkward to get in it. Hey, got new wheels!

 

Mine is the family vehicle for sure. Used all weekend and on every road trip and every trip to grandparents houses.

My wife drives a ton for work. Some days just 40 miles, but tues and Thursday she does over 300 each day. So needless to say she doesn’t want to be in her car in the weekend or for a trip.

Growing up we always had a car and a truck but the truck always seemed to be the family vehicle.

 

We use mine as the go-to family vehicle. We also have an X3, but the tundra just has more room all around. I’ve taken it on pretty long trips, no complaints. The only downfall is the MPG, but everyone knows that going in.

 

It's all perspective regarding space. Cars in the 80s growing up were tiny compared models today

Plenty of families drove around in Camrys and taurus wagons back then with no problems. Those are about the size of a Ford fiesta today

 

My family loves the Tundra, and my kids would rather be in it for trips. I added leather and heated seats.

A big boost to its usability as a family car is a bed cover. That preserves the maximum cabin space and gives everyone a limo-like ride.

I drive in and around Portland, and then lots of freeway, rural highway, and some muddy farmland/rock quarries.

I do have to be careful about parking structures- even at factory height I have had to back out after hitting the hanging warning sign- only once though!

 

Very true. But also remember that people are getting much larger lol.

 

Every time I have to sweep snow off my truck, I wonder why they made it so damn tall. Lol

 

For a secondary vehicle and truck I'm not worried about my Tundra.

For a primary family vehicle, it does make a difference and Toyota just needs to catch up.

Our GX460 averages 15mpg and it does not change much from fill to fill. It also requires premium gas.

Our best friend has a 2018 Chevy Tahoe which is bigger than the GX460 and she averages almost 19mpg. Thats on regular gas.

So assuming 22000 miles.

GX460: 1466 gallons @ ~2.80 = $4106
Tahoe: 1157 gallons @ ~2.10 = $2431

A difference of: $1674

So yeah no way I would go with another large Toyota SUV or truck as a family vehicle.

 

Cant haul a wife (her luggage), a baby (his luggage), 2 70lb dogs any better than the Tundra CM!

 

I bought my Tundra to tow better, but my wife was pregnant at the time so I bought a crewmax. I am glad I did because car seats are pretty tight in the back seat of a Tacoma double cab. The crewmax Tundra still has plenty of room in the back seat and the front passenger still has plenty of room. Others have mentioned a bed cover for the Tundra too. This is great for traveling with a stroller or other baby gear and keeping the cabin clutter free.

 

My wife's legally blind and can't drive and we have always had a sports car for me as a work vehicle and a 4 door pickup truck as the family vehicle. Never had an issue.

 

kids and wife love the Tundra on long trips. Plenty of space and safe.
for city driving/groceries we have other cars.

 

While I understand your point.... they build these things knowing payload and towing are going to be severely overloaded by most people. Usually due to people not thinking about it or just ignorance of the weight but I really dont think 5 people and luggage is a concern. You dont see people loading up 4 people in a Cadillac sedan deville and thinking they need to leave a suitcase behind because they're thinking about payload. No one even knows how much weight a sedan deville is rated for.

Only because truck manufacturers use payload as an advertising ploy do we we even think about it. People do it all the time and dont think twice but for some reason when it's in a pickup everyone starts talking about it. There is no " legality" to 5 people and luggage. Toss a 15k trailer behind it and you have some issues. No disrepect but worrying about 5 people and luggage in our trucks is a bit anal.

 

You will miss your minivan if you have to get rid of one of them. We had a minivan (odyssey) and the tundra. The van did everything family wise better than the tundra. Obviously the van couldn’t tow a boat or haul a couple yards of gravel.

we now have the tundra and an x5. I miss the minivan.

If I didn’t have a boat I’d have the x5 and a minivan.

 

I use my Tundra for a family hauler. Couple things I’d recommend would be seat covers of your liking. I have a set of Marathons and really like them. Enough I’d consider getting them again. They’re a B**** to put on but they’ve held up great after 2.5 years or so. I added an ARE cap about a year ago and love being able to just throw whatever I want in the back, bags, stroller, dog, whatever and know it’s gonna be dry and safe.

 

I had to make two trips to Lowe's tonight for a plumbing project. As I was zipping around traffic in the car I thought, if I drove my Tundra like I do my car I would get about 8 miles per gallon.

 

The Tundra is our primary family vehicle. I commute with a Honda Accord 4-5 days a week. My wife is the primary driver of the Tundra and she absolutely loves it. We traded in her Jeep Grand Cherokee and we haven’t looked back. The interior size and the functionality of the truck is great for our family. Get a tonneau cover right away so you can turn the bed into a huge trunk. We bought the RetraxPro XR and it’s great. Sure, the size of the truck can make certain trips unfavorable (ie:downtown with only street parking). We have my commuter to offset those rare instances. So a Tundra and a more economical/smaller vehicle is a great combo!

 

True. But car seats have also gotten way bigger than they used to be too requiring more room.

 

I dont think the 84 Monte Carlo was a small vehicle. My first ride............borrowed from Mom.

 

Whatever. Your point about just the family is taken. However, there are plenty of jackholes out there that will load there whole family up, the bed, and then their trailer and give it no though. And yes, I am anal about this. It is something that people should take seriously and don't. One little fuck up because some douchebag decided that he was going to ignore weight ratings can change many people's lives forever.

 

The difference with a sedan is that once you get your whole family and their luggage in, there's no room for anything else and no ability to tow a trailer. But if you're just hauling people and small stuff, why drive a truck?

 

Because that's what people in america do in the last 15 years now since the crew cab became a soccer mom vehicle and manufacturers started gouging our wallets for the pleasure lol

 

Too true. Someone on another forum was complaining about the removal of practical truck features so more fancy interior and safety stuff could be added so I proposed that maybe if gas prices went up, we could get the soccer moms and yuppies back in cars and stop having to hear about the 12" touchscreen in the Ram.

 

The point I was trying to make with my comment on not even being able to haul my family and luggage without being overloaded is just to highlight how pathetic the payload ratings on these trucks are. It isn't that I only haul my family around in my truck. Although, when traveling with my family, I prefer to take the bigger vehicle usually.

When I first bought this truck, I really wanted a heavy duty, but didn't want to deal with reliability issues. My kids were much smaller then, and I figured that the 1300 lbs on my door jamb was going to be enough to work with. I was wrong on a couple of accounts. Anytime I am doing any kind of work with the truck, I almost always wish I had more payload. I was also wrong on the reliability side - this truck hasn't been that great in that department.

 

Unfortunately my wife is part of the problem lol she drives an f150 supercrew just for a family car. Its 2wd and the only time it ever has seen anything in the bed was twice, when we bought new couches and when we moved from texas to utah. Other than that I dont think it ever had anything in it. I told her when we replace it she's getting a car or an SUV. She has ZERO need for a pickup of any kind. In my defense she owned it prior to us getting married. She likes it because "she sits high up"

 

Ha ha! We inherited a pristine Monte Carlo from my grandparents with a soft top and some kind of monster under the hood when I was a kid. 2-door, black leather... 9 mpg... but that thing screamed.

 

If you don't mind the size of it, as far as parking and driving in general, and the gas mileage then go for it. We had a 2015 Rav4 and a 2017 Tacoma. We rode together for work so one was always sitting in the driveway. We decided to trade both for a 2018 Tundra. The size was great since we went with CM. I'd recommend that for sure if you're doing it for a family car. Way more room in there. It was great except for filling it up. Once I switched jobs we decided to keep the Tundra as a workhorse. The wife now stays at home with the kid and I mostly drive a used 2015 Camry with 130k miles on it back and forth for work while she can have the space of the Tundra, except for weekends and when I just feel like driving it. Either way, you can make it work as long as you don't mind the size of these and the gas mileage. Remember, you're filling up a 38 gallon tank most likely with these, not a 20 gallon tank.

 

My wife thinks she is short ( I don't agree, but I like shorter women.) and wants a tall vehicle. When her truck finally quit she went shopping for a SUV. I thought she would come home with a 4-Runner because it is more like a truck, but she picked the Highlander and loves it. She keeps the seat as high as it will go.

 

Complaining about someone driving a truck that doesn't use it as a "truck" is no different than someone buying and daily driving a Mustang GT-500 but doesnt take it to the track. People can drive whatever they want to drive without having to explain to anyone their justification.

 

Incorrect.....given that the person I'm talking about not using as a truck is my wife if I'm helping pay for it she needs to justify it lol