Test of the American Toyota Tundra TTV6 SR5 TRD pickup

Since 1999, Toyota has been offering the large Tundra pickup truck to Americans. After all, it is produced there, originally in Indiana and now in Texas. You might think that’s the territory of American automakers, but foreign competition wants a bite of that big sales pie, too, and Toyota already had a pretty decent T100 pickup before that. It was still produced in Japan, only the Tundra began to be created directly in the USA as the first large Japanese pick-up ever.

The third generation XK70 has been on the market since 2021 and introduced a much more aggressive Kevin Hunter design. The car is tall, looks boyish enough, and at the same time it has all the new goodies and LED lights. The specific car is also beautified by a nice red metallic and a package of TRD accessories including functional anti-slip treads under the door sills and black alloy wheels. Instead of chrome, the mask is also framed in glossy black. But there is much more to the car than just a new look.

Gone are the eight-cylinders, under the hood you will only find the six-cylinder V35A-FTS Twin Turbo with a volume of 3.4 liters, in a normal or hybrid version. Here’s the normal version, so we’re talking about 390 hp (290 kW) and 650 Nm of torque. It is important for our market that it meets the EURO VI standard. And most customers will be interested in how much I consumed during the test, to which I can answer with a value of 17.1 liters. But take into account that it was a shorter test and that on a longer route the consumption would definitely go down, I calculate to 15 liters, some reviewers even talk about 14 liters.

The engine is paired with a ten-speed Aisin automatic, which works like a continuously variable transmission, as the individual gear changes are not known at all. The drive goes to the rear as standard, optionally to all wheels. There are also electronic differential locks, including the inter-axle one. The TRD package includes special Bilstein shock absorbers, thanks to which ride comfort is ensured on the road, but the car also works with them off-road.

The Tundra has a four-door, five-seat CrewMax cabin, and it’s decently spacious. There is so much legroom in the back that many a European limousine could envy it. Even the inclination of the backrest is not unpleasant, so it will not be a problem to seat adult passengers in the back. Of course, the seats don’t lack the ISOFIX system, so you can also transport your children safely.

The minimum length is just under six meters, but the longest cabin in combination with the longest body exceeds 6.2 meters. The electrically retractable rear window between the body and the cabin is also an interesting feature. Brand new is the high-strength steel frame construction with reinforced rear reinforcement. The body is aluminum and reinforced. Nevertheless, if you are an enthusiastic lover of Japanese Toyotas, you will definitely not miss the slightly different, more American production quality. It’s just that when you close the door or the hood, you hear that it’s different from the Hilux. But the Tundra is, in short, an American-made car for the American market, and it lives up to that. However, the famous Japanese reliability seems to have remained.

The equipment of a particular vehicle is marked as SR5, and therefore it is the second level. Here it is additionally supplemented with the TRD package. In practice, this means 12 airbags, automatic dual-zone air conditioning, keyless starting and unlocking, 360-degree monitoring for monitoring the entire surroundings of the car (parking or driving off-road to the millimeter could not be easier), adaptive cruise control, adaptive chassis control, infotainment with a giant fourteen-inch touch screen and bluetooth connection, assistant driving in lanes and in a column, parking sensors with the function of monitoring traffic when reversing, assistant for driving uphill and downhill and for maintaining the stability of the trailer, side steps, alloy wheels, leather, heated and electrically adjustable front seats, leather multifunctional heated steering wheel, heated windshield, electric windows and mirrors. As if there was an effort for a bit of a premium impression.

You might expect leaf springs at the rear, but the Tundra opted for a pleasantly communicative chassis with shock absorbers and coil springs and a multi-link rear suspension. The behavior on the road is very pleasant even without a load and has noticeably improved compared to the previous generation. The bouncing is gone and the tilts are also much smaller. The more civil demeanor is sure to please and means you can use this originally work car normally without making your family sick. You might expect more of the above-mentioned load, because officially you can only load 880 kilograms. But it will make up for the towing equipment, because you can tow up to 5.3 tons behind the Tundra.

You all know that Ford’s pick-ups sell the most in this segment, but still, the Tundra managed to occupy up to 17% of the market in the US and in some years exceeded the 200,000 sold cars mark. With us, the number of cars sold per year can be counted on the fingers of one hand, and you can only get it from a single dealer, the company Dajbych 4×4.

After all, this particular one alone costs 2,903,879 crowns, which is not at all little. But the car is in stock and you can drive away in it right away. And if you need such a pickup, it doesn’t sound so exorbitant. And frankly, the Toyota with its design may be a better choice for many people than the American competition.