2023 Toyota Tundra Hybrid Lengthy-Time period Street Check: Introduction

Regardless of huge annual gross sales and ubiquitous standing on U.S. streets, full-size pickup vans stay a valuable commodity in Automobile and Driver’s long-term fleet. Naturally, we wasted little time placing our newly acquired 2023 Toyota Tundra to work. With beneath 300 miles on the Tundra’s clock, senior technical editor Dave Beard loaded his 550-pound Ski-Doo into the crew cab’s normal five-foot-five-inch composite mattress and pointed the Tundra’s monumental schnoz north on I-75 towards Michigan’s wintry Higher Peninsula.

The roughly 800-mile roundtrip journey from C/D’s Ann Arbor headquarters offered a literal chilly open to our hybrid Tundra Restricted CrewMax’s 40,000-mile check. In the course of the truck’s first snowstorm, the grille-mounted radar acquired blocked by particles, rendering the adaptive cruise management ineffective. The truck’s 20-inch all-season tires struggled within the silty lake-effect snow however dealt with packed powder higher. Its spacious cabin additionally saved Beard cash on a motel room one frigid night time. “I shacked up within the again row in my sleeping bag and was fairly comfy,” he stated. “I would do it once more.” Afterward, he found out the truck’s distant begin takes 5 key-fob presses, which might’ve saved the cabin hotter for longer as he drifted off to dreamland. Like the beginning of most long-term relationships, studying one another’s quirks takes time.

This is not our first date with the redesigned Tundra—we have examined a nonhybrid Restricted mannequin and an off-road-focused TRD Professional, with the latter ending behind fellow hybrids within the Ford F-150 and Ram 1500 in a comparo showdown—but it surely’s an prolonged alternative to look at the truck that is lengthy been overshadowed by its home rivals. For perspective, People purchased about 104,000 Tundras in 2022 however wolfed up practically 654,000 Ford F-series fashions, about 513,000 Chevy Silverados, and over 468K Ram vans. Nonetheless, Tundra gross sales rose 27 p.c from 2021, suggesting Toyota’s loyal fanbase has renewed curiosity. Was their persistence well worth the wait? We goal to search out out.

The third-generation Tundra’s debut was a welcome one, as the higher a part of twenty years had handed because the second technology debuted. Positive, a 2014 makeover tried to maintain issues contemporary, however the truck nonetheless felt dated—and that was virtually 10 years in the past. Toyota unwittingly advantages from the previous truck overstaying its welcome as the brand new one seems further, properly, new. Now constructed on the TNGA-F body-on-frame platform, it trades rear leaf springs for a extra refined coil-spring configuration. “It isn’t the best-riding truck, but it surely’s not horrible,” Beard quipped. “It is a greater Tundra.”

Complementing its extra chiseled physique, together with a face that might go for a Peterbilt’s, the Tundra’s inside boasts a contemporary design, nicer supplies, and fascinating expertise. Our midrange Restricted trim has a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster and a ginormous 14.0-inch touchscreen. Whereas we want the infotainment system had a tuning knob, we admire how properly wi-fi Apple CarPlay works and the way it fills your entire display. Actual leather-based is not a part of the deal, however the Restricted has normal soft-touch surfaces and power-adjustable entrance seats with heated and ventilated cushions. Moreover the sturdy switchgear and respectable match and end, the flimsy center-console cowl feels prefer it could possibly be ripped off by an errant hand, triggering PTSD from the previous Tundra’s rickety bits.

The as-tested value of our Restricted CrewMax is $64,093. If that sounds costly, that is as a result of it’s. A extra luxurious 2023 Ram 1500 Longhorn prices about the identical, as does a ritzy ’23 GMC Sierra Denali. Our Tundra piles up about $12K in choices—$8450 alone for the crew cab, four-wheel drive, and i-Power Max hybrid combo. Different extras embody a $150 heated leather-based steering wheel, $179 all-weather flooring mats, $565 JBL audio system, $399 retractable mattress step, $650 load-leveling rear air springs, and $710 working boards. Toss within the $1345 Premium package deal (towing upgrades, enhanced LED headlights, 360-degree digicam system) and the $385 Energy package deal (LED mattress lights, twin 120-volt retailers, wi-fi charging pad), and our Restricted trim prices as a lot as a luxurious truck however would not precisely really feel like one.

The Tundra’s obnoxious faux engine noise will not persuade anybody there is a V-8 beneath the cumbersome hood. Toyota boldly selected to supply solely a twin-turbocharged 3.4-liter V-6, both with or with out hybrid help. Though the Detroit Three will all quickly promote an electrical pickup, Toyota’s most electrified Tundra is the hybrid that provides an electrical motor between the twin-turbo V-6 and the 10-speed automated transmission. Together with a nickel-metal-hydride battery pack with roughly 1.0 kWh of usable vitality that hogs house beneath the rear seats, the iForce Max offers peak output of 437 horsepower and 583 pound-feet of torque.

The hybrid Tundra is mightier than the F-150 PowerBoost hybrid, however our instance is almost 280 kilos heavier (6072 kilos complete) than the Ford. That mass kneecaps the Toyota’s acceleration, requiring 5.6 seconds to achieve 60 mph and passing the quarter-mile mark in 14.3 seconds at 94 mph. Whereas we did not detect brake fade throughout its 192-foot cease from 70 mph, our tester famous a sensitivity to warmth, which despatched the truck into limp mode after a number of full-throttle takeoffs. The transmission temperature acquired dangerously excessive whereas backing a trailer up a brief hill as properly.

The truck’s thirst for gas can be worrisome. The hybrid Tundra will get an EPA-estimated 20 mpg mixed, however our long-termer is simply averaging an alarming 13 mpg in the intervening time. About one-third of its present 3023 miles have been accrued whereas towing a 3500-ish-pound enclosed trailer, however even ignoring these miles solely will increase that common to 16 mpg. Poor gas economic system plagued different fashions we have examined too, and it is one thing we’ll monitor because the highway forward contains numerous towing and different truck stuff. By the tip of its 40,000-mile keep, we hope to have the ability to say definitively whether or not Toyota shrunk the hole between the reinvented Tundra and America’s favourite pickups.

Months in Fleet: 1 month Present Mileage: 3023 miles
Common Gas Financial system: 13 mpg
Gas Tank Dimension: 32.2 gal Noticed Gas Vary: 410 miles
Service: $0 Regular Put on: $0 Restore:$0 Harm and Destruction: $0

Senior Editor

Eric Stafford’s vehicle dependancy started earlier than he might stroll, and it has fueled his ardour to write down information, evaluations, and extra for Automobile and Driver since 2016. His aspiration rising up was to develop into a millionaire with a Jay Leno–like automobile assortment. Apparently, getting wealthy is tougher than social-media influencers make it appear, so he prevented monetary success completely to develop into an automotive journalist and drive new automobiles for a residing. After incomes a level at Central Michigan College and dealing at a day by day newspaper, the years of principally burning cash on failed challenge automobiles and lemon-flavored jalopies lastly paid off when Automobile and Driver employed him. His storage at present features a 2010 Acura RDX, a guide ’97 Chevy Camaro Z/28, and a ’90 Honda CRX Si.