Toyota Tundra reviews

2000 Toyota Tundra Driving Impressions

The four-wheel-drive Tundra seems as quiet as a luxury sedan. The engine is smooth and quiet and there's little wind noise or road noise.

The V8 engine provides excellent acceleration performance in the 45-mph range. It allowed us to pass Hawaii's slower drivers on winding two-lane roads with no drama.

Toyota's V8 is a marvel of balance. Not only is it smooth and powerful, but it sounds great. Stand behind this pickup when it is started, revved, or even idling, and you're treated to a classic V8 burble that's pleasant to American ears. Yet, it's super quiet when sitting in the truck.

V8 engines with twin cams and four valves per cylinder are usually associated with imported luxury sports sedans. Toyota perfected this design in its Land Cruiser SUV and Lexus luxury cars. With distributorless ignition and other state-of-the-art features, it produces nearly 200 foot-pounds of torque starting at just 2000 rpm. It will be the first V8 in the segment to qualify as a low-emission vehicle, or LEV, by the government.

We loaded 300 pounds of fertilizer into a two-axle horse trailer and pulled it up a steep grade with a two-wheel-drive Tundra Limited model. Starting from a dead stop, the Tundra easily accelerated up a long hill with the 3,000-pound trailer. This rig was stable going around sweeping turns, braking from high speeds on steep downhill sections and bouncing over a rough lava-covered dirt road. There was none of the porpoising some trucks exhibit when their front suspensions aren't up to balancing weight on the rear tongue. We could have easily pulled that trailer to Montana -- except for the logistical problems of getting off of Hawaii. Transmission and engine oil coolers are standard.

Ride quality is, for the most part, excellent. Hawaii's Big Island highways are fairly new and the pavement is in excellent condition, but they are not perfectly smooth because they were laid down on a bed of rough lava. The Tundra's suspension transmitted some of this unevenness to the occupants. This roughness was subtle, however, and a light load in the bed would probably eliminate it completely.

On rough pavement and bumpy dirt roads, the Tundra's suspension really shined. It damped out unwanted vibration and harshness and controlled the movement of the wheels precisely, keeping the tires in contact with the road surface for excellent grip and handling. We bounced up a steep mountain trail -- barely a path -- into an area that looked like Southeast Asia, where the Tundra's suspension performed amazingly well. Bounding over harsh dips and humps, the suspension offered impressive travel and damping performance. It was easy to control the truck over this rough terrain in spite of our rapid pace up the steep mountain trail. The suspension never bottomed on the bump stops in spite of our efforts to beat it up.

Toyota off-road racing legend Ivan "Ironman" Stewart helped Toyota Racing Development tune a TRD model with Bilstein shocks and special progressive-rate springs. Its suspension is designed for performance in extreme off-road conditions and reportedly rides better on rough road surfaces.

The brakes felt great to us and Toyota claims the Tundra can stop quicker than the domestic pickups.

While bouncing over the moguls, we noticed that neither the cowl nor the front hood shook. The Tundra's chassis is highly rigid with boxed front frame rails. Toyota also claims this truck offers a class-leading ground clearance and everything underneath is tucked above the frame rails.

A limited-slip rear differential is not available, so the inside rear wheel will scramble for traction when you accelerate around a tight gravel corner.