2009 Toyota Tundra

The 2009 Toyota Tundra is a full sized pickup. In fact, it's the largest pickup ever made by Toyota. Competition includes the Dodge Ram 1500, Ford F-150, GMC Sierra 1500, Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and Nissan Titan. The Tundra has not changed looks since 2007, but new for this year are a couple of performance packages and Flex Fuel capability.

The Tundra comes in three cab sizes. Regular is the normal two-door pickup. Double Cab is the small rear doors (which is different from the Double Cab on the Tacoma). CrewMax is the full four-door version, especially nice as it has front hinges on the rear door and it opens a full 80 degrees. Tundra also comes in three bed sizes and either rear-wheel or four-wheel drive.

Tundra comes with three available engines. First is the same 4.0 liter, 236 horsepower V6 found in the larger Tacomas. The standard engine, however, if there is one, is the 4.7 liter, 276 horsepower V8. There is also the larger 5.7 liter, 381 horsepower V8. All are gasoline powered.

Both the smaller engines are a little underpowered, but the 5.7 liter is ahead of class in both horsepower and power to weight ratio. The larger engine gets a six-speed automatic transmission, while the two smaller versions get a five-speed automatic, both with overdrive. Manual transmission is not available.

Fuel economy numbers for the 4.7 liter engine, which is the most common, are 14 miles per gallon city and 17 miles per gallon on the highway, with rear wheel drive. Actually, the other engines and four-wheel drive are all the same or very near the same figures.

Maximum towing is 10,800 pounds, which is about average for class. Maximum payload is 1990, which is a little light for class.

Tundra can't really lay claim to better than average in terms of safety. Front crash tests for the Regular Cab versions won five stars, but everything else was four-star. IIHS ratings included two As, which is acceptable, while everything else was G, which is the best score. Safety features include child safety locks on the four-doors, anti-theft system, locking tailgate, limited slip differential, airbags everywhere and antilock brakes with traction control, electronic braking assistance and vehicle stability control system.

The base price for the 2009 Toyota Tundra is $22,490, which is well below the class average. No doubt, Tundra is a nice pickup, and certainly one of the best looking on the road. Still, overall it doesn't seem to quite measure up to the same high standards as the Tacoma, Toyota's small pickup.

Source : Toyota