2000 Toyota Tundra in Jersey City

Ann Arbor - Our founder and editor emeritus, David E. Davis, Jr., had a new idea for the Toyota Tundra pickup truck we added to our Four Seasons test fleet in late 1999. He would send it to northern Michigan for use as a real live workhorse at Red's Bog, his idyllic retreat on the west side of the state. His ranch foreman, Jerry Keie, would have charge of Toyota's big new truck and keep notes from a real working man's perspective.

Only, Jerry didn't find the Tundra quite as useful as the Ford F-150 that already served Red's Bog. He was afraid to get dirt on its cloth upholstery, and at the lumberyard, he found that the Tundra's box wasn't long enough or deep enough to hold the same amount of scaffolding he could carry in the Ford. Every time he had real work to perform, he'd park the Tundra and take the F-150. So we fetched it home and put it back into the lily-livered hands of the sissy writers at Automobile Magazine.

The story could end right here: Toyota Truck Can't Handle Hard Labor!

Only, most of the people who buy big trucks can't handle it, either, and, for them, the Toyota Tundra just may be the best truck out there. Here's why:

* The interior gauges, instruments, and trim are Camry-quality.

* The V-8 engine and four-speed automatic transmission are the class of the field in terms of refinement.

* We spent a measly $722 for 30,000 miles of scheduled maintenance, which would take an average American nearly three years to rack up. That's $240 per year.... Read full article