Today marks exactly 1 month since I picked up my '08 Sequoia Pltn. 4x4. Wife and I have logged a little over 1,300 miles during that time. A couple of follow-up observations - mainly areas for potential improvement.
1.
Steering feel: A couple of publications have described the steering feel of the '08 Sequoia as being light and numb. I have to agree with at least the characterization of it being light, if not numb. The steering isn't numb like in the old GM days, where it was impossible to decipher what was going on at the front wheels, but it certainly isn't the model for road feel either. IMHO, a 20-25% increase in steering heft would go a long way in improving feel.
2.
Fuel economy: The EPA ratings of 13/18 are very close to real life. Most of our driving has been city and our MPG has been right at 13.0. I've heard it improves over time. We shall see.
3.
Interior:
Materials: Still feel that the interior materials and textures should have been softened to improve feel and eradicate the link to the vehicle's "truck roots". Examples of areas include, the plastics around the gear shifter and cups holders, area above the Rear climate controls and the plastics around the lower door panels. Besides just aesthetics, the downside of the hard plastics is that they scratch/mar relatively easily.
Backlighting: The backlighting of certain buttons on the dash such as the side view mirror controls and the memory seats/mirrors buttons (1, 2, SET) is conspiciously absent. I have to power fold the mirrors before I enter my garage and find myself fumbling for the button at night.
HVAC: Wish the system would allow the sync-ing of the driver and passenger side, in addition to the rear A/C i.e. dual zone syncing, in addition to tri-zone. The way it is currently configured you can only control (i) all three zones simulatenously, or (ii) all three zone independently. It would have been nice to control the two front zones together for two reasons - (i) you could then use the control button on the steering vehicle to increase or decrease the temperature for the front (driver and passenger) zones -- currently, you can only control the drivers side from the steering wheel, and (ii) It is really difficult to reach the passenger side temp knob from the drivers seat.
Other controls: The buttons on the far side of the NAV are hard to reach from the drivers seat. As often as the "Audio" button is used, it should have been placed on the left side of the NAV cluster.
4.
Transmission: Shift quality, shift speed/smoothness and intelligence remain excellent. I had read an article (on CNN Money, I believe) where a tester mentioned that the 6 speed transmission hunts a lot. I can confirm that this is absolute rubbish. If I have to find something to gripe about, I would have preferred if the transmission display in S mode showed the actual gear that the vehicle is in as opposed to serving as a "top gear" selection display.
5.
Engine: No issues at all. Power and smoothness remain very impressive. As I said before, from an acceleration and passing perspective, the powertrain and drivetrain make the vehicle's 6000lb weight simply meaningless. I have a 2003 Infiniti G35 (which weigh's ~3,600lbs) and, frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if the Sequoia pips it in a 0-60 dash. Goes without saying that the pain for have this luxury occurs at the gas pump.
6.
Fuel capacity: Despite a 26.4 gallon tank, the Fuel gauge and Fuel Econ computer reach at or near zero after utilization of only 22.5 gallons of fuel. Its really unnerving/difficult to ignore both the gauge and computer and tell yourself that you've got another 40-50 miles before you really run out of fuel. I know folks with Tundras have confirmed this and logic dictates that there is at least another 3 gallons of fuel in tank, but the fear of running out of gas eventually takes over. Range is barely 300 miles/tank in city driving.
7.
Adjustable Suspension: I REALLY like this feature on the Platinum. For those that say they don't feel any difference between the settings -- they haven't spent enough time driving the vehicle to get a real feel for it. I mainly use Normal and Sport as the Comfort mode really introduces an old school Cadillac-esk float and disconnected feeling that I don't like....however, it will smother most bumps very effectively. I generally use the sport mode unless the road surface has a great deal of irregularities, which is when I switch to Normal. As I said previously, the sport mode does a great job of controlling body roll; so much so, that it almost tends to exaggerate the lack of steering heft. What would have been really great is if the steering feel firmed up when switching the suspension to sport mode (guess this isn't a BMW M model
)
8.
Bluetooth: Absolutely love the BT interface, works like a charm. Paired with an LG VX3000 (EnV), no issues at all, sound quality is great.
9.
Voice commands: The voice commands are really a gimmick, the list of commands is limited and by the time one waits for the prompt and beep, its easier to just hit the desired button in the first place.
10.
Wish List: Still really wish this vehicle came with an HID headlamp option. My G35 has it and I really miss it. The halogen lighting is good, but once you go HID, halogen just feels really "yellow". I won't consider a retrofit due to safety reasons and incompatability of optics.
PS: Please no comments about HID vs. Halogen, trust me, I've seen/read them all.
Also wish Smart Key was an option. The vehicle starter is effectively self cranking (i.e. if you just touch it and release, it will continue cranking till the engine fires) and it seems like implementation wouldn't be that difficult.
Still am very happy with the purchase. Just thought I'd share the finer observations.