[07BlackCrewMax]

I paid the $26 just to research the CR studies on it... some things I just don't understand.

1. The #1 Full sized truck rated was the Chevy Avalanche with an overall of 73 (the highest for a full sized PU Truck). Except for 2007, it has received POOR ratings on it's drive system (an area that the Tundra was dinged) every year since it has been rated (2002) - now for 2007, every area received a Excellent rating except electrical systems which was just Good, but it is still not Recommended and it's New Car Prediction is "Worse than Average"...

2. 3 of the 5 recommended trucks had FAIR accident avoidance ratings and only Good to VG Owner Satisfaction (Compared to the Tundra EXCELLENT owner satisfaction - the only one). The only ones rated Above average (of the Recommended) were the diesels. The other Recommended ones were Average.

3. The only reliability on the new Tundra was for 2007 and across the board (since 2000) the drive system (4WD) was rated good or better - in contrast, the Ford (Recommended) was rated POOR for 4 of the last 5 years, so clearly HISTORY isn't a factor in their predicted Reliability (even though they state that they use a score based on the previous 3 years...). Neither is Customer Satisfaction as the Tundra V8 was ranked first - well above the next closest "Recommended" 1/2 ton, which was Ford F-150 that came in 9th w/ a score of 65.

From reading CR's evaluations, I can only conclude that they are useless in trying to make a real comparison of these trucks. The only thing that it tells me is to drive them all and pick the one you like best. If you don't want a HD Diesel, then the recommended trucks don't score as high as the non-recommended ones...

Maybe Toyota didn't "sponsor" enough CR events... If I hadn't already driven the others and had experience with them (either first hand or through friends, etc.) I still wouldn't know what to buy from this... Even though the Engine and Tranny received VG to Excellent reliability ratings and the Drive system received a Good rating, the Overall Predicted (1 yr data) reliability was the worst rating (POOR)?? I don't get it.