'08 Sequoia offroad

[Ryan818]

Has anybody had their '08 Sequoia offroad? If so, any pics and how did it do?

[eddeeeee]

I did get my Sequoia off road a couple of weeks back. No pictures. First time out with it, so I didn't get too aggressive with it, but here are my observations.

Frame felt very stout and stiff. No twisting or creaks heard.

Traction was surprisingly good for stock tires.

Good power control and gearing.

WIDE. Many scratches from the trees. Most buffed out ok, however. WIDE

I was very aware that I have minimal to no skid plates compared to my old TRD Tacoma. That, and 2 inches less clearance made the rocks look much sharper and bigger.

Very quiet and comfortable, despite the bouncing.

Too small to handle the 8' snow drift blocking the road.

Backup camera is a dream for turning around on a mountainside.

[Ryan818]

8' snow drift? How freakin high were you? Altitude I mean. Any chance you had it on any snow? I am wondering how the 4wd system works. I am between an '06/'07 LC100 and the '08 Sequoia. I know the LC has the offroad capability but I really like the new 5.7 and kinda need the room of the Sequoia. The LC200 is nice but a little pricy. I have a camp which can be hard to get to in the winter. Seeing as how most people will use the Sequoia for on road excursions I am having a hard time finding anyone who has any offroad input - besides you. Anybody else have input to the Sequoia's offroad ability?

[eddeeeee]

I was at 12000' feet in the Colorado rockies. There was no snow other than the big drift, so I have not driven it on snow. I would say that off-road, it is better than the 06 Sequoia I owned, but not as good as my 02 Tacoma double cab TRD. My Tacoma had almost 12" of clearance and was 1' narrower with a locking rear and off-road tires. Only sold it because it ma and I had too much fun and expanded our family from 4 to 6 and we couldn't all fit anymore.

I'm betting it would do fine in the snow, as long as it wasn't 12" or more of heavy, wet snow because you would be plowing it with the front skid plate. As long as the typical rocks on the road are 10" or less, you could probably do fine as long as you remember that there is no skid plate on the fuel tank. With the stock tires, it felt surefooted on the loose shale and rocks, but a good pair of snow tires would probably go a long way to making a good snow vehicle. Living here in Denver, I will probably know how it does in snow in a month or so. The best vehicle I ever owned in snow, however, was my 98 Rav4 AWD with snow tires. Of course that was the only vehicle I ever had with snow tires.

It will probably never compare to a Land Cruiser. Maybe with the price of fuel, the new Land Cruiser with the 5.7 will drop considerably in price and you could pick up a used one in a year or so.

I just saw you are in Pittsburgh. I went to college there in 87-91. Always had my 80' toyota pickup adjusted for the lower altitude at Rohrich Toyota just up from the tubes. Some of the worst driving I ever had to do was during an ice storm out by Monroeville. The old rear-wheel drive truck spun out and ended up in the grass of a dealer by the Monroeville mall. Had never driven in or seen an ice storm before Pittsburgh. Miss Aiello's pizza on Murry Avenue.

[Ryan818]

Thanks for the input. I am between the LC and Sequoia. The LC has the definate offroad ability but the Sequoia has the 5.7 and added/needed room. I am kinda hoping to see the LC200's come down in price. Does your Sequoia have A-TRAC? I have seen in the brochure both TRAC and A-TRAC mentioned. Is there an "A-TRAC" button? or does it automatically engage when in 4wd? It seems as though the FJ owners tend to like A-TRAC.

I myself went to WVU. The 'Burgh is a cool town. I do not know that pizza joint. I have done some skiing at Breck and Keystone just this last winter. I have also done Crested Butte. Looking forward to getting back to Crested Butte sometime.

Thaks for the input.

[eddeeeee]

From what I understand in the manual, TRAC is the traction control program when operating in 2wd mode or for 2wd only vehicles. A-TRAC is the traction control program for AWD vehicles or when operating in 4wd mode. The appropriate program is on by default. There is a switch to selectively turn off, VSC and TRAC/A-TRAC when needed. Haven't used the switch yet.

I have noticed that the system isn't nearly as sensitive as my last Sequoia. That one also had the VSC and Traction Control systems and just going through a drain pan on a turn going into my neighborhood would turn the system on and nearly shut me down until I was under 5 mph. I have only noticed this system kicking in a few times in the past 3 months and on those times, I probably should have slowed myself down a bit before making the turn.

Prices on SUV's are dropping like a rock here. Many of the dealers here are selling entry SR5's at 32K!

The 5.7 is a sweet engine. I pull a 6000# loaded trailer up camping all the time with it and it never lacks for power.

Hope you enjoyed the skiing. I am the only Coloradan I know who doesn't ski.

[Stargazer]

Originally Posted by eddeeeee

I have noticed that the system isn't nearly as sensitive as my last Sequoia. That one also had the VSC and Traction Control systems and just going through a drain pan on a turn going into my neighborhood would turn the system on and nearly shut me down until I was under 5 mph.

That's good to hear because that was one of the things I disliked about my '03 and reduced it's effectiveness in the snow.

[Heatwave3]

Originally Posted by eddeeeee

It will probably never compare to a Land Cruiser. Maybe with the price of fuel, the new Land Cruiser with the 5.7 will drop considerably in price and you could pick up a used one in a year or so.

FYI, the drivetrain in the 08 Sequoia, LC and LX570 are now nearly identical. Essentially the 5.7engine mated to the same 6sp transmission using a Torsen Limited slip center differential (lockable) connected to an open rear differential. All 3 vehicles use the ABS brake controller to manage slip across the rear wheels and to manage overall traction control.

The only real differences between the Sequoia, LC and LX570 is the availability of Crawl control which is available on the LC/LX but not on the Sequoia (which essentially is software that manages the engine speed and traction control in smaller increments than normal operations) and the fact that the 2008 Sequoia has a newly designed independent rear suspension while the LC/LX still retain the older design solid rear axle.