After reading many posts on this site for many years I have come to the conclusion that not many Tundra owners purchase their truck for work. Most treads concern speed, looks or mods but rarely do the treads relate to using the truck for truck work. This may be why Toyota has failed to crack into the work truck market where the American brands dominate. The Tundra appears to be a suburban step and fetch it.
After reading many posts on this site for many years I have come to the conclusion that not many Tundra owners purchase their truck for work. Most treads concern speed, looks or mods but rarely do the treads relate to using the truck for truck work. This may be why Toyota has failed to crack into the work truck market where the American brands dominate. The Tundra appears to be a suburban step and fetch it.
Which Tundra are you referring to - 06 and previous, or the new 07? See, we're talking two completely different trucks. If you have also been reading the strategy and rationale behind the new 07 Tundra design, you'll know that Toyota is going after the "work truck" market and they now have a product to do that. As Toyota rolls out more variants of the Tundra in years ahead (diesel, heavy duty, etc.) they will slowly move ahead in gaining this market share they want so badly.
I will say this for the 06 and previous Tundras. They are great trucks. They may not have the size, hauling capacity and configurations of the Detroit 3, but they were built far better.
I would agree with that, but I have trouble spending that kind of money on any truck and then beating the **** out of it. I would rather buy something for 10k and dog it instead of 35K...
__________________ [SIGPIC] 2005 TUNDRA SR5 AC 20" Helo Kick's wrapped in 275/45R General Grabbers 15% Tint all around
I love how the 07 JUST came out and is far more capable than the previous one, and suddenly all of these threads come up "tundra misses" "tundra is not a work truck" "tundra is still a 7/8ths truck". How about we actually wait a few years and we will see if it can prove itself . Sure most of us here haven't even driven one yet, let alone somehow magically determined that it isn't a work truck .
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1988 Nissan 300zx 5sd 71,000 miles
1995 Nissan Pathfinder 4x4 5spd 90,000 miles (sold, frame gone)
2001 Sequoia Limited 4x4 119,000 miles (some electronic issues, manifolds, otherwise solid and not a single rattle woot)
I have a 07 DC Long Bed, White on the way. This will be a work truck for my business and I feel that it will do a great job of it. I would agree that the the previous models are not a good fit for most people to work out of. My current personal truck is a 03 Access Cab and I know its to small for me to work with. The new truck will have a white contractors cab with ladder rack. I'm thinking that once its all lettered up it should be a real sharp looking company vehicle. It could be the first time most people in my area see a Tundra as a contractors vehicle.
After reading many posts on this site for many years I have come to the conclusion that not many Tundra owners purchase their truck for work. Most treads concern speed, looks or mods but rarely do the treads relate to using the truck for truck work. This may be why Toyota has failed to crack into the work truck market where the American brands dominate. The Tundra appears to be a suburban step and fetch it.
I can see what you are saying. There are a lot of Tundra owners that never haul or tow anything with their truck and just use it as a daily driver. But there are also a lot of owners of other trucks that do the same. Go to titan talk. You'll see the same thing. Go to the hemi dodge ram sites, they talk about the same things. I am sure there are tons of F150 and GM owners that don't use their truck as a truck either.
OTOH, there are many who do use their trucks for work and, actually, NEED a much larger truck than these to do the things they do. My grandparents use their Tundra to haul hay every year for their cattle and haul them to market.
When people pay as much as they do for full-size trucks, they can use them for whatever they want to, whether a grocery hauler or hay hauler. Pickups have become so nice nowadays that you can outfit them with the same options as a luxury car, so why not? Interesting observation, though.
I don't work the he** out of my truck, but when I need it to do something it just plain does it, from commuting to hauling. I don't trailer much, but when I needed it to haul some rocks at 3 months of age, well it didn't balk at the 1300 lbs I had in the bed. If it hadn't been squatted way down, you never would have known.
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2002 Toyota AC TRD 4x4
1999 Kawasaki ZRX1100
1998 Polaris XC 600
1992 Yamaha YZ 250
1981 JohnDeere 317
I use mine as a work truck, load the crap out of it every day, and it holds up great. I see them all over Orlando, garage door companies, other plumbers, electricians, you name it.
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Blacked out 2003 Limited 4X4 Access Cab with TRD Off-Road Package Debadged
2.5" Fabtech suspension lift
3" body lift
This is an enthuisiast forum, not a contractor forum. You won't find a lot of contractors here talking about the Tundra because, well- they're out working!
I see more and more ladder racks on Tundras all the time. They're about the same price as Ford/GM/Dodge for the same equipment and people are NOT ALWAYS idiots- Americans do recognize that Toyotas will live twice as long as their American counterparts.
So I disagree fully, Tundras are getting a solid foothold as work trucks. Once the fleets buy into them, you'll only see more.
I do think Toyota is missing out on the 3/4 Ton market, though. A solid front axle would not hurt either- you see that on almost all 3/4 ton American trucks.
^^Don't like the cold or the strick as hell code we have? Funny, I go to FL at least twice a year and everytime I see stuff that wouldn't fly up here. Our code is too strict....no no hub pipe underground, no plastic in commercial applications (NONE)...not even for drainage or venting, roof drains have to be cast iron.
Were strickly mechanical/gas...the Tundra handles a little bit of 10" pipe and tools.
I have owned an '02 xtra cab and an '04 DC, Both did their fair share of towing and hauling for me. I currently own an '05 2500 GMC with a Duramax because I needed a little more capacity for work. Both of my Tundra's had Air lift bag set-ups and I often Hauled Busch RA-0630 model vacuum pumps that would weigh in the 2000lb range. They never let me down and where more confident on the road than you would expect. I am almost ready to come back to Toyota but it will only happen when they put a diesel in the Tundra. although I will admit that the 400+ torque of the 5.7 is respectable, it still is not even in the ball park for Diesel engines. I will admit that going to the GMC was tough at first until I towed through some hills in Tn.
Tundra is Not Accepted as a Work Truck
2005 TUNDRA SR5 AC
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Re: Tundra is Not Accepted as a Work Truck
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