As Australia’s love affair with big American pick-ups continues to grow, Toyota knew it was time to bring their Tundra down under. From the Toyota Motor Manufacturing plant in San Antonio, Texas via the Walkinshaw Automotive Group facility in Melbourne for conversion from left-hand drive to right-hand drive, the Tundra is available here in two grades, Limited and Platinum.
Both grades are powered by an i-FORCE MAX 3.5 litre V6 twin turbo petrol engine with an electric motor that works alongside the engine to boost the Tundra’s total output, improving the power and performance of the vehicle. The total combined power output is 326kW with 790Nm of torque that you will certainly need for moving this big ute. The Tundra measures 5,955mm long, 2,040mm wide and 1,985mm high, giving it a bigger footprint than the Ford F-150, but in a slightly shorter package with less ground clearance. The ride in the Tundra is comfortable enough and the engine noise under hard acceleration sounds good, but in EV mode the Tundra has a bit of a humming monk sound about it.
The engine is paired with a 10-speed automatic transmission with part‐time 4WD and an electronic 2‐speed transfer case with an automatic limited‐slip differential. The Tundra has three drive modes, Sport, Eco, Normal as well as a tow/haul option and you can select between 2WD, 4WD, and low range 4WD. When I did use the low range 4WD it was a little fiddly to engage and was not as straight forward as pushing a button, I had to shift to neutral and then select 4WD. The Tundra doesn’t have a downhill decent control function either.
The official combined fuel consumption for the Toyota Tundra is 11.7L/100km and for my week of majority on-road driving in 2WD and Normal drive mode I used 13.6L/100km. This would give you almost 900km of range from the 122-litre fuel tank fitted to the Tundra.
The Toyota Tundra comes fitted with a Trailer Wiring Harness, Brake Controller and Back-up Guide as standard and has a maximum towing capacity of 4,500kg. The Tundra is so hefty that it could potentially exceed the maximum weight permissible on a standard driver’s licence, which is eight tonnes GVM. The Tundra has a Gross vehicle weight of 3,536kg and a maximum towing capacity of 4,500kg totaling 8,036kg, so care would need to be taking when loading your Tundra for that big trip.
This Toyota Tundra in the base model, Limited grade, finished in Feverish Red and it comes with plenty of standard equipment including a 14″ colour touchscreen display, 12-speaker JBL premium audio system, and a 12.3″ Multi-Information Display for the driver. The Tundra Platinum gets extras like leather accented seats, front massage seats, heated/ventilated rear seats, power tilt and telescope steering column with memory, heated steering wheel, head-up display, and panoramic roof.
There’s no built in sat nav, so you’ll need your phone connected to access your navigation for those mega road trips taken in the Tundra. The Tundra has wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto connected via the USB-A port below the infotainment screen. Voice control is accessed by pressing the button on the steering wheel that has a masculine looking silhouette. The voice control had a pretty basic operation and worked for me when I asked it to change the radio station but not for making a phone call as the system didn’t understand me.
Both front seats have power adjustment for recline, forward/back, seat height/tilt front and rear and two-way lumbar support with driver’s seat having two memory positions. The front seats are also heated and cooled, but I wasn’t all that impressed with either of these functions with the cooling barely working and noisy to boot. While the heated seats took a while to warm up and I would have liked more coverage on the seat base because the sides of the seat remained cold.
The big cabin of the Tundra has plenty of storage options and cubbies on offer, but bigger doesn’t always mean better. This particularly applies to the arm rest, which is broad but has two storage dishes in it, which are a bit pointless because going over rough tracks would most likely result in items falling out from them, and I would prefer this to be one flat area. Under the arm is a large with one USB-A and one USB-C port located in here. In front of the two cup holders in the centre console is a wireless phone charger and space for two phones. In the front door cubbies, there is room for two drink bottles in each of the doors.
The fixed rear seats had ample head and leg room for me, but my knees were up high and I would have liked some more under thigh support. For younger passengers there are two ISOFix/three rear tether child seat restraint points. The tether points are located on the back of the rear seats, which can be folded forward, but it may be difficult to tighten and negotiate when locking the seat back into place. If not in use the centre seat can be folded down as an arm rest with two rigid shallow drink holders at the front that would not secure your beverage securely.
Thankfully though there are another two cup holders at the rear of the main centre console with grippy sides and a removable base for easy cleaning and two more drink bottle cubbies in both rear doors. Rear passengers only get two small rear air vents on either side below the cup holders that have basic slide controls only. There’s a small storage cubby and one USB-A and one USB-C ports located here as well. My favourite feature in the rear seats though was the large carpet mat across the entire rear floor that would make it easier to vacuum out after that big trip away.
The Tundra tub is lined with hard plastic and is 165cm deep and 122cm between the wheel arches and a payload capacity of 744kg. There are four substantial tie down points in each of the corners of the tub with an additional two moveable tie downs across the each side of the tray. It has a soft open tailgate, but does not have powered close and as there’s no cover over the tub I had to put my groceries on the back seats because it was a rainy day. The 18″ space saver tyre is located under the rear of the vehicle.
Toyota Safety Sense comes as standard on the Toyota Tundra with a Pre-Collision Safety System with Pedestrian Detection (day and night), Cyclist Detection (day only), Lane Departure Alert with Steering Assist, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Blind Spot Monitor, and Adaptive Cruise Control. The Tundra also has eight airbags and a panoramic view monitor/reversing camera combined with numerous other camera views including a tub view option and front and rear parking sensors for assisting when you’re in a tight spot. For convenience your also get a digital rear view mirror, auto lights with auto high beam, but no auto wipers.
The Toyota Warranty Advantage that includes a five-year/unlimited kilometre coverage term applies to the Tundra. Stick to your annual service schedule, and Toyota will extend your engine and driveline warranty from five to seven years and increase the standard warranty coverage on your new traction battery to up to 10 years as long as you undertake your annual inspection as part of routine maintenance according to the vehicle logbook (conditions apply). The Toyota Service Advantage provides Tundra owners with five years of capped-price servicing, spread over 6-month or 10,000km intervals for $400 per service.
The Toyota Tundra Limited is priced from $155,990 excluding on-road costs and as tested with the optional paint ($675) this Tundra was $156,665 excluding on-road costs. You can Build and Price your new Toyota Tundra online or visit your preferred Toyota dealer for more information.
| Pros | Cons |
| The engine performance | Front seat heating and cooling not up to standard |
| Multiple camera views available | No built in sat nav |
| Single mat across the rear floor | Potentially can exceed eight tonne GVM |
Photographs by Driven Women Magazine.