Can The 2021 Toyota Tundra TRD PRO Compete With The Raptor, TRX, Or Rebel? [Full Review]

This Toyota Tundra TRD PRO is just under 49,000$ which makes it within 100$ of the most expensive and luxurious tundra you can buy

And the door handles are made by little tikes
Both hood scoops are fake
The steering wheel is the same as you get in a base Tacoma from like 12 years ago
The gear stick is from the 90s and the head unit is a dumpster fire

By no means is this a luxurious or modern truck and with the TRD Pro kit it starts competing with things like the Ford Raptor or the Ram TRX in terms of offroad prowess.

Here’s the good news/bad news. Bad news first, in every measurable way the Raptor and TRX are superior trucks execpt for two - reliability and price.

At 50k MSRP you can’t buy a used Raptor with less than 60k miles selling for less than that.

Here’s another thing to consider, these TRD PRO vehicles hold their value better than damn near every other truck and why is that? PEOPLE FIEN FOR THEM! WHY? It’s a horribly equipped, basic, inefficient, ancient pickup?!

Here’s the reason - owners will actually offroad these things. Think of the Raptor and the TRX as the Lamborghinis of off road trucks. Wildly capable, but they spend more time on Instagram than what they’re built for. TRD owners beat the crap out of them and go overlanding, why? Cuz the trucks can take it.

The Toyota Land Cruiser is the go-to offroad vehicle worldwide because it’s capable, tough and bulletproof.

The TRD trucks aren’t the fastest or the best to live with, but you can take it out, beat the absolute mess out of it and it’ll still ask for more.

So with that, let’s talk about the specifics of the Tundra TRD PRO

I’ll add one caveat before we dive in here. At the filming of this video, the next gen Tundra was leaked and the new one looks like it’ll fix a lot of the things I’ve complained about in the opening.

Here it is, the Toyota Tundra is a massive beast of a truck
It’s got a 5.7L V8
381 hp
401 lbft
This is what you want, not the 6 in the Taco (SOUND)
Toyota/Lexus V8s are bulletproof
6 speed auto
4WD with electronic transfer case and automatic LSD

It’s not fast, it’s huge and it’s beasty - you don’t expect a SUMO wrestler to win a footrace, but that doesn’t mean he’s not in shape

Here’s the thing though, none of that stuff I just mentioned is the important bit

This is an offroader so it’s nice to have that 4wd system with the transfer case BUT
Fox dampers with external reservoirs - for added travel and body control
skidplate
Rigid fog lights
TRD specific wheel and tire package - BBS Forged

Now even with all that stuff it’s still missing some stuff from the competition, but that’s a separate video

Let’s talk looks, I’ll let you make your own decisions for the most part, BUT
Lunar rock
Special grille
TRD stamping
Looks as badass as it is, but I’d have the Army green and if I had a taco id do voodoo blue

Interior is basic as hell like we talked about
Super spacious
Back seats fold up too
Front seats are ehh comfy, but have cool stitching
In 2020 they added ACP and AA

Now let’s get it on the road and see how it does

Here’s something ridiculous - LAUNCH!
It’s not horribly slow and more importantly it sounds great.
Silky smooth V8 power
Redline under 6000
6 speed gearbox
THIS IS OLD SCHOOL AF - came out in 07…..
The Fox dampers make this actually really comfy on the road too
The ride is supple and the power rolls on smooth
The steering is sluggish, makes this big truck FEEL like a big truck
Overall it’s not bad, it’s overly simple, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing
Final thoughts*

Alright so at this point we’ve been all over this thing.
Here’s my consensus.
The biggest fault is the age. The new gen for 2021 or 2022 will solve a lot of the equipment and design issues

It’ll also solve the fuel economy issue which is abysmal at like 17 mpg highway. (hybrid)
Despite all those flaws there’s a lot to like here, especially if you’re an overlander take your vehicle camping.

The offroad kit is good enough where you can get most place safely, the interior is big enough so you can get there comfortably and the reliability is enough so you can always get home...unless you run out of gas

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