That's right, the Toyota Tundra SR5 had what it takes to keep DaimlerChrysler from snagging its eighth consecutive 4x4 of the Year award from 4-Wheel & Off-Road. You may be wondering how that can be since we picked apart the Tundra just a few pages back, but the scales were tipped in the Tundra's favor as the truck performed very well in almost every category.
The Tundra captured the win in the ride and drive section of our test with a huge margin. It clobbered the rest of the field in the braking, sand, and hillclimb sections, tying with the Dakota in urban driving, and scoring high in highway driving, high-speed dirt and gravel, and rockcrawling. At the end of the day, it was the vehicle that almost everyone agreed they'd drive under just about any conditions. With that kind of performance, we could overlook a slightly soft front suspension and a cramped backseat.
The components that propelled this truck to the top are also winners. The 4.7L V-8 made the Tundra the second quickest vehicle in this year's test and, combined with the relatively light weight of the truck, garnered the win in our torque to weight ratio comparison. Most important, the engine and transmission worked in harmony to deliver plenty of power when needed. The truck also netted Second Place in the 60-0 mph brake testing, showing that it can control all that power too.
The bottom line is that this Toyota did almost everything confidently and excelled in the categories that meant the most.