This feels weird...IH8MUD for a Tundra! Newly into a 2018 Platinum from a 97 LC

[joseywales]

My 2013 2500hd duramax 6.6 gets 15mpg mostly city/back roads, maybe 17mpg on the highway. only drops to about 14 when towing a massive load. it's great for that. but diesel is like 5.50 a gallon still vs the cheap regular gas i'll be putting in the tundra, and one repair on the chevy blows away years of fuel economy savings, hence me seeing the "low" economy numbers on the 2.5gen tundras and thinking .
Agreed, I'll miss the Bose stereo my 2500HD has, and the factory ground clearance to drive over a house has been nice. I think the previous owner must have put a minor lift on this one though, so it'll probably do fine.

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That’s a great looking rig. I use mine to plow as well. And I also bought mine after driving a 2500HD LTZ. I miss exactly 2 things from that turd of a Chev: the Bose stereo kicked ass, and the heated seats that allow you to heat butt or back independently. I sure as s*** don’t miss getting 7 mpg while towing a medium weight trailer!

 

[Jetboy]

I consolidated my F250 and 5th gen 4R to a Tundra CM for the immediate future. Kept the FJ40, but it's 3500 miles away, so not very useful at the moment for me. Only mods to the Tundra so far are rear air bags and a front receiver with a portable winch setup. It could damn near function as a snow plow the stock front end is so low to the ground. And I built a ladder rack that could mount and clear the fold up bed cover so I could toss stuff on top and use the awning I had. Otherwise it's probably going to stay stock. It's a pig off-road anywhere the trail is tight, or the ground is soft, or the rocks are big. But it's also better than the F250 and it doesn't break down every 2-3 months. I'll pay for the extra gas to skip the tow truck. I do miss the diesel power at times. But not often. Weirdly - the 5.7 and the truck in general feels a lot like our old GMC HD2500 with the 8.1L v8. It's been 15 years between, but it seems more similar to that truck than any of the other Toyota, Ram, or Fords I've driven in between.

I don't think I ever passed 12mpg in the 8.1. My Powerstroke would get around 17-18 highway unloaded. The Tundra is right around the same empty highway mpg. The GM 8.1 with a full size travel trailer would pull around 8mpg at highway speeds. The Tundra is basically the same towing. The F250 would be closer to 11-12. But fuel is about 25% more, so probably a wash. Biggest benefit there was the range. 40 gallons of diesel would tow a long way. The best mpg I've seen with a similar trailer, believe it or not, was a Ram 1500 with the 5.7. I got 12-13mpg over 2000 miles with a 26 foot TT on a trip used one for. Possibly just a lucky set of wind days or something? Whatever the case - it pulled pretty well.

I do miss the off-road capability of the 4Runner, but my wife and rear seat passengers prefer the Tundra by a big margin. Softer ride, quieter on the highway - especially pulling trailers. The rear airbags on the Tundra were a must-have for towing IMO. I think the tundra springs are softer than a 4Runner - I mean literally, I think they are a lower spring rate. The front coils are a lower spring rate for sure. The rear feels like it too. The air springs do a great job stabilizing the load if you're hauling and towing a lot.

Now I'm looking at maybe buying a UTV to go with it. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little even writing that.

 

[joseywales]

I do miss the diesel power at times. But not often. Weirdly - the 5.7 and the truck in general feels a lot like our old GMC HD2500 with the 8.1L v8. It's been 15 years between, but it seems more similar to that truck than any of the other Toyota, Ram, or Fords I've driven in between.

I don't think I ever passed 12mpg in the 8.1. My Powerstroke would get around 17-18 highway unloaded. The Tundra is right around the same empty highway mpg. The GM 8.1 with a full size travel trailer would pull around 8mpg at highway speeds. The Tundra is basically the same towing. The F250 would be closer to 11-12. But fuel is about 25% more, so probably a wash. Biggest benefit there was the range.

I’ve owned multiple F350s, Ram 3500s and a crap ton of Toyotas, but the pickup I sold when I bought this Tundra was an ‘08 2500HD LTZ with 6.0 that I only had for 4 months com from a slew of 5.9 and 6.7 Cummins trucks. Fuel economy in the 6.0 was horrific. 7-8 towing and 13 or so empty and trying to get decent mileage. The Tundra feels far more like a 2500 than a 1500. The Tundra also goes a lot further on a tank as it’s 32 gallon. I don’t miss diesel at all.

A set of Bilstein 5100s up front will level you, and help with ride.