2024 Toyota Tundra TRD

The Toyota Tundra is a huge truck - there’s no getting around that. The protruding plastic TRD-specific details on the hood make it look even bulkier than it is - especially noticeable from the inside since that’s what you’ll see when looking forward through the windshield.

Interior

The 2024 Tundra interior is a fairly standard Toyota interior - used in most of the larger vehicles of their lineup. With this much space, there’s a lot of room for screens, interior features, comfort, and/or just for shuffling around. The entertainment screen is larger than my iPad, and the dashboard cluster is yet another ginormous screen.

The sunroof of the Tundra is also on the larger side of things. The screen retracts all the way back - basking all occupants in sun. If you want to open the roof - like all the way open, letting air in - you can do that for the front seat passengers. The rear seat passengers will be safe from the scalp-burn.

The rearview mirror with its built-in camera feature is, as usual, a very helpful tool. I could easily stick my family behind the truck without the driver noticing them in the rear view mirror, so having the mirror actually be a screen with a backup camera is a great idea. With the camera function enabled, I always see what’s going on behind the truck, be it up close or way back behind me on the freeway.

Front bucket seats are very comfortable - and huge like everything else, did I mention that? Yet the seats are still snug enough to keep you kinda in one place, even if you’re off-roading.

Between the two front seats you also have a ton of space. The center console is insanely deep - you can pretty much store anything you want in there - which is convenient if you want to stick a purse or similar item down there.

The TRD logo is very prevalent throughout the interior of the Toyota Tundra TRD. Red “TRD”-lettering as well as red stitching and other random red design elements have been artfully included - on the gear shifter, on the bottom and top of the steering wheel, as contrast stitching throughout the car - really giving the interior an extra pop. Also, the massive letters jutting out across the dash of the passenger side, spelling out “Toyota” for everyone to see, will not go unnoticed.

The stereo system is absolutely fine, one might even say great, but I’m not overwhelmed by the notes it produces. At higher volumes my ears are picking up some extra noises coming from the door panels - vibrations resonating from the door panels and/or other parts of the vehicle. This, of course, is not so much the fault to the stereo system - the plastic interior door panels should probably be adjusted to withstand the sound waves coming from the door-mounted speakers.

The backseat is, along with the rest of the car, very large. Looking more like a living room sofa, the rear row of seats is wide enough for three people to sit very comfortably - even for longer drives. Furthermore, the Tundra isn’t just wide, there’s plenty of space for legs and feet, pretty much regardless of how tall the occupant(s) are.

The one question I have is, with a vehicle this wide and a middle seat so very usable (not always the case with the middle seat), I question the headrest for that middle passenger. It’s tiny, and doesn’t feel at all as robust as everything else in the Tundra does.

A Note On The Noise

The Tundra is a massive truck (you’re getting that by now, right?), but the power-plant does not sound as massive as one would expect. So, it seems that the Toyota engineers have made sure to either beef up or hone in on the deeper notes of the engine’s rumbling - because in the Tundra it has the most marvelous rumble of a V8. Even though anybody listening from the outside will miss those deep notes - from outside the Tundra sounds more like the V6 it is - I really appreciate listening to the engine growl as I’m driving around. Who cares what others can hear - or not hear - they’re not the ones who paid almost $75,000 for a truck.

Power & Driving Characteristics

Yes, the Toyota Tundra TRD is a beast. It’s huge, and with huge vehicles comes a lot of weight - more mass for the engine to move. One might not expect such a massive vehicle to get up and go, but the Tundra definitely does have a lot of kick to it. The combination of the hybrid battery and the very impressive twin-turbo V6 engine spits out 427 horsepower - enough to get this beast to spring into action.

Since the car engine turns off when the car is at a stand-still - like at a stop sign or stoplight - it will take a split second before the combustion engine kicks on and starts moving power to the wheels. I used to hate this, feeling that whatever vehicle I was in always was a split second late to actually get going - enough to irritate me at least. But, in vehicles with a hybrid power plant this of course is no longer a problem. In the Toyota Tundra TRD, with its i-FORCE MAX hybrid engine, it doesn’t matter that the engine has turned off, the electric motor kicks in, immediately getting the Tundra moving - I never really notice that there is a split second until the engine has kicked on.

Safety & Convenience

There are certain features that are a must with a vehicle of beast-proportions. At the top of that list, in my opinion, is that the top-down view can be easily turned on with the touch of a button. Such is the case with the Tundra - and I’m pretty much using it whenever maneuvering in any kind of tight spot. I, sometimes, even use it when I’m making right turns through intersections - just to make sure that I’m clearing the curb.

The 2024 Toyota Tundra TRD comes with Toyota Safety Sense 2.5, which means that it is kitted with a bunch of the safety and convenience features - the same ones built into most Toyotas. The latest iteration of Toyota Safety Sense is actually 3.0, but not to worry - the 2.5 has a lot of the same features.

No, the Toyota Tundra is not self-driving, but the dynamic radar cruise control does a great job at keeping the car away from the car ahead of you. And the lane departure alert with steering assist will push you back into your lane if you start to drift. The downside with this system is that it does indeed push you back into your lane - not really steering for you - so if left to itself there is a high chance that you’ll start bouncing from one side of the lane to the other. But, as I said, this is not a self driving vehicle, it’s just making sure you’re not drifting out of your lane.

There’s a system called Multi Terrain Monitor - a feature that I believe most Tundra TRD owners will never need to activate. To help you maneuver through really rough off-road conditions, it enhances the top-down view to show a whole bunch of camera angles at the same time - making sure you know where all four tires are.

If pulling a trailer is more your thing, the Trailer Backup Guide will probably be a feature you might use more often. For the driver that doesn’t pull a trailer all that often, any help is appreciated - especially when backing up.

Exterior

The Toyota Tundra TRD comes with 18-inch aluminum wheels - adding to the impressive and capable look of the Tundra. The aluminum reinforced composite bed with a 120V (400W) AC power outlet and LED lights make hauling your gear a breeze. And if you do load up the truck bed with a bunch of stuff, you can rest assured that your headlights will be fine - this Tundra comes with automatically leveling LED-headlights that will make sure they’re still pointed in the correct direction even if you’ve got a bunch of weight in the back.

Speaking of headlights, the Toyota Tundra TRD has the Toyota Tundra grille with the built-in LED light bar. At first I thought this is a very cool feature that’ll add a bunch of light when driving in the dark. It turns out that’s not quite the case. The light bar does add a bunch of light, but it’s really just shining out to the sides of the car. Probably great when driving off-road, but not much help when driving down a dark highway.

Summary

The 2024 Toyota Tundra TRD is a massive machine. Our test vehicle is loaded with tons of features, coming in with a sticker price of $74,295. The Tundra handles nicely, is very capable on and off the road, and despite its size is actually really nice to just tool around town in.