Tundra vs Sierra-Silverado Part Two: Features and Pricing
Jason Lancaster | Feb 18, 2008 | Comments 26
The second part of our Tundra vs Sierra Silverado comparison will evaluate the relative cost of the two trucks and compare the features of both. (Read part one if you missed it.) We
Filed Under: Toyota Tundra Reviews and Comparisons
Oooopppps! Gotta recalculate that pricing – the Tundra now has $4000 to $5000 in incentives sitting on the hood. Geee I wonder why that is since it is such a superior product.
I have to give GM there que. I had curb view mirrors which Toyota can only dream of. You don’t need a reverse camera to park along in the street. Also why is Toyota stuck on these phoney guages? Can you tell me the operating temp of the motor in degrees? Not on a Ford or Toyota. I like to see real numbers here… These c to h or l to h is for people who only knows how to put gas in a vehicle. I wish Toyota get on the ball with this. A real truck owner towing something would like to see how the temp is doing…
Hexmate, Go figure…. You see they do allow rebates on superior trucks just as well as the other trucks.
Consumer Reports is not recommending the Tundra 4×4 because of 4WD drive line problems. What do you know about this? Will Toyota have a solution soon? One person mentioned having a front differential problem and the service writer telling him it would take some time to get the improved part. Snow and ice is an issue here at 8000 feet elev. in the Rockies. I have had excellent reliability from Toyota trucks and like the Tundra design better. I have been looking at the 2500 HD with Duramax 6.6L Diesel as it can tow over 12000 lbs. The Tundra with 10000 lbs tow capacity comes up short for an 8500 lbs tractor and its Hefty trailer. I’d rather buy the Tundra but suspect the 2500 HD may be a better bet. I guess I could hire the tractor towed on the rare occasion it is needed but what is the point of having a big truck if it cannot do the work. Thanks for the article. It is timely for me.
Tundra will have a diesel out by 2010. It will out tow the HD Duramax.
Ed – First of all, Consumer Reports is describing a problem that Toyota issued a recall for after most of the CR data was collected. I like CR, but their methodology is a little suspect…they use surveys from readers, but in order to publish the results they need to have a “cut off date” for these surveys. I suspect that next year the Tundra will be the recommended truck once all the bugs have been worked out and more surveys have been collected. Based on your description it sounds like you’ll need to tow more than 10,000 lbs with this vehicle. If that’s the case, I really can’t recommend the Tundra. I think it’s better to tow that much weight with a 3/4 or 1 ton truck. They weigh more, they tend to have stiffer, stronger suspensions. Don’t get me wrong – the Tundra will tow up to the weight it’s rated for (and probably a little more) with ease. But if your trailer weighs substantially more, it would be unwise to tow with a vehicle that’s not rated for the load. I’m glad our article could help.
I’ve been truck shopping for a while lately, and have a few comments regarding safety between the two trucks.
“Standard traction control (not even available on the GM trucks)”. Partly true, but only because GMC has a true locking differential (rather than traction control) as an option. Additionally, GMC has true all-wheel-drive mode on their 4×4 model, which Toyota does not.
“The 00-06 GM models scored
Music – Good points. I disagree that AWD is better than 4WD. Some people need that locking front diff. on their trucks when they’re off-road. However, most people most of the time will find AWD better (but not substantially so). The NHTSA side impact test results for the GMC must be very new, as they weren’t available when this comparison was written (or at least we didn’t see them). There’s definitely an advantage in side air bags and side air curtains, but the difference probably isn’t as substantial as we stated. Our bias here is that traction control, EBD, and stability control systems are cheap and highly effective. Failing to offer a vehicle with these options is hard to understand…it’s a few hundred dollars worth of parts and it could save someone’s life. In any case, point taken. Thank you.
admin – Thanks for replying. I just re-read my post, and realized that I had an error. The Tundra hasn’t yet been tested by the NHTSA for side impact, so that was a “slip of the mind” on my part. The GMC has been tested, and received 5-stars front and side, with and without side-curtain airbags. I completely agree that these should be standard equipment, and also feel that good headrests should be standard at all seating positions. As for traction control, that isn’t so straightforward. The locking differential that GM uses is very good, but traction control would defeat it’s actuation. It’s a “one or the other” sort of thing. I cannot understand why GM only puts stability control on their crew-cab as “standard”. It probably has to do with most buyers opting for the 4WD model, which has “Auto 4WD” mode. Nonetheless, stability control should be standard on all vehicles. Honda is leading the way for the masses with their “safety for everyone” campaign, which I am happy to see.
All good points – it’s nice to have an intelligent discourse on this post. TC seems better than a locking diff – nearly the same results in most situations, but increased safety with the TC system. But, just like the 4WD AWD argument, they both have their strong points.
I ended up buying a GMC Sierra Crew cab, since it best suited my particular needs, wants and price. After doing so, I discovered that the GM “stabilitrak” system DOES include traction control. So my statement about it being a “one or the other” feature was a bit off. My current truck has the locking rear differential, traction control and stability control. It seems to me that I would have to disable traction control (via the button) for the locking rear diff to engage, but I’m not really sure? I do know this, in auto-4wd mode on steep, freshly wet, slick pavement… if I punch it at low speed going uphill, there’s no slippage. I can’t tell what engages or how… but it’s amazingly quick and efficient, whatever it is.
I’m not writing this to brag on the GMC, just to correct my earlier post. (I remembered it!) I’ve read that most (all?) GM trucks will have “stabilitrak” starting in 2009, but I haven’t confirmed it.
GMC SIERRA!!!
Who wrote these reviews, I have rtead a lot of them from Edmund to motor trend and this ranks up with Trucktrend saying a Tundra is better at towing then a HD of another manufacture. Who ever wrote this must know the trucktrend editor. Show me a Toyota that can tow 18k-24k.
Mickey wrote: Tundra will have a diesel out by 2010. It will out tow the HD Duramax. Where is it? Oh that’s right there is more important issue to workout before dreaming of trying to make a HD. How’s that frame, no issues with the gas pedal I hope. That’s ruff. Can’t make a frame for a 1/2 ton no way are they ready for the big boys!
Anonymous comments are hard to take seriously.
Ditto Jason he reads when he wants too. Didn’t notice that it was back in March of 2008 when the Diesel HD version for Toyota was still in the plans. But that’s okay hence your sentence Jason how can you take him seriously.
Hexmate – You’ve had 165 opportunities to argue with me in the previous thread, and you’ve even had the last word. I’m done with our back and forth – let’s move on.
tch! tch! Hexmate. We already know the truth. Now go find something to do with yourself.
The thing there Hexmate is you can’t handle the truth and that’s why you keep on trying to antagonize Jason. You’re proving how much an a$$ you can be.
Jason, what is it with your shadow? Every time you make a comment someone has to follow it up and it isn’t usually Hexmate. Pet him on the head, give him a treat and tell him to go lay down already.
Ditto, yhea. I whole heartedly agree.
So what you’re saying there anonymous only applies to me? Look at yourself commenting for Hexmate and your tag along commenting for you. Who knows there anonymous maybe you are Hexmate and the Mouse!
Mickey is a frequent commenter and he chimes in regularly on just about every post…the fact that he responds to my comments doesn’t mean that he’s my “shadow” – it means he’s on top of things and likes the site. For that I am grateful.
##
I’m also grateful for Hexmate, anonymous comments, and everyone else who comments here. Comments make the site better, keep me on my toes, and help point out the “other side” that I sometimes neglect. Thank you all.
Hey guys. Just to make a few things clear. All wheel drive vehicle differ from part-time 4wd, like in the tundra, in that they have a center differential to go along with te front and rear differential. This allows the front axle to get its requirement of more rpm around a curve than the rear. In our part-time 4wd tundra there is no center diff, just a transfer case that when engaged in 4wd it locks the front+rear driveshafts together. This is why we can’t or definitely shouldn’t drive our part-time 4wd’s on good traction pavement. If the front requires more rpm than the rear and their is no center diff then there is a lot of tension within the transfer case and on the drive shafts.
The bad thing about all wheel drive is that if one of the 4 tires gets stuck in the snow, the whole truck won’t move. All the energy going into the center diff will travel down the path of least resistance. In a 4wd truck, since the driveshafts are acting as one, if one of the front tires loses traction, the rear tires will still get all that torque. But if say the front left tire and the right rear tire become stuck, then your 4wd truck will be stuck. I don’t care if you have limited-slip diffs or not. Only thing that will ge you out is a locking rear diff and or front diff. Only a few all wheel drive trucks/cars are made with the ability to lock the center diff, which basically makes it a part-time 4wd like the tundra, and also have a locking front diff button and a locking rear diff button. Some examples of those off-road beasts are the mercedes g500, the hummer 3, and jeep rubikon. Barring that, unless that all wheel drive has a locking center diff, the best choices is to just have a 4wdin case you run into trouble. But for taking turns better and being able to using it on rainy pavement, the all wheel drive is better. The limited slips will do the trick on wet pavement and you will get torque to all 4 tires, around turns and all. But if you slip off the road into a snow or mud patch. Your screwed.
Not necessarily true about AWD’s. Yes if you get it stuck the path of least resistence will prevail. If you apply slight brake pressure on some all 4 will lock in, thus there will be no path of least resistance. What it comes down to is know your vehicle and know how to drive. Lockers are good for intense situations a example would be rock climbing with a manual transmission. In that situation you only have 2 feet and three pedals, it doesn’t add up. Trying to hold slight brake pedal while feathering the clutch and gas isn’t easy. Newer vehicles use the ABS to apply brake pressure to shift the power from tire to tire.
Tom – Great point about knowing your vehicle. I think that talking about the difference between a true locking rear diff and a limited slip diff is important, but it should come with the qualifier that most of the time for most users, the difference won’t be noticeable. Case in point – I remember when the new Ford Escape came out. A lot of people said the lack of a ‘real’ transfer case would hurt the little SUV. 10 years later, it’s one of Ford’s best sellers. The point: most vehicles exceed our needs in every typical situation. It’s only the atypical situation where problems come up.
Anonymous, every car manufacturer has had a recall. So do go gloating like GM has be on top of there game with no mistakes. That us why they lost 38% of their market to the Japanese auto makers and after 30 long years they are trying to appeal to the consumer and compare their products against the because they are the standard in the auto industry. Here’s proof, GM want want to go into the subcompact market so they teamed up with Toyota and created the prism aka the corolla. What was their most reliable car during that time 88-94 it was the prism. They wanted to see how toyota assembled their cars and what made them a sucess. Did they take notes from Toyota to get better they sure did and toyota did the same thing. Now they have a product or truck that is equal to or better than theirs.