C&D finished 40K mi Tundra tests

[L8 APEX]

Last months Car and Driver had a good 4-5 page article covering their long term Tundra demo truck. I figured I would share what they wrote about fuel economy in the I force. Sticker quoted 14/18. They got 13 city and 12 towing. They hauled several loads with it. It did great with open trailers but enclosed trailers gave it a fit. Even at only 7K lbs they could not control the sway on the highway. Toyota rates the truck to tow 10,300.
http://www.svtgalleries.net/gallery/data/500/medium/CIMG1311.JPG

[dboat]

Wow, 13,600 on fuel alone.. ouch...

Dana

[L8 APEX]

I am averaging 16 empty and 14 towing heavy enclosed loads. But that may change since I threw the 20's back on tonight.

[mikelemoine]

Seems like a push to rate the towing at around double the weight of the vehicle. Maybe the engineers calculated that the brakes, driveline and suspension could take the weight, but neglected to consider real world conditions such as balance of weight, road angles/conditions/materials and cross winds? Or maybe the engineers said it could handle that in a controlled environment and the marketing folks just put the spin on to make numbers, knowing most truck drivers never haul anything (except ass, maybe).

[L8 APEX]

Toyota was gunning for the full size working truck market with this one. Yes I say ALL half ton and maybe even 3/4 ton max towing capacities are bogus. I always advise customers to stay within a 70% of max limitation. That is a real world margin that seems to work best. Most of these trucks only have 3 leafs in the rear springs that is not enough for a serious load. Also American rear differentials are C clip design which have only a single axle bearing to carry these loads. The F250/350's have full floating axles with two bearings on each axle to distribute more weight. You have to consider what is supporting these loads mechanically. Half ton rear ends just aren't designed for 10K lbs. I was surprised that C&D knocked the Tundra as much as they did. I assumed the 4 piston 14" brakes were huge but they marked them as only adequate. It is a good open trailer truck as are most half tons. The playing field is getting more even with Dodge and GM bringing 6 speed autos next year. Gear splitting is a huge help when moving heavy loads. But they are still not sprung or have the axles to carry 10K.