Toyota Tundra TRD Pro Yearlong Review Verdict: Did We Dig Toyota's Bro-iest Truck?
Or did the big orange off-road pickup truck leave a lot to be desired?
After 12 months and 29,051 miles behind the wheel of our 2023 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, we’re left feeling unsatisfied.
0:00 / 0:00
The 2023 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro was always going to have a tough go of it. The growing popularity of factory enhanced off-road capable full-size trucks meant the rowdiest version of the third generation Tundra has plenty of stiff competition from the likes of Ford, Ram and Chevrolet. Toyota needed to come out swinging.
When Toyota finally pulled the sheets off the new Tundra, it looked prepared for the fight. The third-gen Tundra is objectively a great looking truck; its wide and aggressive grill, distinctive headlights and flared wheel arches make even the most basic Tundra look sporty and aggressive. Inside, the large screen, molded dash, and chunky controls were a vast improvement over the outgoing model and brought the Tundra’s interior into the modern age.
Powertrain-wise, Toyota again looked to modernize its offerings, ditching the V-8 in favor of a standard 3.4-liter twin-turbo V-6, and a brawny hybridized version that would power the higher trim models including the TRD Pro.
To find out what Toyota’s newest half-ton truck is like to live with, we took possession of a 2023 Tundra TRD Pro for our yearlong review. With the Mojave Desert near our Los Angeles HQ, we opted for the Baja-ready Tundra TRD Pro; it features Fox Shox 2.5-inch internal bypass remote reservoir shocks, a 1.1-inch lift, skidplates, a beefy front stabilizer bar, Falken Wildpeak A/T all-terrain tires, and a locking rear differential. Toyota doesn’t offer any major options when ordering a TRD Pro, so the sole option on ours was $425 Solar Octane orange paint and a few dealer-installed accessories, which brought the as-tested price up from its base price of $68,520 to $71,998.
Over our year, we found six features that we absolutely loved about our Tundra and four we loathed.
What We Loved About Our Tundra
Solar Octane orange paint is not for the faint of heart. One of the first adventures I took the Tundra on was a springtime weekend excursion north of Los Angeles in search of wildflowers.
Upon finding a hillside covered in bright yellow blooms, I pulled over and parked the Tundra on the side of the road. Crossing to the opposite shoulder to survey the scene, I was awestruck. The bright orange Tundra, set in front of a wall of yellow wildflowers was so visually assaulting that it was hard to look at. Spending too long admiring this chromatically caustic scene caused the sort of discomfort that reminded me of a time as a child when I spent too long staring at a black light poster in the back of Spencer’s Gifts.
After a year with a bold, exciting and bright orange Toyota in my driveway, I find my parking spot to look a little gloomier now that it is gone.
The Tundra TRD Pro’s styling only enhances the solar flare paintjob. It has more aggressive, digital camouflage fender trim, and an all-black grill featuring the integrated TRD light bar. Aggressive-looking black BBS wheels complete the look and match the bro racer aesthetic perfectly. The 18-inch forged aluminum BBS wheels and Falken AT/3W tires do look “undersized” in the massive fender openings and the truck begs for a tire with a taller sidewall.
While some of the materials Toyota utilized on the Tundra’s interior (like the satin black plastic surrounding the central screen and vent openings) left a little to be desired, the overall design is attractive and feels cockpit-like compared to other trucks in the segment. This may have been at the expense of outward visibility, but I always felt like I was sitting in the Tundra, compared to sitting on top of trucks like the Ford F-150.
The Toyota’s interior was comfortable, too. The seat base proved to be soft but supportive enough that it didn’t cause fatigue on long trips. The bolstering, likewise, suited my admittedly large frame well, keeping me squarely behind the wheel on twisty mountain roads. The one drawback to the Tundra’s thrones was its incredibly loud seat coolers, which sound like you’re sitting next to a tiny box fan when running.
As much as I love the seats, the Tundra’s 14.0-inch center mounted screen really is the interior’s party piece. The center’s landscape-oriented high-contrast screen was easily used by driver or passenger, and it provided a bright, reflection-free hub for controlling various applications via Apple CarPlay.
Despite the above positives, if asked to single out the best aspect of our Tundra TRD Pro, it would be its 3.4-liter twin-turbo V-6 hybrid drivetrain. Producing 437 horsepower and 583 lb-ft of torque (89 hp and a whopping 178 lb-ft more than the base non-hybridized 3.4-liter twin-turbo V-6) and putting it to a four-wheel drive system through its 10-speed automatic transmission, the TRD Pro was quick enough during daily driving that I was never left wanting.
During my many trips to the local landscape supply yard (often with a 1,500-pound load of gravel in the bed), the Tundra’s off-road oriented suspension may have exhibited an amusing level of squat but it never felt burdened. Likewise, during the excitement filled excursion into the desert towing a Polaris RZR Pro R Ultimate, the Tundra barely registered the 4,400-pounds it was dragging.
Toyota was clear when they were launching the hybrid Tundra that efficiency was not their primary goal, performance was. With an EPA rating of 18/20/19 mpg city/highway/combined, the Tundra’s efficiency is average for the segment. Nevertheless, we were unable to match those numbers, averaging just 15.0 mpg. That figure only looks impressive compared to our significantly more capable and powerful long-term 2022 Ford F-150 Raptor. The Raptor averaged 13.6 mpg over the 21,042 miles that it was driven. Over the 29,051 miles we covered in the Tundra, that works out to be $0.36 per mile, versus the Raptor’s $0.40 per mile cost. Considering the Raptor’s off- and on-road supremacy, that extra four cents per mile is probably worth it.
While we didn’t achieve the Tundra’s stated efficiency numbers on a daily basis, the truck is capable of exceeding those fuel economy numbers when driven gingerly. We proved so on a 526-mile fuel efficiency run where we averaged 23.0 mpg, thanks to a combination of careful throttle application, strict adherence to the speed limit, and by not running the air conditioner.
