2012 4×2 Tundra Double Cab review and road test

In the world of pickup trucks there is really no comparing to the ones coming out of Detroit.

And Canadians seem to agree – the top three selling vehicles in our home and native land are pickups – all from the Big Three.


However, Toyota isn’t wrong in producing the Tundra and its little brother the Tacoma. While die-hard pickup buyers who have been behind the wheel of their current truck may not look to the Tundra for their next purchase, current Toyota owners who have a need for a truck or new buyers looking for something different might find the Tundra just what they’re after.

The Tundra comes with a nice chunky silhouette. The big front grille and oversized rear wheel wells help it keep it looking closer to what a traditional North American pickup should look like instead of a clear Japanese import.

The Nissan Titan suffers from this. Its front grille and suicide doors on the crew cab is just a little bit out there and while its interior has been tamed in recent years the original’s center stack looked like it belonged on the Starship Enterprise.

Getting up an into the cockpit was a bit of a challenge as my tester didn’t include a running board. Toyota does offer four-inch side step bars which serve the same purpose but they’re an addition $629 option.

Once behind the wheel the Tundra serves well as an office on the go. The centre console is large enough to both store your laptop and act as a desk for it when in use. It would be easy to set-up a mini filing system in there too as well as keep some of the typical tools you might need for completing estimates or making quick measurements.

There are three cab variants to choose from: Regular cab, double cab and CrewMax. The CrewMax offers lots of storage but the extra $10,000 might be better spent on a double cab which still has plenty of room for five adults and the 4.6-litre engine available on the bottom double cab trim level (compared to the larger 5.7-litre on other double can and CrewMax trims) doe a decent job at hustling around the city and highway.

 Most remarkable was the road and engine noise inside the cabin of the Tundra – or rather – lack thereof. Only when the Tundra was under hard acceleration did the roar of the engine become a bit loud for comfort.

by Mathieu Yuill on May 8, 2012