Remember that crane that dropped a beefy engine in the composite bed of a 2022 model year Toyota Tundra prototype? The Japanese automaker has done something similar for the sake of marketing even though the third-gen Tundra doesn’t have segment-leading payload capability.
The featured video kicks off with a red-painted truck with the double cab and 6.5-foot bed. Specified with the $2,360 TRD Sport Package that includes double-spoke wheels, this Tundra SR5 retails at just under $50k.
Listed as a prototype instead of a retail pickup, the third-generation Tundra “is built with one mission” according to the narrator. The man specifies “getting the job done,” which is funny when you compare the Japanese truck with domestic alternatives from the Big Three in Detroit. More to the point, American trucks offer noticeably more payload and more towing capacity.
Toyota quotes up to 1,940 and 12,000 pounds, figures that convert to 880 and 5,443 kilograms. The Ford F-150 boasts 3,325 pounds (1,508 kilograms) and 14,000 pounds (6,360 kilograms), and that’s the gist of it.
Even though it’s badly outperformed by the Blue Oval, the Big G, and Ram, the Tundra still has a few aces up its proverbial sleeve. The fully-boxed frame opens the list, followed by the aluminum-reinforced composite bed that combines a sheet-molded compound with aluminum cross members.
Available in 5.5-, 6.5-, and 8.1-feet box lengths, the bed can be spruced up with LEDs, a 400-watt power inverter, as well as a deck rail system. But how does it hold up to abuse on the worksite? Toyota is much obliged to demonstrate it with a boat anchor, a metal toolbox, paving bricks, red bricks, river stones, and 960 pounds (435 kilograms) of retaining wall blocks.
Dropped by a small tracked loader from approximately 13 feet (just under 4.0 meters), these loads fail to damage the bed, although Toyota should focus on making the third-gen Tundra as reliable as its V8-engined predecessor.
2022 Toyota Tundra groups are overflowing with wastegate actuator problems, which is the kind of condition you wouldn’t expect from the Japanese automaker that made a name for itself with better-than-average reliability. But knowing Toyota, they will sort out these issues in no time.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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