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Mr. Regular Reviews 2000 Toyota Tundra, Says “It Does the Job Very Well”

Donut Media recently posted a video on YouTube about million-mile engines, and the moment Jeremiah Burton mentioned the 2UZ-FE, the Tundra came into my head like a thunderbolt. An understated truck by all accounts, the first generation of the workhorse is hugely reliable as long as you ignore the rusting frame issue that prompted a recall in 2009.
2000 Toyota Tundra V8 Limited: Regular Car Reviews 9 photos
Photo: Regular Car Reviews on YouTube
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That reliability boils down to the 4.7-liter V8 that combines aluminum heads with a cast-iron block, port fuel injection, four valves per cylinder, and one-piece camshafts. Also featured in the 4Runner and Land Cruiser from that era, this motor won’t leave you stranded on the side of the road.

Regular Car Reviews had the opportunity to drive an original Tundra with this engine, highlighting how overbuilt this engine was for its time. Lest we forget, the Big Three in Detroit were running archaic mills in the form of the Magnum V8, Triton V8, and Vortec series of small-block V8s.

“Hard, bouncy, but not wobbly,” the 2000 Toyota Tundra V8 Limited Access Cab in the following video “is instantly familiar when you drive it.” According to Mr. Regular, the Japanese pickup from Princeton, Indiana “looks like a foreigner’s idea of what an American truck enthusiast would like.” Truth be told, it’s hard to shut one’s eyes to the F-Series motifs.

Currently sitting at 225,000 miles (362,102 kilometers), this fellow occasionally weeps oil from the passenger-side valve cover gasket. It’s understandable given the truck’s age and impressive if you glance over the reliability records of the F-150, Dodge Ram, and ‘Rado from this era.

“It’s not all that flashy or exciting, but the Tundra does the job and does it very well,” according to Brian Reider of Regular Car Reviews. Be that as it may, Toyota will go down a very different route for the 2022 model year.

The all-new Tundra will reportedly drop the free-breathing V8 in favor of a V6 with at least 3.0 liters of displacement, but not any ol’ six. Just like the next-generation Land Cruiser, hearsay suggests a V6 with hybrid assistance.

A couple of boosty snails are also rumored, and their role would be to improve oomph as well as the EPA-rated gas mileage. Considering that Ford already offers a half-ton truck with a hybrid sixer, it appears to me that Toyota is playing catch-up to the American truck makers again, just like it did when the original Tundra came out in 1999 for the 2000 model year.

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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

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.
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