Tundra a rough-and-ready ride
Rural Michigan is pickup country. Macho pickups of all stripes with big tires, menacing hood scoops and lifted suspensions eager to go beyond where the asphalt ends.
Despite its rare Toyota badge, my hulking, 2021 Tundra TRD Pro tester fit right in. Sitting atop 32-inch Michelin all-terrain tires, Fox off-road shocks and 11 inches of ground clearance, this behemoth bristles with hood scoops and tow hooks.
This is not your father’s Camry, but a serious,
bark-chewing beast.
Think of Toyota as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The Japanese automaker has built a reputation as a dependable daily driver and a weekend track warrior. Its Toyota Racing Development (TRD) shop has climbed podiums at the highest echelons of motor sports from NASCAR to Formula One. That resume includes winning the Baja 1000, North America’s premier off-road competition.
Beginning in 1998, the TRD badge started to show up on the Tacoma (or Taco, as it’s known to its legion of fans), a roughand-ready off-roader. While the Detroit Three dominated full-size trucks, Taco owned the midsize segment with its Mr. Hyde variants leading the way.
Tundra followed with its own TRD features but has lived in Taco’s shadow — its sales just half that of little brother.
But Tundra got serious in 2015. It got a comprehensive TRD Pro package with serious suspension and skid plate mods. It even brought back a Baja 1000 trophy in the Pro Stock class to make little brother proud.
I took my TRD Pro tester to The Mounds Off-Road Vehicle Park near Mount
Morris, Michigan. The Mounds is 200 acres of dirt, sand and bog. It’s a place where dirt bikers, ATV owners and Jeepsters can let out their inner child.
And where Tundra lets out Mr. Hyde.
Once unleashed, the TRD Pro is a blast. I nailed the throttle and the 381-horse 5.7-liter V-8 bellowed, the rear end slewing sideways through muddy bends. With the Fox shocks allowing extended suspension travel, Tundra bounded over a sandbox of moguls like an oversize puppy.
The Tundra’s tried-andtrue design helped it win JD Power’s 2020 initial quality award for lightduty trucks. Competitors offer cool stuff like digital screens and console work surfaces, but TRD Pro’s basics keep its price in the mid-$55,000 range where comparably equipped, off-road-trimmed rivals like the Ram 1500 Rebel and Ford F-150 FX4 will top 60 grand.
With the money you save, you can go out and buy even bigger tires to pull little brother Taco out of the Mounds bog.