Sequoia is an oldie with few goodies
Toyota Sequoia has all the right pieces to serve a large, active family, but with a bloated exterior design, old powertrain technology and relatively few flavors, it’s not aging well.
Toyota’s biggest SUV is among the oldest in the field, and it shows in the interior and exterior styling, refinement, gas mileage and more.
For 2018, the Sequoia has a new four-bar front grille and lower bumper design, with new LED headlights across the lineup. The Sequoia has some interesting proportions, straddling low-profile minivan and school bus. Competitors are moving in one of two directions: rugged (such as the Chevrolet Tahoe or Nissan Armada) or more efficient (Ford Expedition).
Like its direct competitors, the Sequoia uses classic body-on-frame construction, the heavy-duty construction found in full-size pickups. It sits up high with its four-wheel independent suspension and has a big nose that can make it look like a bulbous cruise ship from the wrong angle.
Its doors are fairly large, which helps when loading small athletes at parks and ball fields. Additionally, it’s one of the few SUVs of any class with a powered drop-down rear window, which I find exceptionally useful for moving stale air around the back of a vehicle or for providing an easy pass-through when piling those last few pieces of gear on top of the rear storage area.
With the second- and third-row seats folded flat (providing a huge, flat load area), the Sequoia has an impressive 120.1 cubic feet of cargo space — much better than the Tahoe or Expedition. With the front passenger seat also folded forward, there’s almost 11 feet of storage length for those awkward trips back from The Home Depot.
From the driver’s seat, the vehicle feels large partly because the console and dash are large and spacious with plenty of storage slots, but this also makes it difficult to reach and adjust certain features, such as the seat heaters and air-conditioning controls. The overall look is quite dated — angular and broken into sections — compared with competitors, all of which have had at least one redesign and one midcycle refresh since the current-generation Sequoia entered the market.
During a midday drive, the angle of the navigation screen and the reflective, polished surfaces on the dash and console resulted in glare that made the screen hard to see. Adjustable interior lighting helped me find just the right amount of brightness to make my nighttime excursions visually comfortable.
The 5.7-liter V-8 gas engine is the same one the Sequoia has used for several years. Rated at 381 horsepower, the engine has plenty of low-end torque to move the large SUV smoothly around town, but it feels quite sluggish when carrying a full load of cargo or passengers. Towing capacity was 7,000 pounds and can be higher on some versions.
During my 400-mile drive to Las Vegas, I found the suspension’s “Comfort” setting to be quite smooth and floaty. Then, while running through the mountains outside of Los Angeles, “Sport” mode firmed up the hulking SUV’s cornering abilities to the point of surprise. I would note, however, that it would be nice if the steering were also variable. Overall, steering was just adequate.
During my drive time, I averaged 16.8 miles per gallon, which I figured was good considering the Sequoia’s EPA-estimated mileage of 13 mpg in the city, 17 mpg on the highway and 14 mpg combined rating. All the Sequoia’s competitors have versions that deliver much better fuel economy, and some of them have two engine choices.