My son and I (he is a huge diesel fan) took off last week to trade my 2004 Super Duty F250 5.4 on a diesel. I have always been a Ford man and have had the F250 for a year. The 5.4 is totally underpowered for this size truck. It feels like the truck can barely pull itself. I put on a K&N cold air induction, Flomaster exhaust and even a Superchips programmer to help the performance. I could tell there was a little more power from the programmer but I now had to use at least 91 octane gas. The mileage remained lousy. The absolute best I ever got on a straight interstate trip with hardly any stops was 14 mpg. It generally gets 10 to 12 mpg with everyday driving. I considered the V10 but around here no one seems to get over 10 mpg.
We test drove about 5 late model F250 diesels and they all seemed noisy and slow on the acceleration which my son said was typical of a diesel. I have a goose neck that I pull maybe 6 times a year with a 11,000 to 12,000 lb total load. I know the diesel really counts on the pull.
We were test driving a Ford when we happened to go past a Toyota dealership. We stopped in for a look and test drive. I first confirmed the Tundra was 75% to 80% American parts with it being assembled in Princeton, IN. I have never considered any import anything in the past but wanted to be open minded. This truck seemed as "American" as anything else on the road.
I just came out of the 5.4 F250 into this thing. I hit the gas and unintentionally left 2 black marks in the parking lot. The truck seemed like it weighed about 100 pounds although the curb weight is about 5500.
The truck has 381 hp and 401 foot pounds of torque. The performance was amazing on this truck. The brakes, engine and rear end was larger than most 3/4 ton trucks. The 6 speed automatic shifted very smooth and prompt.
We left and went to look at more Ford diesels. I was now comparing everything to the Tundra. We left the last Ford store and I went back and bought the Tundra. I am getting 16 mpg with everyday driving and expect that to go up a bit when it gets a few thousand miles on it. I pulled a light bumper hitch trailer load of about 5000 pounds and the truck felt like there was hardly anything on it.
So far I am very impressed with the Tundra. The fact that I am not an every day trailer puller influenced by decision somewhat by going with a gas engine. But from what I see so far things will work out just fine.
Checking to see if anyone else out there has had any experience with the Tundra.
We test drove about 5 late model F250 diesels and they all seemed noisy and slow on the acceleration which my son said was typical of a diesel. I have a goose neck that I pull maybe 6 times a year with a 11,000 to 12,000 lb total load. I know the diesel really counts on the pull.
We were test driving a Ford when we happened to go past a Toyota dealership. We stopped in for a look and test drive. I first confirmed the Tundra was 75% to 80% American parts with it being assembled in Princeton, IN. I have never considered any import anything in the past but wanted to be open minded. This truck seemed as "American" as anything else on the road.
I just came out of the 5.4 F250 into this thing. I hit the gas and unintentionally left 2 black marks in the parking lot. The truck seemed like it weighed about 100 pounds although the curb weight is about 5500.
The truck has 381 hp and 401 foot pounds of torque. The performance was amazing on this truck. The brakes, engine and rear end was larger than most 3/4 ton trucks. The 6 speed automatic shifted very smooth and prompt.
We left and went to look at more Ford diesels. I was now comparing everything to the Tundra. We left the last Ford store and I went back and bought the Tundra. I am getting 16 mpg with everyday driving and expect that to go up a bit when it gets a few thousand miles on it. I pulled a light bumper hitch trailer load of about 5000 pounds and the truck felt like there was hardly anything on it.
So far I am very impressed with the Tundra. The fact that I am not an every day trailer puller influenced by decision somewhat by going with a gas engine. But from what I see so far things will work out just fine.
Checking to see if anyone else out there has had any experience with the Tundra.