Silverado vs Tundra

[Linecapt]

So I asked the brother in law with his '17 Tundra to grab a screen shot or two of his MPG going to SC from CT, to help him defend the Toyota faithful.  You'll see that on I-95, south of VA where it's flat and less traffic, I posted his best MPG of 19.6, evidently obtained with the cruise control on and relatively low temps.  

[v8hunter]

I don't know why everyone here wants to bash on the tundras as they have a slightly better drivetrain (compared to the 5.3) and get almost the same real world fuel mileage as the silverado.  Tundra is a very old platform though that needs updating.  I had a 07 tundra that got exactly the same fuel mileage as my current 2018 5.3...for some reason my 2010 tundra was a few mpg behind in an identical truck to the 2007...maybe the programming in the newer trucks is more conservative.  I really liked my 2011 Silverado 6.2 once it got black bear tuned and really liked by 2014 ecoboost once 5 star tuned too.  My 2018 5.3 Silverado is generally disappointing to me performance wise but does ride pretty nice.

 

I honestly think the chevy 5.3, ford 5.0, Toyota 5.7, and dodge 5.7 are very close in performance.  The chevy 6.2 and ford turbo sixes are in another class - especially when tuned.   I have had a lot of trucks in the last 15 years as I put 40k / year on my trucks and generally get rid of them within a few years.  You have to be quite nice to any of these trucks to get any better than 20mpg in the real world...the lie o meter in the dash or console is not to be trusted so you need to hand calculate.

[Chevyfan3]

I just sold my 2017 Tundra and got back into a Silverado. I use my truck for work and towing duties and I was averaging 12.6-13.4 in the Tundra mixed highway and city, open highway I was right at 18-19, Towing my pop up camper I was at 14-14.6 and when I went to my travel trailer I was getting 10.3. I just towed the camper this weekend with my 2500 6.0 and was able to match the mileage I got with the Tundra. Tundra was a pretty good truck, I owned it for 2.5 years and put 48k miles on it, no recalls and two warranty claims. One was for a broken gas cap and the other was a big one the dreaded cam tower leak at 21k which required the top end of the motor to be torn down and resealed. Things I disliked was the small fuel tank 26gal and only 22 usable because of the 4gal reserve, brakes while towing, soft leaf springs, hard motor to work on if you ever have an issue with it, having to remove the front skid plate for oil changes to access the filter.

[gm125800]

2 hours ago, Linecapt said:

So I asked the brother in law with his '16 Tundra to grab a screen shot or two of his MPG going to SC from CT, to help him defend the Toyota faithful.  You'll see that on I-95, south of VA where it's flat and less traffic, I posted his best MPG of 19.6, evidently obtained with the cruise control on and relatively low temps.  

Must have been with the 4.6L engine. I doubt the big V8 will come close to that unless it is reset on a downhill slope....

The 1794 Edition which i traded in would get 14 on a good straight highway.

[mookdoc6]

28 minutes ago, gm125800 said:

Must have been with the 4.6L engine. I doubt the big V8 will come close to that unless it is reset on a downhill slope....

The 1794 Edition which i traded in would get 14 on a good straight highway.

Exactly, Ask a California boy about his TUNDRA Mileage....20Hwy!  Ask a good Ol' Boy 15!  Santa Fe to Phoenix 1qty tank in a 5.3L talk to me TUndra?  That is with GM's pint size fuel tank too!

[flyingfool]

TRD or toyota trucks just dont have the tuning support GM and Ford has.  I'm sure theyre good trucks.  

[HondaHawkGT]

The Tundra is ancient and very uncompetitive. The interior really is like stepping into a 2002 Camry. The chassis is a flimsy C-channel design with WAY too much flex. Toyota claims it's designed to flex as part of the suspension, which is ridiculous. The axle ratio makes it sound like it should be able to tow the moon, but the tall transmission gear ratios kill any advantage it would provide. And the 5.7 is a major gas guzzler. My old neighbor's 2013 or 2012 Tundra never went above 17 MPG average.

[Penguin VII]

Before I bought my truck I thought it was going to be a Tundra. I went in with the expectation that it was going to be lower cost, without as many bells and whistles, and bulletproof reliability. When I drove it I was less than impressed, even coming from a lifted jeep.

 

Now, I think you could argue for or against the Tundra depending on what your priorities are. Here is how I see it:

 

GM

• Nice interior
• Great MPG in the V8 options
• Seriously good discounts
• Fully boxed frame
• Quieter in the cabin
• Feels more planted while driving

TOYOTA

• TRD pro model looks sexy
• Reliability maybe? (JD power ranks Tundra 10-10 and Silverado gets 9-10)

To me, Toyota seems to be where the big 3 were in the early 00s. Back then Toyota was a great option for a low cost, reliable option. Not as many fancy options but a quality product. Today, in my eyes at least, Toyota is relying on their perceived reliability. Their engines may be bulletproof but from my experience they rattle like a hobo with a tin can after a short time and their interior looks pretty poor.

 

At the end of the day you've got to put on quite a few miles for reliability to even matter, where as the rattle is almost instant.

[Cpl_Punishment]

The TRD Off Road comes stock with Bilstein 5100s, which is nice, but you can't get any trim with a locking rear differential, which seems ridiculous to me. 

[Linecapt]

For what it's worth, here's two more pics on his way to 19.6 he got.  And GM125800, I suppose you haven't traveled on I-95 south of VA thru the Carolina's.  It's about as flat as your highways in TX.  And he indeed has the 5.7L, as he either tows his 21' Chaparal boat or his 30' travel trailer.  Now I'm not trying to defend the Tundra as a loyal GM fan, but just throwing out there some credible evidence.  No fake news here.  

 

 

[CamaroVetteGuy]

On 6/17/2019 at 8:33 PM, v8hunter said:

I don't know why everyone here wants to bash on the tundras as they have a slightly better drivetrain (compared to the 5.3) and get almost the same real world fuel mileage as the silverado.  Tundra is a very old platform though that needs updating.  I had a 07 tundra that got exactly the same fuel mileage as my current 2018 5.3...for some reason my 2010 tundra was a few mpg behind in an identical truck to the 2007...maybe the programming in the newer trucks is more conservative.  I really liked my 2011 Silverado 6.2 once it got black bear tuned and really liked by 2014 ecoboost once 5 star tuned too.  My 2018 5.3 Silverado is generally disappointing to me performance wise but does ride pretty nice.

 

I honestly think the chevy 5.3, ford 5.0, Toyota 5.7, and dodge 5.7 are very close in performance.  The chevy 6.2 and ford turbo sixes are in another class - especially when tuned.   I have had a lot of trucks in the last 15 years as I put 40k / year on my trucks and generally get rid of them within a few years.  You have to be quite nice to any of these trucks to get any better than 20mpg in the real world...the lie o meter in the dash or console is not to be trusted so you need to hand calculate.

Funny go to the Tundra forum and most of them say their tundras don’t get close to the 17 mpg that Toyota estimates

[CamaroVetteGuy]

https://www.tundras.com/threads/tundra-mpg.38943/

[CamaroVetteGuy]

I am averaging about 21 mpg. On a recent trip where the land was pretty flat I averaged 23.7 mpg.

[CamaroVetteGuy]

I planned on buying a tundra until I drove one

[aaronk]

My last 4 trucks have been Toyota's with the current one being a Tundra.  Looking at jumping ship with my next truck as the 2019 Tundra is literally lipstick on my 2012 Tundra... I'll say the Silverado rode much better then the Tundra; however the 8 speed transmission on the truck I drove was horrible in comparison.  The Tundra engines really only have two common issues - air injection pump failures and cam tower leaks.  I've gone 150,000 miles on mine and have only had an issue with one air injection pump and valve.  Total cost of ownership has been ridiculously cheap over that period of time.  One set of brakes, one serpentine belt, one spark plug change, and beyond that just oil changes.  Trucks burns absolutely 0 oil even at 10,000 mile oil change intervals.  Resale value... I was offered $15,000 in trade as a starting price for a 7 year old truck with 150,000 miles.... I'd call that pretty good!

 

The 8 speed transmission in the 1500 scares me though, otherwise I'd have one in the driveway right now.  Thinking maybe going 2500HD instead so I can get a normal V8 with no AFM/DFM and a solid transmission.  A Tundra in comparison to a 1500 really isn't that much different in price where I'm at.  My base Tundra has some features a 1500 doesn't and the 1500 has some features my Tundra doesn't.  The ancient infotainment system offered in the Tundra absolutely kills me though...