Professor W. Edwards Deming taught post-War Japan statistical process control. Toyota management applied Deming's lessons with characteristic discipline, refining the Yale grad's famous "14 points" to create their lean manufacturing system. Through it all, ToMoCo had one over-riding goal: to mimic and surpass the world's greatest automakers. Driving the new Toyota Sequoia back-to-back against its archetypal competition– the Chevy Tahoe and Ford Expedition– proves the old adage: be careful what you wish for.
Toyota's "homage" to the great American SUV is obvious at first glance. The new Sequoia looks like the offspring of an illicit tryst between the manly Ford Expedition King Ranch and sweet little miss White Diamond Tahoe LTZ. Baby Sequoia has her father's horizontal chrome grille and her mother's facial structure. It's a pastiche without panache, a me-too shape that displays the same lack of originality that's helped propel other Toyota models to stellar sales success.
Other than the slight "flame surfacing" on the Sequoia's sides (cribbed from BMW), the nose provides the model's only ToMoCo branding. (Again.) While the snout's a straight cop from the Sequoia's sister-under-the-skin (the Tundra), the designers were smart enough to ditch the faux vent that crosses the top of Tundra's grille like a thin John Waters mustache. The Sequoia's front and rear-end are also more squared-off than the pickup, and the beltline is higher.
As befits the SUV version of Toyota's super-sized pickup, the Sequoia's almost an inch wider, over an inch longer and 700 pounds heavier than its previous iteration. And yet the Sequoia is now only par for the course in the big-boned American SUV genre. In fact, the Sequoia is shorter in length than the King Ranch Expedition and shorter in stature that both the Ford and the Chevy. Even so, in Arctic Frost Pearl paint, the Sequoia's doors and side quarter panels appear positively glacial in their vastness.
The Sequoia Platinum is a new trim line above the standard SR5 and former top dog Limited. It's more than just a purdy paint job and blingy wheels. The Platinum coddles its passengers– both front and middle– in infinitely adjustable heated and cooled leather seats. The standard navigation system with thank-God backup camera is the centerpiece of an all-too-busy dashboard awash in clunky brittle plastics. Low-rent vinyl posing as leather covers the doors. Clearly, unavoidably, the Sequoia's cabin is not Toyota's best work.
No matter what guise you prize, the Sequoia's basic packaging fails to outclass the Chevy and Ford– except for third row passengers. Although the Ford's way backs' headroom and legroom are superior, the key metrics here are shoulder room and thigh support, which the Toyota supplies in ample amounts. Raise the retractable shades, fold down the [Platinum's] nine-inch DVD screen, pass out the wireless headphones and Mom and Dad will be blissfully (if only temporarily and only in their imagination) childless.
While it would be easy to conclude that this is the big rig's raison d'etre, any such misapprehension will be rectified the moment you fire-up Toyota's 381hp 5.7-liter phenom. The V8 growls to life like an irritated grizzly bear awakening from hibernation. Poke the well-placed pedal and the engine gives you a heavy metal power chord that beats anything produced by the [optional] 14-speaker 440-watt JBL stereo system. And the engine ain't just whistling Dixie; the Sequoia's 10k-pound tow rating makes it the boat-schlepper's top pick.
The powerplant motivates the 6045lbs leviathan with ridiculous ease. Provided you've got a platinum credit card to pay the man at the gas station (13/18 mpg), you can blast this big boy from zero to sixty in 6.2 seconds. Even though the Sequoia's class-leading brakes and fixed four-piston front calipers can haul her down from 60mph in 139ft., that's… nuts. Which is OK, ‘cause driving this porker is about as fun as tending a fussy baby.
Members of the Platinum club get to chose whether they want the Electronic Modulated Suspension (H-TEMS) set for sport or comfort. Unfortunately, dialing up Sport isn't sporting and Comfort isn't comfy. Despite a fully boxed frame, low-pressure gas-filled shock absorbers and hollow stabilizer bars, the ride is too jittery for wafting and wafts too much for romping.
The six-speed transmission is another kill-joy; it hunts for gears like cat hunting a room full of mice. Yes, you can take manual control of the tranny, but who does? Meanwhile, jostling in a perch high above highway pavement while the neurotic tranny busily searches for acceptance, drivers are charged with the chore of manning an extremely sloppy tiller. No fun.
So here we are. The Sequoia is a bland-looking, gargantuan, comfortable SUV with a five-star engine, a two-star interior and lousy handling dynamics. In Toyota's quest to become like Ford and GM, they've become just like Ford and GM. Yes, but… consider Toyota's Demming-sourced rep for reliability. The ToMoCo juggernaut rolls on.
85 Comments on “2008 Toyota Sequoia [Platinum] Review...”
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So, once well-to-do Mormons and Catholics get their Sequoias, when will ToyMoCo make me (a single agnostic tree-hugger) a fuel-efficient two-door sport hatch?
Good review. But how does the Sequioa compare to the Mitsubishi Outlander, which also can have 3 rows of seating?
6045 Lbs?!?
Good Lord.
We have a 2002 Tundra at work. The inside is cheap and the plastic breaks all the time. The seats are falling apart already. However the engine – true to Toyota’s rep – has never flinched. I expect that we will not buy another truck for at least another ten years. By then the inside will make dollar store toys look high quality. If I was Toyota I would do the same thing. They are in this to make money.
I think Toyota missed the niche without offering a longer version like the Suburban / Denali XL .
The performance of that leviathon is nothing short of amazing but I am surprised about chassis stiffness. I have those complaints with my 07 Denali. I guess it is hard to keep those monsters stiff without adding too much weight to the chassis.
I tested a Tundra CrewMax Limited for a week last month, and I agree with everything you said both about the engine (absolutely incredible, if too thirsty) and the fit-and-finish being only average. But that engine – I couldn’t restrain myself to keep my right foot out of it. Whenever there was an opening in traffic or an on-ramp to attack (only straight ones, of course), I did, to the tune of just over 12 mpg.
This was a nice, fair review. It’s weird to see Toyota advertising these things as family haulers, since they’re so un-PC nowadays.
Examining one of these closely at NAIAS, I was amazed at the cheapness of the plastics used for the front and rear center consoles. Very old school American, even the Americans generally do better these days. (Well, except for Chrysler.) On the other hand, those consoles are huge and contain multiple levels.
Will this tendency to quantity over quality impact reliability? Anyone who frequents TTAC knows that I’ve been developing some research to find out. Details here:
[url=http://www.truedelta.com/reliability.php]Vehicle reliability research[/url]
Hey!!! Gas just went up again today!!!
It’s about $3.29 for a regular and is that an SUV?
When do we get the “Grand Avalon”?
Maybe there is a lesson to be learnt from this vehicle, you can see why Toyota makes so much money. There are so many carryover parts from the tundra on this vehicle. Grill, headlights, i’m sure at least the front doors are the same, the interior has the same Dashboard with the same horrible cheap feel plastic, do you really want to drive an overweight suv thats really a polished up pickup truck?
“I think Toyota missed the niche without offering a longer version like the Suburban / Denali XL .”
I certainly expected them to do what you mention and still expect them to do it at some point. GM sold over 246k of the Yukon/Tahoe/Escalade size in ‘07 and over 145k of their bigger brothers Suburban/Yukon XL/Escalade ESV. It seems that Toyota is leaving a lot of money on the table here. Of course the volumes are trending down while gas prices do the opposite and a sharp rise in gas or hit to its supply could reduce the market of the larger models.
This thing weighs more than my F-150 loaded with two guys in it. Green company? Sure, I believe that.
SherbornSean :
Good review. But how does the Sequioa compare to the Mitsubishi Outlander, which also can have 3 rows of seating?
Brilliant!
The RAV4 uproar lives on
6045 Lbs?!?
you can blast this big boy from zero to sixty in 6.2 seconds
That makes it is faster than a 2450lbs Miata
In Toyota’s quest to become like Ford and GM, they’ve become just like Ford and GM. Yes, but… consider Toyota’s Demming-sourced rep for reliability. The ToMoCo juggernaut rolls on.
Juggernaut or not, what makes this version a marked-enough improvement over the outgoing model to warrant conquest sales from the market leaders, which do not have any glaring reliability problems that ToMoCo can exploit?
So, once well-to-do Mormons and Catholics get their Sequoias, when will ToyMoCo make me (a single agnostic tree-hugger) a fuel-efficient two-door sport hatch?
They do, they’re called the Yaris S (if you want fuel economy more than sporty) and the Scion tC (if you want sporty more than fuel economy). And they are supposed to be bringing the Celica back one of these years… you can always get a used one. “Fuel-efficient” and “sport” don’t really go hand-in-hand, though… you’re going to get one or the other, but not both.
And Catholics and Mormons buy Suburbans, not Sequoias… the latter seems more geared towards Protestants and Evangelicals, at least, going from what I’ve seen in church parking lots. At least they usually has enough kids to fill one of these monsters. If you figure two adults and 3-4 kids per, these things are getting better usage for their gas mileage than a Yaris being driven by one guy to and from work every day. How’s that for tree hugging?
Hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to bloat we go!
Catholics are prolific breeders? What year is this?
Is anyone else scared shitless by the thought of 6045 lbs doing 0-60 in 6.2 sec in traffic?
The new Landcruiser literally stopped me in my tracks to look at it on the Toyota dealer’s front row. Parked right behind it was one of these big Sequoias with low profile tires on blingy chrome wheels.
To me the Sequoia just looked like an ugly pig. The Landcruiser is such a superior machine it isn’t funny.
Now if I just had a spare $70K.
BostonTeaParty:
Actually, the grille isn’t carryover. It’s hard to see the difference, but the Tundra has a black plastic insert across the top that’s supposed to look like a vent, but serves no functional purpose.
Now if I just had a spare $70K.
Well I don’t know of many people that would buy a $70k vehicle with spare cash….
“6045 Lbs?!?
you can blast this big boy from zero to sixty in 6.2 seconds
That makes it is faster than a 2450lbs Miata”
which would you rather drive?
70K plus $5,000 or More for the yearly fuel budget for this Guzzler.
Wow!!! people wake up we don’t live in the 90’s anymore the gas is no longer $1.50 a gallon. it is $3.29 for a regular and this coming summer it’s going to be more on the gas pump.
Who cares if it’s the best truck in the world as the matter of fact it’s just another Truck.
Be Practical there are millions of people dying in Africa and all we care about is to spend 70k for a destroyer of our planet, that 70k can buy 2 BMW that are more fuel efficient.
@BostonTeaParty
“…do you really want to drive an overweight suv thats really a polished up pickup truck?”
I believe the American public has already answered this with an unabashed “yes”. I’m certainly no fan of this beast (nor am I a huge fan of the domestics using this exact same formula) but it’ll sell and probably pretty well.
I believe that the higher you go up the food chain the more common it is to buy with cash. (Well, a check or money transfer, anyway.)
@SunnyvaleCA
I believe a lot of people were taking that cash from their home’s equity to buy these things. When you go higher up the food chain people’s saving habits don’t necessarily improve dramatically.
In America, there is an inverse relationship between savings and income. That is, the higher you go up the income scale, the more those people will save of that income %wise.
So I’d second SunnyvaleCA’s comment that people who buy this monstrosity are more likely to do so with cash (or a very very low interest rate financing). Just a guess.
The six-speed transmission is another kill-joy; it hunts for gears like cat hunting a room full of mice. Yes, you can take manual control of the tranny, but who does? Meanwhile, jostling in a perch high above highway pavement while the neurotic tranny busily searches for acceptance,
Ya wonder if they spend all these design time & money to invent something to keep shifting all the time and to tell u that the trans is infact working.
Over shifting is a pain by itself, and cant be good for the longevity for the tranny.
After your 3 yrs lease is time for a new tranny rebuilt anyways.
SHould u have a good ratio worked out why bother to keep chaning it? These engine are not old diesels that have a very narrow range of RPM.
OT so how does the 7 spd Merc’s does it?
It makes the bland, refridgerator box Tahoe look handsome, and the wide-eyed Yukon not so bad in comparsion.
It makes the bland, refridgerator box Tahoe look handsome, and the wide-eyed Yukon not so bad in comparsion.
If the Tahoe is box-like to you what do you think of the Expy?
This Sequoia looks very QX56 to me.
Who in their right mind would buy any of those vehicles?
Oops, silly me, this is the USA LOL
By the way, I am new to this site, but I love it. I spent hours over the last few days reading different things, and I am really impressed by the overall intelligence and honesty of the comments, editorials and reviews.
RoweAS:
Welcome.
BostonTeaParty:
Maybe there is a lesson to be learnt from this vehicle, you can see why Toyota makes so much money. There are so many carryover parts from the tundra on this vehicle. Grill, headlights, i’m sure at least the front doors are the same, the interior has the same Dashboard with the same horrible cheap feel plastic, do you really want to drive an overweight suv thats really a polished up pickup truck?
Check your facts; it’s more like a redesigned pickup truck. The Sequoia has a fully-boxed frame end-to-end, the Tundra does not. The Sequoia has independent rear suspension, the Tundra does not.
Also William C Montgomery, in your rating summary you got the fuel economy wrong: it’s 13/18 not 13/15. That also means you tested the 4WD Platinum, not the 2WD Platinum. The 2WD gets 14/19 EPA mpg.
Yes the interior quality may be average, but it offers overall better packaging than either a Tahoe or Expedition. It also offers a better engine than either of them offer, not to mention the class-leading third row (that can recline by the way). Can a Tahoe’s 3rd row recline? Didn’t think so. There’s also the class-leading towing ability and the incredible performance the 5.7L offers.
Yeah I was next to one of these the other day and I had to look twice to look at the Toyota logo this monster is overweight and too wide. I think they should take GM’s two-mode (masterpiece) hybrid drive train and shove it in this and give it a Lexus badge. Just think of the marketing possibilities. It could run on E85 and have the hybrid-lexus-greencar image. Image all the soccer moms going 75 in that monster. On a serious note I wish Toyota would stop trying to be GM and Ford and do what they do best, reliable appliances that people happen to drive.
I only wish Toyota would drop that drive train into a Camry.
I have sat in one of these monsters, and I have also sat in the new Land Cruiser. The new Land Cruiser has no place in the Toyota showroom. It should only be sold as the Lexus LX 570, the price is just about there, and it only serves to make the new Sequoia look bad. What is with the new Tundra/Sequoia interior? I am 6′3″ and I could not reach the radio buttons on the right side of the console without bending over. How can the target market for these beasts – 5′2″ mothers with one child and a cell phone – function in this vehicle? Toyota needs to concentrate on what they do best instead of screwing around in the dying American 3-ton SUV market.
I only wish Toyota would drop that drive train into a Camry.
They’d have to bring back the Cressida, which will never happen.
Johnson, the MPG should read 13/15/18, 15mpg being the combined mileage rating. Thanks for pointing this out. The fix to the rating summary will be up shortly.
Toyota: The New GM.
I wonder what mileage this thing really gets… not what they put on the sticker, but what real world driving yields.
For 60k, I would want to see a better interior. For gods sake, a $40k audi has ten times better interior. Sure this is larger, but with $20k or so extra to play with you should get something just as nice. Platinum? Not really.
700 pound weight gain? Does it include a free family of five? Did they stuff rocks and lead into open spaces?
Does this thing come with the “Jack Ryan Protection Package?” That’s the only way ANY vehicle should gain that much weight – you know, plexiglass windows, explosion-proof underside, run-flat tires, and a driver who’s been through the sh**…er…stuff. If I’m in a 3 ton Sequoia, when I hear the word “INCOMING,” I don’t want to worry about anything. Otherwise, lighten the piece of junk up and get with the times. Toyota’s bloat is making Land Rover look Mini-esque.
Also, the group of designers that actually thought a cheap dashboard in white and black should never design another car part again. It’s worse in person and would be a deal killer given how tacky it is. 2008 Toyota is turning into the clone of the late 1980’s GM when it was obvious that while they sold cars, they just lost sight of what the market really wants.
There is not one vehicle in the Toyota lineup that I would ever consider owning. This constant bloat and styling “WTFs” have turned me off to the brand for the past few years and now that the Bible of Consumer Reports has spoken, Toyota has been bruised.
I’m also ten seconds away from organizing some kind of anti-Toyota movement that states the Truth About Toyota. Whenever a Toyota ad about how green they think they are, the facts are plastered on top of it – I think pictures, real world economy, and sales figures of the Land Cruiser, Sequoia, 4Runner, Tundra, Tacoma, FJ Cruiser, and most of the Lexus line would start to educate many on how fake Toyota really is.
Yes, the Prius gets about 1 MPG city, 2 MPG highway — when it has to haul the rest of Toyota’s lineup around. It’s rather ironic that GM has actually handed Toyota their hat with the 2-mode Tahoe; it’s time for the General to strike another blow with a real Malibu Hybrid to compete with that fat-ass ugly Camry Hybrid.
Oops, guess not.
Toyota has an ace up their sleeve: they could offer the 2.4 Hybrid drivetrain in EVERY VEHICLE that uses the (otherwise thirsty) 2.4; imagine an xB with 50% better mileage, or a Corolla with superb acceleration, and even better mileage than now.
All GM has are Volt dreams and a “bolt-on” hybrid system that I could have made (in principle) in my garage.
theflyersfan:
Amen, don’t forget to throw the Highlander in there as well. This vehicle is truly pointless. To your average Toyota consumer, what’s the difference between the Sequoia, Land Cruiser and 4Runner? An extra 1.528049 cubic feet of interior space and 500 lbs of tow rating? Ooh, the third row seats recline. Let’s pop out 3 more kids just so we can actually use them. How many times are adults really going to be squeezing in the back of the car? Instead of throwing $60k at this Costco Cruiser, why not take two cars? I’m all for freedom of choice but use some common sense people. Toyota doesn’t make a single vehicle that interests me and they never will if they continue focusing their efforts on crap like this.
Compared to the 2nd and 3 row seats of my old ‘84 Voyager, those Toyota seats look nastily thinly padded, and 3rd seat leg room doesn’t look much better than that of the 2′ shorter, 3kilopounds lighter vehicle, either.
If I had $60K, I’d buy an ‘84 Voyager for $1K, put $5K into repairs, have twice as good a vehicle as this piece of crap AND 54 grand in the bank!
Toyota ain’t staying #1 very long building crap like this!
quasimondo :
Toyota: The New GM.
Unlike GM, Toyota gives you the choice of buying 15mpg and 45mpg passenger car.
How many GM vehicles deliver over 40mpg?
WTF, Toyota Fake????
I dont get it! Toyota is JUST a car company like every other car company out there toady. LIKE GM and Ford they do produce and sell a FULL line of vehicles in every market in the world. Toyota also makes and sells a line of full sized commerical vehicles also called Hino.
Is Toyota a “green” company? No. Is Toyota greener than other automakers? Yes.
Lets be honest and fair here and admit that Toyota produces “American” cars and SUV/ Light Trucks specifically for American tastes and for the US/ NA market. Do I like the “new” Toyotas? NO! But I do understand that Toyota is producing exactly what the American market wants and has overwhelming always wanted; Large powerful vehicles that trade-off high quality for sized and rich feature content. The fact of the matter is that one can still find Toyota for sale in other markets that still have that traditional high quality Toyota look and feel to them.
With that said it is fair to claim that Toyota is becoming GM (in the USA), but that is what Toyota NA has always wanted. Remember this is the “Walmart Society” in which Americans continuously expect more for less.
I believe many other people and former Toyota customers feel the same way as I do. “IF I wanted a car that looked, felt, and drove like a Chevy, I would buy a Chevy and save some significant coin in the process.” I also get the impression that Toyota is actually reading the writing on the wall and making changes, witness the retirement of most of the Toyota NA top execs.
Yes, Toyota has done some damage to its image in the USA by bringing to market some recent vehicles that do not feel very Toyotaish. Lets see if they get back to the basics of what a real Toyota is.