I'm betting it'll be a long wait. Having "umpteen" engine changes is not the best thing for reliability. Improving existing engines, upgrades as needed, based on run time, parts showing wear, etc. Usually results in very dependable mills, not just in cars. Toyota trucks, around the world, running in all kinds of geography (deserts, jungle, wet, dry) and various quality of roads, have proven themselves to be the Most reliable. Do you remember the 4.6 V-8? Ford made them for a long time, reason? They were extremely reliable, one of the most reliable mills ford ever made. I've often thought, why didn't ford put their turbos on this mill (while make the other necessary adjustments) to increase power, as they already had a super-reliable mill in hand, shelby turbo(ed) up a 4.6 in a mustang 550 hp. It isn't as if no one had done it (shelby being as good as it gets).

 

Are you making stuff up? The Toyota twin turbo V6 engine was not even released until the 2022 model and rolled out in December 2021. If you drove a 2021, it was a non-turbo V8 or a 2022 model on the market less than 3 months. I have heard of two waste gate actuator failures on the Toyota forums that are electrical in nature.
Back to the tread!

 

I agree changing engines every few years isn't the best idea, but keeping Toyota keeping the same gas guzzler around forever isn't either.
I remember the 4.6. I put 180K miles on mine in my 97 F150. Reliable as hell but gutless by today's standards.

 

Yes, by today's standards, but today's standards seem to include a set of turbos, and turbos can make big power on a yugo. FI reduces the life expectancy of any gas mill. Nonetheless, putting a turbo (or a pair) on a 4.6 easily reaches and exceeds the new standards for high HP. Of course in a truck, one used as a truck, not a mall crawler, torque is the number most users would like to see increased, remember, the 4.6 cold easily push one of the old fashion, low HP f150s past 100MPH. I wish ford would bring back their very fine straight 6, install modern fuel management, along with a turbo (get all the HP needed), smoooooth and HIGH torque, these were among the longest life engines ford ever made. It's sad to think most of the modern generation will never know the pleasure of a big block ford, when built right, it never runs out of power! and BTW, nothing sounds so goooood.

 

I can assure you I am not making stuff up. I was past a Toyota dealer south of Pittsburgh during the week prior to placing my 2022 F150 order (my order was placed on 1/13/2022), I don't remember the exact day, I was shocked they had a 2022 Tundra on the lot. I asked to drive it, and did. As for the rumors I've heard about turbo failures, I said in my post that I couldn't vouch for that. The scuttlebutt was that there were turbo failures on the Tundras with less than a 1000 miles on them.

For whatever it's worth, between my wife and I, we've owned a '94 Toyota Hilux (before they were called Tacomas), a 2003 Sienna, a 2006 Tundra, a 2012 Highlander which we just traded for a new 2022 Highlander Hybrid. I'm not some Toyota bashing troll here. I just didn't like the new Tundra. Period.

 

Agree.

When the GEN2 Tundra came out all the Toyota die hards were doing was complaining about what a non-Toyota like POS it was. It was bigger and more capable than a GEN1, but was poorly build and not nearly as reliable. Same with the SUV version as well. That was the native anyway. Then in the 13/14 timeframe when someone put up a million mile Tundra on the internetz then everyone wanted to start acting like it was the best built and most reliable truck ever. I feel that in general they're pretty reliable, but they're far from trouble free. I've own people who've had issues with them like any other truck.

IMO Toyota has a much easier time making the Tundra reliable. Large V8/boost 6 cylinder vehicles aren't Toyota's bread and butter the way they are with the big three. Toyota sells a ton of small cars and crossovers that naturally get better MPG's than the large truck base vehicles that the big three depend on to stay in business. This means the big three have had to invest in a bunch of BS systems to try and get slight MPG improvements and when you combine smaller engines with advanced systems designed to make more power and gain better MPG's then reliability tends to suffer. Still to mean CAFE regulations across their total fleet sales the big three feel that things like cylinder deactivation, auto stop/start, etc are necessary evils to get better EPA certifications on the MPG's. Toyota doesn't feel as desperate to resort to these things as the average vehicle that they sell is small and less powerful and gets better MPG's so it's easier for them to meet CAFE regulations.

Yes the 4.6L in the 97 F150 was very reliable, but weak even in those days. My dad had a 97 with a 4.6L and my friends 97 Silverado with a old 350 based Vortec would mop the floor with it in a race.

 

Not sure I agree with your premise here, at least with the Tundra. Before 2022 the only engines you could get in a Tundra were a 5.7 and a 4.7 (at one time a 4.6 if I'm not mistaken) V8. They just in 2022 dropped the V8's from the Tundra line entirely and went to the turbocharged V6. I drove one, and IMHO, their new turbocharged V6 is a disappointment, if not a miserable failure. I really liked my Toyota's and really wanted the Tundra to be a contender for my next truck. Sadly, it is not.

However, we're digressing from the OP's original question. If I were looking at a 10 year old truck, I'd have no problem buying a Tundra. But as I've said before, my current F150 (2015, and yes newer than what the OP was maybe looking at) has been as good, if not better than the Tundra in performance, gas mileage and reliability. That's just my personal experience. Take it for whatever it's worth. Maybe nothing. I hope the OP finds a good truck and is happy with whatever he buys.

 

Well Toyota has to meet CAFE standards and going to a V6 helps them. Averaging 20+ MPG's across your fleet sells isn't easy, just easier for a Japanese automaker. Still Toyota just copies the hell out of Ford. Limited, Platinum, boosted V6, 10 speed.....

It makes 0 sense for people who are cool with Ecoboost in F150 to be racist against Toyota using a V6 TT engine in place of their V8. Toyota built their fanbase off of practicality, functionality and reliability. Ford's one of the big 3 who's fanbase largely stems from the Muscle car era that was anything but those criteria. Meaning there's a much bigger emotional connection for Ford not to use boosted V6's in place of their V8's than there is with some newb, Japanese company trying to pawn themselves off as American since the 1980's. I will never replace my American V8 trucks or Muscle Cars with boosted V6 engines. (A straight 6 is a different story as they're cool, but V6's are just not "cool" engines) It's irrelevant how good it is, I'm never going to like a V6 as a replacement for a SBC or SBF. Oh, and it's not just because it sounds worse than a V8, because just like I would never willingly let some male go down on me regardless of whether or not he's supposed to be the best at it because I'm a heterosexual man, I would also never buy a Ford or Chevy that uses a boosted V6 as a V8 replacement because I came up loving Muscle Cars and big trucks with V8's. It says Merika!!! Now with Toyota I don't give a feces. There's no emotional connection for me with a Japanese automaker. They can run any cylinder configuration they want and I'm fine with it as long as it works. I'd buy a boosted V6 Tundra just as quickly as I'd buy a V8 Tundra if it was as good. When buying a Toyota I'm going to think like Spock, but if I'm buying a Ford or Chevy I'm going to think like Kirk.

Now with all that said I don't think Ecoboost is a bad engine, I simply just do not like it. When they first came out and people were saying, "I can't believe the new F150 V6 Ecoboost is stronger than the V8" I was like, "that's because you're ignorant to what boost does for an engine." I owned both an 03 Cobra and an 03 Lightning at the time and knew very well that a 3.5L DOHC TT V6 with DI, running a 10.1 CR at 12+ PSI was going to make some impressive power. Honestly though I still found the GEN1 Ecoboost to be disappointing in the F150 after all the hype I'd heard about it being so strong for a full-sized truck compared to others, and especially at highway speeds. I thought it was much more impressive in the SHO. Still people mod them, and they run strong, but that's not surprising, it's expected, especially when some of these people are running 22+ PSI's through them.

My guess is at minimum the new Tundra engine with be competitive with the current Ecoboost if not even better. Everytime you get an old vehicle that has a large following get redesigned your going to get people who dislike it, but eventually warm up to it. Some never will, (Me with Ecoboost for example) but most do. When GEN2 Tundra came out as an 07 model they were breaking camshafts right and left. I had a boss who bought a new 07 2WD Tundra and had 3 wheel bearings go bad within the first year. Again that truck went years before people started crediting it with being the peak of 1/2 ton reliable. I'm sure Toyota will get this new truck figured out, and people will start to overlook all the stupid things with it such as a lack of tow hooks up front, etc, and they'll learn to accept and love the V6 once Toyota gets it's flaws worked out, and especially if they are overbuilt engines that mod and tune well, like Ecoboost.

OP I'd take a 10 year old F150 over a Tundra. The GEN2 Tundra was outclassed by all it's competitors from a chassis standpoint before it even came out. Kind of like how people ask, "why didn't GEN3 Tundra get 4A as an option?" Why didn't GEN2 Tundra get a fully boxed frame like Ram got in 01, F150 and Titan in 04, and the GM twins in 07? A GEN10 F150 is a good truck as is a GMT800 Silverado/Sierra, but from a chassis standpoint the fully boxed frame trucks that replaced them were noticeably more solid and refined. I though a 07 Tundra felt old-school when it came out compared to the other new trucks at the time. That's not to say that it was a bad truck, just never was the most modern riding truck to me. The drivetrain and roomy cab were definitely the highlights of the GEN2 Tundra as opposed to it's chassis performance IMO.

 

Regarding CAFE and the fleet average, ford has stopped building anything but the mustang when it comes to cars (in the USA), it's as if they just waived a white flag and regrouped, sad. Regarding Toyota's 6-cylinder engines and tough off-road capable trucks and off-road vehicles, around the world Toyota has mfg'ed plenty of 6-cylinder mills, many of them turbo charged-for decades, they are tough and have a great rep for lasting for 100,000's of miles. I remember when there was a general consensus regarding the little import P/U trucks, it was common wisdom that they would never be much of a threat to the big three's truck line (and the little cars just weren't worth worrying about, they'd never gain much of the market), I would not count out the Toyota Tundra as a contender. Regarding the few Tundras with the waste gate problem, few new vehicles have zero roll out problems, the real test is how does Toyota react, do they fix it, regardless of cost, quickly and without any BS, or do they pull some slick double talk, this is the true measure of a manufacturer. I have no knowledge other than what I've heard, but, the rumor is, some bad parts made it through the system, something like 500, and they are being fixed, with zero questions asked. I hope this is true, as the buyers didn't purchase bargain trucks.
My favorite Toyota 6 is the 2JZ-GTE, supra mill, 320 HP, this was back in 1991! As anyone who has ever driven a Supra, they know how smooooth and powerful this mill is.

 

What's up with the Camry style front end with no tow hooks on the new Tundra?