WHISTLER, BC: In the year that it's been on sale, the Toyota Tundra has not made that big an impact on the large pickup truck market because it concentrated on a small but demanding niche of buyer interest.
But since the large luxury SUV market is essentially an extension of the high-performing, well-equipped segment Tundra already works, the V8-powered pickup gives the new Sequoia an excellent start. So the 8-passenger Sequoia will make a much bigger noise when it goes up against the recently revised and slightly smaller Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon models from GM and the aging Expedition from Ford, which is about Sequoia's size.
As it did with Tundra, Toyota Canada is aiming for a very demanding and fairly well-to-do customer base. The base price for a Sequoia SR5 is $45,400 and that big a ticket has to deliver a high level of perfomance and all-weather ability and a long list of standard equipment.
And for those buyers who have to have a little more, there's the Limited edition of the Sequoia, which carries a sticker of $57,900.
This is a lot of money, but Toyota Canada officials gathered at this ski resort north of Vancouver are utterly frank about their product being worth it. It is "superior to the competition in every significant aspect," according to the company's press material. Not much fudge room there.
Tony Wearing, Toyota Canada's vice-president of sales and marketing, says Toyota's engineers have "conceived a singular vehicle offering the amenities, occupant safety features and comfort of a luxury sedan, as well as the down-and-dirty proficiency of a full-size, 4-wheel-drive truck. There is no other SUV on the market that deals with these realities in a more civilized or capable manner."
A third-party evaluation of this claim will have to wait until after November 1, but it's not so hard to see the basis for Wearing and Toyota's confidence.
The key to the Sequoia package is the chassis and powertrain that it shares with the Tundra, a superstructure that made the latter model the smoothest and most satisfying extended-cab, V8-powered personal use pickup on the market.
This superstructure has an extremely salutory affect on the Sequoia. The 32-valve, 4.7-litre V8 is one of the smoothest and most responsive engines in the world. Its power numbers register at 240 horsepower at 4600 rpm and 315 pound-feet of torque, but their reach actually seems greater. That torque should be particularly good at launching a vehicle as big as the Sequoia.
Sequoia's default drive configuration would be through the two rear wheels, but a lever inside the cab also allows the SUV to go into 4-high (for poor traction on regular roads and some light off-roading) or 4-low (for more serious off-roading). This could be an issue for people who like the more transparent drive system that supplies four-wheel traction when it's needed, but dedicated four-wheelers will likely prefer Sequoia's system.
Toyota would also make the point that the Sequoia has plenty of other systems to help with unpleasant traction issues, including ABS with Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD) and Vehicle Skid Control (VSC). Most of the time, Wearing figures, this should look after you, and then there's always the option of going to 4-wheel-drive.
For grip off-road, Toyota points to its clever A-TRAC system, which takes torque that is being wasted on a wheel with no traction and sends it to the wheels with traction.
Most of the time most people won't care about Sequoia's ability in poor tractive situations. Most of the time the issue will be comfort on regular roads that make few if any demands for extra traction. Wearing claims that Sequoia will be just as accommodating here as it would be off-road.
Indeed, a vehicle's ability to be accommodating is critical in this category. That starts with ease of entry, which Sequoia is not so good at, and carries over to the interior fittings (more on that in a minute) and the regular road ride.
On that final point, Sequoia gets an independent front suspension with double-wishbones upfront and, in the rear, a live axle with help from a 5-link, coil spring system with a stabilizer bar. If Tundra's ride is any indication, this should deliver a decent ride on normal dry roads. Wearing says Sequoia is "unusually stable and comfortable when under way-similar to a luxury passenger car, with no hint of the bounce, pitch and roll common in comparable vehicles."
That's as may be, but Sequoia is still a truck-based vehicle, so it will have more cornering and handling limitations and a greater rollover potential than a 4-door sedan.
Sequoia is set up to carry eight adults, though the two people in the third seat will have to be limber, compact and patient. The second seat is 60/40 and either side folds flat, or flips forward against the front bucket, so rear-row access is passable. The third row also slides or flips forward to provide storage room, or it can be removed.
Though its footprint is about the same size as Expedition's, Sequoia is three inches lower, which doesn't seem to make much of a headroom issue but certainly will improve parking garage viability.
Wearing promises that this welcoming interior will be "whisper quiet," which is one of the things that all new SUVs have to be now.
Toyota's legendary quality standards are obvious in the cabin, which comes well equipped at either price point but particularly so with the Limited.
But since the large luxury SUV market is essentially an extension of the high-performing, well-equipped segment Tundra already works, the V8-powered pickup gives the new Sequoia an excellent start. So the 8-passenger Sequoia will make a much bigger noise when it goes up against the recently revised and slightly smaller Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon models from GM and the aging Expedition from Ford, which is about Sequoia's size.
As it did with Tundra, Toyota Canada is aiming for a very demanding and fairly well-to-do customer base. The base price for a Sequoia SR5 is $45,400 and that big a ticket has to deliver a high level of perfomance and all-weather ability and a long list of standard equipment.
And for those buyers who have to have a little more, there's the Limited edition of the Sequoia, which carries a sticker of $57,900.
This is a lot of money, but Toyota Canada officials gathered at this ski resort north of Vancouver are utterly frank about their product being worth it. It is "superior to the competition in every significant aspect," according to the company's press material. Not much fudge room there.
Tony Wearing, Toyota Canada's vice-president of sales and marketing, says Toyota's engineers have "conceived a singular vehicle offering the amenities, occupant safety features and comfort of a luxury sedan, as well as the down-and-dirty proficiency of a full-size, 4-wheel-drive truck. There is no other SUV on the market that deals with these realities in a more civilized or capable manner."
A third-party evaluation of this claim will have to wait until after November 1, but it's not so hard to see the basis for Wearing and Toyota's confidence.
The key to the Sequoia package is the chassis and powertrain that it shares with the Tundra, a superstructure that made the latter model the smoothest and most satisfying extended-cab, V8-powered personal use pickup on the market.
This superstructure has an extremely salutory affect on the Sequoia. The 32-valve, 4.7-litre V8 is one of the smoothest and most responsive engines in the world. Its power numbers register at 240 horsepower at 4600 rpm and 315 pound-feet of torque, but their reach actually seems greater. That torque should be particularly good at launching a vehicle as big as the Sequoia.
Sequoia's default drive configuration would be through the two rear wheels, but a lever inside the cab also allows the SUV to go into 4-high (for poor traction on regular roads and some light off-roading) or 4-low (for more serious off-roading). This could be an issue for people who like the more transparent drive system that supplies four-wheel traction when it's needed, but dedicated four-wheelers will likely prefer Sequoia's system.
Toyota would also make the point that the Sequoia has plenty of other systems to help with unpleasant traction issues, including ABS with Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD) and Vehicle Skid Control (VSC). Most of the time, Wearing figures, this should look after you, and then there's always the option of going to 4-wheel-drive.
For grip off-road, Toyota points to its clever A-TRAC system, which takes torque that is being wasted on a wheel with no traction and sends it to the wheels with traction.
Most of the time most people won't care about Sequoia's ability in poor tractive situations. Most of the time the issue will be comfort on regular roads that make few if any demands for extra traction. Wearing claims that Sequoia will be just as accommodating here as it would be off-road.
Indeed, a vehicle's ability to be accommodating is critical in this category. That starts with ease of entry, which Sequoia is not so good at, and carries over to the interior fittings (more on that in a minute) and the regular road ride.
On that final point, Sequoia gets an independent front suspension with double-wishbones upfront and, in the rear, a live axle with help from a 5-link, coil spring system with a stabilizer bar. If Tundra's ride is any indication, this should deliver a decent ride on normal dry roads. Wearing says Sequoia is "unusually stable and comfortable when under way-similar to a luxury passenger car, with no hint of the bounce, pitch and roll common in comparable vehicles."
That's as may be, but Sequoia is still a truck-based vehicle, so it will have more cornering and handling limitations and a greater rollover potential than a 4-door sedan.
Sequoia is set up to carry eight adults, though the two people in the third seat will have to be limber, compact and patient. The second seat is 60/40 and either side folds flat, or flips forward against the front bucket, so rear-row access is passable. The third row also slides or flips forward to provide storage room, or it can be removed.
Though its footprint is about the same size as Expedition's, Sequoia is three inches lower, which doesn't seem to make much of a headroom issue but certainly will improve parking garage viability.
Wearing promises that this welcoming interior will be "whisper quiet," which is one of the things that all new SUVs have to be now.
Toyota's legendary quality standards are obvious in the cabin, which comes well equipped at either price point but particularly so with the Limited.
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