The 2014 Toyota Tundra goes Cowboy Up with the Western themed 1794 Edition. We test the gussied up Tundra in the dirt and challenge its work-a-day roots.
Hi folks i’m sam hey mart for test-driven tv today i’ve got the toyota tundra crewmax and this one it’s the new for 2014 1794 edition and that basically means this is cowboy up something i’m probably not all that privy to but basically toyota came up with this to compete with the ford king ranch the chevrolet high country and the ram long horn who comes up with
These names but basically it means this thing’s got lots of chrome bright vivid colors and an interior that looks like it’s right out of a custom tack and saddle shop it’s got a lot going on this is a truck that’s so pretty and nice you could take stars to the country music awards and drop them off at the red carpet but today i’m taking it out to the desert to
Get it good and dirty like a good old pickup truck for 2014 the toyota tundra was redesigned inside and out the exterior shed it’s bubbly conservative look for a more chiseled and masculine theme with harder edges and sharper creases the grille is bold and tall with a popular fist in the wind silhouette which is all the rage today a truck design led driving
Lamps add a bit of bling while acres of chrome brighten it up there are now much more muscular fender flares front and rear with squared off edges that really make them pop better still the wheel openings are sized just right so the 20 inch wheels fill them up visually the 1794 edition gets prominent badging on the fenders and standard running boards as well a
New touch for 2014 the tundra name is now stamped into the rear tailgate a nice design feature for 2014 is the new 3-piece bumper toyota says it makes them less expensive because you only need to replace one maybe two of the pieces instead of the whole bumper also they’ve moved the trailer connector up here into the bumper which protects it because when it hangs
Down next to that trailer hitch below the bumper sometimes those things can get dragged off if you happen to back over terrain now this does have a soft open tailgate granted most trucks have this today but it is a nice touch the only area where i’m a little bit disappointed is the fact that this is a five and a half foot bed and that’s all you can option with
The crew cab some of the other brands they offer you up to a six and a half foot bed when you get their largest cabs well welcome to the interior of the 1794 edition as you can see there is a lot going on here this place looks like you’re sitting in a cowboy western shop with boots and saddles and all sorts of things sitting around you’ve got a black and tan color
Theme that’s the only way this comes and that of course includes this really vivid woodgrain which i think is pretty well done when it comes to fake wood now these trims that you see on the dash and the door panels they’ve got this nice hand-stitched sort of joint in here and you can tell it’s hand-stitched because it’s not exactly perfect but it’s a nice divider
Between both a perforated and the state pattern trims and these seats here you’ve got a perforated leather as well as a suede to go with it so there’s a lot of contrast and a lot of feast for the eyes going on in here but the good news is the overall quality and fit and finish that goes with this is top-notch and i’ve sat in some of the other cowboy trucks from
The other brands and while they’re just as flashy looking they’re either sometimes a little over the top of big belt buckles on the console or the quality is just so bad that you just go being a gosh you’re not gonna find that beer in the toyota it’s just very well done being a top-level trim grade the 1794 comes standard with twelve way power driver seat and six
Way power passenger seat both with lumbar support a leather and wood trim steering wheel has full controls for audio and instrument display functions the cab has a good deal of storage including a large console bin that can swallow up a laptop and files there are three cupholders in that center console and two in each of the four doors and for ventilation on the
Go the rear of the cab gets a vertically actuated power roll down rear window as standard equipment on the 1794 trim grade the cockpit of the 2014 toyota tundra is a lot better than the 2013 model for a couple of good reasons first of all the style and design it’s got a lot more pizazz that’s one but the main thing is functionality this year the center stack is
Back in the center where it belongs in the 2013 models and before that it was shifted over here to the right about three or four inches and yet to actually lean way over here just to change stations and do things with stereo so this is a lot nicer now this touchscreen audio system is the top-end jbl system it has in tune which is all the smart phone applications
And a number of other services and of course you get navigate when you put it in reverse the backup camera comes on displays right there on the screen nice and big now this system in my opinion the sound quality is not as good as you think for the top-end stereo it’s got a little bit of a flat spot in the mid-range and just overall sort of has a hollow sound to
Me now the other thing that’s nice about this layout is that the hvac is separate not forced into a touchscreen situation like the myford touch and some affords top-end trucks even though this is climate control the controls are still simple and easy to use and the heated and cooled seat controls are right there where they’re easy to find overall though from
Sitting here it’s just a nice looking cockpit the instrument cluster is easy to read with big gauges and a lot of them in the center of course you’ve got this screen that you can customize with the controls here as to what’s displayed on it and of course we’re seeing the 14 miles per gallon that we got this week displayed out there on that screen it’s just a nice
Cockpit it’s comfortable and of course in the 1794 edition is flashing one of the big benefits to this crewmax cab is all the space that you get back here there’s just a lot of room to stretch out and get comfortable in it’s one of the largest cabs that you can get in a full-size pickup truck when you have a four-door cab except for maybe the mega cab from ram
But it’s just nice and comfortable you’ve got vents back here and of course you have this fold-down armrest with cupholders so your big gulp has a place to be – those rear seats have a 60/40 split fold for 2014 the bottoms now fold upward allowing more vertical space and a lower lift in height than previous models you know if i owned a dude ranch this would be the
Perfect truck to pick up my guests from the airport in and of course they would be just totally turned on by this western theme and they’d be all ready to go by the time their boots hit the dirt but you know something when it comes to leather i tend to prefer black and i can get that in the platinum edition the 2014 tundra carried over its mechanical and chassis
Specifications from the 2013 model year despite a complete of all visual elements thus the tundra is available with three engines including a four liter v6 and a 4.6 liter v8 the range-topping 1794 however comes standard with the largest available 5.7 liter i-4 v8 with 381 horsepower and 401 pound-feet of torque that power goes to the ground through a 6-speed
Automatic transmission with tow haul mode and an on-demand four-wheel drive system with dash mounted control knob nice v8 growl indeed one of the nice things about this 5.7 liter engine is it revs very smoothly because it does have dual overhead cams and a modern valve train it offers up that smooth refined driving experience that you expect from a lot of german
And japanese luxury sedans toyota was one of the first offer dual overhead cam v8 in their pickup trucks of course later followed by the nissan titan and now fork but it’s just a nice powertrain and with the 6-speed automatic transmission it just shifts well and it’s a pleasant thing to have underfoot the 2014 tundra is rated by the epa at 13 miles per gallon city 17
Miles per gallon highway and 15 miles per gallon combined as stated before we achieve 14 miles per gallon average and her time with the tundra suspension has also largely carried over from 2013 models but a number of running refinements were made to the shock valving and steering to reduce ride harshness on and off road i’m up here in the mountains on the way out
To the desert trail and we’re on a winding mountain road and i’m finding that the tundra actually handles very good up here the steering is a little bit lighter than i’d like but the chassis is very solid it’s very refined i’m not getting any of the live axle skidder enos that you typically expect in a pickup truck and it just deals well-planted the highway ride
Was fine and smooth enough but it was time to let the tundra loose on the rough gritty backroads to see if they can take the abuse or the path less traveled and still walk the talk when its shoes get dirty the washboard road out here is always a great place to test a pickup truck to see how well this chassis is tuned and how stiff the frame really is so far it’s
Doing pretty well the overall isolation and the suspension is pretty good even though it’s still delivering a pretty stiff ride you know you’re in a pickup truck but the good news is is the body mounts and the interior quality it’s holding pretty solid even though this road is pretty rough going through washes and flying over deep ruts the tundra indeed impressed
With its solid feel and toughness at moderate speeds the stability control did a good job of keeping the tail tucked in on those looser surfaces – well this cowboy was very much at home this week behind the wheel of the 2014 toyota tundra 1794 edition gets all dressed up and ready for the show but it’s still a pickup truck underneath and it proved that it’s ready
To go to work on monday so this week we give it four out of five stars i’m sam hey mark for test driven tv i hope you enjoyed the ride if you’d like a more detailed review and photo galleries log on to activity vehicle calm
Transcribed from video
Test drive: 2014 Toyota Tundra CrewMax 4×4 1794 Edition By TestDrivenTV
