Tundra TRD Pro: The Desert Drives Loved It, a Week at Home Told Another Story

On Toyota's desert course outside Grand Junction, Colorado, one of the trucks showed an outside temperature of 128 degrees. Jalopnik's Collin Woodard spent the day swapping between Tundra and Sequoia TRD Pros, jumping them lap after lap, and never saw an elevated engine temperature. Two months later, The Drive's Joel Feder spent a week with a 2026 Tundra TRD Pro at home, hooked it to a boat, and ran a headline that said he wanted to love the truck but just couldn't.

Both are true, and that is why these reviews are worth reading side by side. Jalopnik and AutoGuide published first drives of the refreshed 2027 Tundra on Aug. 18. The Drive's week-long test of the current truck ran Oct. 19. TORQFOLIO has not driven either. Here is the picture they paint.

What changes for 2027

Toyota calls 2027 a refresh, and AutoGuide's Kyle Patrick agrees it is comprehensively but not dramatically improved. The nose is squarer, closer to the Sequoia's, the 14-inch touchscreen and a new infotainment system become standard, a dash cam is built in, and Toyota Safety Sense moves to version 4.0. The TRD Pro gets Tundra-tuned, adjustable FOX shocks, which Toyota calls Enhanced Q3S units, plus standard red tow hooks and a new Honeycomb color. Tacoma-style ISO-dynamic seats are available.

Powertrains do not change. Patrick lists the twin-turbo 3.4-liter V6 at 389 hp and 479 lb-ft, and the i-Force Max hybrid, standard on the TRD Pro, at 437 hp, with a TRD Performance package adding another 29. The other new piece is a Trailhunter package built on the SR5, with Old Man Emu suspension, Michelin LTX Trail 265/70R18 tires, front recovery hooks, extra underbody armor, a locking rear diff and Crawl Control. In its July release, Toyota said pricing and full specs would follow in the fall.

In the dirt: everyone is happy

Patrick found the TRD Pro remarkably easy to point around the course for a big truck, with the hybrid's torque always available and a 10-speed that is decisive without hunting. He did note the nose-heavy balance asks for patience, and that flooring it in Sand mode kicks the tail out for drama more than speed. Woodard went further on the suspension, writing that the trucks soaked up the jumps so well that he barely felt any air at all. He found the Tundra more tail-happy than the Sequoia because there is less weight over its rear axle.

On the Trailhunter side, Woodard took the trucks rock crawling near Moab and said every one handled the obstacles without trouble, and that they were still comfortable on the highway back. His one complaint was that the exterior cameras should be sharper. Patrick said the Trailhunter could be the model to watch, because if Toyota keeps the package under about $5,000 it could undercut the midsize Trailhunters.

At home: the details add up

Feder's week with a 2026 TRD Pro in Wave Maker blue reads like a list of things Toyota could fix with a parts bin. He loves the design, the hard buttons, the console shifter, the seats, the bumper-height tailgate release and the fully sliding rear glass. Then the problems start. The black trim on the pillars is a matte wrap applique. The off-road flagship has no tow hooks. The double-wall receiver needs a 4.0-inch hitch pin instead of the usual 3.5. The windshield is short. The big screen cannot multitask. And the plastics feel and sound cheap for an $80,000 truck, down to a visible mold line on the A-pillar trim.

His biggest complaint is a safety one. With a trailer plugged in, he wrote, the reverse automatic emergency braking does not turn itself off, so backing a boat down a ramp can trigger a hard stop unless you dig through the cluster menus first. He also could not get over the fact that even the TRD Pro uses part-time four-wheel drive. Towing a 5,000-pound boat, he liked the hybrid's launch shove but said the truck never let him forget the trailer. He averaged 16.3 mpg in mixed driving and 16.7 at 70-plus on the highway.

Reading them together

Some of Feder's gripes look like they are on Toyota's list. Toyota's 2027 release puts standard red tow hooks on the TRD Pro and makes the newer infotainment and 14-inch screen standard, and Patrick called that system easy to read and very quick to respond. Patrick also praised Toyota's multi-level dial for the transfer case, drive modes and Multi-Terrain Select as one of the best bits of cabin tech on the market. What the first drives cannot tell us is whether the cabin materials improved, since Patrick said it was unfair to judge them on pre-production trucks. Nothing in Toyota's release mentions full-time four-wheel drive.

Patrick's bottom line on the 2027 TRD Pro is a fair one: it still is not as hardcore as a Raptor or an RHO, but it remains thoroughly capable and enjoyable. Woodard's is that after a few days of off-roading, you start to understand why people pay about $70,000 for a full-size off-road Toyota.

TORQFOLIO's read

If you are shopping a TRD Pro now, the reviews argue for waiting for the 2027, which fixes at least the tow hook problem and brings a much better screen while keeping the chassis everyone liked. If you want a high-speed desert truck first and foremost, the testers put the Raptor and RHO ahead. If you want a Toyota to build into an overlander, the Trailhunter package may be the smart buy, especially if its price lands where Patrick hopes.

And whichever Tundra you buy, take Feder's advice on the trailer. Find the reverse brake setting before you get to the ramp.