Let’s Go Places – 1794 Edition Toyota Tundra

After driving the Toyota Tundra PRO for a week I was even more intrigued to test out the Tundra CrewMax.  The PRO that we drove only had the double cab without the extra large door.  The CrewMax body style has an extra wide back door.  Andrew has always had his eyes on the Toyota Tundra for this very feature.  Having a daughter with special needs who is already 15-years-old causes a challenge when it comes to getting her comfortably into a vehicle.

Andrew has always driven a truck to allow space for hauling her wheelchair around but the back cab of a truck usually does not offer much space.  With the Toyota Tundra CrewMax that is not the case.  I was shocked to see how much leg room there was.  Andrew is six-foot tall and he had room left over after sitting down.  A man that is well over six-foot could easily fit and be comfortable.

However, the extra space in the cab was not even the best feature.  The most convenient part for us, as special needs parents, was the back door.  The door opens to nearly a 90-degree angle.  It was almost standing straight out when it was in its resting place.

When lifting Vanessa into the backseat there were no worries about hitting her head or catching her leg on the door.  There was more than enough width to comfortably place her in her seat harness.  The backseat of the Tundra is just as luxurious as the front seats.  You can tell that Toyota did not skimp and make the seats firmer causing you to never want to spend long periods of time sitting back there.  We enjoyed the ride in the back as much as the front.

The seats folded up to allow room for cargo that you would rather keep inside the truck instead of in the bed.  By folding up the seats it made securing the harness simple.  In my SUV I have to shove my hands down between the seats to find the silver hooks.  In the back of the Tundra you could fold the seat up to look under.  On the bottom of the seat backs there is a little plastic button with an image that shows where you can find the hooks for a child safety seat harness, saves you from searching.  Each side of the cab has hooks to secure your child’s seat.  These hooks are the same ones we use to fasten in Vanessa’s harness.  The top hook is simple to find on the back of the seat behind the headrest.  I appreciate vehicles that make life easier on parents.

The 1794 Edition is the top of the line Toyota Tundra.  It is comparable to Ford’s King Ranch truck.  Some of the features that I noticed on this Tundra that were lacking on the PRO that we drove before were:

• Memory Seats – this is a must for Andrew and I.  We hop in our vehicles and drive them after one another often.  When switching drivers is a regular occurrence and one person is six-foot while the other is barely five-foot, it’s time consuming changing the seat up/forward and arranging all mirrors.  With the memory seat options you just set them and push a button before you drive.  Super easy.

• Side Mirror Notifications – before changing lanes the side mirrors will alert you with a small light in the corner if there is a vehicle in your blind spot.  When there is not enough available space for you to safely switch lanes there will be a little light in the mirror on that side of the vehicle.  This is a nice option for extra safety measures.

• Navigation – the 1794 Edition Tundra has the dashboard navigation which comes in handy.

• Sensors – not only are there sensors that alert you when you get too close to an object while backing up, but there are also sensors on the sides and front.  The best part about this feature is the on/off switch near the steering wheel.  I like having the alerts to notify me but one time I went through a drive-thru to get ice cream and when I pulled up close to the window the beeping would not stop (since I was close to the side), thankfully I could manually turn it off.  I’ve never seen this option on a vehicle before so that was a nice bonus.  Normally the alerts are either handy or annoying.  It’s nice to have a silencing option.

Full Disclosure: Our family was provided the Toyota Tundra to drive for one week in exchange to share our opinions in this review.  All opinions are 100% my as well as the photos.

The Toyota Tundra is now on Andrew’s wish-list.  Specially, the CrewMax.