The Tundra's six-speed transmission has such a short first gear that you have to pay attention to throttle roll-in or the truck will surge. We know it sounds weird to complain that a truck actually accelerates hard; it's certainly a good way to get the heavy truck and whatever it's loaded with moving in a hurry. We also noticed that the six-speed downshifts at odd points when coasting to a stop, not enough to cause the RPM to jump too much, but it's enough to cause compression braking. On the dyno the Tundra just barely edged out the 5.7L Hemi, and the extra power, combined with the gearing, gets it off the line quicker, but in our test it couldn't match the Ram in lane-changing acceleration.
Pros:
* 5.7L V-8 has tons of power and torque
* Comfortable seating
* Spacious, functional interior
* Rear DVD player is great
Cons:
* Still looks weird
* Surges in 1st gear
* Transmission downshifts are awkward
* Rear seat armrest is horrible
* Annoying beeps and odd electronic functions
Overall:
We included our 2008 Truck of the Year Winner long-term tester in this year's competition to see how the competition has changed. We found that everything we praised it for last year had been met or eclipsed by the competition. The 5.7L iForce V-8 still has a slight edge over the Hemi in some respects, but after living with it for a year, we've found that all of its quirks turned us off.