Competent and reliable as it may be, the Toyota Sequoia has spent its life overshadowed — in perception, not sales — by Toyota’s other three-row, full-size, body-on-frame SUV. But the Land Cruiser has been discontinued in America, and Toyota’s big, boring family hauler is poised to become a lot more interesting.
Toyota is working on an all-new third-generation Sequoia — the first complete overhaul since 2007. Here’s what we know so far about the new truck, which will arrive very soon.
Toyota will debut the 2023 Sequoia on Jan 25th
Toyota announced that it will unveil the 2023 Toyota Sequoia at 9:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, January 25. The announcement confirmed that the vehicle will be called the Sequoia and arrive for the 2023 model year. Debuts for the all-new 4Runner and all-new Tacoma, perhaps with an all-electric version, should follow.
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Here’s a teaser image for the 2023 Toyota Sequoia
On January 18, Toyota posted its first teaser image of the new Sequoia. Details were scarce, with the brand only noting that “a clear picture will come into view soon.” The body is sculpted differently, but the windows look similar to the new Lexus LX 600.
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The Tundra seems characteristically handy off-road
Off-road performance is an inherent part of Toyota truck enthusiasm, and the Tundra brings it. Toyota gave us a short off-road course for testing: there was an uphill rock event, logs, some uphill and downhill grades and a brief articulation section. Only one part required a spotter. Nothing required locking the differentials. It wasn’t enough to give the trucks a true challenge, but it showed they could handle far more than the terrain could offer them. Events looked more impressive when watching other trucks on the course than they felt while doing them yourself in such a large stable vehicle.
I drove the course twice, once in the flagship TRD Pro and once in a mid-grade Limited trim with the TRD Off-Road 4×4 package. Like the 4Runner and Tacoma, the TRD Pro offers higher-performance FOX shocks instead of Bilsteins and nifty features but you don’t need it to have a capable off-roader. The new crawl control and the descent control work very well. The terrain camera will be a must-have option if you want to do vigorous off-roading. I felt very blind on my second run without it.
In a disappointment to some, Toyota sticks with 33-inch all-terrain tires on the TRD Pro. You don’t get the 35-inch or 37-inch tires becoming common on other flagship super trucks. But Toyota says they will be offering a 3.0-inch dealer-installed lift kit for the Tundra in the near future.
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The new Sequoia will not have a V8 engine
A leak from a Toyota dealer presentation says the Sequoia will get both new engines from the Tundra. That means ditching the tried, true and remarkably inefficient 5.7-liter V8 for two versions of 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6. The base gas version puts out 389 hp and 479 lb-ft of torque. The upgraded i-Force Max hybrid version bumps the power up to 437 hp and 583 lb-ft of torque.
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The new Tundra packs a TRD Pro Edition
Toyota again gives the Tundra a premium off-road-focused TRD Pro edition. The package includes 2.5-inch Fox internal bypass shocks with a 1.1-inch frot lift, a TRD Pro front stabilizer bar, red-painted suspension parts, TRD aluminum skid plates and unique Falken all-terrain tires. The TRD Pro is only available with the hybrid engine.
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The 2024 Toyota Tacoma: Here’s Everything You Need to Know
What we know so far about the most-eagerly-awaited midsize truck.
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