2023 Toyota Sequoia TRD Professional Street Take a look at: Appears to be like promising, however struggles to compete

The 2023 Toyota Sequoia TRD Professional should be an enormous enchancment over the previous-gen mannequin in each single method. Sadly, similar to the common variations of the Sequoia, the off-road-focused TRD Professional embodies the identical “few steps ahead, few steps again” theme.

On the constructive aspect, the Sequoia TRD Professional seems to be rad, significantly on this extraordinarily orange Photo voltaic Octane paint. Designers gave it a singular grille with “TOYOTA” spelled out in massive letters, and the TRD Professional hood trim stands out as a powerful contrasting accent. Standing out even stronger in the dead of night are the intense decrease fog lights and grille-mounted gentle bar that ought to confidently gentle up a path at evening — simply don’t be an fool and run it on the street. The large physique cladding, rock rails, 18-inch cast BBS wheels that put on 33-inch Falken Wildpeak all-terrain tires and an enormous ‘ole roof service system actually full the look. One look on the monumental SUV may have you considering it’d be a perfect overlanding companion — its measurement and off-road capabilities make it a strong candidate for a rig which may spend days at a day without work the grid. After all, the mechanicals beneath and tech inside the Sequoia TRD Professional is designed to make sure it’s as much as the duty for such ventures.

The Sequoia’s normal dampers get swapped out for TRD-tuned Fox inner bypass shocks, and floor clearance will increase to 9.1 inches, which is half an inch greater than the common Sequoia. A TRD Professional entrance stabilizer bar is added, and a quarter-inch aluminum entrance skid plate retains the underbody protected. The method angle is enormously improved to 23 levels versus an everyday Sequoia’s 15, whereas the departure angle stays the identical at 20 levels. Plus, off-road applied sciences like downhill help management, Toyota’s Crawl management and its Multi-Terrain Choose system come normal. So does four-wheel drive and a selectable locking rear differential. Assuming the hybrid powertrain’s engine is working, you’ll have the ability to hear the Sequoia breathe by way of a TRD Professional-specific exhaust, too.

That new hybrid powertrain is an actual vibrant spot for the Sequoia TRD Professional, too, assuming you’re shopping for it for issues aside from effectivity. On paper, the brand new mannequin is considerably extra environment friendly with a 20 mpg mixed ranking versus the 14 mpg mixed the earlier model managed. Nevertheless, in follow, we might barely get the pc to register over 14 mpg in regular driving, which is consistent with different Sequoias we’ve pushed in each Michigan and California. Once we stopped attempting to drive effectively, gas financial system dipped all the way in which all the way down to 11 mpg over an extended, around-town stint. These figures aren’t anyplace near even the 19 mpg metropolis this SUV is rated for, and is much worse than the 18.5 mpg we managed with the gas-only, 440-hp Ford Expedition Timberline (18 mpg EPA mixed). So, except you creep round like a tortoise within the Sequoia, now we have a sense you’ll wrestle to get anyplace near the rated figures.

The engine and exhaust observe make driving effectively a tricky factor to do, too, because it’s fairly the stout-feeling and-sounding powertrain. Between the three.5-liter twin-turbo V6 and electrical motor, the Sequoia TRD Professional places out a mixed 437 horsepower and 583 pound-feet of torque. This massive truck could weigh 6,150 kilos, however it feels fast off the road. The seamless mix of electrical torque, boosted V6 and silky-shifting 10-speed is maybe extra spectacular than the pace itself. Simply lean into the throttle, and the Sequoia accelerates effortlessly with a growl from the exhaust that sounds extra V8 than V6. There’s little doubt that a few of that TRD Professional exhaust’s noise reaches the cabin, however similar to the Tundra, there’s quantity of augmented noise being pumped in over the audio system. It’s all relatively convincing and presents nicely for an off-road-oriented SUV.

Sadly, the beautiful engine shouldn’t be backed up by a stunning experience. The earlier Sequoia TRD Professional dealt with Michigan’s torn up roads like a champ, and whereas a number of the credit score is because of these off-road shocks, its impartial rear suspension was a greater place to begin from. Toyota reverted to a strong rear axle design for this technology of Sequoia, and each considered one of our editors observed. Simply not in a great way. The Capstone mannequin with its 23-inch wheels gave Senior Editor James Riswick an disagreeable, continually jittery expertise on California highways. In the meantime, Information Editor Joel Stocksdale famous whereas driving this check automobile that the TRD Professional wasn’t notably higher than the opposite trim ranges he drove on the primary drive regardless of the meatier all-terrain tires and Fox shocks that would have probably resulted in a greater experience. 

Whether or not it was on freeway growth joints or pothole-ridden floor streets, the Sequoia lacks the refinement and luxury you’d anticipate for its measurement. The experience downside for Toyota is exacerbated even additional by how plush the Sequoia’s American rivals are – even GM’s off-road-focused Yukon AT4 and Tahoe Z71 are considerably extra nice. The rationale? All of them have impartial rear suspensions. 

That’s not the top of the strong rear axle’s troubles: It results in questionable packaging for the third row and cargo space. An image works higher than a proof for why this setup is so foolish, so direct your eyes beneath.

Sure, that’s the cargo space for the Sequoia. You’ll discover that it has little mounting factors on either side that allow you to place the ground at totally different heights. It’s a intelligent thought, however it’s additionally a workaround for a tiny area and a 3rd row that doesn’t fold flat into the ground. The trigger for that may be the hybrid system’s battery and the strong rear axle: Toyota merely couldn’t bundle these, plus the four-wheel-drive {hardware}, and make an actual fold-flat third-row work. It’s the identical difficulty GM’s earlier full-size vans suffered from, however rectified with the present technology and its impartial rear finish. The result’s uncompetitive cargo area. Worse, third-row area can also be below-average in a section the place even 6-footers can sit comfortably for hours behind an Expedition, Tahoe or Wagoneer. 

For a brand-new platform and clean-sheet redesign, it’s shocking how a lot the Sequoia has gone backward on this space. In addition to, for an SUV with a authentic shot at getting used as an overlanding automobile, the compromised cargo area is much more annoying, as it’ll create challenges for folk packing it to the brim for prolonged stays away from civilization.

When you’re searching for positives, the brand new cabin from the second row on ahead is beautiful. The TRD Professional options distinctive camo-clad seats that, whereas just a little a lot in purple leather-based, look agreeably distinctive in black leather-based. The TRD Professional extras such because the purple stitching all over the place, middle mark on the steering wheel and big “TOYOTA” spelled out on the passenger aspect sprint all appropriately amp up the environment. Generally, the inside feels upscale and trendy, because it ought to for 2023.

There are exhausting buttons for most important controls, however the infotainment system lacks navigational shortcuts — even a “house” button with a touchdown display screen can be an enormous enchancment, particularly when going forwards and backwards between Apple CarPlay/Android Auto. The angle at which you work together with the display screen is just a little annoying, too, because it’s very near the driving force for having such a large format display screen, forcing you to make deliberate seems to be away from the street to function it. Visibility basically for this new Sequoia is relatively poor, particularly should you spec the extendable towing mirrors. Mixed with the massively chunky pillars, these mirrors create monumental ahead blind spots that make parking and metropolis driving hectic actions.

At $79,770 as examined, the Sequoia TRD Professional isn’t precisely a price range possibility. You may decide up a equally geared up Chevrolet Tahoe Z71 for much less, however a Ford Expedition Timberline will value you an analogous quantity because the Toyota.

On the subject of body-on-frame, three-row automobiles that take wheeling critically, the record above is brief, and whereas we haven’t pitted all of them towards one another, the race may very well be a detailed one off-road. Each Ford’s and Chevy’s off-road entries put up barely higher floor clearance and method/departure angle figures than the Sequoia TRD Professional, however none of those are true rock crawlers. The Sequoia’s massive attracts are the sturdy powertrain, stellar seems to be and people Fox shocks, whereas the others take massive wins in general inside packaging, experience consolation, the off-road numbers sport and, probably, real-world gas financial system. We’d relatively reside with both of the American SUVs each day, although, which is just a little heartbreaking to say as a result of we had excessive hopes for Toyota’s brand-new Sequoia that merely weren’t met.

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