On the market for a truck (but I'm in a major city)

I live in Chicago and I'm looking for a truck soon. Why a truck? Despite being carless in a city for so long I do really enjoy fishing and general outdoor activities. I also lug around a lot of music stuff (drum kits, organs, weird instruments). Until recently I just rented when I needed to. Also, Tundras just look awesome as I'm sure you all know.

I've been looking at DCSB Tacomas and while I like the aftermarket support, their size (minus the backseat) and general userbase, I've seen many people (including diehard Tacoma fans) have suggest a Tundra to other potential buyers. It doesn't help that I have some friends who have Tundras too (albeit they live in Alaska).

If you're unfamiliar with Chicago's layout, it's very neighborhood-based. I live in a neighborhood comprised of a lot of 2-3 story houses on the northwest side. I occasionally need to be downtown where the skyscrapers are but rarely.

This would be used for camping trips (I'd already decided on a SmartCap if I got a Taco), fishing trips, moving music gear, carrying bikes for biking trips, and regular stuff like grocery shopping. In 3-5 years I'll be moving out of the city to the northern part of Michigan's lower peninsula.

I'd opt for a crewmax cab (I have a fiancee and plenty of friends) but with the 5.6ft bed (yeah I know there are drawbacks).

My questions:

Is there anyone here in a major city who uses a Tundra as their daily driver? How is it?

If not this, anything you'd recommend?

Feel free to try to talk me out of this or push me even more into the world of Toyota Tundras

 

In all honesty it’s a difficult advice to give.

How important is a truck to you?

It’s going to be highly impractical however if you are going to be 100% happy then impracticality won’t matter.

In reality the Tundra negatives will far outweigh the positives (in a mostly “real” city environment-I am from NYC).

Personally as much I love my Tundra (favorite vehicle I have ever owned), I would sell it immediately if I HAD to live in any city.

A Tacoma or Frontier would be my first choice because I am an outdoorsy guy such as yourself.

 

The turning radius on the 2nd Gen feels better than the 1st Gen I had. Are you considering new or used?

2016-2017 DC or CrewCab will do the trick just fine. More spacious than the new DC is my understanding. Double check on that.


I drive a long box daily and we moved back to a smaller city but when I bought it we lived in a bigger city with very tight parking and traffic and we managed just fine. Double check before ya merge and the very rare three point park instead of smooth. If we can do it with an 8’ bed I’m sure you’ll be fine in a shorter truck. These are relatively light steering trucks as well, don’t feel clunky like work trucks I’ve had.

 

New guy here but lived/worked on the south side in Blue Island/Tinley Park/Manteno area for 3 years in the early 2000's with a lwb Chevy 2wd P/U.
Never had a problem moving around there with just a regular cab but we never had a bad snowstorm while I was up there and had Mickey Thompson tires on it courtesy of the PO. No rear locker as it was next on the to do list but was transferred before I had the time to do it. Good luck with your search, take it on an extended trial ride and try parking turning in your neighborhood or daily use area and get a feel for how it will work for you. Heck, take out several for demo rides.

 

Tacoma definitely has its short comings but is a solid truck. The back seat is doable as long as people are under like 5’8” but not comfy for long periods of time. I upgraded from a Tacoma recently to a crewmax long bed tundra and have been happy ever since. If you use the bed I’d also not recommend the short bed Tacoma for its tiny bed, you will realize not only length but height of the bed has its limitations.

my suggestion would be to find a dealer who will let you take a tundra you want on an extended test drive and take it around the city and see how it is parking in garages or parallel parking. I have taken my tundra to downtown Nashville and had no problem navigating the streets but didn’t go into any parking garages. I don’t live close to the city and rarely go so I don’t have to worry about the length all that much where I live.

also take everything you read with caution online. Everyone said the crewmax long bed was way too long and impossible to drive anywhere. I have found no problem going anywhere I needed to go and don’t find it to long. It’s long for sure but it’s not as bad as people make it out to be

 

Just curious, you can get the new Tundra with a CrewMax and 8 foot bed? Or you’re referring to the 6’ bed? That’d be crazy long if so! Ha

 

Crewmax with the 6’5” bed when talking about the long bed. Toyota only lets you option the 8’ bed on the double cab. That would be insanely long if you could get a crewmax with the 8’ bed. That would probably be not be big city friendly that’s for sure

 

Have you thought about getting a Tacoma for the city driving, but get a trailer to move the larger instruments? That might be the best compromise.

 

Every time I go to downtown Denver I see 1,000's of trucks and large SUV's. And I haven't ever been able to find parking. Sure some garages are too tight, but it's never been a problem for me. Basically if you know how to drive a truck, living in a metro shouldn't be a problem. I even have friends who drive longbeds and live in metro areas of Denver.

But I will say this, if you're looking at a crew max, you may as well go with a tacoma because you'd be loosing all the bed space the dbl cab offers. Tacoma with a long bed might be your ideal fit. I know I'll catch a lot of flack for this but it is just my personal opinion about the crewmax bed.

 

My Toyota history in order: 1997 Tacoma V6 Reg Cab Manual (never should have sold it), 2001 Tacoma Access Cab V6, 2001 SR5 Tundra Access Cab with a shell, 2010 Tundra TRD Rock Warrior Double Cab with a shell (never would have sold it if I would have gotten crew cab originally), 2018 Platinum Tundra with a tri-fold bed cover, and had a 2020 4Runner TRD Pro for my wife for a couple years………..

Have you looked at 4Runners? They have a surprising amount of cargo room, and I find them wildly more capable and useful than the previous Tacomas I’ve owned. Fit great in urban environments, tight turning, secure storage, great in winter, anvil reliable, true japan build quality, and look incredibly cool.

Also putting a cap on the back of a crew cab truck takes much of its versatility away, and the benefits of a bed. I would bet you will use the cargo room of a 4R MUCH more, and can just rent a $20/day utility trailer for anything that wont fit in the 4R……. Which is exactly what you will end up doing if you put a cap on a Tundra anyhow.

 

You did not mention transporting mulch, bales of hale or manure. Just carrying some musical instruments and doing outdoor trips. May I suggest a 2nd gen Sequoia? With both 2nd and 3d rows flipped down you probably have more climate controlled cargo volume than you would get from a 5.5 ft bed with cap. Sleeps in 2 adults and 1 kid or dog without concerns and much preparation. As reliable as Tundra. Easier to navigate in downtown. Transports 6-7 adults with ease and in comfort. Occasional cargo overruns can be taken care of with a roof basket/hitch system, like Yakima EXO. If unhappy, it keeps value as good as Tundra does, if not better, and can be sold easily at any moment.

I have a Tundra, wife drives a Sequoia. 5 of us took Sequoia for the Newfoundland trip last summer - no offroad, just normal overlanding, it was awesome.

 

The primary reason he cited for the crew cab was wanting room for multiple adults. The Tacoma is significant smaller and more cramped.

He also stated if he got a Taco it’d be a SB so also significant smaller and more cramped than a Tundra SB.

If looking at used the Tundra becomes even more appealing selling for the same or less than overpriced Tacomas.

 

I live in phoenix, yeah its a lot more spread out than Chicago. Downtown and the old town areas are still tight though. I go downtown, to the old town sections of our outlying cities, have no problems. Rarely are the spaces so narrow I have to realign or anything.

Hell, I think this size truck is the standard daily driver here...

If I had a lift I may have a few issues with parking garages. You could end up with that problem in a Taco also.

If I lived where I had to buy a parking space on a street or some other BS. It might be a different story.

 

That's the thing about forums. Whenever anyone comes in and asks what he should get he's going to get a ton of various answers. Like 4runner, sequoia and everything in between. I think the crew max bed space isn't worth it. And I think the dbl cab cab space isn't as small as people assume. I drive mine with 4 adults often on cross country trips all the time. Is the crew max more comfy, sure it's is, but you've got to fold your fishing rods in half to get them in the bed.

 

I daily drive my tundra in cities. When I went from small car to truck I felt like I was parking the exon valdiz. You get used to it. You recognize the places it’s not going to fit and park farther away or use alternative parking. It’s very, very doable.

That said, a Tacoma is one hell of a lot easier to park and navigate tight streets with. I, on many occasions looked at the Tacoma instead. I personally don’t love the way they drive or the seating position, so I deal with the parking problems.

 

We’re on a 2,500 mile trip right now with our DCLB and she rides smoooooth ha. Back seat is plenty.

We also have no problem parking it in tight city spaces and it’s the largest Tundra made so I’m sure any other truck will fit just fine. My 3500 Long Bed silverados park larger, and honestly my 2006 Tundra DC which was a much smaller truck actually felt like it had a larger turning radius. The 2016 is way longer but has lighter and tighter steering to make up for it.

Parking a truck is like anything else. You’ll just get used to it and learn how to do it better or you won’t. If you don’t use the bed don’t get one, but if you need the bed learn to park it. All good

 

Accidentally ended up down on the loop in Chicago (Google Maps took an acid trip or something) in my Tundra while towing my 6x12 enclosed trailer. At 5pm on a Friday.

That was not a lot of goddamn fun, let me tell you. Easily added an hour to our trip just to get back on the highway. Lots of angry honking when lights would change and there just, wasn't anywhere for me to drive forward without completely blocking 8 lanes of traffic across intersections.

That being said, the rest of my time driving around the Twin Cities, Chicago WITHOUT the trailer, and my hometown small city, it's been perfectly navigable. You just have to anticipate that it's a large vehicle and it needs to be driven and parked that way. I wouldn't want to try to park in the French quarter of New Orleans again, THAT was foolhardy. Even the best parking in the quarter was maybe enough for half my bed, best result came from parking a good mile and change away and just walking 15 minutes.

 

I love my tundra but the set of use cases you described would have me looking for a cheaper used mini van (honda or toyota). Pull out all the rear carpet and bed liner it. With the rear seats out you basically have a truck with a shell for hauling bulky instrument cases or camping, put the seats back in and haul all the people for road trips. If you want a bit more unpaved utility get one of the awd models and put all-terrain tires on it, that should get you to most if not all camping/fishing spots with at least dirt road access.

 

Well I live in Los Angeles CA and use my tundra as a daily driver. I love it. I also drove it to downtown daily and parking was really the only issue I had.i have no issues with driving in traffic or anything like that. My truck is lifted so parking garages are my nemesis.

 

The old DC was fine but the new DC on the 2022+ is absolutely useless.

 

1st gen AC's fit into parking garages. Grandpa took this truck to lots of dr appt's in downtown houston. Sometimes tight parking spots require a 3pt maneuver, but only when its a narrow 1 way lane. 2wd's turn much tighter.

 

I use my truck almost exactly how you describe using yours. I haul lots of music gear around town, and the truck is a general catch-all for household tasks, towing/hauling, kids' sports, long road trips, and off-road dispersed camping adventures.

The huge backseat is perfect for hauling instruments that need to be hidden and climate controlled, and I have no issues with the short bed because I (a) don't hang drywall or frame houses for a living, or (b) sleep in the bed when we go camping.

I have fit the following loads in my bed: a yard of mulch, all 5 of our bikes, 3 kayaks, 12' lumber and concrete, our ATV, and all of our camping gear (Dometic fridge, tent, sleeping gear, water, recovery tools, etc).

The thing about the 2nd gen (2007-2021) Tundra is that it drives almost like a midsize. It's a full-size truck for sure, but the turn radius is only 22ft. It drives smaller than it is. I don't have any problems maneuvering mine around Nashville, even when parking in garages or Trader Joe's lots where the spots are almost all for compact cars. I do park away from others when possible just to avoid potential door dings.

 

Yes, they live everywhere.

 

Every musician doesn't commute with a private jet?