New 1794 Limited Edition 1st Impressions-Long

Over the next few days/weeks I'll be posting up about my first impressions with the truck and my experiences with the dealership I bought the truck from. For some background I've owned about 15+ Toyota's over the years, most of them being mini trucks, 4Runners and Land Cruisers. My present DD is an 08 Limited that I bought back in 08.

I picked up my new 2024 1794 Limited Edition with a production date of 3/24 on Tuesday, it had 24 miles on the odometer. It took a few weeks to find and seal the deal, final price was $73K. The truck was 3 hours away and everything was done over the phone.

After all the paperwork was signed it was time to pull out for the long drive home. Before leaving I remembered the issue folks were having with the bed being out of alignment with the tailgate. Sure enough it was about a quarter inch off on the driver's side. I had my salesman make a note on my paperwork that the issue existed and pulled away. I'll post up more about that later.

I'm a firm believer in breaking a new vehicle in slowly. Drive the speed limit, don't floor it, be gentle, and if on a long trip let her cool down every 3 hours or so, continue this process for the first 2,500 miles then drive as I normally would. I'll change the oil in the next few miles, it currently has 214 on the odometer, so I've put 190 miles on it since Tuesday with 150 miles of that driving home after picking it up. I'll do an oil and filter change at 250, 500, 1,00 and 2,500 miles before bringing it to the dealer for the first oil change. I'll throw some rare earth magnets on the oil pan and pull them off before draining the oil, may even get a magnetic oil filter sleeve.

So, let's get into it...

First thing I noticed was the engine sound (windows rolled up), it sounded as if it was sputtering very fast and just sounded odd. I chalked it up to being a new to me truck and also remembered a friend telling me about the "piped in engine" sound.

It drove nice on the country roads and in the more urban double lane local roads. I purposely hit the bad parts of the road that had potholes and crowns made by the heavy 18 wheelers. It held the road fine and being used to driving my 08, I had little concern about driving next to an 18-wheeler. It does seem like the hood is longer than my 08 and judging where I was in my lane took some getting used to.

I had all the safety features active (Pre-Collision System with Pedestrian Detection (PCS w/PD), Full-Speed Range Dynamic Radar Cruise Control (DRCC), Lane Departure Alert with Steering Assist (LDA w/SA), Lane Tracing Assist (LTA) and Road Sign Assist (RSA). I didn't realize until halfway into the drive that the Heads-Up Display (HUD) was on, but I was not seeing it on the windshield. I realized it when I had to itch my foot and leaned over and caught the display out of the corner of my eye. I went into the settings and adjusted it up, so it was visible from my normal driving position.

Like anything with a new vehicle all this tech will take some getting used to, but I do like the heads-up display. It's bright and large enough to make it clearly visible. I just wish I could adjust it higher than you presently can and also wish it could be moved left and right. I tend to lean to the passenger side when driving so I can rest my elbow on the center console, when I do this part of the display gets cut off on the right side. I'm wondering if there is some way to shim the projector in the dash to compensate for this. Also, does anyone have any experience on how this will work with a tinted front windshield?

The Pre Collision did kick on when I was on a 2 lane road and a car cut across the lanes to turn. It beeped loudly and the dash lit up with the work BRAKE surrounded by a red rectangle. I did not notice if the truck automatically started to brake or if I reacted quick enough, something I'm curious of. Will it automatically brake like a Subaru if a collision is imminent?

The Full-Speed Range Dynamic Radar Cruise Control (DRCC) was nice as it kept a safe distance from the vehicle in front of me without constantly having to adjust my speed manually as I would in my 08. At first it was set at the furthest range which was extremely annoying, I'm not sure of the distance, but it seemed pretty far and would constantly slow down if someone merged into my lane. It wasn't a distance I would consider dangerous at highway speeds but enough to trigger the DRCC to slow down until the merging car was at the acceptable distance. A few times I had to step on the gas because it felt like if it kept waiting for the car in front to get to the predetermined distance, I'd be doing 40mph and get rear ended. The feature would be nice on roadways with light traffic or light highway driving. Set it further away for higher speeds with lighter traffic, lower for more moderate traffic.

LDA (Lane Departure Assist), very cool feature and took quite a bit to get used to. Great for highway driving as long as you remember to use your directional when changing lanes or it will try to guide you back to the lane you're trying to leave. Urban type driving in heavier traffic caused me to turn it off. With cars constantly entering the roadway and others turning into driveways sometimes you have to move left or right to avoid rear ending them and there's no reason to use your directional. An example of this would be when a car in front of you is turning left and you move to the right side shoulder to pass. The first time this happened to me the truck tried pulling back into the lane causing me to give an audible "what the fuck?"

The last safety feature that was active was the Lane Tracing Assist (LTA). No, no, no, don't think I'll ever get used to this, I felt like it was constantly adjusting the truck to be centered on the lane I was in. I'm not sure that I have much use for this feature.

Overall with the exception of LTA I like the safety features and will most likely use them, especially highway driving late at night or when I'm feeling a little tired. If real tired I'd even throw on the LTA, it seems annoying enough that the constant adjustment alone would prevent me from falling asleep.

I opted for the 1794 LE for no other reason more than the price. For the $73K I was satisfied that I got pretty much every available factory option with the exception of Auto Leveling. I tow a lot but not enough to justify losing the off-road features it's equipped with. Those features are also something I'd very rarely use as I have enough off-road trucks to keep me satisfied, but it's nice to know they are there considering I live in with Northeast winters.

The saddle leather seats are incredibly gorgeous but boy are they stiff. At around the 2-hour mark in my drive my tailbone started hurting and by the time I got home at the 3 hour mark it was pretty painful. Not to get too personal but I'm 6'3" and 195 lbs with a flat ass. I know the leather has to get broken in and I do need to adjust the seat to my optimal comfort position, it just didn't cross my mind that this would happen. It's rare that I'll drive that long unless I'm attending one of my off roading events or competitions. A forum member did usggest turning on the seat heater when I became uncomfortable, something I've never tried to remedy the butt hurt. Not sure I want the seat heater on with the air conditioner but I'll give it a shot.

My 08 has leather and surprisingly it seems like fairly thick leather. Thick enough that I never had a concern that I would rip them or scratch them by dragging something heavy like a 20 lb. cardboard box from one side of the back seat to the other. I think due to the ventilated seat center perforations and the tan saddle leather the seats would scratch easily if a 5-pound box was dragged across them. Of course, after getting home and a day passing, I noticed a very slight scratch on the seatback of the front passenger seat. It was on a portion of the seat near the top shoulder area. The only thing I could deduce was that someone sitting in the passenger seat on a test drive had the seat forward of the seatbelt on the B pillar, reached back, pulled on the belt and the plastic part of the belt clip dragged on the seat causing the scratch. I'll have to take some 400 grit sandpaper to the plastic portion of the clip and deburr it. As for the scratch I rubbed my fingernail over it a few times and it smoothed out a little to the point that it was less visible than before. Possibly some leather conditioning will get rid of it and help supple up the leather. That'll be a hard task with the perforated center sections as the lotion will get trapped in the holes.

The center cup holder/arm rest in the back seats doesn't sit flush when closed. It sticks out enough that when you try to fold up that section of the seating you have to slam it to get it to click in and have to push on it in order to put the seat bottom down when pulling on the release strap. Again, I contribute this to new leather that needs to be broken in and will hopefully correct itself over time.

I'm yet to mess around with all the tech but did have android auto going via Bluetooth I'm assuming as my phone was not hardwired into the truck. The premium JBL system was INCREDIBLY DISAPPOINTING!! Maybe this is because I haven't found the right setting yet but my 08 Tundra's JBL system just hits harder. The bass response is deeper and fills the cabin better, mids and highs weren't so tinny, and vocals were clear and crisp, not like the 24. I found the equalizer settings and adjusted them to my liking, but it still seemed to leave a lot to be desired. Even my 11-year-old kids told me that the 08 sounded way better and was way louder. In my 08 if I turned the volume to max you could shout at the person in the back seat and they still wouldn't clearly understand what you said without turning down the volume. The 24 with the volume maxed out didn't come close to the max volume and clarity of the 08. Turning off surround sound did help the bass response a little and it didn't sound so tinny.

I'm wondering if I'm experiencing this because I'm playing music through android auto and not Bluetooth. My 08 had Bluetooth but only for phone calls, I had to buy a Bluetooth dongle and plug it into the aux plug to play music or use the headphone jack on the phone connected to the aux port to play any type of media. By doing it this way you were essentially doubling the available amplifiers. One volume control on the phone, a second on the truck stereo. Turn the volume up on both and it you'd get out of the truck with your ears ringing. I think because the audio is only controlled by the stereo and not the volume control on the phone it's limited. I'll have to see if it can play music without using android auto and have it adjustable with the phone volume as well as the head unit like I did in the 08.

It's a hybrid so rear seat storage is nonexistent. I carried a bit of things under the seats of the 08 even with the JBL sub taking up a bunch of space. There's just nowhere to put any of the things I had in the 08 with the hybrid bits taking up rear under seat storage. I'd love to get a decked bed system but don't want to lose the depth in the bed. I'm still trying to figure out what tonneau cover I want to go with. Hardest part is I want to use a height adjustable contractor rack without sacrificing the use of a tonneau cover. The bed would also need to stay dry with the cover as to not get camping gear and gym bags wet. In case you're going to say get the Diamondback, I'm not interested in that form of cover. My requirements are that it sit flush with the top of the bed rail, not fully block the rear window when fully open, be able to hold some weight on top of it, be compatible with the TruXedo adjustable height rack and be waterproof as best as possible. Suggestions?

Now don't get me wrong, replies saying you bought the wrong truck aren't needed but go ahead if you feel like trolling, it won't bother me, if anything it will keep the thread alive. I'm not bitching about anything; I'm pointing out my experience with the first drive and observations I have with things that I may have not dived into deep enough to remedy. I'm happy with my purchase, I'm not concerned about the engine recall, it'll be under warranty, whatever happens Toyota will take care of in the long run.

Not that you need to see any pics, you all know what a Tundra looks like but here's a few anyway.

 

I love brown leather interiors to include saddle leather. I don't like orange leather that seems to be the norm now with many OEMs to include Toyota, Nissan and Audi.

Are brown cows becoming extinct?

 

The tailgate issues on these seems to be fairly common. Pretty much all the ones I've seen are off to varying degrees with a larger gap on the driver's side. Mine also rubbed slightly against the bed hinge bracket on the passenger side when opening the tailgate. Does yours have the spray in bed liner? I noticed the hinge bracket on the driver's side of the tailgate had been moved at some point on mine because of the visible paint outline where the bracket used to be. I figured maybe they did something when installing the bed liner at the port. The dealer acted like they couldn't really do anything to fix it, so I ended up just taking the tailgate off and re-mounting the hinges on both sides and putting it back on. It's not perfect, but it's better, and it doesn't rub anymore.

 

Nice Truck, great writeup! For a tonneau cover I would highly recommend the Bak Revolver X4S, love mine!

 

For the JBL the Beatsonic amp makes a big difference in IMHO. More volume and more complete sound. it is an easy upgrade.

 

$73K out the door?
Agree on LTA being no value
Don't share getting along with radar cruise. I find it way too conservative. First thing I do is a long hold on the cruise button to turn it off.
What did you get for mileage what was your hybrid impression?
FWIW, I've got a vanilla 1794 with about 12K on it. It loosens up a lot and drives much better than the delivery miles.

 

I have some of the same issues in my new 1794 LE but it all melts away with the leather smell as I enter the truck.

 

No. Not by a long shot. However they go to the fashion and in particular the fashion accessory industry. Mainstream cars and trucks get.......mmmmm..........B grade product.

 

No bedliner, just the composite, no bed mat either. I'm wondering if the drivers bedside at the back is just off and needs to be persuaded in at the top corner. My thought of a fix is to brace the top passenger side down to the bottom drivers side so it can't move. Take a 3" truckers ratchet strap and wrap it all the way around the rear of the bed. Slowly ratchet it until the drivers side bends inward to correct the gap. Not something I'd try, but I think it would work especially if you were able to remove the composite material to see what was below it. I'm not overly concerned with it and probably would never have noticed it if not for this forum. The only problem I have with it is water leaking into the bed.

 

Yeah, I'm not sure how well that would work. If you look at the sides of the bed right by where the tailgate latches, you will see that there is essentially a metal U brace going along the sides and under the back edge of the bed. The whole bed is composite, so torquing it like that might do more harm than good.

 

Brown cows matter.

 

That's the one I was looking at. I have so many questions, hope you don't mind.
How is it against rain?
Does the bed stay dry and if not where does it leak from?
Does it leak a lot?
Will it hold weight?
Have you tried putting any substantial weight on it?

 

Checked the beatsonic site, only see an rca jack for the 21/22 Tundra. Could you give me any further information?

 

https://www.beatsonicusa.com/ena-2t3.html

This is the one Tundra Jon installed in his You Tube video

https://youtu.be/fTkHjgSmmEU?si=XTex17oIBJdbzWui

 

I haven't found any water leakage from mine, even in fairly heavy rain or going through a car wash. There is some dust leakage, but I suspect that is from the tailgate.

The Bak website says that it can support 400 lbs evenly distributed, I have never put anything on top of mine, but I have no reason to doubt their claim, the aluminum slats appear to be pretty strong.