One of the greatest tales in automotive lore is that of the “million-mile car.” Enthusiasts love hearing about odometer-spinning achievements by drivers so devoted to one vehicle that they cover more distance than back-to-back round trips to the moon. Make no mistake, clocking a million is impressive – but not as impressive as doing it twice.
A man in Louisiana has done just that. Victor Sheppard first found fame when he took a 2007 Toyota Tundra to a million miles on its original powertrain. Now he’s done it again with a 2014 model. The news comes to us from Pickup Truck + SUV Talk, which first wrote about the truck in 2023 when it was at around the 900,000-mile mark. Back then, the publication reported that the man behind the wheel, Victor Sheppard, was on track to hit the million-mile mark in late 2024.
The amazing part, aside from how a man can drive two million miles in less than two decades, is that both trucks had proven themselves to be amazingly reliable machines. Both are a testament to how great engineering and timely maintenance can work together to keep the wheels turning for mile after mile.
The Original Million-Mile Tundra
Nine years, that’s how long it took Sheppard to pile 1,020,130 miles onto a 2007 Tundra SR5 Double Cab with the 4.7-liter V8. He’s the kind of guy you hire if you’re an oil company and need a part delivered anywhere in the country on a moment’s notice. As MotorTrend reported in February 2016, when Sheppard’s 2007 Tundra crossed the million-mile mark, Sheppard would drive from Louisiana to North Dakota, California, Wyoming, Virginia, or anywhere else an oil company needs a part delivered pretty much yesterday.
Back in 2016, MotorTrend also reported that Sheppard wasn’t really willing to part ways with his beloved truck. Instead, he fully intended to pile on the miles. But Toyota eventually convinced Sheppard to trade his million-mile wonder for a fresh new 2016 Tundra Limited Crew Cab. If you run the numbers, when Sheppard finally sent his old truck to Toyota, it had averaged a remarkable average of 113,347 miles a year or a whopping 2,179 miles a week.
Tim Esterdahl, the journalist who has been following this story from the start, reported in 2016 that Sheppard has been a lifelong fan of Toyota. Sheppard got his first Toyota in 1988 after graduating from college and has been loyal to Toyota ever since. According to Esterdahl, Sheppard kept the new 2016 Tundra as his personal truck. At the time, Toyota noted in a press release that the 2016 Tundra became Sheppard’s 16th Toyota since he started driving the brand’s vehicles.
How big a fan is Sheppard of Toyota? During the original media blitz for his original million-miler, he said: “These trucks are safe and dependable. I think, if you see a Toyota on the side of the road, it might be a scam because they just don’t break down very often.”
A 2014 Toyota Tundra SR5 Double Cab with a 5.7-liter V8 picked up the slack from the previous truck. That’s the truck that just crossed the million-mile mark this month. Here’s an interview by the YouTube channel Enjoy The Ride when Sheppard’s truck had a still impressive 704,000 miles (skip to 4:31 if the embed doesn’t do it for you):
Why A Million Miles Is Important
Part of why hitting a million miles is such a huge milestone is figuring out just how the vehicle got there. It’s common for a heavy diesel commercial truck to hit a million miles, and it’s not unheard of for a heavy-duty consumer diesel pickup truck to hit a million. As I said earlier, history is also full of stories of diesel taxis and other assorted diesels hitting the million mark.
But Sheppard’s Toyotas aren’t diesels, and few people expect a common half-ton pickup truck to go that distance. Reportedly, not even the dealer that sold Sheppard the 2007 Tundra originally believed he was going to hit that magical number.
Toyota took that 2007 Tundra back to the Huntsville, Alabama plant that built its engine so engineers could tear it down and determine the condition of the truck and its drivetrain, and also learn about potential defects to correct in future trucks.
When Sheppard’s 2007 Tundra made the news rounds in 2016, he reported that the truck wasn’t just on its original engine and transmission, but that the majority of the work he’s done was just regular maintenance – oil changes, timing belts, and the like, following Toyota’s recommendations (sort of). He changed the truck’s oil once a month, which Sheppard says equates to about 10,000 miles for him. The only mechanical issue Sheppard reported was losing reverse at 776,000 miles, but that was eventually fixed, and Sheppard kept on truckin.’
Toyota’s inspection apparently surprised the automaker’s own team because not only did they not find defects, they discovered the truck looked and drove like one with a fraction of the miles. One of the immediate shockers was the interior. Sheppard is a big guy. In 2016, he was noted to be six-foot-six and weighed in at 425 pounds. Normally, that would be challenging for a seat, but Toyota said, “Not only was the frame unbent and the foam unworn, but the seat itself, consistent with the rest of the truck, showed only light wear and tear.” By that, Toyota means that the seat was stained and had a tear in it, but Sheppard was more than content to keep on riding in it.
The only real visible damage to the truck was a few dings on the body and heaps of dents, scratches, and light corrosion in the bed from Sheppard tossing equipment back there. Yet, Sheppard’s million-mile truck looked like a 100,000-mile truck would.
As Esterdahl reported, the team in Huntsville put the high-mile hero on a dyno meant for newer engines. Even when run up to its limit, the engine apparently performed better on the dyno than an engine fresh off the assembly line. The teardown caused another round of amazement, from Truck Trend:
Examining the parts in person is quite amazing. There is very little carbon buildup on the valve stems, the cross hatching is still visible on the cylinder walls, and the crankshaft journals have no visible wear marks. The only thing they found was one slight mark on a bearing.
“We remeasured the head, the block, and cams in our lab,” said Connie Roberts, Toyota quality manager. “Nothing was abnormal. It wasn’t within specifications, but after a million miles it isn’t going to be. The biggest surprise to me was the bearings. They are probably the cleanest I’ve ever seen come out of an engine.”
After examining the parts, measuring them against specs and testing the engine on the dyno, the team was pleasantly happy to discover as it sits, the engine would have scored a 99/100 on their quality tests—high enough to pass it as a good engine. “We have seen our durability test engines have a considerable amount more wear and tear than this engine,” Myatt said several times during our visit. Each time he says it, he smiles.
Toyota tore the truck basically down to its nuts and bolts and found that Sheppard’s 2007 truck had more or less the kind of wear expected from a truck with average mileage for its age. Based on the average mileage an American drives each year, that means that this truck had the wear of perhaps a truck with around 130,000 miles on it, not nearly eight times the mileage. Even the body and frame were rust-free, which was remarkable in itself as Toyota hasn’t always had a good track record of keeping rust away.
Since that exciting time, Esterdahl found one more Tundra with over a million miles under its wheels. That truck was a 2007 Tundra SR Double Cab owned by another hotshot driver, Aaron Morvant. According to Esterdahl’s report in 2020, that truck went through 20 sets of tires and was physically beaten from heavy hauling, but it was mechanically sound with its original engine and a rebuilt transmission. There’s a reported third million-mile Tundra out there, too. All of these trucks’ odometers stopped at 999,999 miles, so their owners keep tracking mileage using the trip odometer.
Sheppard Did It Again
On April 9, Sheppard crossed the million-mile mark again in the aforementioned 2014 Tundra. Once again, the engine made the distance with no wrenching beyond the regular, recommended maintenance. He even got all of his work done by the dealer. Sadly, the transmission developed an issue at 780,000 miles that allowed the engine to rev without actually gaining momentum. Sheppard couldn’t wait for the dealer to fix the transmission, so he drove on the bad transmission for over 80,000 miles before finally putting a new one in. But hey, 780,000 miles before the original transmission had any real issue is still impressive! You can view the most current photos on Pickup Truck + SUV Talk.
Sheppard’s two trucks join a pretty awesome club of million mile-plus vehicles, including a Ford Super Duty F-350, a Hyundai Elantra, a Saab 900 SPG, a BMW 325i, a Porsche 356C, a Lexus LS 400, a Nissan Frontier, a Honda Accord, and perhaps so many other passenger vehicles that reached that mileage without fanfare from automotive media. Of course, the most famous high-mile car remains the late Irvin Gordon’s Volvo P1800, which drove over 3.2 million miles.
It’s unclear if Toyota will use this one as another marketing vehicle, but honestly, it doesn’t matter. It’s just so awesome to read that this happened again. While many cars have been lucky to have surpassed a million miles, how many car owners can say they’ve driven two of the same model to over a million miles each?
This is why I’m an admitted Toyota fanboy.
I only owned domestic vehicles until 2017, (15 Fords, 1 Dodge, 4 Chevrolets, 2 GMCs, a Saturn, and a Pontiac), when I bought my first import, a 2008 Toyota 4Runner. That 4Runner had been in a minor collision, needed tires, brakes, and a hub assembly, but it only had 90,000 miles, and was the rare V8/4WD version. I drove that thing for 5 years, putting 100,000 miles on it, and all I replaced due to wear and tear in that entire time was the aftermarket hub assembly I put on it the first time, and a pair of CV axles because I was too lazy to replace boots and they were on sale through O’Reilly. I’d never had a vehicle that reliable (although the Dodge, surprisingly enough, was close). Years later, I put a salvaged engine from a ’95 Avalon into my then-girlfriend’s ’96 Avalon that she broke a connecting rod in due to neglecting oil changes and even checking the oil, and I’ve beat that poor car mercilessly for 30,000 miles in the year and a half since I finished putting it back together (she decided she didn’t want it anymore and left it at my place when we split up). It’s going to hit 200,000 miles next week (the engine has 20,000 fewer than the car), and other than a steering rack? Just normal maintenance and wear items, and again, I treat that car horribly (but I do all of the maintenance on it religiously!)
My next Toyota will either be another 4WD/V8 4Runner, GX470, GX460, 4WD Sequoia/LX570, or a V8/4WD Tundra.
This is a remarkable achievement for a consumer vehicle. A few factors that helped. Fewer heat cycles and cold starts for the number of miles driven than most vehicles. Highway miles baby.
Regular maintenance. This guy literally makes his living in and with his truck. Sounds like he did his maintenance on a regular schedule, no surprise there.
The truck wasn’t abused. As it’s his personal he probably didn’t beat the ever living crap out of it but drove it like he loved it. A lot of contractors drive company vehicles like they stole ’em.
NO SALT on the roads. Yeah, trucks just don’t age the same here in the south. When will the northern states realize you don’t need to salt the piss out of everything all the time when it snows. Lived in norther Japan for 4 years, 100+ inches of snow every year. ZERO salt, ever.
V8. Simple, powerful enough. Wanna place bets on turbo charged, high compression engines making it a million miles?
EDIT: Time. This compressed a million miles into a remarkably short period of time. Time is also a killer of cars and the thousands of parts found within. Time, heat, cold, UV all take their toll on plastics, rubbers and other non-metal parts. My dad’s gen-1 Tundra engine ran like a top. But driving it you could feel where all the bushings had worn out.
I just watched a video about Japan’s geo-thermal road sprinkler system which pulls warm water from below ground and sprays it on the roads to keep them clear. Not everywhere, but it is widely used around the islands. Unique geography to Japan and some Scandinavian countries. I’m not saying salt is the correct answer, but comparing the NE to Japan is not fair in this instance.
This is largely a testament to how much engines like steady state cruising. Highway miles are great for drivetrains.
Even in the diesel world, the majority of emissions related problems are for vocational/city trucks. The long haul rigs have comparatively few issues.
Now you want to see a tough engine? Our fleet (or what remains of it) of New Flyer Invero buses, 2005 being the youngest, all saw upwards of 1 million KM (620,000 miles) out of their Cummins ISL9 engines.
That is 620k miles of stop & go traffic, and a shitload of idle time. Excellent engines. We changed them out because we were getting Low Oil Rail Pressure codes.
They literally just wore out the bearings in the bottom end. Throw fresh oil in and it would stave off the code for a couple weeks.
They would’ve likely just needed a bearing roll and kept on trucking, but for the effort required to do that in a transit bus, the “in for a penny, in for a pound” methodology is applied and we just chuck a reman engine in.
I used to own a 2020 Tundra: driving that many hours certainty isn’t easy, but these trucks are wonderful highway rollers. Quiet, comfy, comically large inside… 35 cup holders. The other thing that was a life saver was the 41-gallo tank as the mileage was horrendous. 14-16mpg unladen, and like 6-8mpg with the horse trailer w/2 horses hooked up.
I take it he’s never had to deliver a full load of nitroglycerin needed to extinguish an oil well fire over rough mountain dirt roads.
“Toyota took that 2007 Tundra back to the Huntsville, Alabama plant that built its engine so engineers could tear it down and determine the condition of the truck and its drivetrain, and also learn about potential defects to correct in future trucks.”
The main potential defect being that the truck lasted a million miles, thereby depriving Toyota of the revenue from a replacement for much longer than they would have wished… /s
All joking aside, I have read that Henry Ford’s engineers actually did teardowns to see what parts on a Model T were lasting “too long” and could potentially be made cheaper.
I wonder if he could apply for a sponsorship from Prep H?
“…the cross hatching is still visible on the cylinder walls” That’s the crazy thing about modern engines is how hard cylinder walls are which makes them a massive pain in the ass if you need to hone them.
I boroscoped the cylinders on my Fiesta ST at 100k miles and the cross hatching was clearly visible. There was also so little carbon on the pistons I could read the numbers engraved on them from the factory.
I have my doubts about a 3rd generation Tundra making it close to that mark.
There are a few that are already up to over 200K miles. Give it time.
and a couple reman engines from the recall at least
I one time made a 610 mile trip up and returned home the same 610 miles the next day and I thought it was something notable. Sounds like this is pretty much what he does every day. Impressive! And to me miserable. Must be something he enjoys though.
Yeah I remember before my senior year of college I had to miss move in weekend due to a wedding. Usually one of my parents would drive up with me to help me get situated but it was a solid 8-10 hour drive from DC depending on traffic and naturally they got sick of doing it. So I loaded up the family Suburban with a bunch of shit and did it solo.
I gave myself a day in between the drives so I could get drunk, high, and make an ill fated attempt or two at chasing tail, but only a small handful of folks were in town so it was mostly boring. Anyway the actual driving wasn’t fun at all. It honestly got a little weird at times. I’m generally a bit of an introvert but 8+ hours through the Maryland sticks, West Virginia, and Ohio with nearly 0 human interaction sent my mind to some odd places.
I can’t imagine doing that every day and once a drive goes beyond 5ish hours I usually prefer to fly instead.
Only in the south. Up here in the rust belt and the truck would rust away long before a million miles.
A million is an acheivement not to be dismissed, but highway miles are not city miles. Show me a million mile taxi cab… (betting it’s a Checker). And it will have had multiple engines and trans… Honestly, the original drivetrain is the true calling card.
I rode with a guy in Vancouver BC driving a Prius taxi he claimed the original engine and trans and battery at 600,000 miles. Him and two relatives (Eastern European fellows) running 20/7/365. Guy didn’t nurse it either, drove through traffic like Earnhardt at Talladega.
LOL prepare yourself for my scorchingly hot take.
First I love everything about super high mileage cars. These are amazing!
Second, totally unsurprising to me.
Running a vehicle more or less constantly is probably the best way to get this much mileage out of it. Even the “old truck” is a mere baby for the kind of cars I tend to drive! The 2016 isn’t even ten yet! Drive a car less than ten years old, many of the failure points just haven’t been met. Think about the relatively small number of seasonal cycles, sheer time on seals and rubber bits, and, obviously, almost zero instances of the car sitting for several days and all the lubricant draining off of gears/bearings/engine components, and resultant “dry starts.”
ANYWAY, yeah, this is super awesome. But not surprising.
Yeah, actually this is a solid comment. This truck has probably had fewer cold starts than vehicles this age too, maybe one per day based on the daily average miles. The transmission has probably shifted fewer times too. The real key was “following Toyota’s recommendations”. That eliminates probably 80% of car owners right away, since those recommendations are in the owner’s manual that most people never take out of the glove box, never mind read.
Exactly. One of the biggest things that go wrong on modern vehicles is the polymer stuff. The wiring insulation and connectors become brittle over time. Mechanical gremlins on a well designed car (aka Toyota) are rarely the things that lead to breakdown, its sensors going bad, computers crapping out, wires shorting, etc that are based on the breakdown of plastics.
A major factor in the breakdown of polymers is time. 20 year old cars have more electrical gremlins than 10 year old ones, regardless of the miles.
Honestly, what might be the most impressive thing here is that Sheppard has spent so much of his life behind the wheel of a pickup truck. Say, just for an example, he drove an average of 70 mph over those 2m miles. That’s 28,571 hours of driving! There are commercial pilots with long careers with fewer hours than that.
It is truly an amazing accumulation of driving experience!!
True, I would summarize by saying that highway miles are much easier on a vehicle than city miles.
His driving is a lot like the worlds oldest lightbulbs where they have only been turned off about a dozen times in 115 years. It’s still a crazy feat but for me it’s the driver endurance even more than the actual truck.
If I were him, I’d keep that one versus taking a chance on the new Tundra. They aren’t exactly living up to the reputation of the second gen Tundras.
Over the course of my life, I’ve made more than a few 1500 mile, 3 day road trips. By the time I reached my destination, I was wiped out. I can not imagine driving 500 miles per day, 5 days a week, for 16+ years.
excellent comment
I’ve driven across country twice. Both times I took 5 days. I got in a zone around day 3 and 500 miles a day didn’t see that bad at all. A key thing was to never push it. If I slept in or started to feel spent, I stopped . Some days, I got close to 700 miles down the road, others I was more like 300.
I came here to say this, as I just did a 1700 mile road trip over a three day period (850 miles one day, a day at my destination, and 850 miles the third day). I was, and am, spent, and the thought of doing that as a job sounds terrible.
The type of car you’re driving makes a big difference here. My 24 year old Mountaineer with 4 gears, loose steering, uncomfortable seats, and no sound insulation leaves me more exhausted after a 2 hour drive than my 2010 Mercedes did after 8 hours. A big comfortable Tundra is probably closer to the older Mercedes.
I am pretty sure I haven’t accumulated that many miles (just the first million) in all the cars I’ve owned. And then with my airline miles, I wouldn’t have gotten the second million. I had a first Gen Tundra, and it was comfortable. And I haven’t been inside any of the newer ones. But I just can’t wrap my head around spending that much time in anything.
The second gen Tundra is such an epic truck.
I feel the same way about this guy as I do about air travelers that hit the million mile club.
Sorry.
1 million miles in a vehicle going say 50 mph on average is 833 DAYS of driving. That’s an insane about of time in a vehicle. That’s a lot of time away from your loved ones and your home.
At least this guy didn’t have to deal with TSA agents, but on the other hand, he didn’t get perks like free lounge access and the like.
But either way, it sucks. I’d rather have more time sleeping in my own bed, even if I have to fight a stubborn black lab for the blanket.
I agree. I grew up with a friend who’s dad did long haul trucking. In 5 years, I met the man like 6 times. The rare occasions he was home, friends never came over because the family was spending time together. But man it was rough and rare.
Now my kid has a friend in the same position. Dad gets to be home like 2 days a month. I am not capable of finding that sacrifice to be worth it. But I am appreciative that there are those who think it is.
I feel you, Hoser! The oil industry life isn’t for everyone. As I understand it, a lot of these oil company hotshot guys make bales of cash, but are driving so much that they don’t even have time to enjoy their spoils.
I had the opportunity to be a traveling nuclear worker. (The industry calls it “nuclear whores.”) Pay was insane. I was offered 4 times what I make today nearly 20 years ago.
But I looked at the guys that did that work around me. Bankrupt, Divorced, never married, etc. etc. etc. Not only were most of their lives broken and messed up, they were obsessed about money in an unhealthy way. Money wasn’t a tool to get the good things in life, it WAS the good thing in life. Drive a beat up crap car, live in a beat up RV, but have millions upon millions of dollars stored up.
Just not the life for me….yet
I did find a couple of couples that did it right. I nickname it “nuclear retirement”. After a normal career, get an RV and RV around the country exploring. With your experience, you can stop at almost any nuclear plant and get a couple month job to top off the bank account as needed.
1 million miles in a vehicle going say 50 mph on average is 833 DAYS of driving.
Yeah, but that’s over the course of a decade. That’s 2600 or so 8-hr days at work. Probably better spent driving than working in a factory (factory jobs can really suck, though I hear we’re trying to bring them back to the US). It does look like he put on a few pounds spending those days sitting in the driver seat, though.
One summer while in college in Wisconsin, I was an on-call courier for a firm with offices in Minneapolis and Chicago. I would typically get a call about 2-3 p.m. with a request for a 6 p.m. pickup at one office for a package that needed to be delivered to the other office by 7 a.m. the next morning.
To do the trip and get back home, it was about 840 miles. Also, the speed limit at the time was still 55mph, which meant 15 hours of driving, not including stops. One week, I did four round trips for a total of 3200 or so miles. I was exhausted, but even at that clip, it would have taken six years of doing that 50 weeks a year to hit a million miles.
A million miles without repairs is statistically astonishing. Hell of a safe and lucky driver, if true.
He replaced the transmission. Still impressive though.
Sure but I meant accidents; that’s a staggeringly good driving record. His insurance should be comped at this point.
I’ve got 1.5 million miles safe driving, and commercial insurance on my semi is still 20 grand a year. Insurance companies don’t care. They want their money
Yours is also a very impressive record!
My eaton transmission in my semi lost it’s pilot bearing at 250000 miles. A half ton loosing a transmission at 750000 is amazing. I’d forgive the toyota, it made it’s money’s worth
Definitely a safe and lucky driver. As to the “safe” bit, though, the volume and the expertise are mutually reinforcing. When you do something as much as this man drives, you are going to build up some serious experience with “edge case” type situations, as well as routine highway emergency situations. I bet he’s excellent about staying in the right lane, keeping a long following distance, etc. etc.
You are correct there. You can tell when someone is gonna do something stupid before it happens when you have millions of miles under your belt. And lucky has some part too. I have been in an accident, but it doesn’t count against me because it was determined to be not my fault. And in that accident I knew he was gonna roll stop a 2 way stop sign and pull out in front of me and I wasn’t going to be able to stop. So I took action to change it from Tboning his driver door at 45 to a hard dive across the road so he hit my side, and my energy went sliding by in front of him. He was lucky I was paying attention and knew no one else was around and I could do a hard dive. I bet tundra boy is as good at safe driving, for both his trucks to be in that good of shape
I’m curious how the financials work out in this business. He is spending over $2k a month just on gas, replacing tires and brakes probably 3 times a year, plus other hotel and travel expenses. I know its oil money so they probably make it well worth it.
He probably enjoys it, and that’s a good thing because it sounds like he has what’s common in oilfield work: More money than time. 6 figure jobs were easy to come by 15 years ago, but you’re never home to spend it.
I had a project at an oil camp an 8-hour drive north of Edmonton, and they shuttled the workers back and forth from the camp to Edmonton every 10-16 days, depending on which camp and how the shifts were designed. Typically, they would get 5-10 days off, and a lot of them just went to the airport and got hotel rooms in Vegas or Cancun for the “weekend.”
He’s not a “trucker” per se and may draw a salary. Bet he gets a set rate per mile, and a per diem for food and lodging.
Na, he is an owner operator. So it is per job, just like any other contractor.
I get 65¢ a mile, so for me it would 1.3 million in mileage reimbursement
I need DT to tell me again with a straight face that he trusts a Jeep 4.0 over one of these Tundras for longevity.
BuT tHe TiMiNg BeLt!
Doesn’t this engine have chain and gear drive for the cams?
The 4.7 doesn’t. Not sure about the 4.6
Ford 300 FTW, it’ll be slow but it will get you there.
Im glad to see Huell is still getting work after Walt passed and Jesse skipped town. All joking aside, this is rad. Toyota trucks are special…although unfortunately I strongly doubt that the turbo V6 in the current Tundra is up for anywhere near this many miles. I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of hotshot trucking. If you’re someone who loves driving it’s pretty lucrative and interesting work.
I was thinking the next truck will be interesting, assuming he is getting a new Tundra…
This was my thought. Toyota gave the guy a brand new Tundra last time, in exchange for his Million mile one. They wanted to take it apart. He obviously got a good deal cuz the new one also went a million miles. But if Toyota offered him the same deal again, he may not feel so lucky. That reliability in their big vehicles is not so reliable any more.
No Deal!!
Honestly knowing Toyota I expect them to figure it out. New powertrains always have teething pains and they’ve been making it right with the initial bad batch of the turbo V6s by giving owners engine replacements. I think that once this engine has been out for a few years it’ll be solid, and it’s already very potent. Pretty much every review I’ve come across says it’s smooth, powerful, and sounds good…the only real asterisk is the longevity.
That being said my pessimistic side has questions…and I do worry that if Toyota of all people can’t figure out how to make a reliable turbocharged engine that works for truck applications it may just not be doable. I’m not as turbo averse as a lot of the old heads are and I do think it works well in a lot of applications.
But man…even I can’t help but question whether it can be made to work in applications like this. I think it’s perfectly fine to have turbo 4s and 6s in regular sized cars and crossovers but in a truck that’s going to (hopefully) be used for Truck Stuff I have a lot of questions but not a lot of answers.
I’d have a hard time choosing a turbo 4 or 6 cylinder over an NA V8 or diesel in a BOF truck…and it’s not like they’re even that much more efficient. I think the plain ICE Tundra with all wheel drive gets 17/22 or something like that, and the turbomax 2.7 liter in the GM trucks basically doesn’t have any fuel economy benefits at all.
So what’s the point? You’re getting a more complicated and maintenance intensive engine for an extra MPG or two? I’m sure it comes down to emissions and whatnot but if I were buying a half ton truck I’d probably just get a V8 or Babymax…which sucks because I actually think the Tundra is pretty damn cool.
I’m not necessarily arguing with you, but I manage a fleet that has, among other things, about 73 Ford Transit 350 vans with 3.5 Ecoboost engines. About half of them have over 200,000 miles, with several over 270K. We’ve never lost a turbo, a head gasket or any internal engine parts, and the drivers kinda beat the absolute crap out of them. The most problematic thing is they break exhaust manifold studs and warp the manifolds once you get over about 200K miles, and it’s a major PITA to extract and change them in the cramped Transit engine bay. I was skeptical of their longevity when we started getting them in 2017, but I’m impressed with them.
Thats good to know. My company has a very small fleet (4 vehicles) and we just replaced a 2011 E150 with a 2024 Transit with the 3.5 Ecoboost. Since we’re up in the rust belt, time tends to end the life of the vehicles long before mileages/repairs get to them.
I used to work in oil & gas for a number of years for a drilling equipment OEM. Hot shots would regularly be making pickups and deliveries from different plants and rigs I worked at. However, 1500s were rare as most stuff needed 3500+ size trucks. But, it was super common to see just a few year old F450 Platinum or Silverado 3500 with a couple hundred thousand miles when you talked with the driver. There were some that had over a million, but I can’t recall any that hadn’t at least eaten a few transmissions; but I can’t blame them when all they do is pull fully loaded goosenecks all day long. And then to see so many people here laugh about all the fancy options trucks have these days; hell yeah would I want everything possible to make my days more comfortable if I’m spending 10 hours a day driving.
I am no longer a truck hater. If you need the capability you need the capability and usually the best engineering manufacturers have to offer goes into their trucks. Do I think it’s a little obnoxious to drive some lifted HD truck on giant wheels and tires and never utilize any of the capability?
Of course, but I also feel like people that buy track capable cars and never drive them as god intended are wasting capability too. I’m not going to knock anyone for having a fancy truck if they’re doing truck stuff with it. Hell even if they’re not doing truck stuff I’m not really going to judge them unless they’re driving antisocially and weaponizing the extra size and speed that modern trucks offer.
I have my eye on a truck as my next vehicle because I’ll need space for four and a dog and I want something with character and not another goddamn crossover. But outside of Home Depot runs and towing small watercraft I don’t necessarily NEED one. I just think they’re cool and they’re one of the few ways left to get your hands on an interesting ICE powertrain without having to buy a luxury vehicle.
It’s impressive either way, but this guy’s use is the best-case scenario for longevity.
I wouldn’t be surprised if these trucks have fewer stop/start cycles than an around town car with 50K miles.
My thoughts as well. Highway running has the engine running at steady speeds, with oil pressure remaining consistent and engine cooling working efficiently. Much less harsh on the engine and drivetrain than stop-and-go city traffic or even typical commuter use which is mixed city/highway. I’d say that Toyota’s own durability testing is far worse than what these trucks had to experience.
Given the engineering work behind these generations of Tundras, it’s not surprising that the engine held up so well.
Guy probably knows all the best rest stops in the whole country!
Looks at his picture.. starts to make a joke… Looks at mirror.. skips the joke.