is the TRD worth it?

I personally went with the SR5 4X4 because I knew I was going to be redoing pretty much everything. I didn't care too much for the leather seats or sun roof (TRD Sport). I have since swapped out leaf packs, front and rear suspension, tires, wheels, grill, bumper, etc. The only thing I wish I had was the MTS and crawl control but for the price I paid for mine it was worth not having than paying the extra $5Kfor the TRD model.

 

Absolutely true.... but if it's not a deciding factor between the trim levels it could always be added on a non-sport model.

 

no worries...I should have better elaborated my post. The forum thread is working out nicely though.

 

You'll see common things that owners complain about across the trim levels on these 3rd gens. That being said I am extremely pleased with my truck 17' Sport DCLB 2WD. I knew going in that I wasn't gonna bash on rocks, overland with a RTT, steel bumpers, and all that. It's a good DD that has all the features that make sense to me.

 

Yes

 

Ditto

 

Sport doesn't give you the MTS or rear locker, but it does give you the cool hood scoop. If you don't think you'll ever need the locker or MTS, maybe the Sport is a good choice if you have to have the scoop. The Pro has the hood and a lot of other stuff that made it worth it for me, especially since I didn't have to pay inflated west coast prices. If you are in TX, you can probably get a decent deal on a Pro. I paid less than the MSRP of a TRD Off Road for mine, but I'm in Arkansas now -- lots of Tundras and other full-size trucks here.

From how you are saying you would use it, it sounds like you don't need much. But I can say I'm much happier having the capabilities of the Off Road.

 

I don't know how to drive an automatic.

And didn't like the painted flares on the Sport.

So I had to get a TRD Off Road. I would have loved to buy an SR but no manual...

 

I bought an sr5 because I just wanted a truck and didn’t really care about all the fancy options. However there are some features I wish I had like the led head lights and not just the headlights but having the auto on headlight feature which the sr5 doesn’t have. There are also some safety features like blind side mirror warnings that come in the higher models the the sr5 doesn’t have and being a dad with a car seat in the back making my blind spot worse would be really nice to have those mirror warnings. I’m not an off roader but I do go camping and backpacking here in Oregon and never had an issue with needing a locker or crawl control. If I had to do it again I’d probably spend the extra 2500 just to have some of those nicer features even though I didn’t think I’d need them.

 

I needed the manual transmission and rear locking differential with a military style paint job so I got a quicksand TRD Offroad. I only had to add an air compressor and front locking differential to make it a complete truck.

 

its worth it.......you won't be sorry......modding and lifting can cause some headaches with alignment and UCAs that won't get with stock TRD......TRD sport is very nice and has the creature comforts you may like

 

Thanks everyone. Your insight is great and offers much to be considered. The local Toyota Dealership offers an included 100k mile warranty so that will defiantly influence buying new and not used. Looks like a trip to the dealer is in order.

 

Good luck in your quest and let us know how ya make out. O when you get it, pic’s or we call BS !!

 

Go Pro!!!

 

I would expect nothing less!!

 

Does the base model include the nav? I got the OR DCSB w/ the nav unit and sunroof, the nav isn't the best but I've used it a lot, I wouldn't want to be w/o that. If you're going to seriously mod the truck, get the base model, if only modest mods, get the OR. I've changed my shocks to the Bilstein 6112/ 5160's no lift; definitely worth it. I've changed to a leather interior; really improved the interior and easier to clean. I've added pro 16" wheels and Gen. Grabber tires, and some extra lighting front and rear. All those I consider modest mods, relatively small but effective improvements to the factory OR.

 

Ok so what are your thoughts on this one?

 

From that description I think you can rule out the TRD Off Road and TRD PRO as those models are aimed at drivers that expect to spend a lot of time "off road". The Sport was really designed for those of us that are highway warriors and daily drivers. It has a road tuned (stiffer) suspension that makes is more fun to take corners in than the basic suspension of the SR5 or long travel off road models. As already pointed out it comes with the nice hood. I would say that since you will be putting in a lot of time behind the wheel get the Sport w/ tech package. The blind spot monitoring and rear side scanning radar thingy when in reverse(reversing out of parking spots) are really nice to have when its on a vehicle you use constantly.

However depending on how rough the roads in the shipyards are where you will be making deliveries are you might need to consider the OR option w/ tech package. The shipyard here in newport news, va is a vehicle killer. Our company's base model silverado 1500's stay in the garage because they refuses to order them with any sort of off road suspension package all in the name of saving a little $ on the front end. They end up spending 3x-5x of the expected maintenance cost with most being put out to pasture before they reach 100k miles.

 

Have them ditch the predator steps, the GPS tracker. Should save you a grand.

 

If your not looking at an OR or Pro for the locker Get an Sr cause sport and Sr5 is kind of a waste of money if you plan on doing any mods