2027 Toyota Tundra and Sequoia TRD Pro First Drive Review: More Than Skin-Deep

• What's new: Toyota updated its largest off-roaders, the Tundra and Sequoia, with new tech and manually adjustable suspension.
• Why it matters: The Tundra TRD Pro was a distant third behind the Ford F-150 Raptor and Ram RHO. Now it’s closer. 
• Edmunds says: A handful of small changes culminate in vehicles that are meaningfully better than last year’s trucks.

The system is simple and intuitive, almost all the features you want are within a couple taps, and it feels responsive in a way that's fitting for modern tech. The voice commands work better than in last year's truck, as do the maps. Wireless Apple CarPlay connects easily and reconnects every time you get in the car. Although I can't attest to Android Auto's performance, no one on staff has had issues in the RAV4. My only wish is that the Toyota infotainment had even the slightest bit of design flair; like the Grand Highlander we had as part of the One-Year Road Test fleet, this system is intensely practical, and a bit boring

The second meaningful change is driving tech. Toyota fits the new Tundra and Sequoia with its newest driver assists, compared to last year's trucks, which used a suite of features a couple of generations old. Toyota didn't introduce a ton of new stuff, but it's more that the existing features — especially the lane centering — are much better than before. Where the old system could barely make it around the most gentle curves, the new lane centering system can navigate highway bends with ease. 

There's also a new standard integrated dashcam. That's been one of our favorite features of the new RAV4, and the extra peace of mind is equally welcome here. 

Those updates come to all new Tundras and Sequoias, but the big change to 2027 TRD Pros is the suspension. The Tundra and Sequoia TRD Pro models now get Fox QS3 dampers, a second generation of the three-stage manually adjustable hardware that debuted in the 2024 Tacoma TRD Pro. 

I drove both TRD Pros on the highway and on a winding road through Colorado National Monument, and these are way more comfortable than the old trucks. Jack Ferguson, engineering manager for performance suspension at Toyota, told me the second-gen QS3s have a much wider range between their three settings for low-speed events, speed referring to the rate of shock travel. I could definitely feel that working from behind the wheel. The trucks still felt jittery on high-speed impacts like expansion joints and potholes — hard to avoid in body-on-frame vehicles — but they cushioned road imperfections and quelled body roll in corners beautifully. 

Off-road: Getting dirty (and airborne)

But you're not reading a TRD Pro review just to hear how it performs on pavement. Toyota built a huge off-road course full of obstacles to challenge the new TRD Pros. Toyota wouldn't build a course that makes its trucks look bad, but these two are legit performers, albeit flawed ones. 

I had these with the transfer case in 4-Hi and the Multi-Terrain Select dial set to Sand. As for the QS3s, I ran the Sequoia in setting three up front (stiffest) and setting two in the back — in Tundra it was three up front but two in the back to account for the lightness of an empty bed. 

Both trucks dominated the course. Loose, sandy hill climbs were no match for the traction provided by knobby all-terrains and the Sand mode's clever traction control tuning, and there was enough articulation that I didn't have any issues running through the moguls. Hill descent control was easy to activate and adjust, a feature that's been needlessly complicated in some other off-roaders I've driven.

One of the things I really appreciated was that the traction and stability tuning in Sand mode is super loose — looser than what I felt in the Tacoma and 4Runner TRD Pros on the same course. This was especially noticeable in the faster sections. Not only can allowing more wheel slip and yaw angle keep you moving forward on the loose stuff, it's also much better if you want to pursue (careful) loose, slidey fun without totally removing the safety net.

Oh, and the new 2027-exclusive Honeycomb paint looks sick. 

But there were a few areas where the Tundra and Sequoia felt ill-suited for this kind of driving. First, they're massive trucks. Huge width and long wheelbases meant tight turns felt cumbersome, and as I learned on a trail drive in the Tundra and Sequoia SR5 Trailhunter the day before, you'll be holding your breath on narrower trails praying you won't pinstripe the sides. 

Neither has a great approach angle either. Toyota hasn't published the specs yet, but both on the trail and the off-road course, there were certain obstacles we had to drive much slower and more deliberately in the Tundra and Sequoia than in the Tacoma and 4Runner to avoid scraping the big trucks' chins. 

And if it's important to you, these trucks don't fly as well as the smaller TRD Pros. Where the 4Runner practically leapt off the jumps and consistently landed on four wheels, the Tundra and Sequoia TRD Pro were practically begging to stuff their noses in the sand before crashing down at the rear. Neither was uncomfortable touching down — credit to the high-speed performance of the QS3s — but these two don't inspire the same high-flying confidence that Tacoma and 4Runner do. 

Worth waiting for?

So the 2027 Tundra and Sequoia TRD Pro. Most of the changes here are under the skin — infotainment software, driver assist tuning, and different shocks aren't going to draw the jealousy of your neighbors or inspire a poster on your wall. Aside from the yellow paint and new red tow hooks, you'd need to see them side by side to know the 2027 model is the new one. 

But the more I used these trucks, relieving fatigue by leaning on the much-improved driver aids, swiping around the simpler and speedier infotainment, and testing the dual-personality capacity of the new shocks, the more I appreciated the update. If you plan to buy a Tundra or Sequoia TRD Pro in the next year and you don't need to buy one right now, these are definitely worth the wait.