Silky V8, Toyota build quality and reliability, less-than-full-size maneuverability.
Cons
Lacks wide range of choice offered by domestics, somewhat uncomfortable front seats, meager rear cab room on Access Cab, chintzy interior trimmings.
What’s new
Toyota has expanded the Tundra's body style variety by adding a new StepSide model. Its distinctive styling includes flared rear wheel arches and special tail lamps. If you want to make the StepSide even sportier, there is a new sport suspension package available. All 2003 Toyota Tundras have a restyled front fascia, standard antilock brakes and a center console similar to the one found in the Sequoia SUV. For the top-line Limited trim, Toyota has added a power sliding rear window.
Edmunds says
The 2003 Toyota Tundra is a fine full-size pickup suited more for the general consumer than commercial use.
Although I had owned a number of the smaller Toyota 4x4 trucks before purchasing this truck (which by the way were as reliable as this one), this was my first full size 4x4 and my first 4x4 V8 with automatic transmission. Wow! I will never go back to a small truck again. I bought the truck a little over 3 years ago with 160K miles and got it for $4k below book. As I said earlier, my … experience with Toyota 6cyl and 4cyl 4x4's were all positive but I was a little apprehensive about buying the V8 but the power of this engine has been anything but a disappointment. I not only use this truck as a workhorse truck (using to help pull down trees, hauling dirt, brush, and logs) but also as my everyday commute to work (70 miles roundtrip and I tend to have a bit of a leadfoot - trust me...the truck has not been babied). The truck has never failed me. Other than normal maintenance expenses and the added expense of less mpg with the V8, the only other expense was the replacement of the shocks after it rolled over to 200K since it still had the original shocks on it. The truck now has 212K miles and runs as good as it did when I bought it. My wife's car is a Nissan Maxima but whenever we go anywhere together, we take the truck. Needless to say..I love my Tundra. Great truck.
I bought this truck brand new. Awesome acceleration, and pulling power. I have pulled things with this truck I shouldn't have. It hasn't let me down yet! Only exceptions is I had to replace two o2 sensors ($90 each). I am driving this truck until the wheels fall off. Only down side is the doors and the access cab needed to be a bit bigger. I love my Toyota! I remember driving off the … lot for $14,000 tt&l to include extended warranty.
Im a courier and have 458,000 thousand on this model. That mileage was not a mis-print! No tranny issues. Amsoil and frequent flushes. A few alternators and a starter is all the expense I've had. Grease the wheel bearings
I got my tundra used for a pricey $9000 from a toyota dealer. It had 230000 miles on it and drove like new. Never had the suspension replaced and it still settles instantly after bumps. The rear suspension was a bit weak for loads so I bought larger bottom out guards and I'm they keep my ride level while towing and with full loads. Tows my travel 23 ft travel trailer and it could have … more power but I can't ask much of its 7000 load max. I do all my matinance on the truck myself and it is very easy to work on. Lots of space and so far I've only had to do matinance of filters and fluids. Except for the center drive shaft bearing which its rubber mounts were ripped and sagging. It was easly fixed by replacing with a used drive shaft from a parts yard for understanding $100, of course I did it myself and didn't have to pay for shop time. It's been to burning man once and was used as a work truck there, and cleaned up nicely. I have a performance computer, a tow computer and a dash cam. I get great mpg even while towing for a v8. The tailgate latch just broke on my because so much dust got in the mechanismshop it froze and instead of lubing ithe I just went hard and broke the plastic handle right off! Of course now it works great since I lubed it but that's a bumer, the truck was immaculate before that. The limited interior is great and the speaker are great sounding. I have to use a cassette auxiliary adapter so it messes with my quality a bit but it's all good. Drives like new, looks cute and sexy while still keeping a sence of beastly truck. I love dews truck and intend to reach 300000 with no problems. Daily driver as of now but soon I will have a little car for small things.
![](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="1200" height="588" fill="none" preserveAspectRatio="none"%3E%3Cmask id="b" width="1200" height="588" x="0" y="0" maskUnits="userSpaceOnUse" style="mask-type:alpha"%3E%3Cpath fill="url(%23a)" d="M896 513c116 45.015 222 64 304 75V0H0v501c40 36.024 154 76 340 76s344-146.269 556-64Z"/%3E%3C/mask%3E%3Cg mask="url(%23b)"%3E%3Cpath fill="url(%23c)" d="M896 513c116 45.015 222 64 304 75V0H0v501c40 36.024 154 76 340 76s344-146.269 556-64Z"/%3E%3Cpath fill="url(%23d)" fill-opacity=".15" d="M581.718 62.893c42.993 1.53 86.281 5.888 129.704 13.204 311.828 52.485 552.538 242.016 657.698 483.656-149.97-147.971-450.891-226.33-789.375-232.079-338.534.839-640.434 74.572-792.746 220.292 108.75-240.047 352.255-425.97 664.832-473.803a1041.548 1041.548 0 0 1 129.887-11.27Z"/%3E%3Cpath fill="url(%23e)" fill-opacity=".5" d="M611.247 209.93a1458.84 1458.84 0 0 1 139.573 27.692c333.61 83.239 577.16 267.208 668.67 475.188-148.93-138.63-468.279-241.218-835.209-290.421-367.6-43.915-702.265-24.445-881.281 72.561 140.567-178.524 422.355-295.817 766.181-293.074 47.867.484 95.274 3.212 142.066 8.054Z"/%3E%3Cpath fill="url(%23f)" d="M735.039 879.394c48.524-6.62 97.023-16.967 145.3-31.2C1227.03 746.059 1475.76 472.327 1564.28 145c-151.17 209.633-482.23 344.436-865.05 388.31C315.515 568.571-35.93 504.564-227 330.342-73.333 632.61 226.169 849.617 586.429 878.604c50.15 3.871 99.74 4.07 148.61.79Z" opacity=".3"/%3E%3Cpath fill="url(%23g)" d="M694.222 783.712c50.956 12 103.317 20.27 156.946 24.578 385.102 31.013 738.232-146.76 952.062-439.434-231.22 151.216-613.24 158.795-1012.047 55.796C394.784 312.716 68.643 114.101-55.211-133c37.44 360.528 253.087 691.895 601.449 858.946 48.557 23.091 97.963 42.302 147.984 57.766Z" opacity=".9"/%3E%3Cpath fill="url(%23h)" fill-opacity=".5" d="M896 513c116 45.015 222 64 304 75V0H0v501c40 36.024 154 76 340 76s344-146.269 556-64Z"/%3E%3C/g%3E%3Cdefs%3E%3ClinearGradient id="a" x1="1005" x2="989.087" y1="23" y2="552.522" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse"%3E%3Cstop stop-color="%23007EE5"/%3E%3Cstop offset=".333" stop-color="%231561D4"/%3E%3Cstop offset="1" stop-color="%230A4AAB"/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3ClinearGradient id="c" x1="1005" x2="989.087" y1="23" y2="552.522" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse"%3E%3Cstop stop-color="%23007EE5"/%3E%3Cstop offset=".334" stop-color="%231561D4"/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3ClinearGradient id="d" x1="675.999" x2="879.999" y1="648.999" y2="120.999" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse"%3E%3Cstop stop-color="%23fff"/%3E%3Cstop offset="1" stop-color="%23fff" stop-opacity="0"/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3ClinearGradient id="e" x1="656.5" x2="637.602" y1="213" y2="622.259" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse"%3E%3Cstop offset=".115" stop-color="%23fff" stop-opacity="0"/%3E%3Cstop offset=".944" stop-color="%23017D8D"/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3ClinearGradient id="f" x1="398" x2="737" y1="599" y2="387" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse"%3E%3Cstop stop-color="%2300ABB5"/%3E%3Cstop offset="1" stop-color="%2300A0B5" stop-opacity="0"/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3ClinearGradient id="g" x1="1051.5" x2="271" y1="567" y2="575" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse"%3E%3Cstop stop-color="%230098C2"/%3E%3Cstop offset="1" stop-color="%23033E96" stop-opacity="0"/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3ClinearGradient id="h" x1="1005" x2="986.038" y1="23" y2="587.43" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse"%3E%3Cstop offset=".813" stop-opacity="0"/%3E%3Cstop offset=".972"/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3C/defs%3E%3C/svg%3E)
