by Cathy Droz, Founder – HER Certified
From the Ritz to the Ranch in the Toyota Tundra
It isn’t every day I get to test drive a truck. I estimate I drive about eight per year for manufacturers. I evaluate and review them based on my personal criteria as well as other women’s feedback. As you know, women are not shy about telling me or anyone else about what they like and don’t like when owning, driving or maintaining a vehicle.
If you’ve never driven a medium to large truck, especially a Toyota Tacoma or 1794 Toyota Tundra, you need to add it to your auto bucket list. I think most people (especially women) will be surprised at how easy they are to drive and how well thought out and functional they can be. If you only think of trucks as mini moving vans or transporting the baseball team’s equipment; you need to rethink the beauty and practicality in owning a truck.
For example, the 1784 Toyota Tundra is an office on wheels, a luxury vehicle you can proudly pull up to a fancy hotel, restaurant, corporate headquarters or palace. However, it can also to be used to transport hay for your ranch, tow your trailer, boat or tailgate at your favorite team’s football game.
The Tundra interior has plush leather and suede seats, a skid proof large center console area that you can safely place your devices. If you open the center console you can use the deep 8 ½ X 11 “bucket” for your files, purse, shoes (high heels) or anything you need to keep safe and dry. I would have no problem taking the Tundra on the road and conducting business that may include serving clients lunch during the meeting.
Between the interior elegance of leather and swede to the sexy and bold exterior… this Toyota Tundra 1794 can go from the Ritz to the Ranch with just a change in footwear.
Toyota Tundra Bells and Whistles
• Flex Fuel ( Gasoline-Ethanol) E85
• 6-speed automatic
• 60/40 Split – Fold up rear seats
• Bucket Seats in front covered in real leather
• Navigation and Back up Camera with sonar
• 12-way adjustable seat for Driver
• Off-Road Package and Tow Package available and recommended
• 8 Total Airbags
• Entune Sound System
• Valets get excited when you pull up in one
What’s Missing in the Toyota Tundra?
Grab bar on driver’s side – there were grab bars everywhere but there. In my heels or boots I had to hold on to the steering wheel to lift myself in to the seat. I know I’m only 5’2″ but it would also help anyone easing themselves in to the driver’s seat.
2016 Toyota Tundra MPG & Price
MPG: 13 City, 17 Highway
Starting at: $48,500
Vehicle tested: $50,375
For more on this and other Toyota products, go to www.toyota.com. #letsgoplaces
Where did the model name “1794” come from?
The home of the Toyota Tundra is a plant located just south of San Antonio, Texas, a property once the oldest working ranch in Texas, the JLC Ranch – that provides the 1794 Edition legacy name.
The 1794 Edition name originates from the founding year of the JLC ranch which, when a young colonist from the Canary Islands, Juan Ignacio de Casanova, received a royal grant for a league of rolling pastureland between Leon Creek and the Medina River.
On this land, he established El Rancho de la Purisima Concepcion, and later expanded his holdings to more than 24,000 acres. Ignacio defended San Antonio from Mexican revolutionary forces attempting to break away from Spain. He served briefly as the Spanish Provincial Governor of Texas before his death in October 1823. His son, Jose Ignacio Perez continued to ranch the land.
During the Texas Revolution, Perez remained loyal to the Mexican Government, placing his family on property along the Rio Grande. He continued to pay taxes on the ranch, which helped him reclaim the land when he returned in 1846. The Texas Republic only recognized the original land grant of 4,000 acres.
This was passed on to Perez’s descendants as the JLC Ranch until it was acquired by Toyota in 2003 for the first (and only) pickup truck plant in Texas, at San Antonio.
