IRS vs. live axle

No, I'm not talking about tax season. I'm talking about REAL 4-wheel-drive versus pretend 4-wheel-drive.

"What the hell does it matter?" you ask. Okay, here's the oversimplified version. Independent rear suspension lets both rear wheels wiggle around independently of one another. One goes up, the other can still go down. With me so far? IRS (as it's called) makes the ride and handling better. It's also heavy and expensive. Like most new cars. HA!

The most important thing about IRS, and why I even brought it up in the first place, is that it's poopy off-road. Wikipedia puts it best when they say, so charmingly, "A further advantage of a live/beam axle in off-road use is that ground clearance under the axle remains constant, even if one wheel rises over a bump and the other doesn't." In short, you drag the undercarriage of your new $50,000 Toyota Sequoia across whatever obstacle you are trying to get over. This could be a bummer. And you will destroy stuff, as an IRS rear end is fairly delicate. You will break it if you go crashing around off-road, or if your vehicle has oodles of power. It's simply going to happen.

So, this is why I will be, and have been, annoyed with the new SUV's marketed as "trucks" but given car suspension. It's quite obvious that these vehicles are not intended to be used for truck-like activities. If you want to use your vehicle like a truck, get a truck.

Wanna race?

You got it, Toyota! You just got it a little late; people have no home equity, green is in, and the economy is in the toilet. Not the best time to introduce a new gas-guzzling SUV for $45,000+.

I had the luxury of living with the new Toyota Sequoia for 24 hours, and overall I really liked it! The power is amazing and it's right there when you need it. I applaud Toyota for this new 5.7 litre V8 and wish they would put it in their minivans!! Over 300 horsepower is addicting, folks.

The interior is well done, and all three rows of passengers have quite a lot of leg room. The three seats in the middle row can move forward and back independently of one another, which makes it easy to get into the third row and makes it possible to fit real adults back there, too. All three middle seats have LATCH positions as well. The third row in the one I had (an SR5 model) had no LATCH positions, but the seat belts are ratcheting so it's easy to get a tight fit for child seats. Storage behind the third row seat is about the same as most other large SUVs. I was able to fit an umbrella stroller, two backpacks, and my kids' jackets. That was about it. No trips to Costco in this baby with the whole family unless you plan on tying all your steaks and toilet paper to the roof rack.

The handling is surprisingly good! It handles like a Camry--that's awesome for this huge vehicle, but kinda sucks for the Camry. Drew had it squealing tires around corners here in town and it held its line just fine. It drives like a smaller car, and is easy to park. Visibility is quite good.

The transmission, however, concerns me. It shifts so smoothly, you feel nothing. No jerks, no hunting for gears--seamless. But, this seamlessness is the cause for concern. Smooth=slipping in an automatic transmission, and slipping creats heat. Heat causes transmissions to die, plain and simple. I wonder what the longevity of these transmissions will be.

This new Sequoia is a car. It's a car for people who think they cannot possibly be seen in a station wagon or minivan, or who might occasionally tow something. It is NOT, I repeat NOT, an off-road vehicle. You can see from the picture above that the clearance, even on this 4 wheel drive model, is not much, and the rear suspension is now independent, instead of a live axle like a truck. (More on this in an upcoming post.)

It's a car. An expensive one (a comparably-equipped Toyota Tundra pickup truck will be about $10,000 less and more off-road-worthy) but a good one and one that most people who buy it will be thrilled with. It will probably do everything you ask of it, with the possible exception of serious off-roading. I just wish it wasn't so expensive, and that it had been introduced about 3 years ago.

I'm here!

Can you believe it? I've not abandoned you all out there in cyberspace. I actually have official plans.
I have arranged for a 24-hour test drive of the new Sequoia from Toyota. (Okay, I rented the thing for a family trip to the train museum with my brother and his family, but doesn't "arranged" sound better than "rented?" I thought so.)
Anyway, I don't know what trim level or model I will have, but it will be 8-passenger. We'll have it from 8 a.m. on January 7th until 8 a.m. on January 8th.
Look for it!