Last night, I was looking for pictures of the new Toyota Tundra, the replacement for the T-100. I found a few here on Toyota’s website, and couldn’t believe what I saw. It looks more like they morphed pictures of other trucks rather than took actual photographs of the Tundra. I do understand that when a competitor does a radical re-design (and improvement) of their vehicle, you might be better off doing the same. But the Tundra looks part Tacoma, part Ford F-150, and part Dodge Ram. The entire cab looks nearly identical to that of a Ford F-150 pickup, the bed looks like a mix between the Ram and the F-150, and the front end looks like an F-150 with Tacoma fenders. Even the rims look very similar to Dodge’s 5-spoke alloys. I’m just surprised because for a long time, Toyota has been pretty original in the pickup department, now it seems that they’ve gone mainstream.
I also test-drove a 1998 Jeep Wrangler yesterday. 🙂 I got screwed when I bought my piece of crap ’88 Wrangler, and want to get rid of it asap. The ’98 was (of course) a lot more modern than my ’88. The instrument panel layout & radio were more user-friendly, and taking the top off is a lot easier. The 4.0L High Output engine was faster than my 4.2L carbureted engine, but since I didn’t get a chance to go wheelin’ in the ’98, there’s no telling if it makes a big difference off-road (though I’m sure it does). Of course the ’98 is going to be nicer than my ’88, but the real test is to see how the ’98 looks in ten years. I hope I’ll find out if they’re really better, because I think I’m going to get a ’97 Wrangler Sport in a few months (unless my wife talks me into buying a house by then). 🙂