Toyota Tundra Limited 2025 Tow Review

The 2025 Toyota Tundra Limited is $155,990 plus on-road costs (ORCs), putting it well above its large dual-cab ute competitors, but it’s now the ‘cheap’ Tundra, with the $172,990 (plus ORCs) Platinum model arriving in Australia around about now.

There is an ample number of standard trinkets for the money. Aside from the dual-zone climate control, synthetic leather upholstery, heated and ventilated and power adjustable front seats, and keyless entry and start, there’s large and wide side mirrors, a towbar/tow hitch and wiring, electronic brake controller, tow/haul mode plus other trick towing features such as trailer reversing assist.

The towing capacity is 4500kg with a 70mm towball (3500kg with a 50mm ball), while the payload is 758kg.

For your information and entertainment needs, there is a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and a 14.0-inch infotainment system with Bluetooth, AM/FM radio, wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto. There’s a 12-speaker JBL premium sound system, a wireless phone charger, and five USB ports – three up front and two at the back.

There’s more than just the acres of metal around you to help the impression of safety in the 2025 Toyota Tundra. The Toyota’s safety features include autonomous emergency braking with day/night detection of pedestrians and oncoming vehicles plus daytime cyclist detection, blind-spot monitor with cross-traffic alert, lane-departure alert, emergency steering assist, lane trace assist, active cruise control and automatic high beam.

Given this is a big beast to slot into parking areas, there is also a panoramic-view monitor and rear-view camera with guide lines that are displayed on the large 14-inch touchscreen, plus a digital rear-view mirror and front and rear parking sensors.

The airbag count is eight, while the Tundra has not been ANCAP crash tested.

Traditionally a big US-built ute had to have a V8 to be taken seriously, but now (aside from the Chevrolet Silverado) there’s V6 power only. While the Toyota is a V6, it adds a bit of electric twist. The outputs are 290kW and 649Nm from the 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 engine, while an electric motor contributes 36kW and 250Nm, giving the Tundra its hybrid status. The total combined outputs are 326kW and 790Nm.

There’s a 10-speed auto transmission connected to a part-time 4x4 system with dual-range transfer case.

The Toyota Tundra is covered by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty. However, if you use the vehicle for commercial purposes, the warranty has a 160,000km limit.

Servicing is required every six months or 10,000km, whichever comes first, and the first 10 services are capped at $450.

As far as day-to-day driving ease and comfort is concerned, the 2025 Toyota Tundra hits some high notes. The interior is really spacious for up to five adults, the seats are comfortable and there are no frustrations with operating the vehicle’s infotainment system right from the get-go.

While the hybrid system’s shutting down the petrol engine and relying on the electric motor takes a bit of getting used to, it does it smoothly. This is a big truck, but its cameras (and sensors) can be relied on to help out. Clear camera views in particular make tight manoeuvres easier.

Cruising around the suburbs with a lot of stopping and starting, the Tundra was more economical than expected for a big ute, averaging 15.0L/100km. Presumably that’s thanks to the hybrid system, which regularly switched the petrol engine off and mostly relied on the electric motor in slow traffic.

Performance whether towing or not is very good, although the Tundra’s acceleration felt more subtle than the Ford F-150 or Chevrolet Silverado we’ve also tow-tested; in part this is because the Toyota carries several hundred more kilos in kerb weight (2708kg) than either of those other US utes.

However, hill climbing with a heavy caravan behind was a walk in the park; the Tundra motored up at the 90km/h speed limit with plenty in reserve. The transmission settled into seventh gear at 100km/h on the flats, sitting on about 2300rpm. As soon as the road pointed even slightly downhill, the transmission dropped into eighth gear and motored along at around 1800rpm.

Hitching up the Tundra was super easy, with a clear camera view with a centre guideline for the towbar, and the ease of having a 12-pin trailer plug and electric brake controller as standard. We towed two different off-road caravans behind the Tundra (thanks to RV Connection at St Marys North, NSW) each weighing about 3000kg as towed.

The back dropped 40mm with the van hitched up but the front rose just 2mm. The back-end drop is a bit more than expected, but these are by no means outrageous changes in attitude with a trailer dropped on.

Toyota notes some interesting towing advice in the owner’s manual: with a gross trailer of more than 900kg, Toyota advises that a “sway control device with sufficient capacity is required”, while recommending the use of a weight distribution hitch for trailers weighing more than 2200kg. We tested without such devices, to check inherent stability. More on that below…

While stability was good with the second van we hitched up, the first van we towed behind the 2025 Toyota Tundra was fidgeting and very sensitive to steering input. While different trailer dimensions and balance can make a difference, the Tundra is seemingly not one of those tow vehicles that you can through almost anything behind and not notice it.

Wind noise around the mirrors at highway speeds was also a bit more obvious than we would have expected.

We averaged 25.7L/100km with the first van and 24.2L/100km with the second van, suggesting that the Tundra is not one of the most economical large utes when pressed into heavy-duty towing duties.

In some ways the 2025 Toyota Tundra is hugely appealing; it has that typical Toyota ease of use where you can just jump in and drive without fuss (well, except maybe the left-side indicator stalk, a departure from the norm with the big T), quiet hybrid operation and the promise of large towing capacity and all the equipment to do so already bolted on.

The only downsides are that Toyota says you need to use a trailer stability device for anything much bigger than a box trailer, towing stability is not quite as good as expected for such a big unit and fuel consumption is a bit on the high side when towing.

2025 Toyota Tundra Limited at a glance:
Price: $155,990 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Powertrain: 3.4-litre V6 twin-turbo petrol-electric
Output: 290kW/649Nm (electric motor: 36kW/250Nm)
Combined output: 326kW/790Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Fuel: Not quoted; about 24L/100km towing on test
CO2: Not quoted
Safety rating: Not tested

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