The 2023 Toyota Sequoia is extra powerful, extra hanging in its design, and typically extra succesful than its predecessor, however that didn`t prevent a few enthusiasts of the three-row SUV from being disappointed. While Toyota's burly humans-service has been well-acquired through reviewers and proprietors alike, what is beneathneath the hood has proved divisive. Turns out, a few humans actually are not satisfied that the vintage Sequoia's V8 turned into positioned out to pasture.
There are lots of motives to love a massive V8 engine, and now no longer simply due to the fact displacement and cylinder matter have lengthy been a metric of fulfillment for vehicles. The standard justification is torque, specifically for naturally-aspirated — now no longer turbocharged — engines. Rather than having to await top torque to reach from a smaller, turbocharged engine, that is depending on the rapid spooling up first, massive V8 engines of the kind which locate their manner into in addition massive SUVs and vehicles typically liberate their most twist at decrease engine speeds.
It's that which offers lots of grunt from a status begin or at pretty low using speeds, however it additionally will pay dividends for such things as towing. That's while you need lashings of torque while not having to await it. The drawback to an eight-cylinder, high-displacement engine in all likelihood would not want a lot explaining: they may be thirsty beasts. Fuel intake won't be the number one issue regarding massive truck and SUV buyers, however jogging costs — now no longer to say emissions — truely go through while you're feeding a V8. Miles in step with gallon measured withinside the low to mid-teenagers are frequently a nice-case scenario, now no longer an outlier.
Electrification to the rescue
Toyota's restore here's a really apt squirt of electrification. No, no person goes to confuse the Sequoia for a Prius, however the identical method of pairing fueloline and electric powered energy to get a number of the nice of each worlds is found in this three-row SUV. A massive automobile receives a massive engine name: the 3.5-liter twin-rapid V6 hybrid i-FORCE MAX.
Admittedly, the fueloline a part of this electrified celebration remains a good sized thing: a 3.5-liter V6 onto which Toyota bolts now no longer one, however turbochargers. In among that and the 10-pace computerized transmission, however, is an electric powered motor. Combined, the 2 reassets muster a whopping 437 horsepower and 583 lb-toes of torque.
That's a lot, however similarly essential is how swiftly all that torque arrives: at simply 2,four hundred rpm. Contrast that with the vintage Sequoia and its V8, and also you see the development easily. The version 12 months 2022 SUV controlled 401 lb-toes — notably much less than this hybrid V6 packs — and it arrived later, at 3,six hundred rpm.
A welcome economic system boost
More energy, extra at once looks like a recipe maximum drivers should get behind, however it truly is now no longer the hybrid's handiest gain. The V8 Sequoia 4 wheel drive is EPA rated for thirteen mpg withinside the city, 17 mpg at the highway, and 14 mpg combined. Compared to the common new car, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says, you will spend $9,000 extra on fueloline over 5 years. The hybrid Sequoia 4 wheel drive, meanwhile, is rated at 19 mpg withinside the city, 22 mpg at the highway, and 20 mpg combined. You'll nonetheless spend extra on fueloline than the common new automobile, however at $3,500 over the primary 5 years, it is nearly a 3rd of what the V8 would've set you back.
Now, in exercise your economic system figures will rely on how heavy your proper foot is, what number of humans you frequently transport, and what form of shipment and trailering you are doing. Still, the cappotential to coax out an entire lot extra miles in step with gallon — and while not having to debris with EV modes to do so — even as getting the gain of an electrified automobile's sudden perkiness from a status begin looks like a win-win.
There's now no longer even a towing compromise — the 2023 Sequoia is rated for as much as 9,520 pounds (trim depending) even as the 2022 Sequoia maxes out at 7,four hundred pounds. In short, even as there may be an plain appeal to a traditional V8, the hybrid Toyota without difficulty outperforms its predecessor's engine in each metric. That's a truth even the maximum passionate of Sequoia fanatics need to be paying interest to.