Big is beautiful...or is it?

I remember watching a film once about the raising of the Titanic. To be honest, I couldn't exactly recall what happened to it after that, but now I know. Toyota got hold of it, mounted it on wheels, and slapped on a Sequoia badge.

Ok, fair enough, that sounds a tad harsh, but honestly, this truck can only be described as humungous.

Now I don't normally have a problem with people driving around in large SUVs, and I don't think that anyone would visualize me as David Suzuki's best buddy, but even I have to question this machine.

Yes, I'm fully aware that some owners need a large-size vehicle. In fact, I often tow a large car trailer myself. As I live on a country property, I use it to pick up hay bales for my horses, and when one of my friend's vehicles breaks down, I suddenly become their very best friend.

I even once owned a large cabin cruiser which I trailed to the water. That is, until I realized how much a tank full of gas was costing me, and all for a day's pleasure!

I guess you could say that I'm basically Mr. Average on the whole greenhouse issue. I don't want to come down on anyone's fun. If you need to own a large vehicle for some valid reason, so be it. If you need a certain-size vehicle for work, or even just taking your five kids and their gear to hockey practice, it's perfectly fine by me.

However, I don't see the sense in driving something bigger than it actually needs to be, or burning more of our precious resources than we truly have to.

That, in a nutshell, is my problem with this vehicle. Toyota appears to have constructed its Sequoia to be big, just for the sake of being big.

Now maybe that's because the Tundra pickup which the Sequoia is based on, was designed to compete with the large American pickups, but I personally preferred the previous version of the Sequoia.


From a price point

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the new version is a bad vehicle. In fact, if you need a truck of this type, then for the price, it compares quite favorably.

Toyota has substantially lowered the prices on all the 2008 models. My tester was the base model which starts out at $44,675. For that, you get an awful lot of truck (no pun intended). It comes nicely equipped, with dual-zone A/C, Heated 10 way power driver's seat, heated 4-way power passenger seat, and it even boasts power-folding (flat) third-row seating.

In fact, even the base model comes with leather upholstery, tilt and telescopic steering, and an in-dash 6-disc CD player. So I think that you'll agree, for a full-sized SUV that's priced in the mid 40s, it could be deemed a bargain.

It is also an extremely comfortable highway cruising vehicle. The Sequoia fairly floats along over any road surface, largely because of the new independent rear suspension which soaks up the bumps with confident ease.

The 2008 Sequoia can also pull a massive 9,095 lbs, should you not like the location of your present homestead and wish to move it!

Seriously though, the new Sequoia is a very capable full-sized SUV, which appears to serve up plenty of value.