Meet the Million Mile Tundra

  

We all know that if you take good care of your vehicle, it'll last a long time. Watching a Toyota climb upwards of 200-300k miles is nothing out of the ordinary for our service techs, especially if the owner is bringing it in for routine Charlotte car maintenance. Even seeing vehicles hit the 500k marker isn't too crazy. Toyotas are designed to last for decades; that's why they're renowned globally for their longevity and reliability. 

What is the Million Mile Tundra?

However, one Toyota in particular recently caught our attention for its extreme longevity - the Million Mile Tundra. This iconic Toyota truck is a 2007 model that was owned by Victor Sheppard; he definitely put his truck to work and used it for towing, hauling, and transporting heavy loads on a cross-country basis. He finally retired it five years ago when the odometer crossed into the million-mile mark, but the truck is now an official celebrity and is on a tour of our Toyota facilities. We're unpacking it piece by piece to give you an idea of how it's running after over a million miles! 

• First, let's talk about the engine. The engine in this particular Toyota Tundra is a 4.7L V8 2UX-FE engine (one of the first V8 engines to be produced right here in America). To see if a million miles had a negative effect on the engine's capabilities, Toyota put the engine on a dynanometer. They then pushed it through everything from idling to pushing the redline at 5,700 rpm... and the engine sailed through it with flying colors. 
• The engine block was in great shape; there wasn't much carbon buildup inside the valve stems and the engine itself was in excellent condition. Additionally, you could still see all the cross-hatching on the cylinder walls and there were no wear marks on the crankshaft journals. One bearing had a small blemish, but that was it as far as to wear and tear. Believe it or not, the engine scores 99/100 on a quality test. 
• The Toyota Tundra's bed was in great shape, too. The tailgate worked perfectly without any hesitation or catching. The truck bed was in perfect shape besides dents in the wheel wells that were due to towing and hauling heavy loads (i.e., the driver) rather than an engineering defect. (Sheppard said he often carried heavy pallets in the back that didn't quite fit within the wheel wells.) 
• The truck's frame had zero rust on it, despite many, many miles driven in both snow and rain, and the frame and leaf springs were in great condition. This was especially surprising after all the heavy weight that was hauled in the truck. 
• The interior of the truck was also in good condition. Sheppard took great care of it and even parts that you'd think would wear out (like the door latches, window buttons, center console, glove box latch, etc.) were still in working condition. 

Put a million miles on your car with the help of Toyota of N Charlotte!

Whether you want to maintain your current N Charlotte Toyota truck or feel like you might want to try to put a million miles of your own on a new Toyota, call us! Toyota of N Charlotte is open seven days a week at (704) 875-9199.