Big American brawl: 2025 Toyota Tundra Limited vs Ford F-150 Lariat

For generations the full-size pickup market in the USA was dominated by The Big Three US manufacturers: General Motors, Dodge/RAM and Ford.

Obviously, the Japanese brands wanted a slice of the huge truck pie via their US manufacturing plants, and so Toyota and Nissan joined the party some time ago. Toyota first dipped its toes in the water back in 1993 with the T100 pickup, and this vehicle went on to become the Tundra in 2000. Nissan followed with its Titan that hit the American market in 2003, but it hasn’t proved as successful for the brand and 2024 was the last year of manufacture for the big Nissan truck.

Toyota continues with the Tundra, however, and its third-generation model launched in the USA in 2022. Now, in a world first for the Toyota brand, the left-hand-drive Tundra is imported to Australia, re-engineered for right-hand drive by Walkinshaw Automotive, and is now on sale in Toyota dealerships.

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It’s no surprise that Nissan struggled to bring a truck to the US market as it’s dominated by the American brands. Ford’s F-150 pickup marked 75 years in production in 2023, and it has been the best selling truck in the US for more than 45 years.

The F-150 has been sold in Australia several times over the model’s long history but after some time away and on the back of a burgeoning pickup truck market here, Ford Australia re-introduced the model here in 2023. Again, this truck is imported in LHD form and is re-engineered to RHD by a Ford-backed third-party manufacturer, and then it is sold by Ford dealers.

With the Tundra recently arriving in Australia we lined one up against America’s favourite pickup (even if it hasn’t had that same success here) to see how the respective rigs stack up.

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Spec for spec

The Tundra is currently only offered in one model grade, the $155,990 (+ORC) Limited, with a second higher specification variant set to land some time later in 2025.

Ford Australia offers two grades of the F-150, starting with the XLT short wheelbase at $106,950 (+ORC) and up to the Lariat long wheelbase at $140,945 (+ORC). For this comparison test we have the F-150 Lariat SWB which retails for $139,950 (+ORC). Both grades of F-150 are available with a choice of long or short wheelbases, not that there’s anything short about any of these trucks.

The Toyota Tundra is significantly more expensive than the Ford F-150 and Chevy Silverado, as well as the RAM 1500 in any grade other than the Limited and TRX. But the Tundra brings something to the market that none of its competitors do in the form of a parallel hybrid drivetrain.

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Yes, the Hemi V8 powered RAM 1500 has its 48-volt system but that’s a mild hybrid (like a HiLux) and not a full hybrid as found in most Toyota vehicles now.

That said, even when driving in the ECO drive mode, the Tundra only moves under EV power at a crawling pace, and as soon as you squeeze the throttle the petrol engine cuts in. You can also feel it cutting in and out when cruising on the highway, which no doubt saves fuel, but the petrol engine is in operation most of the time.

The petrol/electric hybrid powertrain offers plenty of grunt with a class leading 326kW and 790Nm combined. It pulls strongly when you put your foot down with a not too foul sounding growl from the petrol engine. And the 10-speed auto does a fine job without raising any concerns.

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The Blue Oval F-150 offers no such electrification but with outputs of 298kW and 678Nm it doesn’t feel left behind by the Toyota in any regard.

The Ford’s use of mainly aluminium body panels on the F-truck, and without the weight of the hybrid system and battery, leave it some 200kg lighter than the Tundra, and it feels more sprightly than the Toyota when you put your foot down. Very sprightly, in fact, as the 3.5-litre twin turbocharged V6 propels the Effie quicker to 100km/h than the smaller Ranger Raptor performance ute.

While we’re talking drivelines, this presents another major difference between the F-150 Lariat and the Tundra Limited. The Lariat has a transfer case that offers 4x4 auto on demand, so you can drive in 4x4 on any surface, while the Tundra is only part-time 4x4, meaning you can’t drive it in 4x4 on dry sealed roads without risking expensive damage to the transfer case.

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Our experience has shown that on-demand 4x4 or a full-time AWD system would be appreciated for towing heavy loads and when driving on gravel roads, such as the forest tracks where we took these two trucks for photography purposes.

The F-150 XLT doesn’t get the benefit of an on-demand transfer case and it’s just part-time 4x4 like the Tundra, while further up the Tundra range in the US, the Toyota is available with on-demand/dual range 4x4. Perhaps we’ll see that feature in the upper-spec 2025 model.

Something else the F-150 has that the Tundra doesn’t is a locking rear differential, which could come in handy when you’re pulling your luxury cruiser up a greasy boat ramp or a loaded horse float out of a boggy paddock.

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The Tundra Limited also falls behind in some interior features that are offered on the Lariat. The most obvious of these is the huge panoramic sun roof in the Ford (the Toyota has none) but spend time in the two trucks and you will miss a few other things in the Tundra too.

The interior is big, spacious and well laid out in both trucks but something I really appreciate in the Ford is the flat rear floor which offers a huge usable storage space when the rear seat is not in use and is folded up. The Tundra’s seat folds up too but not as far out of the way, and the floor has a transmission tunnel running down it, limiting the usable space.

Both trucks have digital dash displays but the Ford’s is more configurable and includes a TPMS and speed sign recognition, which are features that I use and value.

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The Tundra’s multimedia screen is bigger and better placed up high on the dash than that in the Ford, but both are clear and functional with all the connectivity and features you’d expect in a modern $100,000-plus vehicle.

Both trucks have a wireless phone charger and many USB-A and USB-C ports. Both have premium sound systems with a JBL system in the Toyota and a B&O set up in the Ford.

The cabins of both trucks have large glasshouses that offer plenty of vision for the driver and passengers, making them great long-haul drivers.

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Something else we found in the Tundra was that it transmits a lot of heat through the roof on hot, sunny days resulting in uncomfortable heat around the faces of front-seat occupants while the air conditioning was set at a lower temperature than what I would normally run it at. I found this odd as the aircon in Toyotas is usually the best in the business.

The seats are leather covered with real leather in the Lariat and synthetic leather in the Toyota. This is also the case on the steering wheels of both vehicles, and the faux leather in the Tundra feels hard and less luxurious than the genuine hide in the Ford.

The front pews in both trucks are power adjustable, heated and cooled, while the rear seats in the Ford are also heated. As mentioned, the rear seat squab in both trucks folds up for more storage space, but the space under the seat of the Tundra contains fuse and electronics boxes, while the F-150 has useful storage bins there.

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Hauling Assets

Despite their size the carrying capacity of these full-size pickups is poor when compared to the midsize utes that are popular in Australia.

Utes like the HiLux and Ranger have a higher payload than their American counterparts, usually closer to 1000kg than the sub-800kg in the Tundra and F-150. You can carry a lot of Styrofoam or balsa wood in those huge cargo tubs! It’s no wonder that GVM upgrades are popular for the US trucks.

What they do haul exceptionally well is a trailer, and both of these trucks will pull a 3000kg to 3500kg trailer easily (the maximum any midsize ute can legally tow) and up to 4500kg with the right equipment such as a heavy duty tow ball and hitch.

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Ford specified all of their F-150s with the heavy duty tow kit from the factory. But load either of them up to that 4.5-tonnes of towing and you’ll be left with very little capacity on your GCM, so it pays to be aware of this and what your load limits are to keep your rig legal and safe on the highways.

Both vehicles here have towing-specific settings, with the Ford’s screen more comprehensive, plus it has the Trailer Pro reversing system to aid novices when reversing a trailer.

The Tundra’s load tub has both adjustable and fixed tie-down points, as does the Ford’s, with the latter also adding a 12-volt power socket and light in the cargo bed.

The Tundra has a folding bed cover while the F-150 has none, but does have a real handy step ladder that drops down out of the tailgate to make getting in and out of the bed easier and safer, and an opening rear window.

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Verdict

While both of these trucks are built to do the same thing, and they both do it well, the key differences between them are the price and standard features.

The F-150 Lariat, at nearly $15,000 less than the Tundra Limited, is the most appealing of the duo, as much for the extra gear in it as the lower purchase price. Having the on-demand 4x4 system is a big plus for anyone towing or regularly driving on gravel roads, and the better-quality feeling of the interior is a positive every time you step inside.

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If you really need to feel like you’re saving the world by driving a hybrid then the Tundra is your only option but any advantages there are very minimal. The fuel saving of the Tundra over the F-150 during our drive was hardly worth talking about

All things considered we can see why the F-150 has been America’s most popular truck for so long, and it would certainly be the one for us among these two. It will be interesting to see what Toyota delivers with its higher-grade Tundra later in the year… but how much more will it cost?