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Updated September 2, 2026 · By TruckDaily

2027 Toyota Tundra First Drive: Trailhunter Beats TRD Pro — If Toyota Prices It Right

MotorTrend (Kristen Lee, Aug. 18) and AutoGuide (Kyle Patrick, same day) drove the mid-cycle 2027 Tundra: a mild fascia, Toyota Safety Sense 4.0, a standard 14.0-inch screen, and a new Trailhunter package on SR5 — Old Man Emu suspension, Michelin LTX Trail 265/70R18 tires, a locking rear differential, Crawl Control, Multi-Terrain Select, and bronze wheels. TRD Pro keeps Tundra-tuned FOX shocks — Toyota’s July 21 release spells them Q3S; MotorTrend writes QS3. Toyota has not published 2027 pricing. On-sale is fall 2026.

The drive says Trailhunter is the Tundra to want. The order form is not out. Do not call it a bargain until Toyota’s price sheet exists.

Sources

• Toyota USA Newsroom, July 21, 2026 (updated July 28): New 2027 Toyota Tundra Brings Rugged Updated Styling, Advanced Technology and New Trailhunter Package. Trailhunter is a package based on SR5. 14-inch screen standard on all grades. TSS 4.0 standard. TRD Pro FOX enhanced Q3S. Full details and pricing planned for fall 2026. On-sale fall 2026.
• MotorTrend, Kristen Lee, Aug. 18, 2026: 2027 Toyota Tundra First Drive. Would take Trailhunter over TRD Pro. Spec table is MotorTrend carryover / estimate — not 2027 OEM. Hybrid combined torque in that table: 583 lb-ft. That is the CoS lock.
• AutoGuide, Kyle Patrick, Aug. 18, 2026: 2027 Toyota Tundra First Drive Review. Trailhunter is a package, not a trim. Hybrid first-drive copy quoted 586 lb-ft — conflict with MotorTrend 583; footnote only, not OEM. Pricing guesses are estimates.
• Road & Track, Emmet White, Aug. 27, 2026: The Toyota Tundra Trailhunter Is a Soft Bargain. Base / as-tested $56,000 (Manufacturer EST) — estimate, not a Toyota sticker. R&T also said Toyota has yet to confirm final-spec power.
• TFL Truck, Andre Smirnov, Aug. 22, 2026: I Drive EVERY New 2027 Toyota Trailhunter. Predicts Tundra SR5 Trailhunter “will [be] priced at over $63,000” — TFL prediction, not a Toyota sticker.
• NHTSA 26V320 (Part 573, May 20, 2026): RCLRPT-26V320 / acknowledgment. Still open on 43,566 MY2024 Tundras with the V35A. Toyota has not said the 2027 Trailhunter solved the bearing.

2027 Tundra specs Toyota actually published

Extractable OEM table. If Toyota did not print the number for 2027, it is Not published. Do not treat the MotorTrend table below as this table.

Toyota’s own closer: additional details, specifications, and pricing are scheduled for fall 2026. That is the lock. Everything else in this story is a first-drive or an estimate, labeled as such.

MotorTrend first-drive spec table (carryover / est — not 2027 OEM)

MotorTrend printed a spec block with the Aug. 18 first drive. Label it MT. It is not Toyota’s 2027 horsepower sheet, not Toyota’s 2027 MSRP, and not a substitute for the OEM table above. The $46,000 figure is MotorTrend’s estimated base price. It is not a Toyota sticker.

Torque conflict: AutoGuide’s Aug. 18 first drive quoted the hybrid at 437 hp and 586 lb-ft. MotorTrend’s table is 583 lb-ft combined. TruckDaily locks 583 as the MotorTrend figure. AutoGuide’s 586 is a first-drive number, not an OEM 2027 rating. Toyota has not republished 2027 hp/tq.

AutoGuide also wrote that powertrains remain the same as before, and that the Trailhunter they drove — SR5-based — did without the hybrid. That is first-drive context, not a 2027 OEM powertrain matrix. Road & Track separately said Toyota has yet to confirm final-spec power and that buyers can expect around 389 hp / 479 lb-ft — same family of carryover figures, still not a 2027 OEM republication.

Who it's for

The shopper who wants factory overlanding hardware — Old Man Emu, 265/70R18 Michelins, underbody protection, a rear locker, Crawl Control, Multi-Terrain Select — on an SR5 with cloth, not a Tacoma-style Trailhunter halo grade. MotorTrend would go Trailhunter over TRD Pro for that reason. This is for you if Toyota prices the package like a package.

Also for you if the mid-cycle stuff actually matters: TSS 4.0, a 14-inch screen on every grade, Drive Recorder, Digital Key. That hardware is OEM, and it is standard or available as published — not a Trailhunter exclusive.

Who should skip

• You need published 2027 tow or payload this week. Toyota has not published either. Do not order a trailer around a number that is not on the 2027 sheet.
• You wanted Tacoma-style Trailhunter money spent on TRD Pro. Tacoma Trailhunter is its own (pricey) grade. Tundra Trailhunter is a package on SR5. If what you actually want is FOX Q3S / QS3, red hooks, Honeycomb, and available ISO-dynamic seats, that is TRD Pro — and you should wait for TRD Pro’s price, not Trailhunter’s.
• You are treating any magazine dollar figure as a Toyota sticker. MotorTrend $46,000 est, AutoGuide SR5 ~$50k / package under $5k / TRD Pro a tick above current $74,760 dest, Road & Track ~$56k (Manufacturer EST), TFL “over $63k” — all estimates. None of them is MSRP.
• You need Toyota to say the 26V320 bearing is in 2027 production. Campaign 26V320 is still open on ~43,566 MY2024 V35A Tundras. The 2027 Trailhunter first drive does not close that.

What we'd buy

Trailhunter on SR5 — if Toyota prices the package like a package, not a TRD Pro. Skip TRD Pro if you wanted Tacoma-style Trailhunter money. Skip the whole order if you need published 2027 tow/payload this week.

That is the take in one line. The rest of this piece is why the drive landed there, and why the price sheet still gets the last word.

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The refresh is mild. The package is the story.

Blink, MotorTrend said, and you might miss the 2027 Tundra. The mid-cycle work is a slightly newer fascia, TSS 4.0, brighter lighting, and the 14.0-inch central screen as standard. Toyota’s July 21 release is more poetic about it — CALTY in Ann Arbor, square front geometry, hexagonal grille that changes by trim, rectangular fog lights in the bumper — but the first-drive consensus is the same: this is not a new truck. It is the current Tundra with a sharper nose and a bigger screen on every grade.

AutoGuide, in Grand Junction, Colo., put the styling in shopper language: no more moustache. The grille is now separated from the lower bumper by a strip of bodywork, closer to Sequoia. TRD Pro’s light bar sits lower to cut glare; available RIGID fog lights sit lower still. Toyota’s July 21 kit confirms the grille-mounted LED light bar is upgraded for brighter output and that RIGID fogs are available. Beyond that, AutoGuide said, it is tweaked wheels and not much else.

The off-road side is where 2027 actually moves.

TRD Pro stays the most rugged Tundra grade. It does not become a new extreme-off-road flagship. MotorTrend put that plainly: Toyota did not spin up a new halo to chase Ford’s F-150 Raptor. TRD Pro gets red tow hooks, the new Honeycomb color (MotorTrend: near NYC-taxi yellow; AutoGuide: “Honey Comb,” with a Colorado-sand caveat that it still does not top this year’s Wave Maker), available ISO-dynamic seats that debuted on Tacoma TRD Pro, an available TRD Performance package, and newly designed, Tundra-tuned FOX shocks. Toyota’s July 21 Tundra release spells those shocks FOX enhanced Q3S. MotorTrend writes Fox QS3 — “enhanced Fox QS3 switchable three-stage shocks with a 3.5-inch monotube and piggyback reservoir.” Toyota’s July 28 Honeycomb color release also used QS3. Same hardware family. When we cite the Tundra OEM release, we use Q3S; when we cite MotorTrend, we use QS3.

The bigger 2027 move is Trailhunter — and it is not a trim.

Trailhunter is a package on SR5. That is the whole plot.

Toyota: the Trailhunter package is “a rugged overlanding offering based on the SR5 grade,” “positioned at a more accessible price point.” No dollar figure attached to “accessible.”

Hardware Toyota did publish:

• Michelin LTX Trail 265/70R18
• Old Man Emu upgraded suspension
• Front recovery hooks
• Additional underbody protection
• Multi-Terrain Select
• Crawl Control
• Locking rear differential
• Unique bronze-colored wheels
• Exclusive badges

MotorTrend’s read of that list is the one that matters for a shopper: unlike Tacoma, where Trailhunter is its own grade — “and a pricey one at that” — Tundra Trailhunter is a package. You can put a lot of off-road hardware on the most affordable SR5 and keep cloth seats. AutoGuide said the same thing in different words: Trailhunter is not a trim here, it is a package, and that should make it a more approachable overlanding option than Trailhunter on 4Runner and Tacoma. Both publications put should in the subtext, because Toyota has not priced it.

Road & Track went further and titled the drive “a soft bargain,” then printed $56,000 (Manufacturer EST) as base and as-tested. That headline is a magazine’s. It is not Toyota’s window sticker. TFL, five days earlier, predicted over $63,000. Those two named estimates already disagree. That is what estimates do when the OEM has not printed a number.

That is the fork. Package is the product Toyota announced. Bargain is a claim nobody can make until fall 2026.

What they actually drove

Two courses, two powertrains, one first-drive week in western Colorado.

TRD Pro got the dirt course: jumps MotorTrend’s hosts called “zero-gravity moments,” high-speed gravel, banked turns, a giant berm. The TRD Pro they ran used the hybrid. MotorTrend: the hybrid’s low-end made accelerating on loose dirt a non-issue; the long wheelbase planted it in the banks; the unladen rear stayed composed. Heavy is still heavy. Chewed-up, potholed sections sent sharp up-down hits into the cabin. Jumps worked if you did not let it land nose-down. Damper clicks are on the shock — reach behind the wheel, three stages, Stage 3 for the heaviest damping. Stage 1 is how they leave the lot, and how MotorTrend said most owners will live. On pavement in Stage 1 it rode comfortably. Steering: light and numb. Size: tedious to park.

AutoGuide’s TRD Pro notes track that. FOX QS3 hardware is the same internal-bypass family as Tacoma, tuned for the bigger truck. Course builders had the fronts soft and the rears stiff to help the tail rotate in sand. Pointing a big Tundra around a purpose-built course is easier than the mass suggests; the nose-heavy balance still wants patience. Multi-Terrain Select in Sand will spin tires and kick the tail — dramatic, not necessarily fast. Tire roar is the on-road complaint. Optional ISO-dynamic seats do a lot for the driver; AutoGuide warned the back row will hate the bulk and the hard edges. Drive Recorder, standard, logged “incident detected” a half-dozen times on those hot laps — AutoGuide’s joke, and also proof the built-in cam is not a brochure line.

Trailhunter got the low-speed rocks and a dusty trail. MotorTrend’s Trailhunter was the non-hybrid 389-hp, 479-lb-ft 3.4-liter twin-turbo V6 — those figures are MotorTrend’s, not 2027 OEM. Plenty of low-end to pull it up and out of steep sections. In 4L it did not lose its footing on a Toyota-vetted trail. MotorTrend preferred two feet on the pedals to the dedicated off-road modes; the truck did not get stuck in the wrong gear or grab the brakes oddly. In 4H it ate a dusty trail at speed. You can switch 4H and 2H up to 62 mph, MotorTrend said — road to trail without a ceremony. Comfort is still a body-on-frame reminder: bumps jolt the cabin. Length and width are hard to place on a narrow trail.

AutoGuide’s Trailhunter was the same idea at a slower pace. Old Man Emu is not the Tacoma Trailhunter’s fancy-pants setup, but it gave the Tundra articulation and extra clearance. On jagged rock it was biddable. Steering is lighter and fuzzier than TRD Pro, which AutoGuide liked for small trail corrections. Empty-bed pogo over rough stuff is “nothing unusual for a truck of this size.” Cloth, not TRD Pro leather, and AutoGuide did not miss the leather for day-to-day. Even this lower trim, on the trucks they drove, had power-adjustable fronts and a driver’s memory setting — first-drive observation, not an OEM 2027 content list. On the early pre-production examples, 4HI to 4LO sometimes wanted a bit of roll-out before the change completed.

Road & Track ran the same Trailhunter prototype near 10,000 feet above the Grand Junction mesas, I-70 to the Colorado–Utah border, in 100-degree heat. Non-hybrid, same 3.4 twin-turbo. At nearly 6,000 pounds, R&T felt the missing hybrid off the line; the six sounded agricultural when worked hard. Empty-bed bounce and shake on rough surfaces. Long wheelbase plus less power made it feel more awkward than the Sequoia Trailhunter they drove the same week. Crawl Control and Multi-Terrain Select were intuitive and useful. The 10-speed was too slow on the road and too reluctant to downshift off-road. No front sway-bar disconnect — head toss especially harsh. R&T would take the Sequoia Trailhunter deeper into the woods; the Tundra Trailhunter did not feel well suited for “true wilderness adventures.” That is R&T’s drive, not Toyota’s brochure. Cabin space they liked: headroom, legroom, shoulder room in both rows, a chunky wheel and shifter, heated cloth on the SR5-based truck they sat in. Heated cloth and “various forms of soft plastic” are first-drive interior notes, not a 2027 order-guide freeze.

Two more first-drive limits, both from MotorTrend, both still true until Toyota says otherwise:

1. 1. Tacoma Trailhunter was the star of the same trails — more light-footed, nimble, agile. MotorTrend preferred it over 4Runner Trailhunter on wheelbase alone.
2. 2. Tundra has no disconnecting front anti-roll bar. Tacoma can option one. Toyota told MotorTrend it is evaluating the situation. Without it, MotorTrend found the Tundra Trailhunter yaw-prone, with real head toss.

If you are crossing shoppers from Tacoma Trailhunter into Tundra Trailhunter because “it’s the same name,” that anti-roll bar is the hardware gap. The cabin volume is the other direction: MotorTrend said even with the bigger ISO-dynamic seats, Tundra’s second row stays roomy in a way Tacoma cannot claim. People and cargo volume vs. nimble trail truck. Different jobs.

TFL drove all four Trailhunter nameplates back-to-back and would pick the Tundra SR5 Trailhunter — interior space, “lots of towing capacity,” off-road hardware, potentially the lowest of the four. TFL also said Tundra Trailhunter can be configured without the hybrid. “Lots of towing capacity” is TFL’s first-drive language. Toyota has not published 2027 tow. Do not promote TFL’s towing remark into a pound rating.

Pricing: four estimates, zero stickers

Toyota will not talk 2027 Tundra pricing. Full production is fall. Every dollar in this section is someone else’s guess. None of it is MSRP.

AutoGuide’s “under $5,000 would be a good deal” is the sentence everyone will screenshot. It is a conditional. Toyota has not said the package is under $5,000. Road & Track’s ~$56k and TFL’s “over $63k” already disagree with each other, which is what estimates do when the OEM has not printed a window sticker. MotorTrend’s $46,000 est is a base Tundra guess, not a Trailhunter as-equipped number — do not stack it next to $56k / $63k as if they describe the same truck.

TruckDaily’s rule on this truck: wait for Toyota’s price sheet before calling Trailhunter a bargain. The drive says it is the trim to want. It is not the one you can order yet.

Cabin tech Toyota did publish

The mid-cycle cabin is not the story, but it is the part that lands on every grade, not just Trailhunter.

Toyota: newest Toyota Audio Multimedia, developed in North America with Toyota Connected, AT&T 5G, customizable home-screen widgets, embedded Voice Assistant / “Hey Toyota,” and a standard 14-inch screen. AutoGuide: tile-based menus, fast response, a jump that already showed up in the current RAV4. Road & Track: intuitive and quick as a camera display off-road; some settings take too many clicks.

Standard Drive Recorder dash cam: front/rear or Panoramic View Monitor cameras if equipped, 20-second clips, manual or triggered. AutoGuide called it excellent and said it folds in vehicle data by default.

Digital Key is available with an active Remote Connect trial or subscription. Native wallet apps (Apple, Google, Samsung): lock, unlock, start. Share with up to five drivers. NFC fallback if the phone is dead, for a period of time, once Digital Key is enabled in the wallet. That is OEM language, not a Trailhunter exclusive.

TSS 4.0, standard: Pre-Collision with Pedestrian Detection, full-speed Dynamic Radar Cruise, Lane Departure Alert with Steering Assist, Automatic High Beams, Lane Tracing Assist, Road Sign Assist, Proactive Driving Assist. AutoGuide: no new acronyms, better behavior on the existing ones. MotorTrend noted the latest adaptive cruise as standard on the road back to the hotel.

i-FORCE MAX grades get a 2.4 kW inverter. That is OEM on hybrid grades. First-drive Trailhunter trucks were gas. Do not write the inverter onto Trailhunter until the order guide does.

Warranty Toyota republished for 2027: 36-month / 36,000-mile basic; 60-month / 60,000-mile powertrain; 60-month unlimited-mile perforation; hybrid components 8 years / 100,000 miles; hybrid battery 10 years / 150,000 miles, transferable; ToyotaCare one year / 10,000 miles plus two years unlimited roadside. That is the July 21 kit. It is not a tow rating.

What 2027 still does not have on paper

This is the unglamorous part, and it is the part a shopper gets burned by.

Toyota has not republished 2027 horsepower or torque. MotorTrend’s 348–389 / 405–479 gas range, MotorTrend’s 389 / 479 on the Trailhunter they drove, MotorTrend’s 437 / 583 hybrid combined — MT, not 2027 OEM. AutoGuide’s 586 lb-ft hybrid figure is a first-drive number in conflict with MT’s 583. We lock 583 as MotorTrend. We do not promote either figure to Toyota’s 2027 rating. AutoGuide also wrote that an available performance package “adds a further 29 ponies.” That is AutoGuide first-drive copy, not a 2027 OEM horsepower addendum. It stays off the OEM table.

Toyota has not published 2027 conventional tow, fifth-wheel / gooseneck (if any), or payload. Do not copy a 2026 door sticker onto a 2027 Trailhunter and call it research. Do not promote TFL’s “lots of towing capacity” into pounds.

Toyota has not published a 2027 cab/bed matrix. Double Cab vs. CrewMax, 5.5 vs. 6.5 vs. 8.1 — Not published for 2027 in the July 21 kit. MotorTrend’s layout line is “5-pass, 4-door truck.” That is MT, not a full OEM config sheet.

EPA is TBD in MotorTrend’s table. Toyota did not print 2027 fuel economy in the July 21 release.

Ground clearance: Not published. AutoGuide said Old Man Emu gave “additional clearance.” That is a first-drive impression, not an inch rating. TFL said Sequoia Trailhunter has no suspension lift versus a standard Sequoia 4x4; that is TFL on Sequoia, not a Tundra clearance figure.

i-FORCE MAX’s 2.4 kW inverter is OEM — on i-FORCE MAX grades, not claimed here as Trailhunter-standard. First-drive Trailhunter trucks were gas. AutoGuide treated the SR5-based package as doing without the hybrid. TFL said Tundra Trailhunter can be configured without the hybrid, which is why they think it could undercut the other Trailhunter nameplates on price. Toyota’s grade overview says the Tundra lineup is available with gas and hybrid. That is not the same sentence as “Trailhunter is gas-only” or “Trailhunter is hybrid-available.” Until the order guide exists, do not freeze a powertrain matrix for the package.

26V320 is still open. Trailhunter did not close it.

NHTSA campaign 26V320 covers 43,566 MY2024 Tundras with a V35A engine (Part 573, filed May 20, 2026). Manufacturing debris can contaminate the engine and fail a main bearing; a stall and loss of drive is the listed risk. It expands earlier campaigns 24V381 and 25V767. Toyota’s numbers: 25TB14 / 25TA14.

Toyota’s own DIR: this wave covers a production period after 24V-381 and 25V-767 and before implementation of a certain improvement to the #1 main bearing. Remedy language in the filing: dealers evaluate the #1 main bearing with inspection software and vehicle drive data; if the software cannot confirm the bearing will be free from abnormal wear, they replace the engine. NHTSA’s May 22 acknowledgment still said the remedy was under development, with owner letters expected July 6, 2026. Secondary recaps (including dealer-side notes) describe interim owner letters in July and additional letters when a final remedy is available. The campaign is still open. That is the lock.

AutoGuide, on site with the 2027 trucks, flagged “the existing issues Toyota is facing with earlier versions of this engine.” That is the right amount of caution. Toyota has not said the 2027 Trailhunter — or 2027 Tundra production — includes the improved #1 main bearing as a solved 26V320 story. Do not write that sentence until Toyota writes it. A first-drive in Colorado is not a recall closeout.

If you are shopping a used 2024, that is a VIN-and-dealer-inspection conversation, not a Trailhunter brochure conversation. Check the VIN; do not take a 2027 press photo as a bearing bulletin.

Tacoma is still the fourth-gen truck. There is no OEM 2027 Tacoma redesign.

The 2027 Tundra first drive happened in a week when Toyota also had Tacoma and 4Runner Trailhunter on the same dirt. That is how MotorTrend ended up preferring Tacoma Trailhunter on the trail and Tundra Trailhunter as a package in the showroom.

It is also how shoppers get their model years mixed up. Fourth-generation Tacoma is still the current Tacoma. Toyota has not published an OEM 2027 Tacoma redesign. A Honeycomb TRD Pro color on Tacoma is not a new Tacoma. TFL’s Aug. 22 Tacoma Trailhunter prices — $65,495 (5-foot bed) / $65,995 (6-foot) — are 2026 list prices TFL cited while waiting on 2027, not a 2027 Tacoma redesign sheet.

If you want the nimble Trailhunter MotorTrend would not shut up about, that is still the midsize truck — with Tacoma Trailhunter’s grade pricing, disconnecting front anti-roll bar availability, and hybrid-only top off-road trims as that truck’s own story. This page is the full-size one.

TruckDaily take

Wait for Toyota’s price sheet before calling Trailhunter a bargain. The drive says it is the trim to want, not the one you can order yet.

MotorTrend would go Trailhunter over TRD Pro because the hardware sits on SR5 cloth instead of a Tacoma-style range-topper grade. AutoGuide wants it to be the one to watch for the same reason — if the package stays a package on the window sticker. Road & Track already printed ~$56k as a manufacturer estimate and called it a soft bargain. TFL already printed “over $63k.” Those two named estimates are not Toyota stickers, and they are not the same number. That spread is why we wait.

What we’d buy: Trailhunter on SR5 if Toyota prices the package like a package, not a TRD Pro.

Skip TRD Pro if you wanted Tacoma-style Trailhunter money — FOX Q3S / QS3, Honeycomb, optional ISO-dynamic seats, the desert-course truck. Different job, different shock.

Skip the order if you need published 2027 tow/payload this week. Those numbers are not out. Neither is MSRP. Neither is the cab/bed matrix. Neither is 2027 hp/tq from Toyota.

When the fall 2026 sheet lands, the story is one question: did Toyota price Trailhunter as the SR5 package the press kit described, or as a TRD Pro with bronze wheels? Until that PDF exists, the first drive is a recommendation with an asterisk.

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FAQ

Magazine dollars you will see — MotorTrend $46,000 est (base Tundra guess, not a Trailhunter as-equipped sticker), AutoGuide SR5 ~$50k and a Trailhunter package under $5k if Toyota keeps it there, Road & Track ~$56k (Manufacturer EST), TFL “over $63k” — are estimates, not Toyota stickers. Do not treat MotorTrend’s $46,000 as MSRP. Do not treat R&T’s $56,000 as MSRP.

Trailhunter package: Old Man Emu upgraded suspension, Michelin LTX Trail 265/70R18, bronze wheels, locker, Crawl Control, Multi-Terrain Select, front recovery hooks, extra underbody protection.

Different shocks, different jobs. Trailhunter is the overland package on SR5. TRD Pro is the FOX grade.

Hybrid combined power: MotorTrend 437 hp / 583 lb-ft. AutoGuide’s first-drive copy said 586 lb-ft. TruckDaily locks 583 as the MotorTrend figure. Neither number is a 2027 OEM republication.

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Editorial news. Last updated September 2, 2026. Author: TruckDaily. Photo credit on the still.