CAR GAZING
Sequoia a great SUV, if you can afford the gas
Toyota is big, powerful and refined; too bad so few people can afford to drive it
By Derek Price
Before safe deposit boxes, wealthy people used to keep their valuables hidden in secret compartments in their furniture.
If you've ever seen Antiques Roadshow, you know what I'm talking about. Expert cabinetmakers would sneak these compartments into the design of a desk, for example, in a way that's nearly impossible to tell where it is unless you know what to look for.
Some old desks have one secret drawer; others have a dozen.
And the Toyota Sequoia has more than any of them.
This big SUV has so many hidden nooks and crannies that you could hire Homeland Security to spend a week looking for them, and I doubt they'd all be found. If Osama bin Laden wants to sneak a bomb into America, he won't hustle it across the border. He'll just buy a Sequoia.
This car has two glove boxes – a big one and a small one – and so many cupholders that I lost count. It has doors hidden in the doors. It has a center console big enough to store Little Boy and Fat Man, and its rear cargo area could hide plenty of Iranian centrifuges.
But there's another reason the analogy of hidden compartments in an old desk is a perfect fit for the Sequoia.
This kind of vehicle is rapidly becoming an antique.
Unless you live under a cave in western Pakistan, you probably know how worldwide gas prices have shot up with ballistic speed. SUV prices have fallen just as fast because fewer people can afford that much dinosaur juice, and some people are even predicting that big, heavy, gas-guzzling SUVs are about to go extinct.
I'm not so sure. I fully expect SUV sales to plummet as buyers get used to the higher gas prices, but I also know some people really, truly need an SUV for what they do. If these people need to tow a heavy trailer, carry bulky cargo and travel with a big family, it's still cheaper to buy a big SUV than it is to buy a small car, a pickup truck and a cargo van.
If you're one of those people, I can't think of too many reasons to avoid the Sequoia.
Aside from the countless storage spaces and big cargo area, this thing drives like a dream. It's smooth and quiet – almost Lexus-like in its sheer silence – and feels powerful enough to haul a continent.
Refinement is where the Sequoia shines. Big SUVs are notoriously hard to maneuver, but this one is surprisingly nimble. It handles turns and lane changes with grace, and it's remarkably easy to park considering it mammoth size.
Speaking of which, the Sequoia is big enough to comfortably seat seven or eight adults. Crossover vehicles – including some with third-row seats – are becoming more popular because they get better gas mileage than traditional full-size SUVs like this, but none of them offer as much leg and headroom as you get in the back seat of this Toyota. It's really like a limo.
There are a couple of downsides. For one, the Sequoia I tested was only rated for 13 mpg in town. For another, it just looks bland. The styling is hardly worth mentioning because it's so unoriginal, so lifeless and utilitarian.
Pricing starts around $35,000 for a two-wheel-drive model, which I'd consider a bargain for a vehicle this big and refined. When you start adding options, though, the price quickly reaches luxury territory, as in my $50,000+ tester. For that kind of money, I'd expect a Lexus badge.
Assuming you're well-off enough to afford the gas and you actually need the power and space of a full-size SUV, then it's hard to beat the Sequoia. It's big, powerful and refined.
And it has lots of places for you to hide your valuables.
(Derek Price is a newspaper editor and freelance writer living in Texas.)
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