The 2022 Toyota Tundra’s full-on reveal isn’t coming until September but in the meantime, we’ll just keep investigating. My colleague James Gilboy reached out to the automaker to find out everything he could about the next-gen truck’s base engine, which is suspected to be the same 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 found in the new Land Cruiser. Now, a new teaser from Toyota seems to give even more credibility to that hunch.
It’s nothing more than an engine cover with a badge reading “iForce MAX,” which doesn’t seem to mean much. However, take a closer look and you’ll notice only three segments on either side of the badge. That seemingly alludes to three cylinders per bank, or six in total.
I’m doing my best not to come off as a messy-haired conspiracy theorist but hear me out. Each of Toyota’s iForce engines in the past have featured four segments per side and, wouldn’t you know it, they’ve all been V8s up to this point. The outgoing Tundra has a 5.7-liter iForce V8 and before that, there were the 4.6- and 4.7-liter engines; each time, there was some nod to having eight cylinders. In this case, there are only six.
It’s totally common for automakers to dress up their engine covers and try to represent what’s underneath since you can’t, y’know, see it for what it is. I’m making the call that such is the case here and before long, we’ll know for sure about the Tundra’s standard power plant.
If I turn out to be wrong and Toyota’s just throwing us off its scent, then so be it. I’m a grown-up and I can admit when I’ve made a mistake. Regardless, expect the next-gen Tundra to have more horsepower and torque than ever before, no matter what’s under the hood. Oh, and don’t bank on the 3.5-liter V6 going hybrid, either.
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