2025 Toyota Sequoia TRD Pro Review

The roads around much of Hamilton, Ont., are in rough shape.

A combination of frequent winter freeze-thaw cycles and the relentless battering of labouring, steel-hauling trucks turn the local byways into crumbling, moon-like messes. Driving around here in cars and crossovers requires hyper-vigilance to avoid serious suspension damage from massive potholes.

As it turns out, it’s the perfect setting for the 2025 Toyota Sequoia TRD Pro.

Comfort 7.5 / 10

Cruising along a service road, I noticed it a split-second too late to react. Ahead, a crater deep enough to swallow a subcompact car came into view and there was no avoiding it. I braced for impact, cringing with mechanical sympathy and awaiting the cracking sound that would reverberate through the truck’s structure, not to mention my spine.

What happened instead was that the Sequoia’s 18-inch forged BBS wheels wrapped in meaty Falken all-terrain tires consumed the road cavern without incident. A muffled sound and slight shimmy was all that reached the cabin as the TRD Pro-specific Fox internal-bypass coilover suspension did a yeoman’s work of dispatching the impact. 

Train tracks with signs warning of rough crossings? Ha! The Sequoia takes it all in stride. Not even a wildly-rutted farm road peppered with moguls could upset the Sequoia’s ride. It’s wonderful how much stress can be removed from a drive when you don’t need to worry what you’re driving over.

However, this is still a truck-based sport utility that shares a platform with the Tundra pickup. The way the body judders ever so slightly, and the stiffness that’s required to keep such a massive rig from wallowing, means you’ll never mistake it for a Range Rover. 

Road noise is hushed, but the reinforced roof rack makes a constant deep hum as the wind roars around it at highway speed. There’s a surprising amount of engine noise that reaches the cockpit, too, but it’s intentional and sounds surprisingly good, with a deep, guttural roar that does a pretty good impression of a V8.

Driving Feel 7 / 10

The Sequoia is a full-size SUV based on a truck platform, so it doesn’t handle like a crossover. There are tradeoffs for having a truck-based platform that can haul big loads and take serious off-road punishment, one of which is this truck’s considerable 2,790-kg (6,150-lb) mass. All that bulk can be felt when cornering, but its dimensions — although slightly smaller in width, length, and height than its direct competitors — nevertheless feel bulky on the road, taking up its entire lane of travel and needing lots of space to park. 

The brakes, while initially grabby, are impressive in the way they scrub speed so effectively for such a monstrous machine. The 10-speed automatic transmission offers crisp upshifts, but downshifts can be clunky at times, especially at low speeds.

Power 9 / 10

While it might play the soundtrack of an eight-cylinder, under the Sequoia’s hood is a 3.4L V6 that’s helped along with a pair of turbochargers and a hybrid electric system. The net result is 437 hp and a whopping 583 lb-ft of torque that makes the Sequoia’s acceleration unexpectedly quick for a full-figured SUV like this.

Whether trying to be the first across an intersection or passing slow-moving traffic, this big Toyota is never short of breath. The only hiccup is when coming to a brief stop and setting off again, at which point the engine cuts out to save fuel. That’s fine for parking lot speeds, but when trying to zip into a hole in traffic, there’s a brief, hair-raising moment before the Sequoia finds its legs and takes off. 

Fuel Economy 6 / 10

At 11.7 L/100 km combined, the Sequoia betters key full-size competitors like the Chevrolet Tahoe, Ford Expedition, and Nissan Armada by at least a litre or two, thanks mostly to its decent city rating of 12.6 L/100 km. During this week-long test, the Sequoia’s consumption reading never showed better than 13.8 L/100 km despite a majority of highway driving, suggesting the official figures may be achievable with modest highway speed and a strong tailwind. The 83-L fuel tank should allow for decent range between fill-ups, but we never saw more than 375 km indicated, which would become even more abysmal if the Sequoia was tasked with towing. At least it only demands regular-grade gas.

Safety 9 / 10

Neither the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) nor the United States National highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) had published crash-test results for the Sequoia at the time of this writing, but its advanced features are comprehensive, including forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning and keeping assistance, plus driver inattention warnings. Toyota has also reportedly implemented additional theft-proofing measures for 2025.

Features 7 / 10

The Sequoia can be specced in four different trims of increasing poshness from the fairly basic SR5 TRD Off Road up to the range-topping Capstone. In Toyota’s other trucks, the TRD Pro stands as its own trim, but here it’s merely an optional package that adds some styling upgrades like the aforementioned BBS wheels, a different grille with an integrated light bar, and a beefier skid plate.

The TRD Pro’s off-road ready suspension is also a key feature to the package — otherwise, the lack of niceties like a panoramic sunroof (this truck had only a small opening over the front seats) and genuine leather seats might be missed since key competitors offer them. But the 14-speaker stereo delivers powerful sound, and the 400-watt plug point in the cargo area can be a helpful tool during adventures. 

User-Friendliness 8 / 10

All but entry-level Sequoias get a generous 14-inch touchscreen infotainment system. For the most part, we’ve grown accustomed to a few of its quirks (like the tedium of programming favourite radio stations) and find it pretty agreeable.

This tester’s system was finicky with its wireless phone connection, frequently dropping and reconnecting a paired iPhone, usually when I was in the midst of singing along with a favourite tune at the top of my lungs. If this was its way of complaining about my singing, it’s completely justified. Otherwise, it was an annoying hiccup. 

Beyond the infotainment system, the rest of the controls are typical of all modern Toyotas: outstanding in their blend of easy-to-use physical switchgear that’s sensibly laid out. Meanwhile, the digital instrument display is configurable to prioritize the driver’s needs and tastes. 

The seating position is commanding, but with both back rows upright, the headrests can dramatically limit rearward visibility, and no camera-based rearview mirror offered in this trim. The B-pillars are also quite robust, requiring careful blind-spot checks, especially with the rear grab handles further obscuring vision.

Practicality 7 / 10

The Sequoia manages towing well with a standard trailer brake controller, heavy-duty hitch, and a towing capacity of 4,091 kg (9,019 lb), putting it ahead of the Chevrolet Tahoe and Nissan Armada, but behind the Ford Expedition. The Sequoia’s cabin is smaller than those of its competitors, plus the battery pack for the hybrid system takes up space, which makes the cargo area far too small for such a vehicle. Additionally, the seats don’t fold nicely into a flat floor, resulting in tricky packing and loading, especially with the tall load floor.

Front and second-row seats are spacious enough for adults, but the third row is considerably tighter than in competitive models.

Value 7 / 10

The Sequoia is competitively priced against the likes of the Expedition, Tahoe, and Armada. Each offers a base trim in the low $80,000-range while topping six-figures for the most luxurious trims. This test unit is an $87,000 Limited trim with the $12,000 TRD Pro option package added on, pushing it past $100,000 — a generous sum of money. Given the lack of luxury features found in the higher Platinum and Capstone trims, you really have to want the added off-road capability to justify this trim.

Styling 8 / 10

Of course, you may also just really dig the Sequoia’s styling in TRD Pro trim. The black wheels, off-road tires, slight lift, and robust roof rack all make for a rugged-looking, overland-ready rig that’s in fashion these days. The TRD Pro also gets the brand’s heritage grille that has the wordmark spelled out, topped by clearance lights, and underlined by an LED light bar. The Sequoia’s proportions look good, too. It’s big, but it’s burly, exuding plenty of machismo. Different trims are available with different shades, but the TRD Pro can only be had in black, white, grey, or Mud Bath brown seen here.

The Capstone’s interior gets swanky leather seats, but in our TRD Pro tester, the faux-leather seats are printed with a weird digi-camo pattern that’s repeated on the fender flares. In other shades, the interior can be ordered with red seats and dash trim, but here, it’s plain black. Like other Toyota trucks, the look is square-jawed functionality over frivolity or flash, and that works just fine in a proper utility vehicle like this. Build quality is excellent and all the materials feel durable more than fancy.

The Verdict

The full-size SUV category doesn’t offer as many choices as the smaller segments, but the machines available are all quite capable and competitive. The 2025 Toyota Sequoia stands out as a good-looking unit, especially in TRD Pro and Capstone trims, and the very powerful hybrid drivetrain is an impressive system that gives the big Toyota plenty of gusto. Still, buyers prioritizing space for humans and cargo are likely to favour some of the larger competitors. For bashing over Hamilton roads, though, it’s tough to beat the Sequoia TRD Pro.