With the introduction of the new Tundra Double Cab, a crew cab version of its successful full-size pickup, Toyota is officially positioned to challenge the big three in all segments of the full size, half-ton truck market. The 2004 Tundra Double Cab joins the regular and access cab to become the first import-brand to offer buyers all three standard domestic configuration choices across its complete model line.

Although Toyota is an import brand, the Tundra is built in Princeton, Indiana. And beginning in 2006, a new, $800 million state-of-the-art plant currently under construction in San Antonio, Texas, is slated to turn out 150,000 Double Cab Tundra’s annually. Toyota chose San Antonio for a simple reason: One in every 18 Americans lives in the Lone Star State, but one in every seven pickups sold in this country is bought by a Texan.

Crew cab pickups were a bit of an oddity, used mostly by utility and construction crews, until about five years ago. Suddenly, with the debut of the Ford Explorer Sport Trac, and on its heels, the Chevy Avalanche, they became a mainstream vehicle. Today, they are in such high demand, often doubling as family vehicles that they now make up a full one third of the entire pickup market in America.

Unlike crew cabs from other manufacturers, the new Double Cab Tundra is more than a stretched out, smaller bed version of your basic pickup. Sitting on a 128.3-inch wheelbase, it offers a bed that is seven inches longer than either the Ford F-150 Super Crew or the new Nissan Titan crew cab. It’s also more than four inches deeper than other Tundra’s, and one of the deepest available on any crew cab pickup.

A genuine body-on-frame truck, it was built on an entirely new, eight-crossmember steel frame that is longer and wider than other Tundra’s. This made it possible to really build a roomy, comfortable cabin both front and rear. It is nearly a foot longer than the access cab Tundra frame and four inches wider, making it larger than any other vehicle previously offered by Toyota. In fact, Toyota enlisted design help from the engineers at Hino, Japan’s largest big truck maker, which is owned by Toyota.

The Tundra Double Cab comes in two trim levels, SR5, and Limited, in both two and four-wheel drive configurations. Across the entire Tundra line, there are over 20 possible configurations. The base level SR5 comes pretty well equipped, with such items as power windows on all four doors, power mirrors, and locks, along with AM/FM, intermittent wipers, two 12-volt power outlets and a digital clock all standard.

Toyota paid close attention to the interior as well, making the cabin large and comfortable. The back seat isn’t jammed straight up against the rear cabin wall, but sits at the same angle, 24 degrees, as the rear seat in the Sequoia. Most rear crew cab seats are positioned somewhere between 18 and 20 degrees. It also offers more legroom, 37.5 inches, than either the Ford F-150 Super Crew or the Dodge Quad Cab.

The 60-40 split rear bench seatbacks will fold flat, or the entire seat can be completely folded forward for additional cargo room. There’s also a cargo net positioned behind the seats as well as an additional storage bin for small items like flashlights and other things too large for the glove box, molded into the back wall. Plus, there is a storage compartment under the floor. A part of that houses the jack, but there’s also room for things like jumper cables and other larger assorted odds and ends.

The Tundra Double Cab features an optional DVD entertainment system with a remote control, audio and video inputs as well as well as wireless headphones. It’s possible for the front seat passengers to listen to music from the standard AM/FM radio while a DVD is being viewed in the rear. The DVD option also provides a 110-volt electrical outlet in addition to the 12-volt power outlets located front and rear. Rear seat passengers get their own heating and cooling ducts as well.

The Tundra Double Cab is also the first pickup to offer a full-size power rear window that slides all the way down inside the wall of the cabin.

The front seats are buckets with a console sitting between them, and captain’s chairs with fold-down arms are available as an option. Instrumentation is the standard analog setup used in all Tundra’s, which features large, well-positioned knobs for the audio and climate controls.

The Double Cab Tundra is powered by Toyota’s 4.7-liter, four valve per cylinder, DOHC, ULEV-certified iForce V8. It puts 240 strong horses on the highway at 315 lb. ft. of torque, which exceeds that of similar displacement competitive V8s. The iForce V8 is married to a smooth, electronically controlled four-speed automatic. The Double Cab Tundra has a maximum towing capacity of 6,800 pounds — very strong by any standard — and a 1,875-pound payload capacity.

The suspension is coil spring double wishbone in front and utilizes leaf springs in the rear, coupled with staggered low-pressure nitrogen gas shocks — one on each side of the axle. Brakes are four-wheel power assisted ABS ventilated discs with four piston calipers in front, and rear drums.

Ground clearance ranges from 10.9 to 12.3 inches in the 4X4 version. The four-wheel drive system, which contains a true low-range, unlike viscous clutch crossover vehicles, is shift on-the-fly up to a little over 60 mph. It’s activated by a button mounted on the dash. The optional TRD off-road package adds fog lights, front and rear mudguards and overfenders, progressive-rate springs, Bilstein monotube high-pressure gas shocks, an off-road tuned suspension, and P265/70R16 B.F. Goodrich tires mounted on 16-inch alloy wheels.

Mileage is 18 highway and 14 city.

I’ve driven three different versions of the Tundra Double Cab and liked them all immensely. On the highway, it is extremely quiet for a pickup — much more so than the Ford F-150 Super Crew. It has a firm, but comfortable ride, even in stiffer the 4X4, TRD version. I found myself doing over 80 mph before I realized it on the freeway several times because it is so quiet.

Whines: This isn’t the best handling truck I’ve ever driven, but it isn’t bad either. Turning radius is a little wider then I like, but that’s because of the lengthened frame.

Bottom Line: This is overall, a great crew cab truck. It’s quiet, very comfortable, boasts excellent performance and high torque. And then there’s that legendary Toyota quality and resale value. As crew cabs go, you can’t go wrong with the new Tundra Double Cab. With a starting price of $25,645 for the two-wheel drive version and $28,975 for the 4X4, it’s a winner that will give Ford Chevy and Dodge a real run for their money in the half-ton market.