Toyota -- T100 Truck Good First-Year Effort

Ford division general manager Ross Roberts told us the new 1993-model Toyota pickup truck will be a viable competitor in the full-size market but that none of its sales will come from Ford's hide.

We suggest Roberts learn to suture. Ford has been the leader in full-size truck sales for so long we can't remember the last time Chevrolet sneaked past it. But Ford better not become complacent.

The T100 isn't perfect, but for a first-year model it's well above average. It can only get better with gradual refinement.

Toyota boasts that the T100's cargo bed holds a 4-by-8 sheet of plywood, which to trucks is like boasting that a car holds six people. What the plywood benchmark really means is you can haul the same amount of furniture, sod, fireplace wood or tools in the T100 as in the big Chevy or Ford trucks.

The cabin has scads of room but doesn't come with a lot of amenities. Other than a speedometer, a fuel gauge, a digital clock and a couple of clever coin holders, the instrument panel is rather barren.

Windows and dual outside mirrors are manually operated. Those mirrors are huge and offer great visibility. You can tow a load or throw a camper top on the rear cargo bed and not worry about obstructed vision. Some rivals, in the interest of aerodynamics, shrink the mirrors for lower wind resistance, forgetting their importance to safety.

The mirrors are so large, however, that you need power control, especially because the cabin is so wide you can't reach to adjust the passenger-side mirror. For the luxury of power mirrors you have to purchase the "power package" option, which includes door locks and cruise control. It's a $635 package available only on the more expensive SR5.

One glaring goof is the placement of the windshield-wiper lever directly in front of the automatic gearshift lever. When you shift from park to drive you can activate the wiper lever by striking it accidentally.

On the plus side, the cloth bench seat is very comfortable and offers an armrest that pulls down from the seat back. Someone should come up with a means of housing some storage space inside the armrest.

The ride is fairly smooth, but despite double-wishbone construction, torsion bars, hydraulic shocks, stabilizer bars and 15-inch tires, there's just enough bounce over the tar marks that you know you're in a truck and not a family sedan. One annoyance was a slight metallic whine that came from under the truck at low speeds. --------------------------------------------------------------- REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK ------------------- 1993 TOYOTA T-100 Midsize pickup truck

ENGINE 3-liter displacement 6-cylinder 150 horsepower

TRANSMISSION manual and automatic

FUEL ECONOMY 16 mpg city 21 mpg highway --------------------------------------------------------------- Observations ---------------------------------------------------------------

-- Models and prices

The standard T100 is priced at $13,998 with the five-speed, $14,898 with the automatic. The SR5, $15,718 with the manual, $16,618 with the automatic. With four-wheel drive, the standard truck is $17,368, the SR5 $19,028. For now the four-wheel-drive trucks come only with manual transmission.

-- Dimensions

Toyota calls the T100 midsize because its 121.8-inch wheelbase is 11.5 inches shorter than the full-size Ford F150 pickup's and 10 inches shorter than the full-size Chevy C/K pickup's. The T100's length, 209.1 inches, is 4.2 inches less than the Ford's and 8.3 inches less than the Chevy's.

-- Standards and options

Standard equipment in our test vehicle included power brakes and steering, rear-wheel anti-lock brakes, tinted glass and dual cupholders. There's no air bag, but one is expected within a year.

Popular options include air conditioning ($820), painted ($229) or chrome ($299) stepup rear bumper, AM/FM stereo ($210), bedliner ($299) and towing hitch ($310).

A slide-open rear window is available in the standard model as part of a $635 optional convenience package that includes tilt steering wheel, intermittent windshield wipers, tachometer and cruise control.