Four months after driving home in a brand-new Toyota Sequoia, the creator behind @blue.collar.wifey1 and her husband were already trading it in — and this video is her running through exactly why, point by point.

“We’re trading in our 2026 Toyota Sequoia,” she opens. “We’re gonna try to give you five reasons why. There’s more than five. We’ll give you five good ones, legitimate ones, why we don’t like it.” First up is the hybrid powertrain itself. “It is absolutely horrible,” she says. “It feels like the transmission’s going out when the electric motors are switching between electric and gas around like 15, 20 miles an hour.” Her husband suggests it might be a software calibration issue rather than a mechanical one, and she doesn’t disagree — but the driving experience is the same either way: “It feels like you have no power and then it lags out for three seconds, four seconds, and then pow, and then the gas kicks in, and it’s just weird.”

Reason two undercuts the whole point of going hybrid in the first place: a smaller gas tank, apparently sized around the assumption that the hybrid system would offset it. “You still only get 15 miles per gallon, maybe 13, without beating the fire out of it,” she says. “And because the tank’s smaller, you’re stopping more and wasting your time.” Reason three is the technology inside the cabin, which she feels hasn’t kept pace with the competition — or even with older trucks from other brands. “The screen is okay, it’s a little bigger, but still,” she says, comparing it unfavorably to a used 2017 Ford F-350 Platinum. The seats look good, she admits, but feel closer to “a Chevy Silverado LT with some brown paint on it” than the roughly $90,000 vehicle it’s supposed to be. As for the ride itself: “It’s like riding in a Jeep Grand Cherokee when you think you’re supposed to be riding in this big body SUV. It’s just wildly sloppy.”

The last two complaints are about convenience features that, in her telling, actively work against the owner. There’s no remote start button — instead, Toyota wants owners paying for a subscription app just to start the car remotely, one that only works reliably “like three quarters of the time” and can take 45 seconds just to load. “You’re at the car before it’ll even remote start for you,” she says. “Horrible technology.” And locking the car with the engine running isn’t an option at all — the key fob has to be removed and the door locked manually every single time. “The technology went in reverse from when we had it last time,” she says, comparing it to their old 2012 Sequoia. Her verdict, delivered flatly to close the video: “Thumbs down. Thumbs down.”

What to Test-Drive Before You Buy a New Hybrid SUV

This review is a good checklist for anyone shopping a redesigned hybrid SUV, because most of her complaints are things a short test drive around the block simply won’t reveal. The electric-to-gas handoff issue is a great example: that kind of lag and surge often only shows up in specific, repeatable driving conditions — low-speed stop-and-go, or a particular throttle input right as the system transitions — which means it’s worth specifically recreating city-street, stop-and-go driving during a test drive rather than just taking the vehicle on a straight highway loop. Real-world fuel economy is another area worth pressure-testing before signing anything; manufacturer MPG estimates for hybrids can vary widely from what owners actually see, especially with a smaller tank designed around best-case assumptions, so it’s worth asking for that specific model’s average owner-reported mileage rather than trusting the window sticker alone. Subscription-gated features are also becoming more common across the industry, and buyers should read the fine print on what’s included versus what requires an ongoing fee — a remote-start subscription that only works part of the time, as described here, is a frustrating discovery to make after the purchase rather than before it. And finally, ride quality on a full-size SUV is worth evaluating specifically against the vehicle’s size and price point, not just against “is it comfortable” in isolation — a $90,000 SUV that rides like a smaller, cheaper vehicle is a legitimate value complaint, not just a matter of personal preference.

You can watch the full video and follow @blue.collar.wifey1 on TikTok for more.