Tacoma for tow vehicle??

[eastcoaster]

If they didn't have the tow package that should not change the performance. Tow package if I recall is really only a class 3 hitch, Transmission cooler and beefier alternator

 

[2kwik4u]

If they didn't have the tow package that should not change the performance. Tow package if I recall is really only a class 3 hitch, Transmission cooler and beefier alternator

Different people consider "perfectly acceptable" to be vastly different performance results.

Some folks won't tow a john boat with an F250, others are just fine towing a classic boat with a crappy cutlass.



I thought my wifes Traverse SUCKED when I towed my 190 with it. Another guy here LOVES his Traverse for pulling his 195 around. Clearly his standards are different than mine. That's OK. Some people are OK closer to capacity than others. Some have a better affinity for paying attention to details and driving dynamics, while others want a "don't even know it's back there" result.

I think we can all agree that, of the Yamaha's made in the last decade, a 19ft is fine, a 20ft will be close, and anything larger will be a stretch with a Tacoma. I equate the old 23' boats with the newer 20ft boats in terms of weight and tow prowess required. New boats are taller (less aero), and heavier.

 

[eastcoaster]

A bigger tow vehicle is always better!

 

[WV Hillbilly]

A bigger tow vehicle is always better!

+1 on that.
I towed my 195S with my 15 Yukon with. 5.3 6 speed. Pulled fine on level ground but was a bit of a strain on long +4% grades. I moved to a 22 GMC 2500 HD Denali with a 6.6 Duramax and a 10 speed. (I tow a bunch of trailers so the boat was NOT the reason for the change in tow vehicles). I am now a member of the “is it still back there? Club”.

if you were going to make an error on sizing a new tow vehicle, make bigger the side you fall on. Extra capacity usually gets used, not enough capacity usually gets you in trouble. Be careful to look at GVWR and tow capacity. Those are two different numbers and rarely can you tow as much as it is tow rated for and stay under GVWR. It’s kind of a marketing trick.

 

[BlkGS]

I bet they didn't have the truck in tow mode, which keeps your RPMs up. I have towed an older 232 hundreds of miles with my 2007 4x4 tacoma with no issues. The only time the truck would downshift was on a steeper grade and speed would drop to 50

The new 3.5 is just gutless. You have to spin the living crap out of it to get any power out of it. It would literally spin over 3000rpm just rolling. It would drop down @ gear up to like 5k rpm all the time. It worked but it felt like the motor was gonna explode at any moment, and that was a small and light trailer.

 

[BlkGS]

Different people consider "perfectly acceptable" to be vastly different performance results.

Some folks won't tow a john boat with an F250, others are just fine towing a classic boat with a crappy cutlass.

View attachment 194390

I thought my wifes Traverse SUCKED when I towed my 190 with it. Another guy here LOVES his Traverse for pulling his 195 around. Clearly his standards are different than mine. That's OK. Some people are OK closer to capacity than others. Some have a better affinity for paying attention to details and driving dynamics, while others want a "don't even know it's back there" result.

I think we can all agree that, of the Yamaha's made in the last decade, a 19ft is fine, a 20ft will be close, and anything larger will be a stretch with a Tacoma. I equate the old 23' boats with the newer 20ft boats in terms of weight and tow prowess required. New boats are taller (less aero), and heavier.

I wouldn't want to tow my sx230 with a Tacoma. So if you think the 20ft is roughly equal to my 23, I wouldn't even consider Tacoma.

 

[2kwik4u]

I wouldn't want to tow my sx230 with a Tacoma. So if you think the 20ft is roughly equal to my 23, I wouldn't even consider Tacoma.

Yea, I seem to remember some weights showing the newer 20ft wake series being up in the high 4k low 5k range, and if I remember right the early 230's were right around the low 5k range. Might not be exact, but they're close.

And I agree, I think if you're going more than maybe 75-100miles on a regular basis, you'll want something bigger than a Tacoma. If you're taking it to the lake in the spring and to storage in the fall, the Taco will do just fine at that level. It's all about comfort level and duty cycle.

 

[Maslin]

We towed our AR190 for the end of last season with a 2017 Tacoma TRD Offroad. It had the factory trailer hitch, no idea if that is the "tow package". Boat scales at 3100# with 3/4 of a tank of fuel. Stopping and turns were good, power was bad. 4000 rpm at 35 mph to get up the hill near my house. The "tow package" doesn't add any power either way.

Just picked up a '23 Tundra Platinum. I don't expect we'll have capacity problems anymore

 

[1WetBoat]

Not to butt into a Tacome thread, but what do you guys think of the new Ranger/Canyon style midsize for towing our boats?
With their claimed towing capacity and the turbo4's I'm curious on their performance.

 

[BlkGS]

Not to butt into a Tacome thread, but what do you guys think of the new Ranger/Canyon style midsize for towing our boats?
With their claimed towing capacity and the turbo4's I'm curious on their performance.

Different animals there. The little turbo 4s, at least the Ecoboost 2.3, have tiny tubora that spin up easily, so they make the grunt needed down low, where the Tacoma has to spin ridiculously high rpm to make any grunt.

They're not gonna win any drag races, but I think they'd be fine for towing a 21ft boat. Anything bigger than that and I think I'd be looking at a larger truck. My 5.3 Colorado towing my sx230 ok, but the small size of the truck vs the large size of the boat made it a little sketchy. It did it, and I pulled my boat across NC without issue, but it was not exactly relaxing. It wasn't the sort of tow experience where you get to you destination and are cool, calm, relaxed, and ready for a fun day on the lake.

The cost and mileage penalties of the midsize trucks vs their fullsize counterparts are so low it's IMO tough to choose the midsizes.

 

[2kwik4u]

The cost and mileage penalties of the midsize trucks vs their fullsize counterparts are so low it's IMO tough to choose the midsizes.

This is the key. I learned this years ago when I traded a 4dr S10 for an GMC Yukon. The penalty in cost was absurdly low. Like, maybe $250/yr; but the jump in capability was almost absurd it was so much better.

Much like a 190 vs a 242. Unless you need the smaller size to fit into a garage, or be towed with something small. The midsize trucks don't make much sense unless you need them to fit in a garage, or have a very limited space for them. The daily usage of a fullsize is such a TINY price to pay for the big leap in capability, it's almost a no brainer.

 

[BlkGS]

This is the key. I learned this years ago when I traded a 4dr S10 for an GMC Yukon. The penalty in cost was absurdly low. Like, maybe $250/yr; but the jump in capability was almost absurd it was so much better.

Much like a 190 vs a 242. Unless you need the smaller size to fit into a garage, or be towed with something small. The midsize trucks don't make much sense unless you need them to fit in a garage, or have a very limited space for them. The daily usage of a fullsize is such a TINY price to pay for the big leap in capability, it's almost a no brainer.

Yeah... When I bought my colorado I could have easily gotten a fullsize for the same money, likely. 4wd one even. I decided a midsize would be more fun to drive. I was correct, but sized out of the Colorado. Had I gotten a similar fun crew cab fullsize, I wouldn't have sized out and needed to upgrade. Would have saved me money in the long run for sure.

 

[Maslin]

Our Tundra was almost $30k more than our Tacoma, both bought new. The 18 gallon tank in the Tacoma would go 400 miles, the 32 gallon tank in the Tundra does 450. The 20" tires will be considerably more expensive to replace than the Tacoma's 17s.

We need the capacity to comfortably tow the boat and my wife wanted something "nicer" to drive. The Tundra will do what we need better in almost every aspect, but the money isn't even close.

 

[gmac03]

I use my Jeep Gladiator with the 3.0 diesel to tow my AR190, barely feel it back there. I’m on the soft older red Bilstein shocks and BFG km2s, if I ever upgrade the shocks (Bilstein 5100s) and run a more appropriate tire it’d be amazing.

 

[BlkGS]

Our Tundra was almost $30k more than our Tacoma, both bought new. The 18 gallon tank in the Tacoma would go 400 miles, the 32 gallon tank in the Tundra does 450. The 20" tires will be considerably more expensive to replace than the Tacoma's 17s.

We need the capacity to comfortably tow the boat and my wife wanted something "nicer" to drive. The Tundra will do what we need better in almost every aspect, but the money isn't even close.

Guessing the tundra was purchased recently and the Tacoma a few years ago? Also sounds like it's a much higher end trim. Those 2things likely make up at least 20k of that difference, lol.

 

[BlkGS]

I use my Jeep Gladiator with the 3.0 diesel to tow my AR190, barely feel it back there. I’m on the soft older red Bilstein shocks and BFG km2s, if I ever upgrade the shocks (Bilstein 5100s) and run a more appropriate tire it’d be amazing.

I didn't know the gladiator came with the dies. That's a very interesting and enticing option.

 

[Maslin]

Guessing the tundra was purchased recently and the Tacoma a few years ago? Also sounds like it's a much higher end trim. Those 2things likely make up at least 20k of that difference, lol.

Tacoma TRD Off-road was $34k new in 2017. The Tundra is a stripped Platinum, only options are floor mats and black letters in the tailgate, we paid $63k. A new Tacoma is mid 40’s these days, inflation has caught up to everything.

Even removing the purchase price the Tundra is more expensive to run, more expensive to fuel, and nearly impossible to park downtown. If I put the rear bumper right to the line in a parallel parking spot the tires are on the front line.

I love the Tundra, but it’s isn’t an apples to apples replacement for a Tacoma in any comparison.

 

[BlkGS]

Tacoma TRD Off-road was $34k new in 2017. The Tundra is a stripped Platinum, only options are floor mats and black letters in the tailgate, we paid $63k. A new Tacoma is mid 40’s these days, inflation has caught up to everything.

Even removing the purchase price the Tundra is more expensive to run, more expensive to fuel, and nearly impossible to park downtown. If I put the rear bumper right to the line in a parallel parking spot the tires are on the front line.

I love the Tundra, but it’s isn’t an apples to apples replacement for a Tacoma in any comparison.

Agreed, you're comparing a fully loaded truck (there aren't hardly any options on platinum tundra, it comes with them all standard), vs a pretty basic midsize with an off-road package.

I suspect the tundra will be closer in fuel use to the Tacoma than you think. I don't know what's more expensive to run about it besides gas. Agreed on the parking downtown, but I don't go places that have inadequate parking, I'm a suburban boy through and through lol.

Side note, how do you like the tundra overall? It's on my shopping list, platinum trim is a great value, like 20k cheaper than f150 platinum with the same features.

 

[Maslin]

Agreed, you're comparing a fully loaded truck (there aren't hardly any options on platinum tundra, it comes with them all standard), vs a pretty basic midsize with an off-road package.

I suspect the tundra will be closer in fuel use to the Tacoma than you think. I don't know what's more expensive to run about it besides gas. Agreed on the parking downtown, but I don't go places that have inadequate parking, I'm a suburban boy through and through lol.

Side note, how do you like the tundra overall? It's on my shopping list, platinum trim is a great value, like 20k cheaper than f150 platinum with the same features.

My wife's requirements were the glass roof and 360 cameras, outside of that I had free reign. I didn't want a hybrid or rear air springs. The SR5 Tundras are everywhere and you can't get the roof as an option. The Limiteds have a ton of chrome, and by the time we added the roof and cameras the prices were in the low 60s. The Platinum has the glass roof and cameras included. I wish it has a HUD, but that's part of another multi-thousand dollar tech package we don't need. Leather seats are a nice upgrade, heated and ventilated front and rear. The interior pillars and roof are black on the Platinum as well. The ambient lighting is nice but only one color (blue).

I like the Tundra a lot, it has some quirks and we're still getting used to it. The seat memory isn't working, they say it will once our second key arrives. The edge of the door panel where you rest your elbow is pretty "sharp". It's leather and padded a bit, but basically a 90* ledge. The brake hold feature has to be turned on each time, not sure why. Even the heated seats and steering wheel stay turned on, seems like an oversight.

We'll see how it does on gas, currently shows ~14 in town. Getting out on the highway it's been up to 18, but drops back to 14 pretty quickly. The Tacoma was closer to 18 in town and mid/high 20's on the highway.

 

[212s]

Yeah... When I bought my colorado I could have easily gotten a fullsize for the same money, likely. 4wd one even. I decided a midsize would be more fun to drive. I was correct, but sized out of the Colorado. Had I gotten a similar fun crew cab fullsize, I wouldn't have sized out and needed to upgrade. Would have saved me money in the long run for sure.

This is what we did...a 4wd truck was needed for hauling in all weather conditions, so we decided might as well go bigger than necessary for not much more money (0% financing was a bonus). Then we started to compare the interiors of all the full size trucks - the RAM was clearly the winner with the best interior, largest rear seating and storage space, and cleanest exterior styling. My wife didn't hesitate after looking at the various models to speak her mind - RAM all the way. When a woman who is not into trucks says something good, men should listen.

Now that we have it, it's practically a luxury vehicle compared to most other trucks and SUV's. I had a Chevy pickup many years ago before meeting my wife, and the two are not in the same class at all. My friend has a 2020 Mercedes GLS and aside from the ride, he's really impressed with our RAM and said he didn't realize trucks had come up so far in style and comfort. All trucks are much improved in the last 10 years and any of them are decent choices today - yet this thing is nice. But hey, I might be biased a bit.