Initial Impressions: Picked up-2016 Silver Double cab Offroad

It may just do it depending on the tongue weight of the trailer, the weight of your friends, and all the other cargo.

 

Any towing reviews on here or youtube yet? Still waiting for TFT to do a vid of the new truck going up the Ike Gauntlet.

 

The curb weight does include fuel and all "standard" accessories. It's totally ambiguous what standard equipment is. Your point is right though. The payload capacity is roughly 1100 lbs for that config. If your family weighs 1000lbs, it's is not the truck for you. If your trailer weighs close to the max towing weight, it's probably not the truck for you. It will tow the weight safely, but as you've noticed it can't really carry much more than whatever is on the trailer.

It is good for 500 lbs of passenger (2 adults, 2 kids) plus 100 lbs of cargo in the cab, plus up to a 5000lb trailer with the rest of the cargo. That's good enough for a lot of situations.

 

I disagree with you last two sentences. With a 5000# trailer even at only 10% tongue weight of 500# he would probably be over the max payload of the Taco. He would need a smaller trailer or a bigger truck.

 

Agreed... 10% is an aggressively low estimate on tongue weight. If you want to account for a trailer with poor balance characteristics (below) then you should estimate closer to 15-20%.

I'm fairly sure this trailer and pontoon combo weigh in around 4,000lbs and with the way it's distributed on the trailer I'm probably pushing 600-800lbs of tongue weight. Myself (250lbs), my girlfriend (180), 2 other smaller friends (300 total?) and luggage for all 4 of us (70lbs) and a cooler with ice, beverages and food (50lbs) would push me well over payload capacity at 1450lbs if you take the conservative 600lb tongue weight estimate... shit, in this photo the empty truck with nothing but the pontoon is already at what I'd consider the comfortable suspension limit... chassis might be rated higher, but I wouldn't do it with the stock suspension.

If I planned on doing this often I would be driving something larger than a tacoma, that's for sure!

 

sounds like a jake brake in crawl mode

 

Get some riderite air bags?

 

I am only about 150, my wife 140 and our daughter probably 120. So that totals just 410. But throw in camping gear, firewood, fuel, cooler or two and you quickly approach capacity. No room for friends or a decent size trailer with any tongue weight. What if we had a atv in the back? What if we filled the bed with firewood? These are all very limited scenarios. Maybe I was just ignorant to the low capacities of these trucks for those types of activities. I definitely wouldn't pull a boat like in the above picture. But a trailer with jetskis or atvs was definitely something I was considering that a midsize truck would hopefully be able to handle without having to exclude family/friends from a weekend getaway.

 

Nice truck OP

 

If you are going to carry 5 200 lb people, then you want a fullsize truck. If you try to put three people that big in the back seat, they are not going to be happy.

 

Only seen a few people tow smaller items like ATV's and Jetskis here on TW. I too am eagerly awaiting the TFL Ike Gauntlet run with the 2016 Tacoma. I have a 3000 lb Casita travel trailer I need to tow. Starting to think a 2016 might be a little too weak to handle it given that low-rpm torque is down with the 3.5 liter. Stinks because I don't want a behemoth full size to drive around daily but I do need something to tow my trailer over an 11,000 ft pass (same as the Ike Gauntlet) when I go on my mountain biking trips to Moab/Fruita.

 

Which torque curve are you referencing? I've not seen anything posted/published.

 

I do not think anything has been published. Just my impressions from my 2016 test drive and from what others have said. Very little power from a dead stop. A guy on the Facebook Tacoma World page said his 2016 has less torque for towing at low speeds than his old 2014 model. I will keep my eyes open for user reviews on this forum and other towing reviews before I decide on my next vehicle.

 

4k trailer, 4 adults, bed full of gear, no problems in upstate NY. Sure it had to rev going up hills but i wasn't losing speed like my old 3.4 (loaded, with no trailer).



To the guy that said torque is down on the 3.5, i think it's 2lb-ft, and when going up hill, these things downshift to 4k rpm anyways... it's a 6 cylinder, come on. Also, did you have ECT turned on? Without it on, the throttle map is made for best MPG, with ECT on, best acceleration...

 

Beautiful truck. Congrats and enjoy it.

 

Torque is down 1 ft lb on 3.5 but torque is lacking from a dead stop compared to the 4.0. If I lived in the flat mid west it would not be a problem but going over 11k ft mountain passes really kills the power in motors (less O2). Most people who tow Casitas with the 4.0 are satisfied though. I got a year or so of research before I get a new truck. Plenty of people with the 3.5 will be posting towing reviews soon I'd imagine.

 

How the heck are towing capacities even calculated? Isn't the new 2016 heavier? Did they just raise the spec'd capacity to keep pace with the Colorado?

 

The Colorado is about 1300-1500. So a few hundred more overall. The Silverado is around 1800 for most configurations with a tow capacity around 10-11,000 lbs. So those are much greater capability for roughly the same price after the usual heavy rebates. However, yeah, I lose my off road ability and thus would need a lift to get the same clearances off the ground.

 

I think the numbers are grossly under estimated. My dad took his 2014 4 cyl access cab from NY to AK with three people and the bed loaded up to the top of his cap with supplies along with towing a A-Liner camper. He wasn't able to keep speed going up hills from it made it just fine.

 

I had a 1996 Tacoma 4cyl 4x4 single cab. I used to load my Yamaha Grizzly 660 in the back of that thing, put two other people in my cab and throw gear in the back and sometimes even tow a small trailer with another ATV in it to the Pismo Dunes to go offroading all weekend. I never thought about payloads back then. I just knew that as long as I was in the right gear, it would be ok. Nowadays all these videos and comments make me think about worst case scenarios and that if I even come close to the payload or tow limits, I am somehow abusing the vehicle and just asking for some sort of accident or breakdown from it.