V6 vs 4 cylinder

My experience in Pennsylvania has been quite the opposite- most of the time it's the people in 4x4's who shit the bed because they think they can get away with running weedy old all seasons in snow. Had a guy in a stuck Jeep Grand Cherokee wave me down once and scream "there's no way you'll make it up the hill in that!!!" because I was driving a VW Golf. I had good snow tires on the car, and so I just rolled up the window and was on my way. Didn't even slip once. So I don't really see much to worry about with my 4x2 Taco.

Though to be fair the 4x2 work truck I drove ages ago (F150) would do a skid every time you went to pull out of a driveway in the rain it was so damn tail happy. Of course for 18 y/o me, that was the best.


Anyways, back on topic:

2016 Camry 2.5 : 178 hp @ 6000 rpm; 170 lb.-ft. @ 4100 rpm
2016 Tacoma 2.7 : 159 hp @ 5200 rpm; 180 lb.-ft. @ 3800 rpm

I doubt the 2.7's are tuned down too hard. HP isn't the whole story, look at the peaks. It's just tuned for the lower end.

Apparently all the extra power in these 2.7's is in a nice long tube header. It's like 25 more lb/ft, 650 RPM earlier. Everything else is 1 or 2 hp here and there, unless you go for a supercharger. I'm certainly going to grab an LCE header, but in the meantime I would describe the 4's power as adequate... nothing special, but adequate.

 

I had dedicated snow tires in the winters in Colorado on my Outback and that car was more sure-footed in shitty roads than any 4x4 truck. Just different applications. I'd for sure take a 2WD car (the Subie was AWD) and dedicated snow tires over 4x4 with non-snow tires. 4x4 still isn't optimal in snow. It's made for off-road use. Use the right tool for the job.

 

I heard speculation about the 2016 2TR-FE, that compression ratio increased from 9.6.1 to 10.2.1 and it received dual VVT-I.

 

You heard right. There's a little "DUAL" over the VVT-i logo on the valve cover under my hood. Same with the compression ratio, though that's a bit tougher for me to check!

Adding VVT to the exhaust isn't really a game-changer though, the gains are mostly on the intake side- look at every VVT car out there and I'm pretty sure without fail, if only one cam is VVT, it's the intake side. Hence why max power listed hasn't changed- I'm guessing the powerband did get a reasonable bit wider, though.

 

I think torque increased from 181 to 189 but don't know about horsepower. I would imagine the power curve is slightly better.

I had a 2015 2.7L 4x4 stickshift and I know every bit helps lol

 

For quite some time, I've had 4 cyl in my trucks and cars - 1990 and 91 Nissan Pickup 2wd sticks, 1998 Taco Prerunner Access Cab 2.7 Automatic, and a couple of Honda Elements...I drive 30k a year for my business. The Nissan's got low 20's, the 1998 Taco Prerunner best was 22 low of 18.5 and ave. 19-20 mpg. My Elements (fwd) got 23.5 ave mpg (there not know for great gas mileage).

Now I just bought an 2008 Prerunner 4.0 Access Cab automatic. My two tankfuls, got 19.75 (a spirited driving week) and 20.75 mpg's (going no more than 70 mph on the highway) respectfully. This morning I just replaced some very poorly performing Bosch spark plugs (truck was lugging under load and vibrating as well) and replacing them with Denso Iridium. I was crossing my fingers hoping this might make a difference. It did! The Prerrunner is sooo much better. No more lugging! Yay. The vibration has also quieted down a great deal, although there's still something going on. All said I was getting an ave of 20 mpg's under less than perfect tuning.

I expect I should be able to get at least another mpg or more. Pound for pound, power wise, the 4.0 is a good bang for the gallon. Mileage wise, it's even better than my 1998 2.7 Taco Prerunner. Now if it just can have the same bulletproof reliability I'll be very happy. So far I've got some annoying issues with this 2nd gen, but one step at a time.