First time towing with Tacoma

Also, tell that guy to bugger off and insult his truck. It's just some newbie hazing.

Real Pro tip: Pull up the manual online and Control F your search item. The paper version is like 700 pages and no one is reading that joker.

 

In the end I bought this truck to take the dog to the river, if I need to tow I have an F150 ecoboost. This may all be a non-issue if the Tacoma gets a turbo engine like the Ford Ranger. The torque will improve with tuning probably 100 foot-lbs. The Ranger ecoboost with the Ford performance tuner is at ~365 foot pounds at 2500 rpm's. I would imagine Toyota will match that or beat it. Toyota has to move to a turbo engine in the Tacoma and Tundra to stay competitive. There is no question though, Tacoma is king when it comes to re-sale value, reliability and looks. Thanks to the information shared in this forum, I will be using sport mode to tow, control shifting, keep my speeds below 65 mph and be cautious of weight. Thanks to all.

 

Really depends what your towing when having to use the ECT button. I have towed a bit over 1klbs in my 5x10 utility trailer and found it not necessary to use ECT. Truck felt like it needed to shift more and sucked a lot of fuel. I used S5 which seemed perfect....got way better fuel economy and still had plenty enough power at 65 mph for passing other vehicles on the highway. When towing my heavier boat i found ECT good for steep grade hills.

 

The one I got is from 2016 ill try control f. Thanks

 

Just google search 2020 tacoma owners manual and it will pop up. Good luck.

 

I got my taco w/tow package because it does NOT have turbo. Something does not compute about a 4 cylinder doing the work of a 6. The word stress comes to mind. Plus you have the liability of dozens of parts and untold hours of labor trying fix the variable valve timing system after it's worn out from towing.

 

both the 4.0 and 3.5 of the 2nd and 3rd gen Taco have VVT. Don't most rigs have that now?

 

Those arguments hold no water. Countless turbocharged vehicles tow without any problems and the Tacoma 3.5l has complex variable valve timing just like most other modern vehicles.

 

I’m referring to Ranger’s EcoBoost vs my 6 banger when towing close to max capacity. I’ll take the simpler tried and true for towing any day. But for commuting or drive around town the EcoBoost is better on fuel and has sportier acceleration for sure. But of course it looses that advantage when putting a heavy trailer on the hitch.

 

It looses no advantage, it excels. I hope you never want to buy a new Tacoma or Tundra because they both will have turbo chargers. Forced induction and reduced displacement has been the future, Toyota is just late to the game. Nothing about your 3.5 liter v6 is any simpler than a turbo four cylinder. The F150 sells over 75K trucks a month and the ecoboost dominated those sales. Like it or not forced induction is here to stay only to be replaced by electric.

 

I know what you're referring to but you're simply wrong. I've towed with both and the Ranger hands down tows better than the Tacoma with a much improved bottom end response. The Tacoma 3.5 is in no way a simple engine even if it does lack a turbocharger.

I used to tow with a 3.0T V6 Audi with 400hp/400tq and it was way, way better at it than the Tacoma even though it had a smaller displacement engine and a turbocharger and still was better on gas.

 

I have added a Magnuson to "help" with the Tacoma's towing deficiencies. It allows me to cruise on the flats in S5 where I was stuck in S4 before hand. I've towed our trailer loaded (4k lbs) over a 5400 ft pass with no issues. I think the biggest issue with the Tacoma towing is the lack of low end torque and the Magnuson helps that. Even with the blower RPM's are your friends but it's a good idea to monitor trans temps. I regularly see temps spike up into the 240 range and sometimes on long grades at high speed/throttle it will stay in the 230-240 range till you back off.

 

By this same logic do you think the 6 cylinder Taco is more reliable than the 4 banger?

 

Am I in the wrong forum? This is Tacoma World right?

 

Yes but I think a lot of people would take power over simplicity when towing.

 

No argument with electric. That will be my next truck in 10-15 years.

 

This is Tacoma World. And we love our Tacomas (most of us anyhow). But a lot of us also agree that Toyota is pretty far behind in keeping up with technology advances that other manufacturers have been using for some time to great affect.

 

And if you seriously want a TOW rig, forced induction is EXACTLY where you want to go. Via a Turbo Diesel.

 

Just because it's Tacoma World doesn't mean we can't objectively look at the truck and acknowledge the shortcomings of it and what other vehicles do better.

 

When I had the choice between the 3rd gen taco which has been around for 5 years and the ranger which had just been introduced to the US, I took the taco, after owning 2 other tacos before this one with absolutely zero issues. I’m not going to be Ford’s guinea pig.