What to buy : SR5 or TRD ?

Yeah, hauling the trailer through Pennsylvania kills my gas. Same thing through Canadian Rockies. But as I said, I only haul 2 or 3 times a year and the rest of the year I want to economize. And it would kill me not to buy Toyota. I've had Toyotas and Hondas for 25 years and am sold on their quality.
Although lately ... recalls
Looks count for something too.

 

When I moved to FL from CT I pulled a trailer down that weighed in about 5500 pounds including the stuff in the bed. Things to note:

-I pulled off the 33s I had on the truck and put the stock wheels back on for the drive down. Put the aftermarket wheels in the bed.

-Truck was a 2006 TRD offroad extended cab with tow package.

-V6 with manual tranny. The manual gets worse mileage than auto so keep that in mind

-Although I drove conservative to get best mileage I can, I was very UNIMPRESSED with the tow. It was a 6x12 enclosed trailer and even though I was 1k below max weight the truck did not like towing it. Power was worse than I expected and the trailer wandered all over the place.

-Averaged 13mpg on the trip which I guess wasnt too bad, but I was on the highway the whole time and kept the speed very low because the ride got terrible up around 65.

-Overall I feel this truck is terrible for towing anything over a distance unless you are way below the max weight. Its fine for towing around town once in a while like a boat or something.

 

Man!
That's discouraging. You sure killed this thread with that post.
does everyone feel that way about towing?
Can it really be worse than a mini-van?

 

Well hey guys.
My question has been answered. If the SR5 is no better on gas then I'll go for the TRD. There are a lot more on the market up here and they're easier to re-sell.
Thanks for all your contributions.

 

Looking at the Sienna specs I see it's 210hp, 220 torque. So 236hp, 270 torque you'd think the Taco would perform better.

Sienna, 3932lbs curb weight, Tacoma, 4150-ish curb weight, so not much difference there.

Towing my 3150lb dry travel trailer, 8x18, the truck gets about 8-10mpg trying to hold 75mph on the freeway, has to be floored most of the time. But, drop down to 65mph and the mileage goes up to about 13mpg because I can drop the pedal down to half-throttle. The last 10mph seems to make a big difference. Wind resistance, I guess.

On a side note, how is it a 2002 Sienna with a 3.0 V6 gets 210hp and 220 torque, but twelve years later a Tacoma with a 4.0 V6 can only manage 26 more HP and 50 lbs more torque?

Meanwhile, I see the 2013 Sienna has a 3.5 V6, producing 266hp and 245 torque. EPA estimates 18/25 with a 4310lb curb weight and a 6-spd auto trans. It looks like the Sienna also has about 400lbs more cargo capacity, 1600lbs vs. 1200lbs for the Tacoma. WTF???? The payload I'm not sure about, but I see the GVWR is 5995lbs, and the curb weight 4310lbs, so that is 1685lbs cargo capacity, right?

And preemptively, don't anybody tell me "go get a Sienna." Just saying Toyota should throw us Tacoma dogs a bone . . . . .

 

The biggest thing that impacts MPG while towing the the wind profile of the trailer. Go over to the towing thread and you will see folks with aero-dynamic, light weight trailers easily getting 15 MPG with either the TRD or SR5 w/tow package @ 65MPH. If the trailer is boxy and near max GVW, the milage sucks. This is why I'm waiting for my custom built Aliner hard-side pop-up camper to be delivered. No taller than the bed rails while under tow.

 

PRIUS

 

Yep! I have both a 2010 Prius and a 2014 Taco. Love 'em both for their respective use.

 

As a general rule I take a vehicle's rated tow weight and cut it in half. That's typically what it can haul comfortably imo.

Economical is not what'd I would use to describe the Tacoma. Anyone who thinks that these trucks are more because they're smaller is in for some disappointment.

 

My first trip that I took in this truck from Pa to North Carolina, I averaged 20 mpgs. That was with 265/75-16 tires. Now with winter temps, mileage is down.

I had a 6 speed manual prior to this auto, and the manual I would get 16-18 with the same tire size.

I've never towed, so I don't have any personal #'s to share.

 

Final Note :
So in the end , basing my decision solely on what I like AND can afford, (and not so much on gas consumption) I bought a (drumroll) TRD-SR5. 2010.