Road Tripping in a stock 2.7 DCSB SR5

I got my `21 2.7 DCSB SR5 last December and as anyone with a 2.7 will tell you, it’s not going to win any races. Driving on the highways of Houston doesn’t put it to much of a test and I really wanted to take it on a long road trip into the mountains and onto some dirt roads to see how she would do. This summer I had the pleasure of going on not just one but two long road trips into the mountains, and I thought I’d share how it went for anyone who is considering getting a 4 cylinder or who already has one and hasn’t done any road tripping with it yet.

The TL;DR version is that it wasn’t perfect but it was just fine and I’m keeping it.

The ultimate destination for our first trip was Templeton, California, but we wanted to take the scenic route on the way there and I did some research to look for scenic drives that were more or less on the way. From Houston, we stopped in San Antonio for an overnight with family there. The next day we got up before the sun and headed to Carlsbad Caverns, then up 244 to Ruidoso for an overnight. The next day we went west to Flagstaff and then down 89a to Sedona. After an overnight there we headed back up 89a to Flagstaff, then across the Mojave Desert to Templeton.

The DCSB weighs in at about 4,000 lbs, which is a lot of weight for 4 cylinders to push around. Added to that we had three people and all of their luggage (over a week’s worth) plus a cooler full of food, drinks and ice.

The drive to Carlsbad and even up to Ruidoso didn’t have any serious inclines that I can recall, so there were no major tests for the truck on that leg of the journey. Our route from Carlsbad took us north on 285 to Artesia, west on 82 to Cloudcroft and then 244 up to Ruidoso. 82 just before you get to Cloudcroft is very scenic, as is 244 up through the Mescalero reservation. It was a great part of the drive.


My taco’s first kinda-sorta offroad test came when we accidentally found ourselves on Indian Service Road 10. It’s a not-very-smooth dirt and gravel road, and it had been raining quite a lot. Aside from a bit of fishtailing it was fine. When we got to the hotel and I opened the tonneau cover I discovered that if you drive through wet mud, it can get up behind the tail lights, up inside of the bed rails and get inside the bed a little bit. It surprised me but it wasn’t a problem. I also found that mud looks good on my truck.

Heading out of Ruidoso is where I first noticed that it’s hard to maintain highway speeds going uphill in the mountains. I didn’t have to be trying to go up a super steep incline, but if the incline is very long, pretty soon I was in 4th gear at 3500rpm doing 60mph or less in the right lane. I had a couple of V6 tacos pass me going much faster looking like they weren’t even breaking a sweat.

I had a little bit of a mishap at the Very Large Array. We were pulled over to look at the array, shoot some photos and make a sandwich. I’d opened the tonneau cover to get to the cooler, and while we hung out eating our sandwiches I closed the cover, but didn’t latch it down and didn’t close the tailgate. It was pretty windy, and a sudden gust of wind flipped the cover open, which flew up and hit the sharkfin antenna hard enough to partially knock the cover off. It wouldn’t come completely off but I could lift the back part of it almost half of an inch off the roof of the truck. No matter how hard I pushed on it, it wouldn’t lock back into place. I did fix it once I got to Templeton and gained access to some tools. That involved having to drop the roof liner and disassemble the antenna entirely, but that’s for another post. Moral of the story: keep your tonneau cover closed in windy conditions.


Consider the drive down 89a from Flagstaff a bucket list item if you’re a scenery junkie. It’s an awesome drive. It’s also pretty steep, narrow and winding. People who easily get carsick beware. Going from Flagstaff to Sedona is downhill, and I wondered how well I’d do going back the other direction, since it’s quite steep in places. I was having visions of doing 30 mph up the steep hill with 10 cars lined up behind me. Fortunately that never materialized. Because of all of the sharp turns you can’t go very fast anyway, and I had no problems whatsoever taking the drive back up 89a the next day. If anything, there were times when I was stuck behind people going slower than me.



The rest of the trip, including the trip back home (through Phoenix and El Paso) was pretty uneventful, driving-wise. I did find myself on long uphill stretches in the mountains of California when, again, I was struggling to maintain highway speeds.

My second trip was up to Palo Duro Canyon where I camped for a bit, then Keystone, Colorado, then Rocky Mountain National Park, back to Palo Duro and then back home to Houston. This time I was flying solo. By this time I knew what to expect when I got into the mountains, and having realistic expectations is part of the deal. I might have felt slightly frustrated at not being able to do more than 60 up long inclines, but I wasn’t ready to sell the truck or anything.




The way into Keystone took me into Loveland pass. You definitely need to get out at the top of the pass, head down some of the short trails up there and take in the view.


I got more of a backroads test outside of Keystone. If you want a great drive with some great scenery and lots of really nice hiking trails, head east out of Keystone on Montezuma, and then north on 260/Peru Creek Trail. Peru Creek was much more offroad-y than Indian Service Road 10 and I was glad I wasn’t in my Camry. This isn’t a car-friendly road. The stock SR5 suspension did just fine and got me to some really great places. There’s lots of very nice scenery in and around Keystone / Dillon / Frisco without having to go offroad at all but the hiking trails along Peru Creek Trail are even better.


There was more steep driving in RMNP, but nothing that was new. Wow, what an incredible place. I’ve been there several times before but it never ceases to fill me with awe. I got to see some parts of the park I hadn’t seen before, particularly Hidden Valley. By the way, if you’re planning to go to any national parks, be aware that you’re required to make a reservation for the day and time you want to enter. You need to do that a couple of weeks in advance because they sell out. I didn’t know that until I arrived at the park and of course there were none available for that day or the next two weeks. One of the rangers said that I could keep hitting refresh on my phone on the online registration page hoping someone would cancel, but she said that would be a waste of time. I prayed a lot and hit refresh a lot and a space opened up for me. When I told the ranger she said “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that happen.” REGISTER EARLY.


Now that I’ve got these two road trips under my belt, and have driven my taco into some real mountains and on some fairly rough roads, I’m happy with it. Yes, I wish it had more power, but I didn’t get this truck for speed. I got it for longevity and for hauling things around that I can’t haul in my Camry, and maybe for driving on some rougher roads in order to get to some great places. So far she’s been good for all of that.

Someday I do want to rent (or buy??) a very small camper and then see how that goes. Until then, I’m happy with this truck.

 

Nothing wrong with the 4 cylinder! Thanks for the writeup.

I purposefully put my V6 3rd gen into S4 on almost any sort of incline as it makes the driving experience much more enjoyable.

The 89A between Flag and Sedona really is a bucket list road. I've driven it 200+ times and it's still engaging. On the times I caught it without traffic (off season, early in the morning on weekdays), it was one of the most engaging drives I ever had behind the wheel of my BMW and R6.

 

Interesting they even consider putting the four banger in a double cab. Glad you like the engine/truck though.

 

Is this the same 2.7l that was in the second gen?

I had two 2006 Tacoma’s. One single cab with the 2.7l manual which was very adequate and then a access cab with the 4.0l which I really enjoyed.

 

I'm pretty sure they're both the same engine, the 2TR-FE, 159 hp. The new Ford Ranger has a 2.3 liter inline 4, but with with turbo so it cranks out 270 hp. I really wish that Toyota would turbocharge their 2.7.