Just Bought My Second Tacoma

For many years I drove my 1997 Toyota Tacoma, and when I traded it in it had 165,000 miles. I would have kept it, but bought a new travel trailer (a Jayco Jayflight Baja) and the truck was having a hard time with our Rocky Mountains. I went to the dealer intending to get a Tundra, but it was $10,000 more and didn't fit in my garage. So I ended up looking at newer Tacomas. The dealer even let me take a 2013 up the hill with my trailer on the back. It did better with a 4 liter engine than my '97 Tacoma, so I came back sold on another Tacoma. I found the difference in price between one that was new and one a few years old was negligible so I bought a new one. Suddenly, I had a crisis over color choice as I had always bought used cars with no choice of color. The dealer had six different colors available in an extended cab, 4WD model. I chose Barcelona red. I installed a topper (that opens & locks on three sides), trailer brakes, and Firestone airbag spring helpers. We take off the day after Memorial Day on our first trip with the trailer, headed for Yellowstone. I'm still concerned if it is powerful enough to haul the trailer (3,000 pounds loaded). I'll keep you posted.

 

Welcome to TW!

 

I just returned from the first trip (to Yellowstone from Denver) hauling my Jayco 15' trailer. I had some concerns in that on long hills my rpm was 4,000 and for one stretch I was getting 8 miles to the gallon. However, overall I averaged 10-12 miles per gallon, and rpms about 2500-3k. We completed 1400 miles in five days. So the verdict to my own survey (which thus far no one has responded to) is if I was doing a lot of camping with this trailer a Tundra would be a better choice, but since I also use the truck for other driving and our trips with the trailer are no more than a half dozen times a year, the Tacoma will do.

 

Your experience sounds very similar to mine. I tow a smallish travel trailer with my 2003 Tacoma DoubleCab (V6 engine). Smaller engine than you have I think. I added a transmission cooler since my truck doesn't have an official tow package, it it seems to knock about 10 degrees F off the transmission fluid temp.

 

I'll take that advice and have one installed!