New to TW - Have a Towing Question

Hoping you guys can share some wisdom and experience when it comes to towing with the Tacoma.

I currently own a Tundra, which I love, but I use it as my daily driver and the fuel economy sucks (shocking, right?). I'm considering trading in for a Tacoma (likely off-road, definitely double cab) for the better fuel economy. I know the Taco isn't great on gas either, but I need a truck and the Tacoma will be an improvement and save me about 200 gallons of gas per year. I know full-size domestics can get about the same mileage as the Tacoma, but I'm a Toyota guy.

So down to my towing question - I own a boat that fully loaded with trailer is around 2500 lbs or so. I'm not too concerned about towing that with a Tacoma. BUT, my wife and I have been considering buying a lightweight travel trailer. The model we are looking at has dry weight of about 3200 lbs. I figure the weight fully loaded will be just shy of 4000 lbs.

Any real-world experience with towing a 4000 lb trailer behind a 3rd gen? How does it perform? How about with the manual transmission? We live in Colorado, so mountain passes and elevation is a real concern. I know that I will need a trailer brake controller and weight distribution / anti-sway hitch. Would like to avoid any other mods, if possible.

Thanks in advance!!

 

Welcome aboard. Lotsa folks here tow with 3 gens you should be fine.

 

I know that 3gens don't get much better than 2gens. My 2gen gets 13 mpg going 70. Rated at 21 on the highway. I would get some real world experience from 3gen owners about their gas mileage before getting rid of the Tundra.

 

Ive got a 2nd gen (V6, auto) and i have towed approx 4000lb three times total of maybe 350-450 miles, never figured out gas mileage but it was really bad. The truck did ok but I wasnt going over 60mph and defiantly wasnt able to accelerate hard.
It was pretty much flat interstate miles towing but the few hills on the interstate defiantly made the truck work hard. For that reason I would not want a tacoma if I was towing that much on a semi regular basis.

 

Thanks for the input! Seems like if we end up getting a travel trailer, I should keep the Tundra.

As far as fuel mileage, fuelly.com has the Tundra Average around 14 mpg and the 3rd gen Tacoma average around 18 mpg. I’m getting 13.5 with my crewmax, so the Tundra number makes sense. I’ve read some threads on this site about MPG and it’s clear as mud. Some claim low 20s and others low to mid teens. I gotta believe the the Tacoma would be 3-4 better than the Tundra. Doesn’t sound like much, but if you do the math it saves 200 gallons of gas per year if you drive 12,000 miles per year.

 

I'd recommend waiting for the next gen Tacomas and Tundras with revised powertrains. The engine performance from toyota isn't even close to competitive with other midsized trucks. I was just eyeballing a 2019 GMC Canyon Denali with a 2.8l Duramax. Damn things return remarkable MPGs daily driving AND towing.