Towing - My 4.0L v6 Taco vs wife's Hyundai

My 2013 Tacoma TRD Sport v6 has 236hp/266ftlb. My wife's 2014 Hyundai Santa-Fe v6 has 290hp/252ftlb. Sure I know my taco has the tow package n leaf springs etc. But my wife was telling me that it seems her car has way more HP and about equal TQ so she should be able to out pull my taco. I didn't have a great way to defend the taco as the numbers look In her favor. If she has the tow package w hitch is there any argument for the taco?

 

Wouldn't matter if that Hyundai had 400hp/400lb/ft of torque. The tow rating is not based entirely off of hp & torque, but gearing, braking and the frame/ structure. I bet the Hyundai is geared super tall like 3.15, 3.55 ish (too lazy to look up) for highway traveling and max fuel economy. The 2nd gen Tacoma, while not the best tow machine on the market, was built with more of a towing-purpose, use over Max fuel economy, in fact this is very evident as fuel economy is among the 2nd gens least attributes.

One other noteworthy item. The 1GR makes considerably less hp than the V6 in your wife's Hyundai, but was built from the ground up as a truck engine. While down on hp and equal in torque, the torque curve comes in earlier and stays through the mid range when pulling a load.

The Hyundai has a V6 derived from a sedan (Genesis I think?) so while it is more powerful, it will feel more peaky, and requiring revving the engine higher to equal the torque of the Tacoma.

I would also factor in the extra heavy duty alternator, cooling and beefier hitch you get with the Tacoma tow pkg group. I guarantee there is no "extra" transmission or aux cooling equipment on the Santa Fe.

I would rather pull a 5,000 lb trailer with a Tacoma .vs a CUV, just saying. I willing to bet the Tacoma has a much higher tongue weight, than the Santa Fe, given you are comparing a rear suspension on something designed to haul loads and payload .vs something designed specifically to haul people.

In a nutshell, if I was towing this load around the block, or just in town, sure why not take the Hyundai. If I was towing this load in a hilly area, or across country, I would rather the Tacoma.

 

Another way to look at this is, would you rather tow a heavy load with a Highlander or a Tacoma? (Insert any CUV ) Highlander makes more hp & torque, but it has a car based V6 and the rear coil-sprung suspension will sag more than the rear of a Tacoma.

As an example, a 4Runner might be better than either, due to the BOF design like a truck (giving it a higher tow rating) than a CUV.

 

^ What he said.

Unfortunately, the world is so focused on peak power and peak torque figures that they miss what actually matters - power under the curve. I would rather have 250lb-ft of torque across the entire rev range of the engine than have 300lb-ft at peak for maybe a 1000RPM span but 200lb-ft everywhere else.

Go find a trailer (within the tow rating of both vehicles), hook it up to each vehicle one at a time, and tow it around. Do a couple tests. Do an acceleration test and braking test. I bet almost anything the Tacoma will win both. I also can count on the fact that the Tacoma won't feel stressed when it is towing, while the Santa Fe's drivability will be clearly impacted.

 

peak numbers mean nothing.

Do an area under the curve comparison between the two vehicles.... id be willing to bet the tacoma has MUCH more area under the curve.... (read: more power n torque over a broader range.)

This is the reason why the 4.0L in the tacoma beats things like the jeep / pathfinder with more peak hp / torque numbers in things like 0-60


Edit - revotaco beat me to it.

 

Proof is in the pudding, hook 5K behind both and find some big hills, and track fuel economy and long term durability of both. Or, tow what you want with what you want. Who really cares? Seriously, what's the big deal?

 

Hook 'em both up with a snatch strap and see who wins. Best 2 out of 3. And make sure you video it?

 

Compare the tow caps. from the owners manuals and I bet the hyundai's is half the tacoma's

 

Tacoma has the bits and pieces for towing like it's been said. Transmission, frame and engine. Engine was overbuilt for the V6. Frame vs unibody. And the engine makes it's power at a point/in a range more useful for towing.

 

Just start towing with the Hyundai, see how it handles it.

 

I don't mean to scare you, but get rid of that Hyundai while you still can. We just got rid of my wife's '12 Santa fe v6 limited and bought her a 4runner which I should have done in the first place. It had 57k miles on it and has had 4 different issues in the last year we owned it. Random engine power loss (known TPS issue, wife pulled out of the neighborhood and the car just completely lost power, then started back up) dealer unable to replicate. Power steering tensioner pulley went bad, driver's side wheel bearing went bad, and the power windows randomly stopped working one day, then magically the next day (quite on a rainy day and the car was in the garage with the windows down, had to leave it there all day), before I was going to take it to the dealer they started working again.

Also that thing depreciated like no other. We only got $15,500 on trade for it Ugh makes me sick to my stomach. Remember this vehicle was $30k two years ago.

Everyone told me that hyundai improved their quality so I decided to give them a shot... Big mistake!

I don't mean to scare you and I hope yours works out well but I had a bad experience and will never buy another hyundai.

 

Me thinks Op's wife is hoping that even though the Tacoma is the better tool for the job, she doesn't want to ride 6+ hrs in a penalty box .vs her plush leather interior and bun warmers.

Don't get me wrong, I would take my Tacoma everyday of the week, over my wife's car on a road trip. But the reality is, she can only stand my Tacoma for about 1/2 hr before complaining about seat comfort, road noise, etc.....

 

Thanks for all the replies guys. Actually where this conversation started is we were talking about buying a pop-up tent trailer. I think those weigh like 2500-3500lbs max. I was telling her that now that we have a newborn baby, plus a 12 year old kid and a dog, the back seat in the truck will be full for camping trips. She was saying why doesnt she just pull the trailer with her Hyundai? Her car has 3 rows of seats and she says we'd be more comfortable in there. Her car could probably pull it, it isnt 6000lbs trailer. However, we probably still will want the bed of the Taco for stuff, so I think its best we squeeze in the Taco. With the third row of seats up in her Hyundai, there is no trunk area.

 

Personally I prefer a rear wheel drive when towing. The front drive can actually lose traction under the right circumstances.

 

I dont foresee we will ever tow with her Santa-Fe. It just did bring up a discussion that I wasn't ready at the moment to defend the Tacoma with less HP engine. But I am now, thank you all.

And I do think that we can fit the Dog, baby and 12yo kid in the rear seat of the Taco. It just is snug. BFD, get over it. And I agree with having the Taco around the camp area is better than her little car. Besides, I dont think she even has the tow package so I am not going to add a hitch to that car of hers. But it did make for a nice little discussion we had.

 

Bummer. Just recently loaded up the wife and mutts for an 8 hour road trip to Bend Oregon. Return trip was longer due to side route to Crater Lake. No complaints from the spousal unit, and she drives an Audi.

 

What? I'd leave the wife and newborn before I'd leave my dog, for a camping trip.

 

All this talk of tug offs.