Toyota Tacoma tow vehicle

Actually the Ram was less money, but had a few more miles on it, but was very well appointed and came with a nice Leer cap on it.

MadFinnHockey wrote:
Well I decided against a new Tacoma and today traded my 2000 Suburban with 207K on it for a 2011 Ram 1500 SLT Big Horn. This should tow my 3300 lb unit with no problem.

Good choice! Nothing against the Tacoma -- they seem to be nice little trucks -- but I'll bet you the RAM was the same price, gets only slightly lower fuel economy, and has a lot more room and capacity than the Taco. That is what I found when I moved from mid-sized to full-sized.

I've only test driven the Ram (its a 2011, will pick it up early next week), but the power of the 5.7 was very evident, and the ride was sooooo smooth, I was very impressed. I also test drove a used Tundra with the 4.7, and I wasn't impressed at all. It was a 2011, but the steering and braking was very mushy (was probably a problem with that vehicle) and even on the test drive it was constantly shifting, don't know if that was due to a heavy truck and the 4.7. Hopefully I'll be happy with the Ram, and I'll be posting another question soon about brake controllers.

Nice move to get the Ram. Night and day difference you'll see over the Tacoma as it's a bigger, heavier, more capable tow vehicle simply because you went to the next class up in towing. Same would be true if you went to the F150, Silverado, or Tundra. I used to tow with the first gen Tundra and when I upgraded to the second gen Tundra it was like night and day.

Doh! I just see the OP bought a Ram. Excellent choice IMO.
Enjoy!

MadFinnHockey wrote:
This may have been covered somewhere already, but I couldn't find it, so here I go.

I've got a 23 ft hybrid with a unloaded vehicle weight of 3303 that I've been towing with a 2000 Chevy Suburban 4x4. The Suburban has over 200K on it and its time to retire it.

I'm looking at the Toyota Tacoma 4X4 which boasts a towing capacity of 6400 lbs, but its only a V6. Its towing package comes with a oil tranny coolers. I would install an electric brake controller on it.

We don't tow a lot, a handful of trips a year, most less than 50 miles each way. I'd also be using it to tow my boat, but its a 15ft Boston Whaler, so not a lot of weight there.

So, anyone here use a Tacoma to tow a similar size (or larger) trailer, and what are your experiences?

Thanks

I have a Sunset Trail 17' Hybrid. Our 2010 Tacoma TRD V6 4X4 Owned for 45000 miles, towed 9500+) was noisy, bouncy, underpowered, inefficient, with poor shifting. On flat terrain it was marginal whenever a head, or cross wind was present. In hills, it was so unpleasant, my wife declared she was never doing another cross-country towing trip. Come to think of it, that was towing our previous 12' popup, the Hybrid was exponentially worse.
Terrible choice. I owned a 2009, followed by a 2010 Tacoma.
I switched to an F150 with the base 3.7 liter V6. Not only was the power a lot better and more effortless. The overall composure while towing is night and day. (I am not a nervous driver whatsoever btw).

There are other factors that make the Tacoma a poor choice. The rear frame is not boxed, in addition it is lightweight, and every bump that the trailer hits, reverberates back through the chassis. With the lightweight composite box, the rear axle is undersprung to provide a decent unloaded ride, which leads to wallowing, and bottoming with a decent tongue load.

I know this is an aweful post, but the Tacoma is an aweful tow vehicle. Did I mention that my mileage towing and unloaded is 15% better with my heavy pig of an F150?

The Tacoma with the rear locker also has an undersized ring gear in the rear diff to accommodate the electric locking mechanism. I had 3 of them get noisy enough for Toyota to replace them under warranty.

Good move on the 1/2 tonne. I went from a Taco to a Tundra and would never go back. 1MPG worse fuel mileage but way more capable.

Don.

Well I decided against a new Tacoma and today traded my 2000 Suburban with 207K on it for a 2011 Ram 1500 SLT Big Horn. This should tow my 3300 lb unit with no problem.

I towed with a ranger for several years. IMO, go full size 1/2 ton. The MPGs are only 2 mpg or so worse. The truck is much larger and has better abilitys.

The size is what sucks when towing with a mini truck. Any wind and you'll have sway. I've been there and done that (for too long!).

I do have the WD hitch from my old tow vehicle, and I would be adding a brake controller, so that I've got covered. Now I'm wondering about tongue weight, the sticker fell off the trailer, and being a 2003 I can't find that info online...