Re: Will My Truck Tow My Newe Boat
I can't speak about the Tacoma, but I can say that while the F150 with the Ecoboost makes great power, when the boost is on it drinks gas like its going out of style. A buddy insisted that we take his new truck to pickup a tractor I bought, which was about 200 miles each way. He said my old straight 6 F150 would struggle and burn too much gas.
What a mistake, the new truck got no more than 12 mpg over the whole trip. I've never gotten that low mpg on my old truck, even towing. The trip was mostly highway and very slight hills at best coming through eastern PA. The turbo was spinning hard the whole time. The trailer weighed 4000lbs loaded at best. We did have a decent amount of wind coming home but its a flat trailer with a small tractor on it.
I've towed twice that with my truck and gotten over 15mpg every time.
I do have a neighbor with a V6 Tacoma, not sure of the year, its probably 3 or 4 years old. He told me on more than one account that he'd never think of towing with it. No clue why but he also owns a full size 5.3L GMC pickup which he tows his boat and enclosed trailer with all the time. The Toyota just does grocery errands. My experience with Toyota ended when I traded in my one and only Toyota back in 1990, it was a 1988 2.4L 5 speed truck with 4x4. It pulled my boat fine, a 19' Evinrude Trihull with an I/O, but the transfer case, transmission, and engine all went within the first 12,000 miles of service with only light use. I traded it in the first chance I got to get out from under it. It pulled fine but it was so plagued with issues I had to move on. I've since owned only Fords but from what I've seen lately I'd probably choose GM if I bought a new truck again. With that said, I'd likely never buy new again, I'm more than happy with my nearly 30 year old Ford truck.
I'm not partial to any brand, just so its American, which is getting harder and harder to find these days with so many parts being made overseas. I've owned many trucks over the years, so far the only one that's stayed through them all is my 1986 F150 with a 4.9L 4 speed stick shift trans, I bought it new and its still going strong with over 50,000 miles on it. All its ever done is tow my boats and trailers around.
