Escape 19 towing with a 2020 Tacoma

[lostskier]

I towed my R-Pod with a 2017 Tacoma TRD offroad. Hated it. Cruise control wouldn't stay on, lots of automatic shifting on the hills. Was fine around town and for small trips. But not being able to just sit back, let the cruise go...and relax was a deal breaker as I travel from the Midwest to the SW. I upgraded to a Tundra and it pulls my E-19 just great. Cruise works except for on the steeper hills, stable, relaxing to drive. If your only driving short distances and don't mind not having a cruise control, the Tacoma will do fine. If you plan to go across country, I'd get something with more power.

 

[Red-ESC]

Since fuel in Canada is sold by the litre ( nobody sells it by the Imperial gallon ), do you have to send your receipts back to Britain to get the fuel amount converted to Imperial?
Or do you convert it yourself, just to confuse everybody?

My apologies for being too lazy to convert. 17.5 miles per Imperial gallon is equivalent to 16.14 liters per 100 Kilometers or 14.57 miles/US gallon. 19 miles per Imperial gallon is equivalent to 14.87 liters per 100 Kilometers or 15.82 miles/US gallon.

My age is showing as I never did get comfortable with liters/100 kilometers or the volume of the American gallon vs an Imperial gallon. Its just easier for me to understand what is good, average or bad consumption. I wonder how I am going to measure consumption when we are all driving electric vehicles?

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

... I wonder how I am going to measure consumption when we are all driving electric vehicles?

watt*hours per mile or km. or miles or km per KWH.

example, a Tesla Model S '90' has a 90KWH battery, and in theory a 270 mile or so range.

so thats 327 watt*hours/mile, or 3 miles/KWH

 

[Brian B-P]

watt*hours per mile or km. or miles or km per KWH.

example, a Tesla Model S '90' has a 90KWH battery, and in theory a 270 mile or so range.

so thats 327 watt*hours/mile, or 3 miles/KWH

Right - those all work. I like the standard form adopted in Canada, following the "consumption per 100 kilometres" format used for gasoline and diesel consumption ratings: kWh/100 km.

For example, 90 kWh for 270 miles would be 20.7 kWh/100 km (which could be expressed as 207 Which/km). A gasoline car would use several litres per 100 kilometres.

Just like gasoline and diesel consumption, there are tests for city and highway conditions, and both plus a combined value are reported. Unlike gasoline and diesel, city consumption is lower than highway.


The question came up because Red was wondering how to judge what is good economy or consumption in a new era of electric vehicles. The answer is to get a fresh start using current measurement units, since there is no rational comparison with fuel-burning vehicles.

 

[cpaharley2008]

I towed my R-Pod with a 2017 Tacoma TRD offroad. Hated it. Cruise control wouldn't stay on, lots of automatic shifting on the hills. Was fine around town and for small trips. But not being able to just sit back, let the cruise go...and relax was a deal breaker as I travel from the Midwest to the SW. I upgraded to a Tundra and it pulls my E-19 just great. Cruise works except for on the steeper hills, stable, relaxing to drive. If your only driving short distances and don't mind not having a cruise control, the Tacoma will do fine. If you plan to go across country, I'd get something with more power.

I always thought towing and cruise control was not an ideal set up and once in "tow mode" I do not use cruise.

 

[Iowa Dave]

Personally I do not tow in cruise except for a very short distance, in dead flat country when I need to stretch or shift around in my seat if I feel my back getting tight. Less than a mile and maybe two times in a day of towing. I prefer to tow off the foot feed and I do not ever relax but I do get comfortable. Each part of driving for me centers around concentration. Temperature, visibility, audio, clothing, seat and back support, all have to work together or I’m not happy.
Just my $ .02. YMMV.
Iowa Dave

 

[mtnest]

My tow vehicle is a 2017 Tacoma Off Road with automatic transmission. The owner's manual specially says do not tow using cruise control, which is how I tow 99% of the time. The exception would be like what Dave describes, driving on a dead flat road with cruise control on for only for a short time. -Tom

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

I use cruise quite a lot when towing on wide open interstates.

 

[Rossue2]

I use mine all the time(except in rain)- one of the perks of a 3.5 EcoBoost or any similar torque monster. Without I would have sciatica pain after an hour or so of driving.

 

[Doug2000]

Can the new generation of Tacoma tow a Escape 19 or 21, yes, can they do it well? If your happy with your truck, keep it, just expect to be patient on the hills. Expect to be doing 60 km/h in third on a climb. If your in Colorado going over the Continental Divide, you'll be doing 50 km/h. Just take it easy. If your in a rush, get a F-250

I had a 08 Tacoma, a 17 4Runner, a 19 Tundra 4.6L and now a 17 Tundra 5.7L. 7 Toyota's and never a repair aside from brakes and oil.

 

[LRL]

You'll get all kinds of responses, I'm sure... many from people who have never towed with a Tacoma but are certain it is not a pleasant experience. All I know is that I've been towing our E21 with an automatic transmission Tacoma V6 for the past 4 years. We've been all over the west: the Rockies, through Montana, Utah, as well as the Sierra and much of Oregon. When climbing a steep hill, I perhaps can't go much more than 50-55 MPH, but the engine is NOT revving at an annoying RPM, and we've never had a problem.