Hey my friend, the dash never liesreads 371 on the dash, so it must be true!
Pickup Trucks
- Thread starter Jampy00
- Start date
I'm 12.8/100 on my Toyota Tacoma half a truck , with A/C blasting . Its actually worse than my v6 F150 in just dumped . And it rides worse , handles worse and maintenence is more expensive. Its the TRD Pro so it looks cool , can climb a mountain , but there better be a gas pump on top of that mountain .
Sold my 4Runner making payment and paying insurance on a vehicle sitting in the driveway cause nobody wanted to drive it didn’t make sense
Priller
Well-known member
Had a 2007 Taco TRD extended cab in BC that did about 15 l/100 km AND wanted premium gas. To be fair, BC isn't an ideal place for mileage with all the ups and downs, but that was an expensive truck to run. Not as expensive as a similar vintage Tundra we had in our fleet that wore through brake discs like they were made of chocolate, but close.
It got sprayed as part of the rusty frame debacle, but I didn't trust that so moved into an F-150.
Mad Mike
Well-known member
I’m looking for another old Tundra. Boughs one in June for up north. The kid and friends use them for hunting and spare work trucks. Last night we were returning from a wedding, a moose stepped out on the 101 and twisted up the truck. The moose didn’t go down, she just **** on the door handle than ran back into the bush. 
Don't forget the moose..
First the engine...now the transmission...
Alas it's not meant to be.
EDIT: Because ESL...
I love the new Maverick...but a considerable price jump is anticipated in Canada...I'll never save the money going hybrid AWD + 4K over a EB + AWD + 4K tow package...
Alas it's not meant to be.
EDIT: Because ESL...
Last edited:
I read or watched that the 2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz can tow 5K
Yes, it's got a higher tow capacity then the Maverick. But not a fan of the Hyundai for some reason.
It's nice, and feature laden...but something about it doesn't jive for me. But I should go drive it and check it out, as there's an owner here on GTAM that praises it, and it's def a good contender.
Friends bought a brand new Subaru Ascent...they love it. But 66k is a bit beyond my budget (like double).
Mad Mike
Well-known member
The moose is an unknown, it got up and wandered into the bush. If the animal can't walk, the police will dispatch it at the scene. If it wanders off severely injured, the police keep a list of locals who are willing to track and dispatch a badly wounded animal on a moment's notice.
Mad Mike
Well-known member
A regular Santa Fe can tow 1650 lbs comfortably. After that you're making compromises and adding supports.
The bigger 2.5t engine can tow to 3500lbs, and the XRT package to 4500lbs. But that's the pull side -- a Santa Fe can only handle stopping a 1650lbs trailer -- your trailer must be equipped with electric trailer brakes. When rolling, safe towing speeds are max 100kmh on the open flat road, and reduce to 70 kmh up or down a 6% grade. A 4500lb trailer also drops your payload (passengers and gear) from 1050lbs to 375lbs -- that's less than the payload of a KLR.
Personally, I'd never tow more than 1200lbs with a small car or car-like SUV.
I used my wifes old santa fe 3.5 to pick up the FIL's boat when he bought it. It was rated for 3000 lbs. Boat was somewhere between 3300 and 4000 lbs. Trailer had surge brakes. Kept speeds down and selected a gear or two down and it behaved well. Road to launch was steep and winding gravel. That was a little more interesting. Slight four wheel spin going up some of the hills.
The thing I like about the 4k tow package on the Maverick is it actually includes a transmission cooler, electric brake booster for the trailer to connect to, higher capacity radiator, 7 pin connector, upgraded AWD drive ratio, and upgraded cooling fan...so it appears that there was some thought put to it.
Was checking my GTI spec and the NA version is rated for...750kg for non-braked trailer. 1600kg for braked trailer.
Not sure I'd feel too comfortable towing more than 1500lbs with it...but apparently they tow big trailers back in Europe with them.
One of the US sites states 'Towing not recommended'...too litigious I believe.
Umm. So you have worse fuel mileage every other day of the year to allow you to tow one day a year? The rest of the stuff seems good. I'd rather force it to use a lower gear and keep the same ratio. Not ideal from getting moving from a stop but I assume it has a torque converter so that's good enough to get almost anything moving.
No clue...didn't dig into it. But I'll def get the AWD + 4k tow if I ever buy that thing.
Priller
Well-known member
Santa Fe =/= Santa Cruz. Totally different vehicles. Per the manual, the Santa Cruz is max tow 5000 with 2 x 150 lb people and 30 lbs of luggage, and as with anything in Ontario, >3000 lbs needs a trailer brake controller (I've installed a Curt Spectrum - very neat little unit, no knee bashing).
Payload is ~1630 lbs, max tongue weight is 500 lbs (this is the number directly subtracted from payload), and the rear suspension has a mechanical self-leveling system as well as an automatic anti-sway system. Curb weight is a hair over 4000 lbs, slightly less than a Ranger.
What this means in the real world is that you can safely tow upwards of 4000 lbs with two people and a reasonable amount of luggage in the vehicle, along with careful weight distribution in the trailer to manage the tongue load (even allowing for a 20% safety margin), as that's the real limiting factor if you're aiming for about 12-13% of the total to be on the hitch.
I've used Weigh Safe hitches successfully in the past, and Princess Auto sells a cheap spring scale for trailers. Probably not approved by the society of weights and measures, but it'll get you in the ballpark. Managing hitch weight is good practice anyway, and insufficient tongue weight is usually the cause of sway. If I'm towing the same thing repeatedly, I'd be taking a few runs through a calibrated scale just to be sure.
From reading comments on Santa Cruz forums, the biggest complaint by people who tow travel trailers is the relatively small tank size. It's 67 litres, and mileage plummets when hauling a big square block down the highway, so they have to stop every couple of hours to fill up. None have complained about sway or the engine lacking guts even on uphills, but as with most vehicles, the mileage decreases exponentially as the speed creeps past 80 km/h...
