Small trucks - Colorado or Tacoma

Post by **Matt** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 10:53 am

Is anyone running a small truck for towing their sleds like a Colorado or Tacoma? How is it working out for you? I'll be using a covered 2 sled trailer.

PS: If you read this Rainville, I apologize in advance for even mentioning the Tacoma.

Post by **WinnipegStPaul9** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 10:32 am

Matt, I guess as an Indiana guy (home of the Tacoma assembly plant) I should be excited but I'm still a Chevy, Ford, or Dodge kind of guy. Anyway, my advice would be to purchase a vehicle that meets your "90% of the time" needs. Don't purchase one just to pull sleds or you might suffer everytime you don't pull sleds. If you buy something that meets your "everyday" needs you might suffer a little when pulling sleds but that's most likely a small percentage of the time. This is a crappy analogy but when truck mounted campers became the rage in the late 60's, everyone wanted a "heavy duty 3/4 ton Camper Special". Then they'd come back complaining of the poor fuel mileage during their everyday trips to work. The complaint was always the same "I get the same mileage whether the camper is on or off!". Don

Post by **Matt** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 9:29 pm

Don, that is about where I'm at. I do a lot of running around, a lot of money on gas, but am only towing sleds a few days a year. My main concerns when it comes to the small pickups is braking and handling. These are safety issues.

RAT540 · Post by **RAT540** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 9:58 pm

BEING THE OWNER OF 3 TRUCKS,
75 GMC HEAVY HALF TON 4X4 8 FT BED
86 GMC JIMMY 4X4 S-10
96 TAHOE 2 DOOR 5.7
26 INCLOSED TRAILER,NOT A PROBLEM WITH THE 2 BIGGER TRUCKS
86 JIMMY WITH OPEN AIR TRAILER WITH 3 SLED ON IT ,NO PROBLEM OHIO TO PA

DAVE

Post by **WinnipegStPaul9** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 5:00 pm

Matt, when determining the truck you want, find out the maximum trailer weight and tongue weight each truck will handle. If the answer meets or exceeds the amount of gross weight and/or tongue weight of your trailer and sleds,then the truck definately will brake and handle as it should. Don

Post by **Matt** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 7:59 pm

I personally believe those ratings are usually a good bit more then you really want to tow comfortably. For example, I've owned 2 Jeep Cherokees. I loved them, but I've found 2 downfalls when towing well under their rating. 1) The rear leaf springs always sag permanently after a few years of towing/full loads inside.
2) They're brakes just aren't that good with the extra weight. Again, well under their tow ratings.

With my current truck, I think it's tow rating is something like 6k lbs. My mom had a 24' RV listed as 4k lbs. I really didn't like driving it though. It felt underpowered (really drags up hills), and didn't handle very well.

So I guess that is why I'm looking for personal experience.

ChickenRat · Post by **ChickenRat** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 12:13 am

I'll be in the minority here but me and my family have had incredibly good luck with Toyota products. I've beat the hell out of my 4Runner, SR5 pickup, and Corolla comuter car. Unbelievable reliability. I pulled a boat that was way too big for my 4Runner and it still handled it well. I currently have a Ford F250 SuperDuty and I really don't like it. Keeps blowing coil packs every 15-20,000 miles. My previous F250 did the same thing. My dad has a Chevy 2500 that has been plagued with electrical problems. My next truck will be a Tundra. I may be biased but I know from the luck we've had that our Toyota's have always done what was asked of them anytime, anywhere. Our Chevy's and Fords have been in the shop when we've needed them.

Just my take.......

Robb

Liquifire 4/6 · Post by **Liquifire 4/6** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 12:23 am

Matt......Like you, I was considering a Canyon/Colorado as a tow vehicle. Some people talked me out of it saying I'd find it underpowered and last week I wound up buying an 08 Silverado crew cab with the 5.3. I broke it in on the 1500 mile trip to pick up the Sunfire from Chris. I pulled an open 2 place trailer and the trip computer showed 18.7 mpg average going to Palisade and 14.5 mpg on the way home. I was fighting a pretty big headwind on the return trip. The truck is nice and has plenty of guts......but I think I would have been perfectly happy with a Colorado and likely would have done a fair bit better on fuel. Still, I guess my mileage was not too bad for it being it's first run and also considering the weather was pretty rotten. I'm hoping it'll improve considerably when it gets a few more miles on it.

JoeRainville · Post by **JoeRainville** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 1:10 pm

Hi Matt,

I sort of forgive you for even thinking about buying a Toyota. The Tacoma is a decent little truck, but not very good for towing. Don't even try it with the 4 cylinder version. My buddie and occational reader of this page, Cory Green, had a V-6 4X4 Tacoma while his now ex-girlfriend had a 4 cylinder Saturn Vue.

Guess what? Yea, the Saturn Vue with the 4 Cylinder/5 speed towed sleds better than his truck. Yes, I found that darn funny.

Several of my co-workers have the Collorado trucks, and most seem to really like them, expesially the crew cab. The milage is "reasonable" but not much better than GM's INDUSTRY LEADING milage of the late model Silverado's. My old 2000 GMC Sieria half ton, regular cab, 4X4 with the 4.8 Liter V-8 and a 5 speed manual got 18 around town and 22-24 highway with 3.73 gears. But my 6.0 gas 5 spd 2500 HD's were tough on fuel at 15 mpg highway and 10 towing my 24 foot enclosed trailer. My 06 DMax is MUCH better at 20/22 and 12-14 towing the trailer.

A co-worker had a new 2000 Tacoma at the time with a 4 cylinder, 5 spd and 4wd. Yep, my full size 2000 GMC got better milage!

Do your homework, but a Collorado or Canyon should meet your needs pretty well. If your going to buy a new one, I can extend to you GM's Supplier discount. And, all GM products since 07 come with a 100,000 mile powertrain warrenty too.

Good luck truck shopping!

-Rainville

PS: Robb, sorry to hear you have had issues with domestic products. But, the new Tundra is a POS. So far they have had recalls for blown motors, 6 speed automatics that jam in 2 gears, problems with spindles, U-joints, etc. Consumer Reports BOOTED the Tundra off there recommended list at the same time they booted the V-6 Camry. I would wait a few years for Toyota to get that truck figured out. Oh yea, and it uses more fuel than the Silverado...

Disclaimer: I am an employee of General Motors Corporation working on Hydrogen Fuel Cells. I have owned 2 GMC Sierias, one Avalanche, and 3 Chevy 2500 HD Silverado's, including my current 06 DMax / 6 speed manual truck.

afponiky · Post by **afponiky** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 3:18 pm

I'm running an "04" Silverado crew cab Z71 with the 5.7 in it.

I love it, milage goes from about 16 - 19 weither I'm towing or not.

Handles great even with 3 cord of wood on the trailer. Buy a good trailer, get electric brakes and keep your foot out of the gas.

I've never had vehicles that get great milage, I don't care though. I buy what I need and I do a lot of hauling between the tractors, cutting wood or sleds.

You have to be comfortable in what your driving and I would never be without a 4WD vehicle.

I don't have to drive too far for work either so that makes a difference for me.

GRP

Post by **Matt** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 9:26 pm

I am aware of the Toyota trucks lack of fuel efficiency. I'm currently a Chevy driver, and don't have any complaints, so I'll probably stick with it. Now I need to decide between a newer Colorado or Silverado, or maybe another Tahoe.

Liquifire 4/6 · Post by **Liquifire 4/6** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 10:23 am

Matt, since you are considering a Silverado, I figured I'd better mention that mine is a 2WD with a 3.42 axle. I wouldn't want you to take the fuel milage figures I gave for mine as representing a 4X4 version. Perhaps the 4x4 is not significantly worse, but I'd bet it's likely 1-2 mpg less and probably moreso if it has the 3.73 rear end.

Joe, since you work for GM.....perhaps you can provide me some info about my driver information display in my 08 Silverado. I can switch it between metric and English displays. I bought it in Canada and it was built in a Canadian plant, but I assume the same plant likely exports similar trucks to the US. What I'm wondering is when I have the display in the English mode, is it showing US miles per gallon or Canadian (Imperial) mpg? The Canadian gallon is a bit larger at around 4.54 litres versus the US one at around 3.78. So if my display is in US mpg, I'm getting a tad better fuel mileage than I figured. I read the owners manual and didn't see anything in there which clarified this.

RAT540 · Post by **RAT540** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 2:04 pm

YOU MEAN ALL THOSE ADS ON TV OF THE TOYOTA TACOMA TRUCKS AREN'T TRUE, LIKE A DEAD DROP WEIGHT OF A CONTANER. LOL

Liquifire84 · Post by **Liquifire84** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 12:26 am

I had a toyota 4cyl with the 5pd manual and 2wd. I did fine in Idaho, North Dakota, and Northern MN with it. I pulled a 2 place triton tilt and would have still used it if it wouldnt have gotten totaled out in september. I loved that truck. But for saftey reason I would think twice about another toyota product. I have not beable to do anything with the sleds since september until about 2 weeks ago and that was in a 30mph crash. Took the front end and relocated it so much they had to kick in the fenders just to get my son and I out. The unibody was so twisted it couldnt even be fixed. I would take the Colorado just out of size and safety concerns. You sit better in the Colorado I think then in a Tacoma. just my 2ct.

Brice

Post by **Matt** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 3:24 pm

I keep forgetting to take a picture, but I did get a new GMC Canyon. Fuel mileage is looking good, it has plenty of power for it's own weight, and we'll see how towing goes next weekend.