Pictures of tow vehicles and trailers

Hey Nomad and W/V Girls, during the bulk of the time that we owned our RP 175, we towed it with a 2006 4.0 Tacoma Prerunner, configured like W/V Girls' TRD. The Taco did a fine job with the Pod towing all over Washington State. It pulled all the passes and foothills really well. I always used tow/haul which locks out 5th, and the Tacoma would sometimes drop down to 3rd on hard pulls. My Scan/Gauge let me know that I should stay away from 5th when towing, as the transmission temp would sometimes rise to 240 degrees or so when I tried using 5th.

I did see one Taco pulling a Pod that wasn't doing well. The Pod was dancing back and forth all over the road, and it wasn't a happy dance. He didn't have it set up well, as the hitch was high, and no sway or WDH. Just like with any tow rig, set up is everything.

I often really miss the Tacoma--especially with the Tundra in a Costco parking lot. Tacos and Pods are a great match as far as I'm concerned. For the first time in 10 years the 2016 Tacoma will have a new v/6. It's gonna be interesting to see how it does.

I have hand figured nearly every towing and regular driving tank of each of my rigs over the years. My Tacoma got between 10.0 and 13.1 towing our Pod. Towing in 3rd/4th it did pretty darn well in the Cascades and Olympics--usually able to hold at least 55 mph. We never towed the Pod in the Rockies. We towed the Rockies with our small v/8 Tundra and 5000 lb Kodiak this fall, and it did well. My best guess is that the Taco/Pod combo would have handled the same trip OK, but not something that I would like to do all of the time. I am demanding about maintaing a pretty good towing speed.

So getting much better mpg towing than your F150--prolly not much (the Tundra got 10.5-14.4 towing the Pod with 2 blissful tanks of 15 mpg towing at 35/45 mph. Towing most mountainous regions with the Taco/Pod-very acceptable with caveats for very tough pulls.

I got a 08 4Runner Limited (a Prerunner with a shell and 4WD). I like/need 4 wheel drive occasionally in winters. My 4Runner has performed great pulling the pod from here (NJ) to California to Washington to Florida to New England and back. Never had any problems. Of course, bucking 55 mph headwinds while crossing the Rockies in Wyoming put a hurting to my gas milage.

Leaving our driveway for our first Pod adventure.

Welcome.