2016 Toyota Tacoma takes on the Extreme Ike Gauntlet Towing Review

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[DaveKammeyer]

What are people complaining about with the engine? They're going 60 mph with the max rated tow load of the truck, up the biggest grade in the interstate highway system, at 11000 ft, where the engine produces maybe 30% less power. The truck pulls the trailer up the mountain at the speed limit. Does the engine rev high? Yes, but so what? The truck is at the corner of its performance envelope. It's seldom that you go up a 7% grade at 60 mph. It's seldom that most people pull 5600 lb trailer, and it's seldom that they're driving at 11, 000 ft. Still even under these conditions the truck performs fine, it's just loud and high revving. Put a V8 on it and it is lower revving in these extreme conditions, but it doesn't actually perform any better, but it uses more gas all the other times you're not towing, not going up a 7% grade, and not at 11k ft. If you're going to beat up the Tacoma on mountain towing performance, the weak point going down the hill because of the rear drum brakes. You need to have a braked trailer, and you should flick the shifter into manual and downshift down the hill to save the brakes.

[philtripe]

instead of degrading for brake taps (i know how to down shift if i want) you guys should do a sixty to zero brake test...how many feet, brake temps...i really enjoy hearing all the facts and your honest opinions about the trucks, thanks again for another great video

[Scottstunts]

Thanks for running these trucks so hard. I highly doubt anyone will run one that hard but it’s great to know it’ll do it.

[TheJoncic]

You should should do an Ike Gauntlet run with the manual transmission version of this. Given it's one of the last manuals offered with a V6 in a truck, it would be interesting to see if any of the TFL staff can beat the automatic time up the run.

[Hitmannick]

Toyota should have stuffed the 4.6 V8 from the tundra under the tacomas hood,

[JONNYGEEKMANG]

Now think how good it would pull up in 3rd at about 4k or so at 50mph at 3/4 throttle. Awesome little truck.

[johntkearns]

Can't wait to see them blow a brand new motor one of these days.

[nightfury]

I don't think many people will be using these 2016 Tacomas in this fashion. Now the Devils Boneyard stuff, THAT was interesting!! More Tacoma off road stuff would be greatly appreciated.

[alexettinger]

y'all are always hating on Toyota I'm almost 6 3 and my tacoma has plenty of room and with the tow package it went across country with a 12 foot trailer total weight of 11, 000 pounds like a boss

[MattN]

Please do the decibel testing on each of these towing tests. Loud cabins make for a long day when towing heavy loads for hours and hours. Also, I'd like to hear more subjective comments regarding how the truck handles the weight near it's max capacity. I've towed around 5000 lbs with my 07 Tacoma, and I wouldn't feel comfortable towing more than that. You could really tell the weight was back there, and I'm not sure the truck could have handled an emergency lane change safely with that much weight in tow. Keep up the great work FLT!

[JEDss]

I am curious why you guys "double-dip" the negative aspects of a truck (not just in this video, but all truck reviews). For example, you state that one of the four areas of the score is the number of downhill break events. The Tacoma had 21 break events, and therefore lost 21 points, or in other words, it lost 84% of the possible score in this category, so it took a big hit.

Then, when you evaluate the "subjective" portion of the score, you give it low marks because of its poor braking performance... But isn't its poor braking performance already reflected in the poor score from the downhill section? Why is the truck getting marked poorly twice for the same thing?

I understand that the "subjective" system is named just that for a reason, however, it would seem to make more sense to me to evaluate areas of the truck that have not already been evaluated before: how is the storage space? What types of features does it have for utility? How does the infotainment system work? How are the mirrors for towing? How easy is it to get in and out of? Can you wash down the interior if it gets muddy? Does the bed have an effective system for organizing cargo or strapping things down? These are the sorts of questions I would expect a subjective ranking to address - i.e. how utilitarian/functional is it? And, since it's subjective, what do you think of the styling, also, if you want to include that.

Just my 2 cents - thanks for the vids.

[RyanEmeryLovesCars]

3.5L might have performed better but it sounds more strained IMO compared to the 4.0L.

[cgumpscheck]

Not sure if someone mentioned already: TFL scored low because of brake events, and "Mr. Truck" cited because there is no tow/haul mode. I guess they didn't look at the owners manual which tells you how to use the ECT power button. ECT, TFL truck dudes, stands for electronically controlled transmission. I've used it going downhill and it does exactly what it's supposed to do, hold back the truck without gaining speed.

[randyr]

I never have the rpm that high it was screaming. I like to keep my truck.

[jamesbeaman]

It looks like the way you guys are doing the subjective rating portion of the score is double penalizing the trucks for bad downhill grade shifting. Since poor grade shifting usually means more use of the brakes, it is penalized once on the number of downhill brake applications in the first portion of the score and then again when you take into account the grade shifting on the subjective portion. Unless that was your intent, you might want to consider removing any grade shifting opinions from the subjective portion.

One subjective aspect that might be beneficial to potential buyers is how the truck feels when towing the load over bumps and road undulations at different speeds. Although you probably don't encounter that much on the interstate, maybe you can find a more uneven road in the vicinity that would be easy to work into the test. Just some options for possible further improvement of the test. Keep up the great work!

[jonathanfrey]

Get one with the manual transmission and take that up the Ike, please!

[williamneumann]

I'm surprised your channels don't have more subscribers. Really great, informative, and unique content.

[Scottstunts]

You can put the truck in manual sport mode and downshift yourself to help with the down hill. That’s what everyone that owns one would do.

[frmulafan]

You guys should test the six-speed manual Tacoma and Ram 2500/3500.

[ChefBuck]

TFLtruck you guys are the best on YouTube! Can we please get a review on a manual transmission Taco? I can not find one anywhere. I've heard a few negative things about the transmission on the automatics, it would be interesting to see how different the manual is in all of your tests.