Tow+ Drive Mode

Just got back from Labor Day weekend towing my 8Klb 28’ travel trailer. I experimented with standard ECO mode, TOW/HAUL, and TOW+ modes.

I’m really impressed with the combination of radar cruise control with TOW+. It seems to shift more intelligently for the weight, and generally felt much more robust and powerful. I’ll be using TOW+ from now on when towing the trailer. I was able to get 12.5 MPG which may not seem like much, but is far superior to my Sequoia.

One thing I realized when using the radar cruise, is that I prefer to gently increase speed after a stop, rather than allowing the Tundra to ramp up quickly after a stop. The automated cruise acceleration from zero to [goal speed] tends to rev the engine throttle and RPM which definitely impacts MPG.

I found myself slowly manually accelerating until I reached 50 or so, and then switching to cruise and incrementally increasing speed until 65. I feel like the radar cruise enabling 3 vehicle distance between car/truck in front, really helps with gas mileage rather than constantly braking.

I’m interested in learning more re optimal speed/MPG ratio for towing, whether 60 or 65 is best, or whether there’s no real difference if I’m up to 70+ etc.

 

Wanted to share my experience with a slightly smaller travel trailer, about 7Klb. For the most part, I pull it around Ohio on flat areas. When I first bought the truck, I used Tow+ exclusively and found the mileage suffered (usually around 8MPG). That mode limits the truck to 6th gear, and on flat roads I really like getting into 7th whenever possible. For times like that, regular Tow helps quite a bit (usually closer to 10MPG). The nice thing is that switching between the modes is super easy with the knob and I find myself fluctuating between the two for hilly/flat areas.

As far as speed goes, I've been keeping it around 65-68MPH on the highways and have had better MPGs than 70+. Note that these were two different trips with entirely different conditions. As you know, the way the wind blows will make a huge difference when you're pulling a giant brick.

 

The feedback is great to hear on the new Tundra and towing. I am sure the sweet spot for mileage is gonna be around that 60-65 mph area.

Lastly, I'll be the first to say and definitely not the last...you should not be using cruise control while towing for a variety of reasons.

 

There is going to be a difference in MPG for each mph faster you go and it gets more dramatic the faster you go(Aerodynamic drag is exponential). It really just comes down to; what are you ok with for speed, and how slow can you go before things are not as safe. Personnally, I like to stick to the same speed as the 18 wheelers. Here in Utah, the speed limits are 80 mph regardless of whether you are towing or not. It seems like 99% of the time the 18 wheelers will do about 70mph and so I try to just tuck in with them so as not to create issues with angry drivers who like to do dangerous things if they have to slow down for 5 seconds.

Doing 70mph definitely hurts my MPG's vs 65 but it makes for a lower stress towing experience.

 

I'm extremely pleased with how well the Tundra pulled my 4000lb camper over the weekend. Did a quick 200 mile trip just to test everything out, barley even noticed it shifting. Huge difference from the Tacoma which was rated a 6,500lbs but was definitely struggling with it.
I feel safest at around 70 mph going with the flow of traffic. I'd rather lose a few miles per gallon than have everyone trying to pass me the whole drive.

 

Thank you Buckeye88 for your post! I really appreciated learning that you move between Tow+ and Tow/Haul modes, and that you noticed a MPG difference between them (with regular tow in the lead). I also didn't realize that Tow+ limited to 6th gear. I will definitely try comparing them and watching the MPG and speed etc. it's good to know that 65-68 is better. And wind definitely makes a huge difference too. Overall I'm really happy with towing w/the 22 Tundra. Personally I do wish that we had a Diesel option. There are just things that I simply cannot tow w/our gas-powered Tundras (I am thinking of the really big 5th wheels etc), that I see my friends with Ram 3500HD Diesels towing w/o a second thought. But the driving experience and reliability and especially the bird's eye view etc are so nice on our Tundras. Thanks again B88!

 

Thanks Medic343 for your thoughts, I agree w/you that 60-65 is going to be a sweet spot, but I also think that sometimes the flow of traffic makes it tricky to navigate the situation...I am going to try and stay around those speeds however and watch my MPG! Re: your thoughts re: not using cruise while towing, this is the first time that I have heard this admonishment. I have to say that the Radar cruise seems incredibly useful/helpful, especially with its ability to keep a nice distance between the vehicle ahead while retaining the target speed. I also find it far better on MPG rather than constantly manually accelerating and slowing. I think that if close attention is paid (I never drift off or become complacent while driving in cruise mode) that I wouldn't agree that we should not (ever) use cruise while towing. Can you tell me more why this is a rule, and why you think so? I really appreciate it, I'm always ready and willing to learn a better/safer way.

 

I feel the same way Knifeguy, I am also impressed w/the towing ability. With my setup I have a sway bar as well as weight distribution hitch and it's an absolute joy to drive. I have also found that the integrated trailer brake controller is miles nicer than the Tekonsha I have in my Sequoia. The ability to rapidly adjust the gain and see that reflected on the screen is a game-changer for me. With the finger "pinch" movement on the Tundra's controller I find myself able to precisely control trailer brake which is an absolute pleasure as opposed to the "side button" I was using before on the Tekonsha.

 

Can anyone provide their trucks payload when towing? Was anyone at their max? I posted this earlier today What's Your Payload? | Toyota Tundra Forum (tundras.com).

@Knifeguy, My trailer has a max GVWR of 5,500lbs. I estimate the trailer weight at 5,000lbs when towing, loaded with our stuff, no water in the tanks. The max payload of the Tacoma is 1,000lbs. I estimate the tongue weight at about 500lbs. so the Tacoma doesn’t offer much room after the trailer weight. I’m traveling with the wife, kid, dog, bikes, generator, I believe we are over the max for the Tacoma.I was hoping the Tundra’s payload range to be near 1,700lbs.

 

I found Tow+ will hold 7th gear and Tow/Haul will hold 8th gear. Generally, it feels a bit better to tow my 7000 lbs camper with Tow+ and I think it because of a accelerator pedal mapping difference between the tow modes. I wish there was a true manual mode so I could choose 9th or 10th on flat highways. Choosing S9 won’t actually shift up a gear.

 

I'm sure you are over. You are right at 1000lbs over what I pull on our trips. When I upgraded to my current camper, I was pulling it with a Tacoma with tow package and a blue ox wdh. After a couple short trips around Oklahoma (mostly flat) monitoring my transmission temps with a scan guage, I decided it was too much for the Tacoma. The temps were getting too high too often.
Sold the taco. Got the Tundra. Pulls great.
You seem very focused on the numbers on paper. There are a ton of variables that will come in to play, your trailer, equipment, load, how the load is packed, how you drive, where you drive...
Based on your numbers I think you will be right in the optimum weight area for this type of truck. Get a quality wdh hitch. I don't use air bags, so I won't comment on those.

 

That has to be brutal towing that thing with the Taco. My GX460 has an extra 65 ft-lbs of torque at 1200 rpm's lower and still isn't great pulling my 5500 lb GVWR Jayco. It's night and day compared to my F150 Ecoboost which pulls like a locomotive in comparison, and the Tundra is even stronger.

And I bet your tongue wieght is higher than 500 lbs. You are absolutely over 1000 lbs of payload on the truck. I figured my Jayco is north of 600 lbs tongue.

A Tundra with 1700 lbs of payload would have to be a lighter optioned SR5 I think.

 

I just got done driving from Oregon to Indiana to pick up our new trailer, 4800 miles in 6 days through torrential downpours in temps as high as 110 and parked in places at the top of a mountain where it was 4wd for the last mile. It weighs about 4200 lbs with the stuff I had in it. Driving out there empty the truck got anywhere from 20-24 mpg driving 72-75 mph on the interstates and 65ish on secondary roads. The 24 mpg was on the interstate.

With the trailer in tow heading west into what seemed like a perpetual headwind I played around with different speeds to see the affect on the mileage since I had plenty of time to kill and here's what I saw. I used tow haul on the flatter sections but when I got into the Rockies and other mountain ranges on my way home where the road undulated more I put it in tow haul + because the tranny shifted less as it held 7th vs 8th. At 70-72 mph I got 10 mpg, 65 mph I got 12 mpg and at 60 mph I got 14 mpg.

Obviously trailer size and weight plays a role as does your speed. The truck would pull whatever speed I wanted it to pull going up any of the grades I encountered. On the flat stuff I used cruise control and echo the previous statement of the OP about the radar range keeping being awesome. On the hills I turned off the cruise to avoid it chasing the speeds. Going downhill I put it in manual mode and would downshift it manually but I never exceeded 3000 rpms while doing this and always had plenty of brakes left. The brake controller worked flawlessly and because the trailer was new, I had to initially set the gain at 8 to get sufficient braking out of it but was able to dial it back to 4.5 as the brakes broke in.

 

Nice set-up, great information.

 

I’m towing a GVWR trailer @7k. I found it better to tow in tow+. Depending on wind and weather I get around 12-15 mgp. I’m also towing with the iforce max and it was a beast up grades and passing.

 

Does it actually use the electric motor at freeway speed? Can you tell?

 

Oh yes ! That extra torque is money

 

Are you using a weight distribution hitch? I have a Lance 1575 that I used to tow with my tacoma and a WD hitch. I was wondering if I could tow with the Tundra without the WD hitch. Our trailers look about the same dimensions.

 

I was just on a 280 mile round trip to the Allegheny mountains in PA over the weekend and tow+ was great. Fully loaded my camper is only ~4,500lbs and 7ft wide instead of the standard 8ft and I use a wdh with anti sway even though it's under 5k so it's a super easy tow for the Tundra. Speed limits out there are 70 so naturally traffic moves 75-80. Was in regular tow/haul mode the majority of the time and stayed with traffic even up the mountains. Reduced speed right before hitting the top every time and switched to tow+ for the drive down. Tow+ was able to keep it between 60-65 while barely touching the brakes. Averaged 10mpg which I didn't feel was bad for the speed.

A larger, longer camper I definitely would have stayed around 65mph the whole time, but with this little one it handled perfect even on the couple of occasions a tractor trailer passed me doing ~80 while I was 75.

 

I'm wondering what you guys are finding for stability at highway speeds with the Tundra and these trailers? I'm hoping to buy a 27ft (tongue to bumper) weighing 7k loaded with WDH. I understand the MPG will go way down and the 3.4 turbo will have good power. But how will it behave when a semi passes or in cross winds?
Any comments appreciated.

 

It comes down to your setup. If you have the weight distributed well in the trailer and the WDH setup right, you can have a very solid tow. I've towed my 25' trailer behind my Lexus GX in 30 mph crosswinds and could do 65mph with no drama and that thing only has a 109" wheelbase.

 

My trailer is 28' (hitch to bumper), listed GVWR of 7400lb. I use a WDH, and the truck tows it well. Feels stable, and haven't had a single sway issue to date. I will say that based on the tongue weight of my trailer alone I wouldn't go with anything heavier! I usually average right around 10mpg, which is about the same as my '19 Ram 1500 Hemi was getting when towing the same trailer. The Tundra feels like it has WAY more power pulling then the Ram.

 

Very good comments mass-hole and Dfrink. Thanks guys.
I'm pretty sure the 27 will be fine with WDH.

 

2024 Limited IMax Hybrid with after-market airbags on the back. 2024 KZ Connect 29ft, 8k towing, 1k tongue approximately. WD Hitch with adjustable sway control. Tundra sway control is turned off. Mountain West towing around 3k to 6k in altitude. In Tow/Haul I get 10mpg, Tow+ for incline/decline. Tundra/trailer move when passed by tractor-trailer or large vehicles. I would never tow this setup across the country. Short runs and long stays only. 65 mph is manageable, dropping speed when feeling movement. Eliminate high-wind environments by traveling early morning. Halfton is not enough weight for this long of a wind sail for cross-country touring. The 2024 Tundra is probably the most reliable and capable half-ton towing vehicle on the market, but you need to know your limits and be very competent in towing anything over 25ft. I am satisfied with this setup for what I do. Don't expect a 3/4 ton even though it has the payload, torque, or horsepower of an HD.

 

I have over 15k towing my 28’ Airstream with 980lb tongue weight. Tows effortlessly with no sway. My Airstream is over 7k loaded for camping.
How do you turn sway off? I don’t have that option in my Platinum that I’m aware of..
Maybe the aerodynamics of your camper is causing sway, but I think there is something else wrong with your set up. It looks level, have you been to the CAT scales? If not I highly recommend it & research the three pass method.

 

I will never use radar cruise again, towing or not. However convenient… in the mountains it seems to apply only brakes to slow you down and not the engine braking unless it’s really steep. I believe this caused my rotors to get warmer than normal and when I stop at a rest area, the parking brake is activated and clamps the rear rotors while hot…. And imo, causes hot spots and brake shudder.

 

Dumb question but what is Tow+ mode? I think I only have tow/haul on mine unless I'm missing something.

 

Press the button to put it in Tow/Haul, then twist the drive mode knob right to put it in Tow+ (when towing heavy loads).