Hybrid iForce Max Towing Report... anyone planning to tow with your 2025 4Runner?

[olefriend]

Anyone planning to tow with your 6th gen 4Runner? I'm on the list for a Hybrid so been curious how it tows. Here's a 2024 Tacoma Hybrid towing report someone just posted on Tacoma4g.

First trip towing with 2024 Tacoma TRD Off-Road iForce Max Hybrid

Finally got to go camping and tow my little teardrop trailer with my TRD offroad with the Iforce max drivetrain. The trip was 100 miles each way with 1300 feet elevation gain (4900 ft to 6200 ft). It was mostly rural highway driving following a river with curves and hills at speeds between 55 and 65 mph. The trailer itself is approximately 2300 lbs fully loaded.​

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Pros:​

Plenty of power and torque. The truck felt like it had a lot more to give and hardly seemed to notice the trailer was there even on the larger hills.​

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Transmission temperature was rock solid in the middle of the band.​

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I got 14.5 mpg on the way to our camping spot (with the elevation gain), and 15.5 mpg on the way back.​

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On the downhills, the truck really controlled it's speed very well and I hardly needed to use the breaks.​

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Hooking the trailer up was super easy - plenty of room for the safety chains and with the large screen made backing up to the trailer very easy.​

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Cons:​

The hitch is wider than a standard two inch hitch. While the truck came with a hitch pin that fits it, my paclock hitch pins were to short and I had to order a new one.​

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I am not a fan of the 18 gallon gas tank and I think this is probably the biggest con with the truck overall. That being said, the fuel gauge tracks way better than any Toyota I have previously had.​

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The trailer auto detect system is not the best, especially when unhooking the trailer. Toyota needs to add a way to turn this off and perform manual operations.​

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The menus for performing towing functions (light check, add/remove a trailer) are buried way to deep in the settings menu and should be in their own section that is easier to navigate to.​

 

[Boobajoob]

Yea that’s my reasoning for the hybrid.

Pulling a cargo-turned-camper trailer when loaded is around 3000lbs. I live in the Rockies so that turbo4 is gonna need some help.

Plus I’m getting old and never treated myself to all the fixins. I’m down for a Platinum. Just hope it’s in Everest!

 

[vready]

I towed a 3,000lb box trailer mostly at highway speeds for about 200 miles this weekend. The Tow Tech package worked well, cameras were helpful. Good visibility in side mirrors, and lots of low end torque and power with the iForce Max in TOW/HAUL mode (though I was being pretty gentle and no steep hill climbs).

I could be wrong, but it seemed like the blind spot monitoring system included the length of the trailer (and adjusted to come on earlier as adjacent cars entered my blind spot beside the trailer). Tank size was an issue for sure. Averaged about 13 mpg.

 

[spyder40]

I towed a 3,000lb box trailer mostly at highway speeds for about 200 miles this weekend. The Tow Tech package worked well, cameras were helpful. Good visibility in side mirrors, and lots of low end torque and power with the iForce Max in TOW/HAUL mode (though I was being pretty gentle and no steep hill climbs).

I could be wrong, but it seemed like the blind spot monitoring system included the length of the trailer (and adjusted to come on earlier as adjacent cars entered my blind spot beside the trailer). Tank size was an issue for sure. Averaged about 13 mpg.

How does the hybrid work on overpasses/uphills at highway speeds? Does it kick in to keep from having to put your foot into it/bunch of downshifting? Currently have a 2021 ORP towing a trailer with my Kawasaki KRX1000 side by side which is 3500-4000lbs total weight. I have to lock in 4th gear so it's not hunting and it works fine on the highway but running about 3000+ rpm. Hoping the hybrid helps that out.

 

[vready]

How does the hybrid work on overpasses/uphills at highway speeds?

It's really smooth. I think both the hybrid motor and the turbo provide extra torque, and the 8-speed transmission shifts naturally with no overdrive or high-RPM shifting behavior.