What's worked best for me has been acquiring a second dedicated tow vehicle. Sounds like the Prerunner will do the job, but will it handle San Francisco hills with an M17 behind it? ----- Original Message ----- From: <BILLAMICASR@aol.com> To: <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2004 10:18 PM Subject: Tow vehicles... Hi All, You all will get sick of this before I select something to tow my M-17 with. It's either keep the Honda Civic and add a second vehicle dedicated to tow or get a new truck that will get decent mileage and still tow the M-17. Now I'm considering a 150 HP, 4 cyl, Toyota Tacoma Prerunner. In 2002 I bought a new Tacoma 4X4, V-6, 5 speed and was dissapointed in that I got a rotten 16 to 17 MPG overall and a whopping 18 - 19 on the freeway. And that's after adding TRD exhaust & Filtron sock air cleaner. Anyway, I've had tremendous reliability with other Toyota trucks and am wondering if anyone out there has any real word experience with the Prerunner 4 cyl.. They are of course 2 wheel drive, available with automatic only and have a factory rebate (cool). I dont have to tow fast, the posted trailer rating is 3500 Pounds so that's adequate. I'm, as always, concerned with mileage. Not so much when towing but with general use. Any experience with one yourself or maybe with a friends? Thanks for the input Bill SF Bay M-17 #496 "Tiperary" P.s. An unusual SF day today. Crystal clear, 75 degrees, nice westerly wind, lots of sailboats with multi color spinakers flying, on the bay. One of my deliveries was to the North side of the City in the hills overlooking the bay. As I'm working, the cable cars are dropping off tourists who are feverently clicking away at the beauty of the SF Bay area. Today was a day that if Tiperary was here I'd be taking tomorrow off. I was awe struck and I live here... Then reality hit with the next delivery. I had to back up Elizabeth Street about three blocks. Elizabeth is the fourth steepest in the city. On the turns I was puckering a bit. Cement mixer trucks are a bit top heavy... Just a bit! I always tell my friends I've never yet found out how far one can lean before it tips over... and that's a good thing... Hope I never find out!