We just picked up our Olie last week, an Elite II. Dry, the Olie weighs 5200 pounds. We have a 2016 Tacoma with and automatic transmission and would not recommend that for towing an Elite II. We averaged 13 MPG on a trip from Hohenwald to Webster, Texas, and back to western North Carolina. While the Tacoma would pull the Olie at 70 miles and hour, we felt that 65 was a better speed on the interstates. Most of the time the Tacoma traveled in fifth gear and only on a long level straight stretch of road, would the Tacoma go into sixth gear. We read the article in Trailer Life about a Tacoma pulling an Elite II. We are now in the market for a new tow vehicle...
Some other comments on the Tacoma; We find the Tacoma small and not as comfortable our 1999 4Runner that we sold just before we acquired the Tacoma. The doors are smaller and we must both bed down to enter and I stand 5'10" tall. Unladen the gas mileage runs between 20 and 21 MPG. The Tacoma accelerates strongly and will keep up with most any other vehicle. When climbing a long hill while pulling the Olie, the Tacoma would down shift, often times to fourth gear and lower. On a long climb, it occasionally downshifted to third gear and the tachometer showed RPM's between 4000 and 4500. It was LOUD. It pulled it, but it was not a pleasant ride.
One positive note, the 40 foot turning radius of the Tacoma made for excellent trailer maneuvering.
We read most of the other forums on tow vehicles and we are not looking for a vehicle that will pull at least 8000 pounds. Good luck! More later...