As the owner of a 2.3, I say go for the V-6. I haven't towed, and the 2.3 does have plenty of around town "omph*, but the small MPG difference isn't worth the loss of low end grunt.
The question was where do you get the 1/4" figure, and you rather conveniently ignored it in favor of a troll-like statement. But I'll bite, as you seem to believe you're better informed than anyone else; what is the acceptable tolerance in this case?
Glad you like it, and I do like that color.
I sold a '22 Tacoma OR in April and considered a Gen 4 Tacoma (it would have been SR5 LB with the SR5 upgrade package), but ultimately decided I wanted the towing and payload (and lower price) of the Ranger. But it wasn't an easy choice, and I still...
$1k was the point at which there were vastly diminishing returns on increasing the deductible; $1500 deductible reduced the premium by a dollar, if I remember.