Glad you had fun with the ATVs! Looks like a good time!
I wouldn't like towing with that either, sounds like a lot of downshifting for a small load.
I will say this, I've towed up to 18,000 lbs with my fathers 1 ton DMax, and I've towed boats and such with 4.2L I6, and 5.3L, a 5.7 TBI, and I've towed cars, trucks, UTVs, with my 6.2L DI L86 motor.
And while I hated the downshifting of the 4.2 and the 5.3, and the 5.7.......my L86 did "just fine"....and I'm not kidding myself...
I've towed small subcompact tractor loaders with brushbulls, UTVs, boats, cars, my square truck on a 20 ft open trailer, and even 10,000 lbs of truck and UTV at the same time in a 32 ft long tallboy enclosed trailer, and it did just fine. In fact, it got the same mileage on the same trip as my friends 2017 DMax towing a 28 ft enclosed with 2,000 lbs less in the trailer. Towing that big heavy wall down the road had me about 2100 RPM at 76 MPH, occasionally up hills it would downshift to 2600 - or 2800 RPM, not too bad for a gasser. None of this downshifting to 4500 RPM crap.
So I think it depends on what you are towing, and what half ton you are towing with, the direct injection and 8 or 10 speeds transmissions have brought them closer in efficiency, you surely don't need a DMax to tow quads. But if you expect a NA gasser to pull loads up a hill at the same RPM as a turbo diesel, you will usually be disappointed.
I remember when I was towing that 18000 lb load with the Dmax, I was going up a long somewhat gradual hill. (I was towing my truck, my RZR, and a decent sized skid loader on a long steel wedge trailer) And I kept having to give it more go pedal, and I went to push it down a little more because it was dropping speed toward the top, and I realized it was floored! The diesel was cranking out the boost and lugging along floored, you don't realize how much you are beating on them, because they lug so well, but it's still beating on them. That would of been way too much weight for the gasser, no doubt, they have their limits. Diesels are better for towing, but I don't need one for what I usually tow, the minimal at best fuel savings would never have paid for the engine in the entire life of the truck, I think its up to a $10K upgrade now. Would rather have the new 6.6DI gas motor for that price. Many of the fleets are gas now because the diesels don't pay for themselves anymore with all the regulations.
