Towing with the Chevy Colorado or GMC Canyon?

[yogiyoda]

Originally Posted by Mary F

FWIW, our 2013 "Egoboost" F-150 (bright flame blue) gets 19.5 mpg on average, with 22-23 highway (not-towing), and about 14 towing our 17 ft. Casita. Hoping we don't take a huge hit when we start pulling the 21 ft. Escape.

You're doing pretty good. Consumer Reports shows an average of 17 mpg mixed and Fuelly.com shows an 18 mpg averaged for mixed driving. You shouldn't do much worse with the 21 ft Escape. I think a lot of the hit to fuel economy is due to increased wind resistance which would probably be similar between the two trailers.

Oops, my numbers are for the 2015 2.7 ecoboost. The averages are lower for the 2013s. So you're doing much better than average in regards to fuel efficiency.

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by Mary F

FWIW, our 2013 "Egoboost" F-150 (bright flame blue) gets 19.5 mpg on average, with 22-23 highway (not-towing), and about 14 towing our 17 ft. Casita. Hoping we don't take a huge hit when we start pulling the 21 ft. Escape.

Mary, assuming it's the 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost, you can expect close to the same mileage towing a 21 - maybe 1 or at most 2 mpg less. Just a guestimate, but I would say the 3.5L 2WD should get in the 15 range towing a 21, and a 4WD maybe 13-14. Much depends however on how you drive it, average speed, terrain, etc.

They introduced the 2.7L Ecoboost for the 2015 Aluminum body F150. It was touted as a cure-all for mileage woes, and I can tell you it does do better than the 3.5L, but it's not the holy grail of towing. We get about 25.8 not towing, and about 16 towing, with a 19.

The very best mileage I've ever seen reported when towing an Escape was with a VW Touareg.

[yogiyoda]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

We get about 25.8 not towing

This is either all highway miles or you need to enter a hypermiling competition. No one is getting close to this in mixed driving. Consumer reports indicates 17 mpg and Fuelly.com shows an 18 average.

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by yogiyoda

This is either all highway miles or you need to enter a hypermiling competition. No one is getting close to this in mixed driving. Consumer reports indicates 17 mpg and Fuelly.com shows an 18 average.

Yes, of course that's highway mileage, traveling at about 68 MPH. Our overall mileage is about 21.5 when not towing.

[bisonbill]

Robert,
You have to stop posting the mileage you're getting. Every time I read the mileage, I want to go out and get a 2.7 F150. I wasn't planning on buying until next year

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by bisonbill

Robert,
You have to stop posting the mileage you're getting. Every time I read the mileage, I want to go out and get a 2.7 F150. I wasn't planning on buying until next year

Sorry Bill. My bad.

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by yogiyoda

The diesels on the 3/4 and 1 ton trucks are very expensive options. But the 2015 Ram 1500 ecodiesel sells for about the same price as the 2015 Ford F-150 ecoboost. The mid-size GMC Canyon diesel will be cheaper than both.

I don’t want to tow with an unsafe vehicle. But it seems that towing the 5.0 TA with the Canyon will fit within all the payload and towing capacities of the vehicle. Fast Lane Truck shows the V6 gas pulling 5,000+ up steep grades in Colorado without a sweat. I don’t want to throw money away and excessively pollute the environment because of some lawyers making blanket rules based on fifth wheels two or three times the size of the 5.0 TA.

When I purchased my 1/2 ton Ram truck ,the 5.7 liter Hemi was a no charge upgrade and the diesel engine was a $4K upgrade.
Plus they were only offering a very limited end of the year discount on the diesel
but a substancially higher discount on the gasoline models
I believe that GM will follow pretty much the same pattern.
I fully understand the need for fuel economy and the desire not to pollute nor am I implying that the Colorado is an unsafe towing vehicle.
What I am not willing to do is put the blame on lawyers every time something does not work as I think it should. It is entirely possible that the towing limits were set by the auto manufacturer's engineers and for totally valid reasons. I do not have the expertise. knowledge or education to say whether the Colorado is capable of towing a fifth wheel trailer
so I leave that judgement to the professional.

Best Wishes
Steve D

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by padlin

Just went through the fit guide for Reese, they do not show any compatible fifth wheel hitches to the Colorado or Canyon. For most trucks you buy a vehicle specific frame mount kit for the universal rails, no such exists for the ones you are looking at. Nothing at B&W either.

It might just be a bit early, since this model of truck has only been available for a few months.

[Mary F]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

Mary, assuming it's the 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost, you can expect close to the same mileage towing a 21 - maybe 1 or at most 2 mpg less. Just a guestimate, but I would say the 3.5L 2WD should get in the 15 range towing a 21, and a 4WD maybe 13-14. Much depends however on how you drive it, average speed, terrain, etc.

They introduced the 2.7L Ecoboost for the 2015 Aluminum body F150. It was touted as a cure-all for mileage woes, and I can tell you it does do better than the 3.5L, but it's not the holy grail of towing. We get about 25.8 not towing, and about 16 towing, with a 19.

The very best mileage I've ever seen reported when towing an Escape was with a VW Touareg.

Thanks for the comparison(s), Robert. Yes, of course ours is the 3.5L. It replaced a 1999 F150 6 cyl that on a good day got 17 mpg - that's highway miles and/or regular driving, NOT towing. (It did little better on the highway than running around town, and got about 11 mpg towing the Casita.) So we are thrilled with what we're getting out of the (2WD) Egoboost. (Our older truck wasn't called the Big Blue Gas Hawg for nothing.) The mpg of the "new" truck is only a couple less than what we got with our 2002 Ranger (4L, with tow package). Like I said, we are Very satisfied with what we've got. Plus there's so much FLAT floorspace in the cab, our dog's kennel rides very nicely behind the driver's seat. Mavis is a much happier camper... which means we are, too.

[padlin]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

It might just be a bit early, since this model of truck has only been available for a few months.

I must be missing something, Edmunds shows they started making Colorado's in 04.

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by padlin

I must be missing something, Edmunds shows they started making Colorado's in 04.

Hi: padlin...Production was suspended for a year or so. In that time the truck underwent a complete redesign. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[yogiyoda]

Originally Posted by steve dunham

When I purchased my 1/2 ton Ram truck ,the 5.7 liter Hemi was a no charge upgrade and the diesel engine was a $4K upgrade.
Plus they were only offering a very limited end of the year discount on the diesel
but a substancially higher discount on the gasoline models
I believe that GM will follow pretty much the same pattern.
I fully understand the need for fuel economy and the desire not to pollute nor am I implying that the Colorado is an unsafe towing vehicle.
What I am not willing to do is put the blame on lawyers every time something does not work as I think it should. It is entirely possible that the towing limits were set by the auto manufacturer's engineers and for totally valid reasons. I do not have the expertise. knowledge or education to say whether the Colorado is capable of towing a fifth wheel trailer
so I leave that judgement to the professional.

Best Wishes
Steve D

Well, the Ram Ecodiesel sells for about the same as the Ford Ecoboost now. Chevy and GMC will have a hard time selling a smaller truck with a smaller engine unless it’s cheaper.

I guess there are three possible reasons fifth wheel use is discouraged on some of these vehicles even when they don’t violate tow and payload capacities:

1.) There is a legitimate structural reason that the vehicles can’t handle fifth wheels no matter how light they might be.

2.) There is a legitimate structure reason that the vehicles can’t handle the typical fifth wheel and no one wants to bother relooking into the very rare situation of a much lighter fifth wheel. (Which I suspect might be the case of the RAM 1500, Frontier, Colorado and GMC)

3.) The manufacturer wants to promote the sales of their more expensive heavy duty vehicles. (Which I think might be the case of the Silverado 1500.)

Anyway, I’m not an expert either which is why I started this thread. But I’d need a good reason to believe #1 is the case.

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by yogiyoda

Well, the Ram Ecodiesel sells for about the same as the Ford Ecoboost now. Chevy and GMC will have a hard time selling a smaller truck with a smaller engine unless it’s cheaper.

I guess there are three possible reasons fifth wheel use is discouraged on some of these vehicles even when they don’t violate tow and payload capacities:

1.) There is a legitimate structural reason that the vehicles can’t handle fifth wheels no matter how light they might be.

2.) There is a legitimate structure reason that the vehicles can’t handle the typical fifth wheel and no one wants to bother relooking into the very rare situation of a much lighter fifth wheel. (Which I suspect might be the case of the RAM 1500, Frontier, Colorado and GMC)

3.) The manufacturer wants to promote the sales of their more expensive heavy duty vehicles. (Which I think might be the case of the Silverado 1500.)

Anyway, I’m not an expert either which is why I started this thread. But I’d need a good reason to believe #1 is the case.

My old. 1/2 ton pickup shared the same frame as the 3/4 ton pickup for that model year.
The diference between the trucks was in the suspension ,rear end ,axles and drive train.
The newer 1/2 ton light duty trucks do not share a common frame with the heavy duty trucks.
I do not know if the newer, lighter duty frames on the 1/2 ton trucks are designed to handle 5rh wheel towing. I believe that answer should be left up to the auto makers engineers.
IMHO Any one elses opinion is just an educated quess

[rbryan4]

I've always been one to say "go by the manufacturer numbers". But in this case I think there needs to be an exception. Those big behemoth 5th wheels sometimes have 25% of their weight on the pin, and that is thousands of pounds. So naturally, they don't recommend towing a 5th wheel with a 1/2 ton truck. That's just not the scenario here. Folks have towed the Escape 5er with even midsize trucks for several years now, and they haven't had a problem. This is one time I think the manufacturer's recommendation can be safely ignored. Their definition of 5th wheel isn't the one we're talking about.

[escape artist]

Hi: All... Most everybody knows we tow our 5.0TA Escape with a V6 4X4 Nissan Frontier. It shares underpinnings with the larger Nissan Titan. All the parts from the hitch came out of our V6 2002 4X2 GMC short box truck. It had to have helper springs added to correct the rear sag. The Frontier needed nothing!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by padlin

I must be missing something, Edmunds shows they started making Colorado's in 04.

The current Colorado debuted for the 2015 model year. The previous version (2004 to 2012) probably doesn't share a single part... certainly not the frame.

As Alf suggested, there was no Colorado/Canyon made in North America for a couple of years.

I'm not surprised that there are no fifth-wheel hitch brackets for the first generation, but the new generation is substantially bigger and stronger. It has been available in other countries for a few years, but while small fifth-wheel trailers are uncommon here, they are even less common in the rest of the world.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by escape artist

... V6 4X4 Nissan Frontier. It shares underpinnings with the larger Nissan Titan...

Nissan like to claim this, saying both are built on their F-Alpha "architecture", I can't think of a single part which would be shared. They have different sizes and shapes of frames, different axle width and capacity, completely different bodies, and completely different engines (not even the same number of cylinders). Yes, I crouched beside trucks on dealer lots and compared components. I'm sure that there are design similarities (maybe in the front suspension? ... not the rear) but they are unrelated in capacity.

The Nissan NV full-size van really does have the same chassis design as the Titan pickup... but in that case Nissan likes to point out that the majority of the parts are different. Marketing and logic are rarely related.

[escape artist]

Hi: All... I apologize for posting erroneous info. In future I will seek the knowledge of the "Wizards of the forum" first. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by escape artist

Hi: All... I apologize for posting erroneous info.
...
Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

Hey Alf... nothing to apologize for! Nissan is the ultimate authority on their trucks, and claim a common platform for the Titan and Frontier, which implies shared underpinnings. I just don't see any connection to physical reality in their claim...

[yogiyoda]

I found the following site it and it seems to have a lot a good information about towing fifth wheels safely. The link below is to the site's info on half-ton trucks, but the site has lots of other articles and info available in the menu at the top of the page.

How Much Can A Half-ton Truck Tow Without Exceeding Ratings?

A properly configured version of the new aluminum F-150 seems to have a much higher capacity and is the only half-ton recommended to to tow a typical fifth wheel up to to almost 12,000 lbs.

But it looks like some versions of the other half tons can tow the 5.0 TA as well. ...although it's much closer. The site even has an app where you can plug in the numbers for a particular tow vehicle to get safe towing limits.

RV Tow Check | Towing Guide Eliminator

I don't have all the numbers to plug in for the GMC Canyon though.