The Gas-Mileage Thread

Dave Walter · 07-30-2013, 05:55 PM

Thought it would be useful for readers to see what others are getting for gas mileage (fuel consumption) with their respective tow vehicles both towing and not towing. In the past 4 months, I have driven about 12,000 km with my 2011 FJ (AT), many of which were towing my Escape 19. Most of towing was in mixed mountain terrain with some sections with very long steep grades. Mileage was fairly consistent at about 23-25 impg not towing and in the range of about 13-17 impg towing the trailer. Mixed towing/not-towing mileage was somewhere in between. Here is a plot of my mileage:

It is pretty obvious from the plot when I was towing and when I was not towing. Some of the poorest mileage was due to headwinds rather than steeper terrain. The mid-ranges are combination of mileage towing and not towing. How do you do with your mileage?

dbailey · 07-30-2013, 06:13 PM

Escape 19 and a Nissan Frontier. Not a lot of experience with either (~5000km on the truck, about 800km on the trailer).

My average l/100km on the truck is 12.7. On pure highway driving, I see around 10.5. When towing the trailer we've seen anywhere from 13 to 16, depending on hills and winds (this is, of course, mostly on the highway).

cpaharley2008 · 07-30-2013, 06:17 PM

Escape 19 and a 2009 Dodge /ram Hemi- 11-13 towing/15 not towing. Seriously looking at the new 2014 diesel Ram- supposed to get 30 highway and 20 city/towing. The 09 has 12k miles so it may get a little better, but not by much.
With my 2012 FJ I get around 13-15 towing and 18-20 on highway, but I only have 4k miles so it still needs to be broken in.

Jim Bennett · 07-30-2013, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ice-breaker

It is pretty obvious from the plot when I was towing and when I was not towing. Some of the poorest mileage was due to headwinds rather than steeper terrain. The mid-ranges are combination of mileage towing and not towing. How do you do with your mileage?

I get similar results pulling the 19 with my Pilot. About 2/3's the meterage when towing. Head winds certainly are a killer. A couple years ago when headed to the Escape Rally, I burned about half a tank of gas in 150km of relatively flat towing in brutal headwinds from Calgary to Banff. At first I thought there was something wrong with the Pilot, as it was acting gutless, then realized I was dead on into the wind. Once I got into the mountains, and even with all the gradient increases, my mileage and power improved hugely. These trailers may be somewhat aerodynamic, but still not all that great.

My fuel economy when I am towing with my F250 with the Powerstroke diesel, get just as good of fuel economy as my Pilot, with power to spare. The problem with it is, that it does not improve much when not towing, and is a beast to use running about in.

Jim Bennett · 07-30-2013, 07:01 PM

One thing to remember with fuel consumption, is the fact that US gallons need to be multiplied by 1.2 to get to the imperial measurements.

hillary · 07-30-2013, 07:07 PM

With my AWD Toyota Sienna my normal around town mpg is 17, normal highway about 21 and towing seems to be about 14-15. We haven't had any really bad headwinds or done any major mountain passes yet, so it will probably be worse in those conditions. (This is US gallons.)

FMLNM · 07-30-2013, 07:45 PM

Driving 2011 Frontier Pro4x from Albuquerque, NM to Chilliwack (1600 miles) we got about 21mpg. Returning to NM towing Escape 5.0 we got about 15mpg.
Fran & Dave

float5 · 07-30-2013, 08:01 PM

Our recent trip of nearly 4000 miles towing our 19' had an average MPG of 17-plus with a 4Runner. That has been our previous experience with it also, so I no longer care about figuring it. Very happy with that. Loaded to just over 3500 lbs. Driving was mostly in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. Worse MPG in west Texas wind and best of 19.55 in Oklahoma.

emers382 · 07-30-2013, 08:03 PM

Jim B - Can appreciate your experience thinking something was wrong with your Pilot when heading into the wind. Many years ago we moved from a pop-up to a 13ft. Gypsy picked it up and headed west from Wnnipeg, TV a Volvo diesel wagon. I was sure something was terribly wrong with the car as I could barely seem to keep it moving. Turns out it was a very heavy headwind and of course with the previous pop-up didn't have that huge exposure. Headed back into the city and picked up a deflector for the roof and that helped a bit but the mileage (usually good) dropped terribly and the Gypsy nose soon became black soot coated (this was an 81 car).

It's great to get some idea about mileage here on this thread as we are considering both tug and TT but could I ask that we keep it to one style of measurement, Doug quoted in l/100 km (which I use) then next post was Jim with MPG(US). Of course we started with MPG(IMP) Why not for the sake of our American friends since we Canadians all understand MPG keep it to that measurement for the thread - Miles Per US Gal.?

Adrian

escape artist · 07-30-2013, 08:18 PM

Hi: All... Nice thing about the 5.0 is the aerodynamics. The wind goes up over the truck and just carries on up over the 5.0. Reace& Tammy have towed both a 19'er and 5.0 with the same truck and passengers...loaded same, and gave the slight mpg edge to the 5.0. On our last trip to Tenn.& S.C. gave us 19.25 mpg's... so I don't bother to figure it out any more... No aspirins required!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

Chapitre · 07-30-2013, 08:41 PM

We now have a Silverado (5.3) , towing a 17b 3100 lbs, got 15 mpg (imperial) in rain/wind- get 22 on the highway not towing, Lots of power and great towing. Had a RAV 4 6 cyl towing the same trailer, generally got 13-16 mpg towed 8000 Kilometers various conditions, it was OK towing, but didn't like it at all in Florida cross winds - got 27 mpg not towing.

dbailey · 07-30-2013, 09:33 PM

but I don't *think* in MPG, US or otherwise...

(grumble...)

dbailey · 07-30-2013, 10:09 PM

to convert between l/100km and mpg (US) divide 236 by one to get the other

(e.g. 11 l/100km = 236/11 mpg = 21.5 mpg, or 21.5 mpg = 236/21.5 l/100km = 11 l/100km)

15 US mpg is pretty close to 15 l/100km

also, mpg imperial * 0.8 -> mpg US

ChuckS · 07-31-2013, 12:18 AM

Just got back from a two day trip averaged 12.0 towing our 21ft with a 2007 Tundra 5.7V8.

dave1 · 07-31-2013, 06:47 AM

Speed effects mpg. What speed is everyone driving?

Dave

Chapitre · 07-31-2013, 06:49 AM

I drive between 55-65 MPH, usually around 57 or so, that seems to be the spot that works best.

dbailey · 07-31-2013, 07:50 AM

We stick fairly close to the posted speed limit. Our highways around here vary from 80kmh to 100kmh (50mph to 65mph).

Jim Bennett · 07-31-2013, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dave1

Speed effects mpg. What speed is everyone driving?

Dave

I usually do between the speed limit to about 10 kph over, and usually not exceeding 120 on freeways. So, it really varies with me. I know I could save a bit by slowing it down a touch, but I will wait for retirement to do that, when I have all the time in the world.

Dave Walter · 07-31-2013, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dave1

Speed effects mpg. What speed is everyone driving?

Dave

At the start of a trip I do close to the speed limit. As I approach my destination, my speed usually tends to increase for some reason.

dave macrae · 07-31-2013, 10:48 AM

I seem to start with good intentions of keeping the posted speed limit, but it seems that after a while it does increase a bit. I suspect the biggest issue is that while I was towing a bigger trailer the hills always slowed us down alot, now with a smaller lighter trailer and a v8 that seems to like to rev a bit its easy to have my way with pretty much any hill. Then I get to hear my Wife and daughter ask if it is really nesecary to go over every hill above the speed limit.

to which I relply " yes "

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