Mileage Impact

[MoreQuestionsThanAnswers]

Any estimates on the mileage impact of towing an Escape 19? My tow vehicle is a 2023 Tundra. I get 17 mpg towing my 1400 lb tear drop. The Escape weight is not an issue, I’m more concerned with aero drag. Any experiences are appreciated.

 

[WillyB]

I have a F150 which gets about 21 MPG not towing. When towing our 21C, depending on wind & terrain, I range anywhere from as low as 9 MPG to as high as 15 MPG. My last trip was a little over 2100 miles and I averaged 13.7 MPG.

Hope this helps.

 

[C&G in FL]

I have a F150 which gets about 21 MPG not towing. When towing our 21C, depending on wind & terrain, I range anywhere from as low as 9 MPG to as high as 15 MPG. My last trip was a little over 2100 miles and I averaged 13.7 MPG.

Hope this helps.

Same vehicle, towing a 5.0TA and I get just about the same mileage as WillyB. I have noticed that when I travel north (multiple times) from my home in Florida, my mileage improves a bit. I don’t know if that is attributable to less dense air (resistance) at higher elevations or the gasoline formulation sold in Florida.

 

[miataone]

I tow a 21NE with a 2020 Tundra. I have averaged 13.8 mpg towing over the course of about 12K miles. That's about 3 mpg less than I get when I'm not towing.

 

[Mike G]

My 2008 GX470 only gets 17-18 mpg unladen. Towing the 19 it's around 10-11 mpg at 65-70 mph.

 

[MoreQuestionsThanAnswers]

I could live with that!

 

[Bobbie54]

It's useful to mention your average towing speed as that impacts mileage.

 

[marsman]

I have a 2015 Ford F150 with the V8 and 6 speed tranny; last winter we completed an 8400 mile trip from Toronto to Arizona to Florida and back home. We averaged 12.4 mpg (19 L/100 kms) and we probably averaged 67-70 mph on the highway. This year I plan to keep my speed below 60 mph to see how it affects my mileage on the same trip.

 

[MoreQuestionsThanAnswers]

With my tear drop 70 to 75 is comfortable. I guess those days would be over.

 

[MoreQuestionsThanAnswers]

I have a 2015 Ford F150 with the V8 and 6 speed tranny; last winter we completed an 8400 mile trip from Toronto to Arizona to Florida and back home. We averaged 12.4 mpg (19 L/100 kms) and we probably averaged 67-70 mph on the highway. This year I plan to keep my speed below 60 mph to see how it affects my mileage on the same trip.

Wow, some trip. What size trailer and how long were you gone.

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

I haven't gone far enough in my new (2019) Expedition to know what its realistic gas mileage is on highway trips... I'm getting 13.6 or so on around town tanks, and a tank mostly spent on a trip up to my brother's and back got 16 MPG, but it included a lot of narrow mountain roads as well as a lot of traffic traversing Marin and SF on black friday. This Expedition has the same drive train as a modern F150, the Ecoboost 3.5 gen 2, with the 10 speed automatic. its a 4 x 4 with the 3.83 rear end thats part of the HD tow package.

 

[Civilguy]

2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee with 5.7L V8 and 8-speed automatic towing 2017 21C with one solar panel:

We have averaged 12.9 MPG over some 16,000+ towing miles in the west, ranging from 11.3 to 15.1 mpg.

This is as calculated from the odometer and the fuel receipts. The lie-o-meter on the dash tends, like most, to present a bit rosier picture.

I tow from 55 to 75 depending on road and traffic conditions, trying to be respectful of the fact that things can happen awfully fast when you've got an extra vehicle's weight loosely tied to your tail.

We're generally at or perhaps just below the 14/17/22 mpg EPA estimates when we're not towing. I do keep a roof rack on the top of the Jeep which I'm sure erodes the mileage a bit.

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

...I do keep a roof rack on the top of the Jeep which I'm sure erodes the mileage a bit.

At 75MPH those erode the mileage a lot, if its any more than aero cross bars.

 

[marsman]

Wow, some trip. What size trailer and how long were you gone.

We crossed the border into the States on January 29 and crossed back into Canada in first week of April.

 

[Civilguy]

At 75MPH those erode the mileage a lot, if its any more than aero cross bars.

Well, aero or not, (which they are), they aren't helping any!

Sometimes I ponder trying to fair out the solar panel. But, seeing how some of the front panel installations failed a few years back made me realize I might be better off just leaving well enough alone.

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

I put one of those Yakima cargo baskets on the roof of my Expedition in preparation for a long trip, and its definitely knocked a few MPG out of my highway mileage.

basket will be for things like a spare spare for my trailer, maybe a water carrier, spare fuel can, that sort of thing.

 

[Mike G]

basket will be for things like a spare spare for my trailer, maybe a water carrier, spare fuel can, that sort of thing.

Or a mother in law.

 

[sofmerc]

Or a mother in law.

OmG...thats funny af, and probably true.... But your going straight to hell!

 

[WillyB]

I recently had to sell my work car (2012 V6 Honda Accord) and I wanted to check the impact on fuel costs since the Honda was great. It averaged between 28 City & 32 Highway even when exceeding the speed limit.

I did a 900 mile test this week on the effect of MPH on MPG on my work trip to Iowa in my 2016 59,000 mile F-150 4-Door 4-Wheel Drive 3.5 EB. 3.55 gearing - truck only - hand calculated - full tank starting both ways.

To Iowa I drove 10 MPH over the speed limit into a very light breeze.
*** MPG = 19.1

On the return home I drove at the posted speed limit into a fairly stiff wind.
*** MPG = 21.7

Most of this driving was straight down the highway on cruise control (75 vs 65 MPH) and showed a nice 2.6 MPG benefit at the slower speeds even with the stiff wind in my face on the return.

This reinforced why I try to drive 5 MPH under the speed limit and not any faster than 62 MPH on the highway when towing our Escape.

 

[iamunique127]

...I do keep a roof rack on the top of the Jeep which I'm sure erodes the mileage a bit.

View attachment 71782

At 75MPH those erode the mileage a lot, if its any more than aero cross bars.

Anything on the roof will affect the mileage.

I had aero bars on a Tacoma. On a 3,000 km round trip I found they impacted the mileage significantly and our speed limits are much lower than 75mph. I began removing them unless I needed them.