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11-21-2018, 03:19 PM
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#1
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Senior Member
Name: Bob Ruggles
Trailer: 2015 Escape
Michigan
Posts: 1,537
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Gas mpg
Driving from my home in Michigan to my son’s in Indiana, a distance of 300 miles towing my Escape 19, my truck computer is showing 16 mpg. I’m not going to hand compute in case the computer is wrong and I prefer to believe it. Ignorance is bliss.
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11-22-2018, 06:55 AM
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#2
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Senior Member
Name: John
Trailer: 2019 Oliver Elite II
Texas
Posts: 367
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I'm pretty much the same way, what the computer says is good enough for me. The wife at times will check fuel mileage to old fashion way and from what she calculates, it's pretty close all the time. We top out around 65 mph when pulling the trailer, that about the speed we want to travel at anyway, so what we get, is what we get.
trainman
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11-22-2018, 08:53 AM
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#3
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Senior Member
Name: Jon
Trailer: 2008 Scamp 13 S1
Arizona
Posts: 11,951
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Gas mpg
I'm more interested in how current fuel mileage compares to past experience in order to notice any significant changes over time, so real-world accuracy is less important to me. I did check it once over several tanks, and it was 1-2 mpg higher than the manual calculation.
I rarely report my mileage (and usually as a range rather than a number). I take others' reports with a shrug. There are just too many variables to make it very useful.
EPA and/or CR data can be used to compare similar vehicles when making a purchase. I am unaware of anyone doing controlled, scientific collection and reporting of towing fuel economy. In any case towing fuel mileage is well down my list of priorities. Non-towing mileage does matter somewhat, because we put a lot of miles on our vehicles. Performance, utility, and reliability are much more important in the big picture.
Once you've got the vehicle in your driveway, not much you can do to change it other than drive sensibly. I don't need a computer to tell me how to do that.
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11-22-2018, 10:25 AM
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#4
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Senior Member
Name: bill
Trailer: 2013 Escape 19
The Mountains of North Carolina
Posts: 4,138
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FWIW, I get 17 to 18 MPG with my 5.4L V8 F150 with no load. Depending on terrain, I am 13 to 15MPG pulling the Escape 19. With the Trillium 1300, I saw no drop in fuel economy from the no load mpg.
I've got a bit of a lead foot speed wise, all my trailers have new 81 MPH tires (I don't go 81 MPH regardless, 65 to 70 is normal).
"In the old days" I had a Chevy one ton dually. I got 8 MPG empty, and 8 MPG pulling my fifth wheel trailer.
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11-22-2018, 10:43 AM
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#5
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Senior Member
Trailer: 2004 13 ft Scamp Custom Deluxe
Posts: 8,520
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I installed a CompuCruise back in the early eighties which was accurate if managed properly, but I am amazed at the accuracy of the computed mileage of our Transit Connect, requiring no work or calibration. After a while I simply learned to trust it, since it has been right every time I checked it.
Of course I am talking about the overall tank average and not the instant mileage.
Ironically, our CompuCruise exposed a lot of badly miscalibrated gas station pumps which were never in the customer's favor.
Cars and pumps have changed a lot in the last 35 years.
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11-22-2018, 10:54 AM
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#6
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Senior Member
Trailer: 2007 19 ft Escape 5.0 / 2002 GMC (1973 Boler project)
Posts: 4,148
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rgrugg
Driving from my home in Michigan to my son’s in Indiana, a distance of 300 miles towing my Escape 19, my truck computer is showing 16 mpg. I’m not going to hand compute in case the computer is wrong and I prefer to believe it. Ignorance is bliss.
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Hi: rgrugg... Last 300 mile trip I tugged was 26.5 miles to the gallon (CDN). Non tuggin' last trip was 31.5 mpg (CDN). Not bad for a full sized Ram pickup... Diesel of course, calculated by hand with a pencil, to correct any errors.
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie
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11-22-2018, 11:03 AM
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#7
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Senior Member
Trailer: 2004 13 ft Scamp Custom Deluxe
Posts: 8,520
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon in AZ
I'm more interested in how current fuel mileage compares to past experience in order to notice any significant changes over time, so real-world accuracy is less important to me. I did check it once over several tanks, and it was 1-2 mpg higher than the manual calculation.
I rarely report my mileage (and usually as a range rather than a number). I take others' reports with a shrug. There are just too many variables to make it very useful.
EPA and/or CR data can be used to compare similar vehicles when making a purchase. I am unaware of anyone doing controlled, scientific collection and reporting of towing fuel economy. In any case towing fuel mileage is well down my list of priorities. Non-towing mileage does matter somewhat, because we put a lot of miles on our vehicles. Performance, utility, and reliability are much more important in the big picture.
Once you've got the vehicle in your driveway, not much you can do to change it other than drive sensibly.
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So right!
Speed, acceleration and other driving habits affect mileage so much as to render CR data useless and EPA mileage useful only for comparison,although it is hard to exceed the EPA Highway number.
Driving habits can easily cause more than a 20% variation in fuel mileage,in some cases even more.
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11-22-2018, 11:15 AM
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#8
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Senior Member
Trailer: Escape 17 ft
Posts: 8,317
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I've read that if you listen to music with a heavy beat, while driving, your mileage will drop because you are imperceptibly tapping the gas pedal.
__________________
What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?
- Bertolt Brecht
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11-23-2018, 12:51 PM
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#9
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Junior Member
Name: Dan
Trailer: scamp 19
Illinois
Posts: 18
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my <600 mile trip from Backus to Chicago using my F150 3.5L eco pulling my Scamp 19 was 15.5 mpg (as reported by the truck)
__________________
2018 Scamp 19
Ford F150 Lariat 3.5 ecoboost
My Travel Blog
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11-30-2018, 08:49 PM
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#10
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Junior Member
Name: Sgmhgg
Trailer: Casita
Texas
Posts: 14
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on my 400 mile trip pulling a 17' Casita, I got 13.6 mpg with a 3.3 Nissan Frontier V6. I also pull at 70 to 75 mph just to keep from getting run over. On the open roads the speed limlt is 85.
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12-01-2018, 09:12 AM
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#11
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Senior Member
Name: JD
Trailer: Scamp 16 Modified (BIGLY)
Florida
Posts: 2,445
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9300 miles of towing over 2 months and I averaged (on the computer) of 16 MPG towing the Heavy Frank N. Scamp all over the mid North. Yellowstone Glacier Nat Park and just about every where in between there and Frank's Birth place.
The Town and Country van did a great job everywhere.
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12-02-2018, 06:47 AM
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#12
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Senior Member
Trailer: Casita Patriot
Posts: 329
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i'm currently on a winter trip west from sc. the truck and trailer are loaded for a lengthy trip (a month or 2...maybe more). 2010 nissan v6 with an are cap. 16' casita sd. freeway speed is set at 62mph (2000 rpm in 4th as overdrive is off). i'm averaging 16.5 mpg (computed by pencil).
p@
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12-02-2018, 07:13 AM
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#13
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Senior Member
Name: Carl
Trailer: 2015 Escape 5.0TA
Florida
Posts: 1,693
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Quote:
Originally Posted by floyd
Of course I am talking about the overall tank average and not the instant mileage.
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Floyd,
I’m not dissing Ford because I am enamored with my F150, but both my previous F150 and my current F150 had/have computers that are “overly optimistic” in calculating overall tank mileage. Hand calculations with paper, pencil, and calculator have repeatedly shown computer inflated MPG by approximately 1.8 MPG, a “make us look better exaggeration” on Ford’s part. Not that it bothers me nor do I consider it questionable, but as I stated, my hand calculations are consistently lower than the F150’s displayed computer figures. Makes me wonder if the F150’s Brain was doctored by VW emissions engineers.
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12-13-2018, 03:47 PM
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#14
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Senior Member
Name: David
Trailer: 2013 Scamp 13 S1 BB
IL
Posts: 281
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We tow our scamp 13 front bunks with a Lexus nx200t, which is a turbo 2.0 liter 4 cyl. We averaged 18mpg on a 5000 mile trip to the southeast and over some mountain passes, even through some snow, doing avg. 65mph. Back in Illinois I am able to get 19 mpg when taking the back roads and keeping the speed at 50-60mpg. I was pleasantly surprised at the mileage we were able to get, I thought it would be lower, although we average about 27mpg without the camper so we are losing about 9mpg or 33%
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12-13-2018, 06:24 PM
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#15
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Senior Member
Trailer: 2004 13 ft Scamp Custom Deluxe
Posts: 8,520
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CPW
Floyd,
I’m not dissing Ford because I am enamored with my F150, but both my previous F150 and my current F150 had/have computers that are “overly optimistic” in calculating overall tank mileage. Hand calculations with paper, pencil, and calculator have repeatedly shown computer inflated MPG by approximately 1.8 MPG, a “make us look better exaggeration” on Ford’s part. Not that it bothers me nor do I consider it questionable, but as I stated, my hand calculations are consistently lower than the F150’s displayed computer figures. Makes me wonder if the F150’s Brain was doctored by VW emissions engineers.
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Right, "Trust but verify"
Forty years ago it seemed that all new Fords were about 2% off, which was great because it was corrected when I put on a better sized tire.
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