Gas mpg

[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.

[trainman]

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

[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. I don't need a computer to tell me how to do that.

[thrifty bill]

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.

[floyd]

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.

[Alf S.]

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.

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

[floyd]

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.

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.

[Glenn Baglo]

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.

[BOGDOG]

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)

[Sgmhgg]

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.

[redbarron55]

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.

[patrick crawford]

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@

[C&G in FL]

Originally Posted by floyd

Of course I am talking about the overall tank average and not the instant mileage.

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.

[Gompka]

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%

[floyd]

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.

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.