So, what's your gas mileage?

[charliej]

11-12 mpg. Silverado Z71 4x4 and 16 foot scamp. Kinda sucks. Makes going places expensive.

[LukeP]

Originally Posted by Doug Mager

....Like Donna, "don't know, don't care". Car alone seems to average about 8 mpg and we never bother to check milage while being 'pushed around'....

Doug, I wouldn't care about my mpg either if I could drive that setup! Very nice!

[LukeP]

I'm glad somebody posted this as I was a bit glum after our last trip. Our old Isuzu Trooper only lost a couple mpg when towing. But I put a new axle on our Boler since last summer and I figured that couldn't hurt.

We also bought a 2011 Honda Pilot this spring and just towed for our first trip... thought it would be better than ever.

21'ish mpg without towing, 14.5 mpg was the best tank I saw when towing. Typical was 13.5mpg. 11 mpg when I had a tank of ethanol somewhere in western nebrasky. Oddly, did better in the mountains than on the flats. I over shot (or under shot?) my estimates a bit, figuring I'd be "reasonably close" to my non-tow mpg like the old rig used to do. Not the case. Thankfully gas is a bit cheaper out west!

[Larry&Carrie]

Like others, I'm not overly concerned about fuel mileage as my vehicles are paid for. Besides, I am at the point in my life that if it's not unique, I'm not driving it.... (get about 15-16 with the El Camino towing, and maybe 12-14 with the Bronco towing) And I can't justify the $500+ a month for a new, everyone has one vehicle for a couple miles a gallon.

[Mike Magee]

Originally Posted by LukeP

....
21'ish mpg without towing, 14.5 mpg was the best tank I saw when towing. Typical was 13.5mpg. 11 mpg when I had a tank of ethanol somewhere in western nebrasky. Oddly, did better in the mountains than on the flats. I over shot (or under shot?) my estimates a bit, figuring I'd be "reasonably close" to my non-tow mpg like the old rig used to do. Not the case. Thankfully gas is a bit cheaper out west!

I've noticed the same thing, and it's pretty consistent with my V6 Highlander. Only 10-11 mpg on the windy plains, but 14-15 in the mountains. I am obliged to drive slower in the mountains though.

[honda03842]

We probably all pretty much agree with if you have it keep it.

It's probably nearly impossible to pay for a new tow vehicle with gas savings. However the information provided is certainly beneficial to new members who are considering a tow vehicle/trailer combination.

I find the posts interesting mostly because we're on our second to last tow vehicle, considering our age, and are interested in another four cylinder with a manual transmission.

Norm



Norm

[Cyndi B.]

Our 4 WD Tundra gets better gas mileage then my Jeep Liberty. Towing the Scamp, turn that option off once you kick it into tow and hope for a good tail wind.

[Karen M]

I usually get between 13 and 17 mpg towing my 13, no bath Casita at 60-62 on interstate highways.

BTW, only a portion of I20 in far west Texas has an 80 mph speed limit. And it doesn't have much traffic.

I'd love to go slower and take the back roads and some day I hope to be able to travel that way but for now the time I have and the places I want to go necessitate highways at a speed that won't back things up.

Karen

[Tony Nowak]

We have a 2WD Ford F150 (5.4L,4 speed auto) and get 12-13 MPG towing the Bigfoot at 58 MPH with the OD locked out. The BF people told me that they are power needy,but yikes! The Scamp only gets 15-16 MPG with the Ford,with OD. 19 MPG nontowing, on the highway.
Tony

[BCDave]

I USED TO get up to 23 mpg (to a US gallon) with my poor old tired and worn out '92 GMC one-ton, but a set of new Michellins on it plus some other issues (like it's getting VERY old and has 370,000 on it!!) have dropped that to about 18 when NOT towing.

My recent trip to Texas & back from the Vancouver, BC area resulted in some amazing numbers. WORST mileage - NOT towing, but running well over 90 mph in Texas - was under 8 mpg. Average, running "'bobtailed" was about 16-17, while I got anywhere from 12 to as low as 8 while towing my "new" Bigfoot 21 on the way back, depending on altitude, terrain and speed. Faster resulted in lower MPG. Lotsa hills and steep grades = VERY poor mpg. Hi Altitude = much reduced power= poor mpg. Running 75-80 mph while towing = greatly reduced mpg

However - it is what it is, and so what?

"Babe the Blue Ox" (my truck) does what she does and spends less than 10% of her time towing.

If ya wanna play, ya gotta pay!

[Greg H]

Wow Dave i"m thinking 23 mpg was awesome for that 1 ton, and everything is bigger in Tx, except the parking spaces and the fuel mileage. As for those Michellin's, I wouldn't put a set of them on Granny's wheelchair (if I still had a Granny).

[zephyr4]

On a recent trip we g0t 18 to 19 mpg pulling our 13' Scamp, but the Chrysler Town and Country was loaded to the GVW limit. We kept the speed to 60 mph. We get 19-21 with a light load and 55 mph speeds.

The scamp only "costs" 1 or 2 mph thanks to that big boxy body.

[Radar1]

The fastest I ever go while towing is 65, since that's what the max speed of my tires says. I generally keep it at 60 or the speed limit though, whichever is lower.
On my Dodge Dakota Quad cab, V-8, auto, I get 19 driving solo, and that would be about 70 MPH. Towing my 16 Scamp SD at 60 with the Dakota, I average about 14.5.
On my Subaru Outback, flat 4, auto, I get 26-28 solo at about 70, and it drops to about 18 towing at 60.
I usually carry a kayak on top, but the last trip without the kayak didn't show any difference, so perhaps the kayaks drag is offset by it's breaking up the drag on the camper. I actually prefer using the Subaru especially if I expect to encounter any back roads (AWD) or do a lot of solo driving at the camp destination.

John

[CD Smith]

OK guys, let's get real.

I tow with a 2007 Cadillac Escalade with 6.2L engine, 6-speed transmission and a 3.42 differential. We tow at 60 MPH or the speed limit whichever is the lowest.

For flat terrain and no wind I get 18 to 19 MPG (not counting starting and stopping).

Unfortunately those conditions don't exist very often. So!

I have gotten as low as 11.5 MPG average at speeds up to 95 MPH (60 MPH speedometer plus 35 MPH headwind moderate hills).

Under normal circumstances of light winds and moderate hills I get about 14.5 MPG average (including stopping and starting).

During other windy conditions and more mountainous conditions I get 13.5 MPG average.

When not towing at 70 MPH under normal conditions I get 22 MPG average.

In town (stop and go traffic) i get 14 MPG average.

However, the following is the way you should determine the true value of your TV.

For the last 8,914 miles (since I bought this TV), my overall average fuel cost is 0.24 cents a mile.

Any other MPG numbers, including the MPG numbers I list above, are just meaningless.

IMHO

[honda03842]

I have thought of the per mile cost for gas. WHen we're traveling we average about 23 mpg towing and about 27 mpg driving about. During our 7 month trips we average about the same number of miles towing as we do exploring, giving us an average of 25 mpg.

If gas cost $3.64/ gallon (Today's price) the cost per mile for gas is $0.15/mile with an average of 25 mpg.

When I figure in the cost of the car's purchase ($2,000/year over 10 years), Insurance ($700), Taxes ($250), Repair/maintenance ($1000) over our typical 20,000 miles per year. That amounts to an additional $0.20 per mile in ownership costs.

In summary, driving the car costs us about $0.35 per mile or $7,000 a year.

[Jeff Barkley]

I'm just breaking in our new 2011 GMC 3500HD with 6l gas engine. I hope the mileage isn't too bad . We had a Tacoma 4x4 trd off road truck and its mileage was nothing to cheer about, so I don't think it will be too much of a shock. Reading this thread, I did notice a comment that made me think, "hmm".

"Our 4 WD Tundra gets better gas mileage then my Jeep Liberty. Towing the Scamp, turn that option off once you kick it into tow and hope for a good tail wind."

It sounds kind of like they are using 4wheel drive most of the time, which will damage the vehicle. Real 4x4 vehicles are designed for being used ONLY on a slippery surface, such as gravel, snow, etc. The axles are locked together, front and back, when in 4x4 and NEED to have some slippage when you go around a corner. If you drive in 4x4 on a dry paved road, massive stress is put on the drivetrain and you can break an axle.

I just thought I'd mention that because I had a friend who didn't realize that and broke more than one axle in his truck before having it explained to them.
Jeff

[DannyH]

A couple of weeks ago we got back from a two week, 2300 mile trip to Banff/ Jasper. We have a 2006 Hyundai Tucson with a 1950# 13 foot scamp. Our worst mileage was 16 mpg and our best was 17 mpg, I'm happy with those numbers. The couple of days of hiking without towing we got 27 mpg. It seems it we only get a little extra when on the freeway. I was expecting 10 mpg in the canadian rockies. We set the cruise control at 57 max, no matter how much faster the trafic is. This speed seems to hit the Hyundai's and trailers harmonics well and everything feels and sounds good.

[Borden]

Can only say love my Toyota

[WtMtJim]

Originally Posted by Borden

Can only say love my Toyota

Our most recent trip - Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and home - was 2,749 total miles, $603.48 spent on gas - for a gas cost per mile of 21.9 cents per mile. Average mpg was 17.1 (per tank low of 13.0 mpg and per tank high of 18.4 mpg. (2005 Toyota 4Runner, V8, AWD)

I agree with Donna that "it is what it is" and whatever it is it won't keep me from traveling. However, keeping track of your mpg and noticing a sudden or drastic change in what is "normal" for your rig, can alert you to potential mechanical problems that need to be addressed.

Frankly, I'm very pleased with the mileage I get with a V8, AWD tow vehicle. Plenty of power for hills, decent mileage and enough room for all our "stuff".

[Cyndi B.]

We turn that option off on the Tundra.