Towing Scamp 13 with Suzuki XL-7

[Lars H]

I didn't keep track of gas mileage on the trip going east but did keep track coming home (west). It was all highway/interstate. One-way trip was just under 150 miles. We barely managed 14.5 mpg. The last time I kept track without the trailer, we managed 22.5 mpg going pretty much the same speed. Travelling west we did have a fairly good headwind, maybe 10 mph and the trip seemed more hilly than I remember without a trailer

The Suki pulled fine, it never felt like the trailer was going to throw the tug around. The XL-7 has always felt "heavy" to me, no more or less so with the trailer. I let it dog it's way up the bigger hills. I would have liked a little more horsepower, no complaints about torque though even backing it up our pretty steep driveway. Overall, I am really glad we stuck with a 13' camper.

Does anyone know if gas makes a difference? Will the higher octane make a difference in power and gas mileage? Some other performance questions, we do have an A/T Power switch which the manual states moves the shifting points higher. Is this for hilly terrain? How hilly should it be for me to use this? Same with overdrive, I can turn it off, but I am not sure I want to see what gas mileage looks like if I do.

[Roger H]

Lars, you have just hit on one of the truisms of trailer towing. As you approach the maximum tow limit weight of your tow vehicle, you get about 12 mpg. That seems to be pretty much the same situation regardless of the the size of the engine, weight of the vehicles, or the unladen gas mileage. Some folks report a little better mileage, but that seems to be true mostly across the board.

Roger

[Larry&Carrie]

Sounds about right..... I get 19 mpg in the El Camino w/o Scamp runing about 65-70 mph, and 13 at 70 mph w/Scamp and 15 at 60 mph w/Scamp..... (still haven't run out of power, tho ) Larry

[Pete Dumbleton]

You might get better results from higher octane fuel IF your vehicle's timing computer as the leeway to advance the timing far enough to take advantage of it.

All octane really means is the resistance of the fuel to pre-ignite when under super compression -- No super compression, no benefit.