So, what's your gas mileage?

[honda03842]

Originally Posted by Borden

Can only say love my Toyota

What does your Boler weigh and what mileage do you get?

[Mike Magee]

Originally Posted by WtMtJim

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) ....

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".

I would be pleased with 17, too. Very nice!

[jeckel30]

I towed our 13' Scamp trailer out to Bonneville in Utah. A little over 450 miles at 67mph my 2004 Subaru Forester XT averaged 20.1mpg. It was mostly flat with a few hills out in the desert. I am pretty happy. My 1999 Honda CRV from West Texas averaged 20.8 over the 1850 miles it took to get it home. I traded the CRV as the tow capacity was 1000lbs and it was pretty low on power in the mountains. The XT pulls over hills like there is nothing there.

[Frederick L. Simson]

I saw that this discussion went to a different issue, so I moved the speed centered posts to their own thread.

Let's keep this one to Gas mileage centered posts, please.
continue

[Mike Magee]

Originally Posted by jeckel30

I towed our 13' Scamp trailer out to Bonneville in Utah. A little over 450 miles at 67mph my 2004 Subaru Forester XT averaged 20.1mpg. It was mostly flat with a few hills out in the desert. I am pretty happy. My 1999 Honda CRV from West Texas averaged 20.8 over the 1850 miles it took to get it home. I traded the CRV as the tow capacity was 1000lbs and it was pretty low on power in the mountains. The XT pulls over hills like there is nothing there.

I find it interesting that the CRV and the Forester were so close to each other in MPG's. Same driver, obviously, and both 4 cylinder engines. Pretty consistent.

[mcbrew]

On a side note, I am going to be test driving Subarus tomorrow. My next car will either be a Forester or an Outback. The Outback costs a little more, but I like the CVT transmission. Either way, it is nice to have more towing capacity than I have now!

[cpaharley2008]

I would not tow with the cvt, my subie dealer advised me against it here in York. He wanted me to get the regular auto trans, he said it will handle towing better. I loved the outback with the cvt but could not get a towing package for the subie with the cvt. I could with the other set up. Subaru would not tell me why.

[honda03842]

Mys son tows his Casita 16 with a Suburau Outback, automatic transmission, without any issues.

My choice as well would to not get the CVT transmission. To me it's simply too new. I'd rather it accumulated a few years before I lept onto a new technology.

[cpaharley2008]

Towing with my Ram hemi I get 13 mpg, same as if I'm not towing. But on the highway, the engine shuts down to 4 cyl and if I'm lucky I can get around 18-20. Sometimes when towing the "economy" light comes on but rarely. I have a tow mode which cuts off the economy and overdrive. But the truck was made to pull close to 10,000 so I feel I can safely pull 2500 in regular drive using od and economy. But it only works on highway,level and with a tailwind, then it cuts to 4 while towing. The slightest hill cuts in all 8 cal and my mpg drops. In the city where you have stop and go, 13. So, on an average I can say maybe 15 on a trip involving both stops and highway. I can't get a feel pulling with the Jeep yet, it is too new and not broken in, but expect about the same(I hope)
I think your mpg is affected by the mass you are pulling, by the amount of horsepower needed to move that mass and how often you stop and then have to start to get the mass moving. I think it takes less gas to keep it rolling that it does to get it rolling. If the mass is too much for the hp then your rolling mpg will not be different that your starting out but if the mass is light then you can the the better efficiency while cruising.

[mcbrew]

Originally Posted by honda03842

Mys son tows his Casita 16 with a Suburau Outback, automatic transmission, without any issues.

My choice as well would to not get the CVT transmission. To me it's simply too new. I'd rather it accumulated a few years before I lept onto a new technology.

Subaru has been making cars with CVT transmissions since 1987.

[mcbrew]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

I would not tow with the cvt, my subie dealer advised me against it here in York. He wanted me to get the regular auto trans, he said it will handle towing better. I loved the outback with the cvt but could not get a towing package for the subie with the cvt. I could with the other set up. Subaru would not tell me why.

I just bought an Outback with the CVT. They specifically say in the manual that you CAN tow with it. The only thing they mention is that in hot weather (over 104F) with a heavy trailer on long (more than 5 mile) uphill stretches, the system could start to overheat, in which case it will reduce engine output until the temps come back down.

In any case, I will be towing with mine. Subaru says it's fine. I will report any issues I may have.

[honda03842]

We had a similar situation in the motorhome, overheating on long hills. To resolve the problem I rerouted the output of the windshield washer to the front of the transmission cooler. I added a seperate switch to allow me to turn it on. WHen I saw the temp climb I'd simply give it a squirt or two.

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by mcbrew

I just bought an Outback with the CVT. They specifically say in the manual that you CAN tow with it. The only thing they mention is that in hot weather (over 104F) with a heavy trailer on long (more than 5 mile) uphill stretches, the system could start to overheat, in which case it will reduce engine output until the temps come back down.

In any case, I will be towing with mine. Subaru says it's fine. I will report any issues I may have.

What kind of hitch did you get and brake controller? Does the Subie have aux cooling? I'd love to get a Subie but the dealer here was not cooperative in setting up the tow issues.

[Borden]

Originally Posted by honda03842

What does your Boler weigh and what mileage do you get?

Weight:
The actual total weight is about 2300 with fresh water and propane tanks full. Tongue weight is to light with empty propane tanks I can pick up the tongue by my self and walk the trailer around the yard? Propane adds about 76 lbs to the tongue. Like 200 lbs at tongue as 8% is 184 lbs. Did not make the long trip we had planned to Winnipeg so have no long trip data for mileage available

We live along the Niagara escarpment lots of short steep hills 3 to 5 city blocks long

Mileage:
Toyota rates the car at 50/40 mpg real stats are 48/38 highway/city Imp gal or around 42/33 US gal Average is (8L/100km)
100=62 1 L / 10.9 Mi or 1 L / 17.5 km highway and
Actual average in area of 1 L / 7.8 mi or 12.5 km mostly in town
Towing 1 L / 5.2 mi or 8.3 km or about 20 mpg us around town, think would be better on a long trip only time will tell; if the valley hills avoided, mileage would be a lot better.

[Borden]

P.S. Mto wants tongue weight and equilizer weight to get the tongue rating they use so 200 + 62 = 262 if i aim for 200 will be no more than 300 and that is fine for our car as it is setup

[honda03842]

Borden,
I'm interest in how similarly sized trailers, the Casita 16/17, Scamp 16 and the Boler 17 can vary so much in max weight. We towed a Casita 16 2800/280, Scamp 16 2400/200 and your Boler 17 2300/200. Of course the Casita 17's are typically in the 3200/400 pound range.

Both Casita and Scamp had air conditioners and baths. The Casita has dual propane, the Scamp single propane.

Where are these weight differences?

[cpaharley2008]

Norm,
I think the Casita and Scamp's battery locations are different. The Casita I think is up front where as the Scamp is the rear. If you move 50lbs from front to rear you get a 100 lbs differential. I also think the wheelbase, i.e. the location of the wheels from the front can play with t/w variables. Just my thoughts.

[Frederick L. Simson]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Norm,
I think the Casita and Scamp's battery locations are different.

Actually, Casita puts their battery in a compartment at the Left Rear "Corner" under the dinette bench while Scamp puts theirs out on the tongue up front.

All of the 16' trailers have their axle-to-coupler spacing about the same. When Casita designed their 17', they just lengthened the body (and frame) toward the front, increasing the axle-to-coupler spacing.

[honda03842]

I used a Casita 16 for 6 months this past winter and hated the battery under the dinette. It was difficult to service and wasted inside space.

Though the Casita had the battery in the back it had two propane tanks that balanced the loss of battery weight compared to the Scamp that only has one propane tank.

I still don't understand the extra 400 pounds in the Casita. Actually the Casita is about 3-4 inches shorter but weighs 400 pounds more. Could this be the fiberglass under the floor?

Other than that they seem to be similarly constructed.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by honda03842

Mys son tows his Casita 16 with a Suburau Outback, automatic transmission, without any issues.

My choice as well would to not get the CVT transmission. To me it's simply too new. I'd rather it accumulated a few years before I lept onto a new technology.

I tow with an Outback but its more than two years old so it doesnt have new to Subaru CVT transmission. Mine has an automtic but can be switched over a manual sport mode option. Have towed with it for more the 5 years without any issues at all.

I would love to hear if anyone is towing with the new to Subaru CVT transmission - I think they changed to CVT in 2010? was kind of disappointed to hear Subaura had switched to CVT as I had heard also that they were not as good for towing as the old transmission they were using. But then again I have heard a lot of people claim that the Subaru Outback isnt a safe choose for towing in the first place - lol - but then again those who often say it have usually never actually towed with one.

I actually had a fellow from Texas camp beside me in a campground this summer. He asked me where I was heading and I told him I was going down the Coast then into Idaho, Wyoming and Montana and then home via the Washington Cascades. He told me that he had driven through some pretty big mountains on his way to Portland and there was no way that Subaru could tow through them and that I should re think my plans. I giggled and asked him if he had noticed my license plate and pointed out that I fairly familiar with mountains as we have a few of them in BC and that I actually live on the side of a ski hill. I jokingly said that my driveway might be declared a mountain from someone from Texas. He shook his head and said no way he would tow without a lot more power as it just cant be safe. I assured him I was towing within the Subaru's tow cap & had been through the Cascades before without any problems. What was funny about the conversation was the guy had a really big truck with a tow package on it but he was camping in a tent in the rain but he said he had a really nice trailer at home. When I asked him why he didnt have the trailer with him he said he could not afford the gas towing the trailer on such a long trip so he was camping in this tent for 3 days and every 4th day staying in a hotel...... I left him to go back to the comfort of my dry little trailer where I ROFL....