Why Not A V8?

[Raya]

For myself my TV is also my daily driver so what I need to worry about is fuel efficiency for the 95% of the miles I do without the trailer, not with it off. People with a dedicated TV for towing have different options then we do.

I was just about to pipe in along the same lines. I tow with a 4-cylinder wagon that's also my daily driver (and my only vehicle). It's rated to tow 3500# (not that I would ever tow that much with it), and it seems quite happy with the +/- 1400# of a 13' egg. The car itself weighs nearly 3500#, so I'm still quite a bit heavier than the trailer.

Yes, my mileage is greatly reduced when towing, but that "greatly reduced" means it's 16-18 when I'm towing (which is a very small percentage of the time), and back up to 25-30 when I'm not towing (which is most of the time).

Raya

PS: I took the original question to be more theoretical; i.e. why doesn't everyone tow with a V-8, so that's why I answered the way I did. That is, I'm not trying to convince the original poster to run out and buy a 4-cylinder wagon.

[Alyn Wolf]

I was just about to pipe in along the same lines. I tow with a 4-cylinder wagon that's also my daily driver (and my only vehicle). It's rated to tow 3500# (not that I would ever tow that much with it), and it seems quite happy with the +/- 1400# of a 13' egg. The car itself weighs nearly 3500#, so I'm still quite a bit heavier than the trailer.

Yes, my mileage is greatly reduced when towing, but that "greatly reduced" means it's 16-18 when I'm towing (which is a very small percentage of the time), and back up to 25-30 when I'm not towing (which is most of the time).

Raya

PS: I took the original question to be more theoretical; i.e. why doesn't everyone tow with a V-8, so that's why I answered the way I did. That is, I'm not trying to convince the original poster to run out and buy a 4-cylinder wagon.

Great input, Booker and Raya and others. I see the point of those interested in using a small, high mileage tow vehicle for towing and for daily use. Not all can afford or even desire a separate dedicated tow vehicle. In our case, the wife and I often wonder about the validity of having 3 vehicles in our driveway = a minivan, a sedan, and truck loaded with pop top camper. We have decided we would rather not tow anything, and our truck camper is dedicated for RVing because of the lower mileage and more awkward around town handling.

Someday, we'd like to trade the truck camper in on a small motorhome such as one of the Sprinter based camper vans. They have such great mileage and handling, that I would also do away with the sedan. Then, we'd only have two vehicles in the driveway and would be ready for anything.

Only problem is that the Sprinter vans run around $80,000 and there ain't many cheap used ones around.
Oh well, life goes on, and much of it is a compromise, eh?

Alyn

[Alf S.]

Hi: Alyn... We are towing our "Escape Hatch" with a GMC S/box 4.3 ltr. V6 O/D tow haul tranny with cooler& H.D. susp. Our first year we have experienced up to 20MPG while towing expressways [at] 60 mph!!! It is a true 5th. wheel hitch and puts about 500# in the box and weighs in around 3000# ready to camp!!! We couldn't be happier with this rig.
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[April Wilcox]

Hey, I guess I'm still confused on this mileage issue. You say you're unhappy with 15 mpg. I thought that was a pretty good figure to shoot for. Would you do any better with a smaller vehicle or smaller engine? In the truck camper world, only a diesel truck might do better (might?). The only rig I know of that would get up around 20 mpg or higher consistently would be the rvs that are based on the new Mercedes (Dodge) Sprinter chassis, but they cost somewhere around $85,000, soooooooo.

Anyway, I guess this mileage topic is one that could go on forever till we figure a way to run our engines on free energy.

Alyn

We pull our 13' with a Saturn Vue 4cyl. which gets about 22mpg while towing. Without it gets about 25-27mpg. But we don't have the towing capacity for anything larger. I sure am glad those 13's are so light! We have not had the opportunity to take our rig out to the mountains yet, so I am hoping we are not pushing any serious limits.

[Gina D.]

yep, some of us poor working schmucks must balance daily driver and tow as the same vehicle.

I bought my Jeep specifically for the tow rating, and I continued to drive my Honda Element as my daily driver, but.. insuring two cars and having ZERO room to store both made me sadly remove the Element from my fleet.

I have on occasion had two or more cars in my life, and since there is only one of me to drive, the "extra" cars were really just frivolous $$$ out the window.

I am very happy with my current combo, and don't see upgrading anytime soon, but if money and space were no object, sure, I would get a truck and a 5er!

[Pete Dumbleton]

A simple thing to do that may be very revealing is to estimate the number of miles driven in a year and do some efficiency (MPG) and fuel costs (Low pump vs high pump) comparisons to see how much in dollars (or EhBucks) one could actually save by increasing fuel economy.

[Marc]

we pulled our Jubilee 15' with a 01 CRV and I don't think it was far off 15 MPG. It usually gets 30 MPG or so unloaded, but towing it dropped a lot, probably due to running in Drive all the time at 3800 RPM. It was just brutal.