Towing MPG

[OVERKILL]

Yesterday I towed a U-Haul trailer (2,800lbs) up to Toronto to pick up a dining room set for my parents.

GCW was around 10.5K return(truck is 6,150 approx, plus 4 occupants plus about 4K for the trailer loaded).

overall MPG, including in-town driving through Toronto was 13.1Mpg. Highway speed ranged between 70-75Mph (112-120Km/h).

I was not easy on the "go pedal" (I never am). Pure highway, I get 18.5Mpg with the family in the truck; no trailer.

Less of a hit on fuel mileage than I expected, given the trailer is like pulling a giant brick.

What kind of split are others seeing? With/without a trailer (providing weight of trailer and vehicle please).

 

[cchase]

My truck gets about 21-22mpg on the open road empty and 17-18mpg around town empty.

Towing my 3200 lb boat on the open road nets about 15mpg, with about 13mpg around town with the boat.

Truck weight is 4200 lbs, 175 hp 5.0L 2wd.

 

[IndyIan]

I towed a u-haul 5x8 trailer full of my sisters stuff from Peterborough to Winnipeg, probably 2500lbs, lots of books...
My poor Tracker went from 27-30mpg for a highway trip like that, to around 17-18 mpg. Depended alot on the wind and 4th was used quite abit on the interstate, one day we needed 3rd to climb a hill into the wind going up interstate 94.
GCW was probably 7100lbs, 3000lb tracker, 600lbs of people and stuff in the Tracker and 2500lbs of trailer and load.

Way way underpowered but drove very well and was stable. Never had to do a full out emergency stop but the odd quick one was fine.

Towing more reasonable load like 500lbs of flat pack stuff from Ikea on a much less aero draggy trailer, the mileage hit is almost 0 if we stay at 60-65mph. I've been to Toronto and back on got 28mpg.

 

[suspiciousmind]

I pulled my empty landscape trailer (about 200 mi each way) to help daughter move some stuff a couple weeks ago using my '99 Tacoma 3.4 V6. Normally I get about 19 mpg on the highway. I was struggling to get 15 mpg on this trip....the trailer's less than 1000 pounds unloaded.

The killer was the vertical gate/ramp on the thing acting as an air brake....next time I'll leave it at the house or take it off and haul it lying down.

Aerodynamics can be a big factor!

 

[Nick R]

Got about 12mpg towing the Jeep from Maine with the 4.6L Expy with cruise at 60. Jeep itself weighs about 4500lb, and we had it stuffed full of heavy stuff to keep the wieght down. I estimate the final weight of trailer and Jeep at 7000lb.

 

[Deltona_Dave]

I tow a 5K Baldor Genset (with 50 gal diesel on board) with my 5500 Titan CC. Unloaded, I average 16 mpg. with genset in tow, I get about 12-13 mpg. I mainly have this genset with me during hurricane season. At least my employer reimburses me for mileage.

Dave

 

[GMBoy]

2006 GMC Sierra Denali crewcab pickup, 6.0L high output (345hp vs reg 6.0L's 300hp) with All Wheel Drive.

With normal use I avg 13.5-14.7 according to the drive info center. This is mostly city stop/go driving. Highway trip use I will get 17-19mpg. I'm not a hard driver - but not easy either.

Towing my 28" RV with a weight of (I think) 8100lbs or so I get 9mpg.

 

[Dualie]

7.3L CC Drw 2x4 auto was knocking down 13-15 mpg pulling our six horse (27,975lbs combined). That's on paper not using the overhead. with the tilt deck equipment trailer and a forklift on board i usually average around 14-16mpg with a combined of around 22K.

 

[super20dan]

i get 12. 5 with my v6 tundra towing my lawnservice trailer in city driving

 

[rationull]

It's hard for me to separate mpg with and without towing on our truck because it's not a daily driver -- it gets driven mainly to tow but also for a little bit every 3-4 weeks when it's not towing (just to keep everything in running shape). It's a 1999 Suburban 2500 FWD with the 7.4l big block. I think we've recorded 9-12 mpg on each fillup. Probably 50% of its driving time is towing a 2 horse trailer with 1 or 2 horses in it, including going to pick up the trailer.

 

[ffracer]

1995 Ford Ranger longbed 2wd 5-speed manual towing a 16' open wheel racing car with a double axle trailer and then bed full with tires, parts, etc.

21 mpg on 93 octane gas

slow but good mpg towing.

 

[NHHEMI]

2008 Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab 5.7L HEMI 4WD =

regardless of towing or not.

 

[Ausfahrt]

My Civic averages 38 mpg on the highway. We towed the trailer loaded with the bike to north Georgia (1000 mile round trip) and got 32 mpg.

 

[TheTanSedan]

Loaded up the biggest U-Haul enclosed trailer a few months back. Loaded truck bed. Estimated weight (based on truck scale tickets and UHaul data and of items in load) was close to 13,000-lbs

19 mpg over a 300-mile drive

Averaged 13-15 pulling our 34' travel trailer

Truck has averaged 23.7 mpg, all miles, the past 18,000 miles (mainly highway)

CIty is 18-19 mpg; Hwy is 24-27

2004 Cummins Turbodiesel

 

[Tornado Red]

I towed a 4x8 flatbed trailer loaded about 5' high with household goods, boxes of books, etc., altogether the trailer was overloaded and must have weighed over a ton. I started in San Diego and ended in central Iowa, averaging about 55 mph and about 41 mpg. This was in mid-summer and the AC was running full-blast the whole time. I probably had another 400 pounds plus of stuff inside the car. I ended up unloading the trailer once to reduce weight by around 600 pounds, and still ended up with more than was safe.

I was surprised because other TDI owners sometimes report towing mpg in the low 30s. My good results were due to a very low speed, forced on me to keep the trailer from weaving back and forth.