Gas Milage w/ TT Sucks... any suggestions?

[Mountainmanbob]

Originally Posted by FreedomTracker

My current TV is a Honda Pilot (6 cyl, 250HP)
normally gets around 18.0 mpg
but
with 4,000lb TT (Rockwood MiniLite 1809s) ONLY gets 8.6mpg?

we must face the facts
that Honda THING is working pretty hard
still even with trailer
seems you should get a little over 10 mpg
unless there are a lot of hills (mountains)

our Tundra 5.7
get's around 11 while towing
Mountainman

[RattVader]

And no matter HOW its sliced,or WHO slices it you can't beat the laws of physics.You put a big ol heavy chunk of anything on wheels hooked to your vehicle dragging behind you and it ain't rocket science,your mileage WILL suffer. Sorry,just my .03 cents.

[Old car]

I haven't towed yet with the Ecoboost F150 put the Silverado I had previously with a 5.3 V-8 would get about 20 mpg but when you put the 7000 lb. trailer on it; it would get about 10.

[acadianbob]

Originally Posted by Old car

I haven't towed yet with the Ecoboost F150 put the Silverado I had previously with a 5.3 V-8 would get about 20 mpg but when you put the 7000 lb. trailer on it; it would get about 10.

Yep, that's pretty typical !!

[Whiskeyjack]

Originally Posted by RattVader

And no matter HOW its sliced,or WHO slices it you can't beat the laws of physics.You put a big ol heavy chunk of anything on wheels hooked to your vehicle dragging behind you and it ain't rocket science,your mileage WILL suffer. Sorry,just my .03 cents.

Agreed.......it don't matter if it's rated for 7000lbs and your trailer is only 4000lbs. Mileage will always suffer and will no matter what vehicle or engine you have. Including diesel. I have an 07 Dodge 2500 with cummins and my old trailer was only 3500lbs. I still saw a loss in mileage and the truck is rated for 12,000lbs. Mind you I only saw a loss of 2mpg but still a loss none the less. That being said....a v8 will certainly help and won't be so hard on the TV.

[bikendan]

IMHO, you have too much trailer for the Pilot and if you're driving 65mph with the combo, you're causing the mileage to drop.

having a v-8 would help but only give you a couple of mpg more.

i average 10-12mpg pulling my 5000lbs. HTT with my 5.3 v-8 Avalanche.
not towing, i can get over 20mpg on the freeway with it.

[RvBill3]

Slowing down a little will make some difference but otherwise: Welcome to the world of towing (or class C or A for that matter). Traveling with empty tanks helps keep weight down and therefore helps mpg a little. (We always have some fresh water on board because we like the convenience of using our own facilities when needed, but we top off the tank upon arrival). Watch rpms and let off the gas a little on uphills. If you can let speed drop a little and avoid a downshift, it will save a little gas. But none of this will add much to your mpg. IMHO, I wouldn't trade this lifestyle no matter what the mpg.

[Mark and Linda]

I am like Old Car was, pulling a 7000 lb tt with a 5.3 V8. Gas mileage on the interstate without a trailer behind, going just below 70 MPH, I get around 21 MPG. Towing the TT, I get around 11 MPG. I checked this yesterday... Getting the over 62 Discount at the state park, helped make up for some of the difference in gas funds.

[ng2951]

...TV is a Honda Pilot (6 cyl, 250HP) normally gets around 18.0 mpg but with 4,000lb TT (Rockwood MiniLite 1809s) ONLY gets 8.6mpg...

Made the same mistake when I had a Trailmanor. I thought a V6 Tacoma would pull my TM with better mileage than a V8. Not true.

People with V8 F150s and Tundras got much better mileage.

Also, my GMC Duramax diesel gets around 18 MPG @ 70. If I drop it to 65 it steadies out around 21-24 MPG. Towing at 65 my big Puma TH (7,000-8000#) I get about 10 MPG. That's like pulling two of your 1809s.

Now if you could get the government to remove the ethanol from the fuel, your Pilot would probably get around 21 MPG, 10 MPG towing...

[RubenZ]

Too much trailer for that Honda with a V6. That's the bottom line. Even more crazy is that you were driving 65mph with it.

[bean]

I just towed my 625D pop-up (about 3,000lbs) with my 2012 F150 ecoboost. On a trip that I noramlly get about 21MPG, I got about 15MPG. I'm pretty happy with that.

Of course a pop-up does not have much wind resistance, and I wasn't going much over 55MPH.

I thought with a max tow load of 11,300lbs that 3K would be nothing. But I definately knew it was back there. I'm worried now about getting a 10K travel trailer. I guess I'll have to try it and see.

Bean

[jjm901]

Originally Posted by bikendan

IMHO, you have too much trailer for the Pilot and if you're driving 65mph with the combo, you're causing the mileage to drop.

having a v-8 would help but only give you a couple of mpg more.

I second this... I had a Pilot towing a 17ft Hybrid and averaged around 9MPGs. Don't get me wrong, the Pilot was a nice SUV, but it was not designed for towing. I upgraded to a 5.0L V8 F150 and the change was remarkable, engine was no longer constantly shifting, the MPGs went up to around 11mpg while towing, etc... Overall it is just a much much better tow experience, so much so that the vicious circle of upgrading made me upgrade the hybrid to a larger trailer, even with the larger trailer the towing experience of the truck is a lot better than that with the Pilot.

Speed could help you out too, I noticed in the pilot I was at a sweet spot around 55, every mile per hour faster seemed like an exponential decrease in my fuel efficiency. At 55 I could achieve 10MPGs... at 65 I was closer to 8.5.

[MtnGuy]

Originally Posted by bean

I just towed my 625D pop-up (about 3,000lbs) with my 2012 F150 ecoboost. On a trip that I noramlly get about 21MPG, I got about 15MPG. I'm pretty happy with that.

Of course a pop-up does not have much wind resistance, and I wasn't going much over 55MPH.

I thought with a max tow load of 11,300lbs that 3K would be nothing. But I definately knew it was back there. I'm worried now about getting a 10K travel trailer. I guess I'll have to try it and see.

Bean

Going from a pop-up to a full sized unit will definitely dip into the fuel mileage. I had a Trailmanor that weighed in at 3500 lbs. ready to camp, and got about 15.3 mpg overall with that (anywhere from ~14.1 to 16.5 on various trips). My current Surveyor weighs in at 5500 lbs. ready camp, and I am now getting in the vicinity of 10.5 to 11.5 mpg, but wind and traffic can put a clinker into those numbers. Traveling to South Carolina earlier this year with the wind blowing either from the side or head-on (20 to 30 mph, gusts to 50 mph), I got 9.1 mpg on 1 of my fill-ups. The canoe on top of my racks didn't help with that figure either, as I usually travel without the canoe.

[ehannesson]

Originally Posted by bean

I thought with a max tow load of 11,300lbs that 3K would be nothing. But I definately knew it was back there. I'm worried now about getting a 10K travel trailer. I guess I'll have to try it and see.

I have had similar experiences to this where I was very surprised at how much I could feel my boat when towing. However, I think that going from a 3k lb to a 6k lb boat wouldn't make a directly relational jump in "feel it pounds". I think that the "feel it pounds" have more to do with tongue weight than anything. Naturally, doubling the weight of your trailer will increase the weight on the tongue. But a lot of the feel of your trailer comes from how it's balanced on the axles, too.

I went from a 2k lb boat setup to a 3.2k lb setup and it feels the same. I attribute that mostly to the trailer balancing of each setup and resulting tongue weight.

[recon33alpha]

I have a 2010 GMC 5.3, 6 speed, HD tow package, transmission cooler. Without camper I average 22 MPG, towing my camper home into the wind at 60mph, I averaged 14 MPG driving in the tow/haul mode, quite a shock to me as well. My trailer weighs around 4600 lbs dry! I don't know why it was a shock, its a big wind sock, lol. But like others have stated, wouldn't trade it for the world!!!!!! Good luck

[acadianbob]

Originally Posted by bean

I just towed my 625D pop-up (about 3,000lbs) with my 2012 F150 ecoboost. On a trip that I noramlly get about 21MPG, I got about 15MPG. I'm pretty happy with that.

Of course a pop-up does not have much wind resistance, and I wasn't going much over 55MPH.

I thought with a max tow load of 11,300lbs that 3K would be nothing. But I definately knew it was back there. I'm worried now about getting a 10K travel trailer. I guess I'll have to try it and see.

Bean

That's interesting. Is it a BIG pop-up? My previous 5.4 F150 would get about 17 mpg @ 70 mph empty. Pulling our 1,700 pound pop-up, I would get 16 mpg @ 65. Hardly any penalty at all.

[PHS79]

My TV is a 2004 F150 FX4, 5.4L, 3.73 gears, lifted 3", running 325/60/18's, Edge Evo programmer with custom tunes, CAI, 3" exhaust. Running empty I average 15, towing our old Kodiak K215 hybrid which weighed around 5000lb I got as high as 12, low as 9, and averaged mid-high 10's. When we go camping I also usually have any where from 200-500lbs in the bed of the truck with firewood, 2 coolers, and other misc depending where we are going. All things considered I don't think that my towing mileage was all that bad.

I just wonder how bad my mileage will be with our Grey Wolf 26BH, heavier and taller, guessing 9-maybe 10.


As for the OP, unless you tow your camper ALOT your unloaded mileage is much better than most V-8 powered TVs will get. You might as will just live with the lower towing mileage.

[J_KHawthorne]

We just returned from a 3.500 mile round trip to Yuma, AZ and return hauling our Crusader 290RLT with an actual loaded weight of 9,239#. (we removed the faux-fireplace and travel light)

Our 2012 Tundra double cab w/Tow Package, 4.30 rear axle, Firestone air suspension and TRD cold air induction logged 10.9 mpg for the entire round trip. Our highway speed was set @ 57mph in Tow/Haul mode. Even the long, steep grades in New Mexico were a breeze @ ~50mph and 3300-3400 rpm.

I had no issues with this speed and found it virtually stress-free and enjoyable. (no worry about speed traps, either!)

I noted that the passing 18-wheelers sure appreciated me flashing my headlights after they had passed me with enough room to pull back over in front of me!

[richdonn]

We had a 2001 Rodeo V6 rated for 4500 lbs (same car as the Pilot). Pulling a TT of around 3000 lbs, we got 12.5 mpg on level roads and 11 mpg overall on a trip to the mountains (about 1/2 of the time in the mountains). We would run about 60 on the level highways and slower in the mountains. Once in the mountains, took it out of overdrive as it was shifting too much.

Wind resistance force increases with the square of the speed. e.g. 65 vs. 55 mph is about a 39% increase. Slow it down and enjoy some savings, anyway.

[capucine]

I think the speed you are towing is the problem. The frontal of the minilite is not terribly aerodynamic. I have the same trailer than yours and I tow at 55 mph. At this speed I can count almost double of what I do in solo. I pull in 3rd gears and my van is not overloaded. All my towing is done on level roadways and if it is not windy my millage is much better. In solo I get aprx 8. to 8.3 liters per 100 K and while pulling it goes to aprx 16 liters per 100 K