Towing with Class C Forester

[MargiLou]

I was told by a friend that we should not tow a vehicle behind our 2008 Forester because the gas mileage would be reduced to praying to get from one gas station to the next. Any thoughts, insights or experience with this?

[n-e-d]

I get 8-9mpg with Ford V10 and no toad, drops to 6-7mpg with toad. Cherokee is about 4k lbs plus

[grumpy0374]

Your rig will loose about 2 miles per gallon, more or less while your towing.
Lot of factors...what your towing, how fast your towing, type of road (flat, hills, mountains) back roads, interstate, ect ect.
Easy way to gauge...just watch for other motorhomes on the road. Bet the majority are towing.
Tow or not, is up to you and what your plans are when you reach your destination. If you plan to sightsee or go exploring, you need a toad.
And, to finish...your driving a biggg box that gets lousy milage to begin with, 8-11 mpg (depending). So whats the big deal if you drop to 7-9 mpg.
Forget your "friend" (does he rv?) and go have a good time.
We tow, always have, and always will, short trips or long trips.
Grumpy

[JLud]

I can't tell a difference at all on average towing our F-150 behind our Georgetown 364, we have generator running at times and it seems average stays right around 7.5.

[SeaDog]

Your friend was not speaking from experience just their guessing. Tow what you want and don't worry about the mpg. Best savings is by slowing down. expect 2 to 3 mpg difference all it means is plan your gas stops a little closer.

[Wandering]

I've got about 5000 miles towing my Mini Cooper toad (~2600 lbs). Right around 7 mpg towing. 8 mpg without toad. Works great!

[PenJoe]

We have a Sunseeker 2500 TS with F450 chassis and V-10. That gives us 7500 lbs towing capacity. We towed a 2012 Jeep Liberty for 1700 miles from Wisconsin to Florida. In cruise control, the Ford pulled that Jeep like it wasn't there and there really was little loss in mileage. The Jeep was on the limits of a 5000 lb tow bar, so we used an Blue OX Aladdin 7500 lb. tow bar. Not sure if a lighter chassis and a V-8 would have done as well.

By the way, we never fell below a quarter tank, which was about as long as we wanted to drive before taking a break.

[A32Deuce]

I tow a car trailer with a Falcon on it. Under 5000 lbs total. and get anywhere from 7.5 to 9.0 depending on speed and if its hilly or not. And I have 78000 miles on rv with that many miles on trailer. V10 pulls fine.

[A32Deuce]

Thats 350 to 400 miles to a tank with out low fuel light coming on!

[PenJoe]

Originally Posted by PenJoe

We have a Sunseeker 2500 TS with F450 chassis and V-10. That gives us 7500 lbs towing capacity. We towed a 2012 Jeep Liberty for 1700 miles from Wisconsin to Florida. In cruise control, the Ford pulled that Jeep like it wasn't there and there really was little loss in mileage. The Jeep was on the limits of a 5000 lb tow bar, so we used an Blue OX Aladdin 7500 lb. tow bar. Not sure if a lighter chassis and a V-8 would have done as well.

By the way, we never fell below a quarter tank, which was about as long as we wanted to drive before taking a break.

At times, you can't see the forest for the trees. The Sunseeker 2500TS has an E450 chassis (not F450) and V-10. For those of you that are skeptical of the Ford emissions recall on the V-10, it does not appear to affect gas mileage negatively, nor does it affect performance negatively.

[A32Deuce]

Didn't see any difference with mine before/after recall.

[rhamilton]

We have a Class C Forester 27 ft under a Ford 450 and tow both a horse trailer with one or two horses-- trailer and horses around 5 thsd pounds. We also tow a Suzuki XL7 at about 4 thsd pounds (obviously, not at the same time). We travel very few miles of flat ground, mostly up and down hills and steep mountains. We get about 8mpg towing both rigs, and maybe 1-2 mpg better not towing anything.