How bad does your MPG suffer when towing?

[donhillphoto]

Yesterday evening, I towed my new 29' RV trailer for the first time since buying it last week. Brought it home to load up and prep for tonight's sojourn an hour south to Galveston Island to get my RV feet wet.

The storage is about 29 miles away. I noticed I typically get about 21-23mpg on the highway. With this being my first tow, I think I was getting about 8 mpg.

Can I assume this is par for the course for such tows with my setup? My signature line describes what I have. Or, should I be doing something differently?

Furthermore, my RAM still goes into ECO mode knocking down to 4 cylinders. It's a 5.7-Liter V8 HEMI MDS VVT Engine. My dad thinks it's probably not good when towing putting more stress on the engine but I noticed it went to ECO mode often while towing. Thoughts on this?

Appreciate the feedback.

[rana]

With your setup.. yes. That's going to be about par for the course. Loaded you're looking at around 6k. I wouldn't expect much better than that with a 1500.

[dieselguy]

Rule of thumb for trailers other than small popups ... about 1/2 your empty MPG while towing.

[TURBS]

8-9 sounds right!

TURBS
08 duramax tuned n modded, 32bhok Sabre
2015 camping "4 nights"

[rana]

Originally Posted by dieselguy

Rule of thumb for trailers other than small popups ... about 1/2 your empty MPG while towing.

That's HIGHLY subjective. If you're running your TV near max gross then that probably does hold true, but not all folk choose to tow on the fringes.

[Evo2700]

That's about right for MPGs. If you have the tow/haul mode engaged it should not go into Eco mode. I would make sure you engage the tow/haul mode whenever you tow.

[dieselguy]

Yarome ... I'm in the 12.5K plus crowd and most always have been. Most of us pull with Powerstroke, Cummings, Duramax engines coupled to 3/4 and 1 ton trucks. Most all of us get about 1/2 ... maybe a bit better going from unloaded to loaded. I assumed gassers would parallel as I did say rule of thumb.

[Jim34RL]

That's why I went to a diesel engine truck to improve my towing MPG's. With my old 2001, 6.0L gas engine, 2500 Chevy I would normally see 6 to 7 MPG towing a light 30' 5er. I than switched to a 2008 Ram, Cummins 6.7L (diesel engine) and I normally see 11 to 12 MPG when towing a mid-size 5er. This depends on fuel quality and if it is straight D2 and not that BIO crap that BP pushes. I have 7 and ½ years of fuel data to back that claim up. When not towing I can see 20 MPG’s with the truck at 65 MPH.

I haven’t really towed my new Cedar Creek any distance yet; to see if there is any difference in fuel mileage between my older 5er and the Cedar Creek.

[klarowe]

Without the trailer we are getting around 30-35 mpg. With the 24' trailer loaded with 2 bikes we usually get around 20 mpg.

[Rockwoodjoe]

I tow a Rockwood 2703ws loaded about 7200 lbs behind a 2013 f-150 5.0 I get 16 w/o and 10 towing. I don't want a diesel. The additional upfront cost and higher fuel cost does not compute for me when I trade trucks every 6-8 years.

[Rockwoodjoe]

Klarowe: Are those MPG's or are you north of the border with KPG's. I don't know what could pull a 24' trailer that would get 30-35 non towing unless your pushed by an e5 tornado.

[rana]

Originally Posted by dieselguy

Yarome ... I'm in the 12.5K plus crowd and most always have been.

I wasn't completely disagreeing.. just sayin it's a bit subjective. I pull 5.5k with a 3/4 ton powerstroke and only drop 5mpg or so when towing. If you gottanoughatruck you don't get hit quite as hard by the mpg fairy.

[pappcam]

Originally Posted by klarowe

Without the trailer we are getting around 30-35 mpg. With the 24' trailer loaded with 2 bikes we usually get around 20 mpg.

Yeah. I call BS or you need some math help...

[Oaklevel]

We had the 03 RAM 5.7 Hemi first ones It was before cyl cutouts pulling a small fifth wheel & got 8 mpg towing at best. About the same mpg pulling my box trailer loaded. 13- 14 mpg Solo at best.

[wind and waves]

I have a 2003 Dodge Ram 3500 5.7 liter HO, six speed. I just drove to Minnesota from California to pick up our new trailer, a 2011 Rockwood 8281ss (31 feet) Empty I averaged 19.4 mpg. Coming back towing it was 11.7 mpg. I am sure the average would be a lot higher if the cruise wasn't set at 75 both ways. That makes a big difference as well.

[etothepii]

My Nissan got around 20 mpg mixed, 11 towing.

My new F150 gets around 20 mixed, and on my first 20 mile test drive, I got 10 mpg.


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[TT233S]

Originally Posted by pappcam

Yeah. I call BS or you need some math help...

Down hill I get the same

[4mula1fan]

I get around 8.5...

[UmptySquat]

Tundra 5.7L 17mpg mixed (babying it a lot) and 10mpg towing.


2013 Toyota Tundra 5.7L
2015 Apex 288BHS

[HONDAMAN174]

12 around town. 7-8 towing but every direction I tow is a hill climb out- no flat land around here.