Fuel Economy of your Motorhome

[Bumps]

1. Wind speed and direction.
2. Altitude
3. Elevation changes on road being traveled.
4. Throttle pressure. Do you drive like you have lead toe shoes or an egg between your foot and the pedal?

To 62_inrightlane's list, I would add:

5. Towing or not.
6. Weight.

In my non-scientific assessment, however, the factors that make the biggest difference are headwinds and speed. \ken

[mel s]

30+ years ago an experienced coach owner told me: "Any one claiming more than 10 MPG with a class A diesel coach is LYING, or they don't know how to calculate fuel mileage".
That, IMO, is true today.
Mel
'96 Safari, (an honest 8 MPG)

[Scarab0088]

Originally Posted by pumper9x9

Fuel Economy of your Motorhome = Oxymoron

Fuel costs are extreme, so there is no reason to just burn money.

Here is a simple illustration:
Where would you go to fill-up?
Station A, selling fuel for $3.50 or Station B, selling fuel for $4.00
By driving to achieve the slight difference of just 8MPG vs. 7MPG, the difference is equal to paying 50 cents more a gallon at the pump.

Do the math...it's true.
Safe travels

[Musikboy]

Originally Posted by Martinichuck

We have the same mh.(2013) We just returned to CA from an extended trip across to Tenn via the gulf coast and back. Our mileage varied anywhere from 8.0 - 9.76 while towing a Jeep Wrangler. Most of the time we cruised at 65.

Great to hear that your mileage has held up even at the higher speeds and with a toad. It sounds like we made the opposite trip from the same place. We just drove from Tenn to Boston, a little over 1000 miles.

I hope you have many more pleasurable and trouble free trips in your Tuscany. Please stay in touch if something should go wrong, most of the time the same things break on the same MH's particularly when we both have the same model year!

[bruceisla]

Older Cat diesel 275hp, 38 ft, give or take 28,000 lb. plus 2500 lb. toad, highway/interstate 65mph max, probably 40mph county highways .... 7.5 - 8.5 mpg.

It's the cost of fuel for truckers that affects me most ... cost of food is far more of an issue for me than the fuel cost of an RV.

[sstehman]

We just took our first trip -- 2002 Monaco Diplomat, 40' diesel. Hope we just did not have the tank full (as we thought we did). Only went 40 mi round trip. Filled up on return. 1.88 MPG? Gotta say taking that first trip and setting one of these up the first time was stressful enough, but the gas mileage pushed me over the edge. Hope my next post after a June trip can give a better result.

[bruceisla]

Originally Posted by sstehman

We just took our first trip -- 2002 Monaco Diplomat, 40' diesel. Hope we just did not have the tank full (as we thought we did). Only went 40 mi round trip. Filled up on return. 1.88 MPG? Gotta say taking that first trip and setting one of these up the first time was stressful enough, but the gas mileage pushed me over the edge. Hope my next post after a June trip can give a better result.

You'll need to recalc after burning a 1/2 tank or so .... should be "about" 8mpg. Also, the Genset will burn about 1/2 gal per hour ... more with a heavy load like 2 A/C running.

[ohhwell]

Originally Posted by sstehman

We just took our first trip -- 2002 Monaco Diplomat, 40' diesel. Hope we just did not have the tank full (as we thought we did). Only went 40 mi round trip. Filled up on return. 1.88 MPG? Gotta say taking that first trip and setting one of these up the first time was stressful enough, but the gas mileage pushed me over the edge. Hope my next post after a June trip can give a better result.

That can't be right. I think you would have a check engine light because that low of MPG would indicate a major drivetrain problem.

[Daveinet]

Originally Posted by mel s

30+ years ago an experienced coach owner told me: "Any one claiming more than 10 MPG with a class A diesel coach is LYING, or they don't know how to calculate fuel mileage".
That, IMO, is true today.
Mel
'96 Safari, (an honest 8 MPG)

Some of the DPs in the 90s did that or more. Combination of weight, technology, and lack of EPA ruining a good thing.

[dsbear]

I have an 11 Astoria 40 KT and pull a 1/2 ton Chevy crew cab most of the time. I drive 70 and average 8.3 with our without the toad.

[Brockx]

Fuel mileage calculation

Total miles driven divided by gallons purchased over several fill-ups is the only true method.

[VestaDave]

Originally Posted by mel s

30+ years ago an experienced coach owner told me: "Any one claiming more than 10 MPG with a class A diesel coach is LYING, or they don't know how to calculate fuel mileage".
That, IMO, is true today.
Mel
'96 Safari, (an honest 8 MPG)

Generally I agree with the statement but with our 2011 monaco Vesta we and others report getting over 11. Got 12.5 on last trip to San Diego pulling small Hyundai. I would not believe it myself but there you have it.
Now we live in Ca. so most travel is limited to 55mph pulling a car. Also, for those not familiar with the Vesta/Trip it's shorter and narrower than most and kind of aerodynamic at least for a MH.
It's powered by a 260hp Navistar Maxxforce7. If we were to drive at 70 mph my guess is that we might get way less.

[CampDaven]

Originally Posted by djc454

Just made a trip with our 2014 Journey 34B, no toad and if I'm to believe the trip computer in the dash, it was 2550 miles and 245 gallons of fuel. That works out to 10.4 MPG if you believe the computer. Gonna do the pencil and paper math on the way back to verify. Didn't use the generation and had 2200 miles on the odometer when we started. I was surprised by the MPG.

In my experience, trip computers do their best to estimate. My computer varies + 1 to 1.5 mpg from actual miles/gallons computations. But, 10.4 with a short light rig is possible.

[John H...]

Your mileage should improve as you get more miles on your MH. I once heard, if you can afford the MH, then you should be able to afford the fuel..

Mine is a gasser, but my first fill-up, mileage was around 4mpg, but improved with the next couple of fill-ups. Get around 7mpg pulling toad.