Curious about fuel mileage for tow vehicles

[runamuck]

I just calculated the fuel cost difference for a trip we have coming up that will be about 1750 miles and if I use my son's dsl 2500 that gets 14 towing vs my gas 1500 that gets 8, I would spend about 250$ less on fuel. I doubt I would ever be able to save enough on fuel to cover the 9,000$ extra acquisition cost and additional maintenance required for the dsl.

[Cumminsfan]

Originally Posted by runamuck

I just calculated the fuel cost difference for a trip we have coming up that will be about 1750 miles and if I use my son's dsl 2500 that gets 14 towing vs my gas 1500 that gets 8, I would spend about 250$ less on fuel. I doubt I would ever be able to save enough on fuel to cover the 9,000$ extra acquisition cost and additional maintenance required for the dsl.

Then don't use your sons 2500.

[SGhost]

The issue right now is the $1.60 disparity in the cost of Gas Vs. Diesel. Used to be about .40 cents. That's on TOP of the dramatic jump in fuel cost. My BIG concern is this needle won't swing back until 2024.

[rideandfly]

Tow with a 2022 SR5 Tundra 3.5L twin turbo 2WD.

Not towing getting 19MPG around town and 24MPG highway.

Towing a 4900 pound trailer getting better than 13MPG NC & TN mountains and 15 to 16MPG highway flatter terrain.

[LoveAF]

Originally Posted by SGhost

The issue right now is the $1.60 disparity in the cost of Gas Vs. Diesel. Used to be about .40 cents. That's on TOP of the dramatic jump in fuel cost. My BIG concern is this needle won't swing back until 2024.

Or ever.

[tuffr2]

rideandfly - that is what I consider excellent mpg.

[rideandfly]

Originally Posted by tuffr2

rideandfly - that is what I consider excellent mpg.

I'm very easy on the throttle and don't use cruise control. Allow the rig to slow slightly going up hills and gain speed a little going down hills. When on steep grades we get in the truck slow lane up and down hills, too. This 2WD 2022 Tundra pickup is getting it's best MPG at 5000 miles on the odometer, so far!

[Bobertgoes]

The issue with diesel now is the potato heads have converted their refineries from turning crude into diesel to turning vegetable oil into diesel, aka boidiesel.

There is no way we can grow enough corn and soy to make all the diesel fuel we need and have anything left over for food, so there is more than fuel at play.
The current issue is with a lack of diesel farmers will have trouble tending their crops, and harvesting them, then the trucks will have difficulty moving the product and trains as well, to the refineries, and have a hard time fueling up to ship the product to the gas stations. I am not sure if biodiesel is pushed through the pipelines or not, I assume it does just the same as other fuels, so then you need electricity to run those pumps which need the now-scarce coal or oil all while more n more potato heads are sapping electricity to charge their e cars.

No diesel = no bio fuels. No fuels = no nothing!

The shortage is not Russia Russia Russia related, nor putin, nor covid, it is the refineries being off-line that otherwise would take the distilled crude diesel and ultimately send it down the pipes... How dumb are we all? We are probably the world's laughing stock. Next they might ban rubber tires.

[Flyer15015]

Yup, and tires are made of ?????????

[radar]

Friends just cancelled their trip from BC down the Oregon and California coast. They started calculating the price of fuel after the metric conversion and exchange and were surprized to see it as much as 20 percent higher than where they are in BC. Now they are going to wait a few more weeks and do the island and inside passage to Prince Rupert. We hope to do that next year.

On edit. I’m not sure where they were going. But apparently some places were close to 7 bucks USD per US gallon. Is that possible? Seems…high.

[dj1100rt]

GMC SSierra 2500, 6.0L, 3.73 pulls a 4500# TT getting 12.5 mpg with the ac on. Without ac in the fall, gets 13.5 consistently but we only travel at 62 mph on the divided highways. Slowing down really makes a difference.

[CamperLifer]

Originally Posted by rideandfly

Tow with a 2022 SR5 Tundra 3.5L twin turbo 2WD.

Not towing getting 19MPG around town and 24MPG highway.

Towing a 4900 pound trailer getting better than 13MPG NC & TN mountains and 15 to 16MPG highway flatter terrain.

Same with my 3.5 TT.

[runamuck]

Originally Posted by Cumminsfan

Then don't use your sons 2500.

I didnt borrow the 2500 dsl and just used my 1500 5.7 hemi with 3.92 gears. towed a little slower than usual at 68 and got 9.0 for the whole trip. not too bad considering the change in altitude from 600 at home to 8500 ft. at woodland park. the truck ran fine and even one stretch heading north on I-25 from Pueblo I caught myself running over 70 a cpl. times because I dont use cruise in the hills.

[Rosy]

Originally Posted by iswirv

I realize that many things effect MPG including terrain, weather, driving style, vehicle weights, weight distribution, etc.

I'm just curious what kind of fuel mileage on average people get with different types of vehicles and set-ups. If you are willing could you share the make and model of your tow vehicle, what engine it has, what you are towing and what miles per gallon you get when towing your trailer?

I'll go first: I have a 2016 Nissan Frontier Pro-4x with a 4.0L V6 gas engine. I pull a 21 foot Forest River Evo trailer weighing about 3800 lbs loaded. I get 10 miles per gallon when towing the trailer.

Everyone I've talked to who's towing a travel trailer with a gas engine gets about 8-10 mpg. Possibly lower in a head or cross wind.