Average mpg , cost to travel .

[permitwriter]

Originally Posted by US1

I'm a boater for the most part. My last 2 powerboats, (27' Fountain with a supercharged 502, followed by a 32' Fountain with twin 502's) and currently a 34' Baja cruiser w/twin 454's would get less than 1 MPG while running down the lake. Not uncommon to go thru 200 gal during a poker run weekend, at over $4/gal on the water.

I've heard that boats are a hole in the water where you throw money. Hmmmm.... I've also heard that motorhomes are sometimes called "land yachts".

[sleeper41]

My personality type is to know how much things cost. I know I can afford it, but still like to know. I compared it to how much it would cost to drive a minivan, spend the night in a hotel/motel, eat all meals out and you know what? I'm about $85 to $120 a day ahead driving my coach 3 to 4 hours/day. Had I known this, I would have bought a coach when my kids were younger. Oh well . . . .

[mlpeloquin]

I did not purchase a motor home for the fuel millage. I purchased it to travel and stay for two weeks to a month at a time at a destination. It is a low cost way of traveling done this way. Did the car, hotel, and restaurant thing, and boy does that cost. If you want to drive and stay a day or two then keep going, it will be quit a bit more costly, but still cheaper than the car, restaurant, hotel travel.

[permitwriter]

Originally Posted by StageCoachDr

If you have to ask, you can't afford it.

I hate that phrase because it is not true. Asking, knowing & planning enable one to achieve things that would not be financially possible without proper planning.

The $45,000 we spent to buy our coach came entirely from an inheritance and it was a great honor to my parents to do that. After we used it a couple of times I thought "Gee, we're gonna need more money to use this thing". So I reconfigured our finances to provide us an extra $1500/month. With careful planning we are making ample use of our coach and we are loving it.

I calculated mileage because I needed to know & because I wanted to know. 6.3 MPG not towing, 3/4 freeway, & mostly flat. 6.1 MPG towing, mostly freeway, & mostly flat. 5.9 MPG towing, mostly freeway, & mostly not flat through the mountains of KY & TN. I thought it was interesting that different driving conditions didn't result in significant changes in MPG.

And in spite of careful planning some things just don't work out. We had $6300 in unplanned expenses and that put an end to our thoughts of spending February in Florida. Which is a darn shame because February had the worst winter weather by far.

[Dan McMartin]

One of the biggest myths in RVing. Gas mileage generally sucks. Even those fancy Class B's that cost more than our brand new Newmar Bay Star only get 10-12 mpg. Gas prices have a far bigger effect on the budget than mileage.

But even then, at 7-8 mpg (don't know what it really is 'cause I've never bothered to check), we average less than $200 a month on gas for the motorhome. I spent more than that commuting 100 miles a day to and from work in a Hyundai econocoffin that got 30 mpg.

We spend more on overnights most months. More on food, entertainment and even our cell phones and data plans. Gas is a minor expense and, even better, totally under our control since we decide how far we drive and how often.

[garyb1st]

"if you have to ask, you can't afford it". I cringe when I hear the phrase. It says something about the individual. And IMHO, it isn't something that I'd want on my resume.

I ask and I can afford it. It's just something I like to do. So for those who are offended when I ask, my sincere apologies.

[rcnuts]

When we replaced the motor in our older coach some additional steps were taken to increase milage as much as possible. No way I obsess about milage but as long as the power plant is being swapped out why not spend a few more $$$ to get the mileage as good as possible? Well........the end result wasn't great. Last time I checked we were right around 7 mpg. Oh well!! If you do the math our MH still yields a cheaper price for a weekend getaway or 1 - 2 week trip. Nothing beats sleeping, eating, hanging out, etc in your own home on wheels.

[Leftys]

Because they want something to complain about. That’s all it is.

[SteveNSue]

We went from a car, to a van towing a trailer, to a class C. The van was grossly under powered and would 5mpg on the Texas/Oklahoma flats in the wind. At the time, gas was running $2.75 and 25 gallons would set us back $55 for 125 miles. That was $.55 per mile. Might get 8mpg on the flats at altitude but lost most of that on the climb there.



The Class C sprinter gets 13mpg and diesel runs around $3. Following the same logic, 20 gallons would cost us $60 for 260 miles. That equates to $.23 per mile.



The truck/trailer fit our needs but would eventually, likely very soon, have trashed the transmission or engine. It would shift down to second gear and ran 60mph at 4000 rpm in a headwind or uphills.



Now, compare those costs to making an identical journey with a car and staying in $140 hotels (Eastern Tennessee to Los Angeles, CA) along the way. The car was fully loaded with items for a 4 week journey. The trip took 5 days of driving, 4 night stay, free family accommodations once arrived.


Bottom line for fuel, campgrounds/hotel and $50 daily food costs: Car cost with hotels = $2015 round trip. Van/trailer with campgrounds = $3235. RV with campgrounds = $1800

[saddlesore]

Originally Posted by rcnuts

Nothing beats sleeping, eating, hanging out, etc in your own home on wheels.

And not having to experience these buggars in your hotel/motel bed...

[RedDraggin]

Originally Posted by jacwjames

I monitor my mpg as a gauge of how the engine drive train is performing. Also want to know how much fuel I've used and how much further I can safely travel.

I had a Class C, quite a bit smaller and lighter, and got 7-7.5 mpg. Our DP gets ~8mpg. I have tested different speeds to see if my mpg improves and with the DP there is not much of a difference.

I will however monitor fuel prices on the path of our route and fill up at the cheapest option provided is along our route. I agree as to the cost/benefit of driving any distance at all outways the savings but if I can drive 50 more miles and save 20 cents per gallon I'll do it. If I pump 75 gallons, that $15 savings with no real effort or cost.

This is my MO also--check prices along the route the night before and decide where to fill up based on price and distance off the road I'm traveling on. Sometimes when crossing state lines there can be a decent variance in price based on state excise/use taxes and if I'm onboarding a bunch of fuel, the savings DO add up.

[C5c5]

Originally Posted by bhammond1980

As a side note, we like sardines also.

Lol, so that is what is wrong with so many people!!! J/K!

I like butter flavored crisco... [emoji2957]

[Fletcher0077]

$1 per mile has got to be very close. We did a 7790 mile, 77 day trip last summer. We spent 11 nights dry camping. Fuel $3014 (ave 6.5 mpg), camping $3030. Ave. $.77 per mile fuel and camping w/o maintenance, tires, ins.
I don't obsess over mpg but find it interesting to speculate what may have been different in my 5.5 vs 7.5 mpg drives in my gasser pulling a CRV. Yes 7.5 down hill with a tail wind and cool temps. We use Costco if on the way and gas buddy. As one poster mentioned gas may be +/-$.50 crossing a state line. I live in Idaho so no tolls....I cussed them about $300 worth.
Oh yes $3000 on fine dining, gifts, tours, treats and souvenirsbut that's another story.

Originally Posted by Alpine36

With maintenance, tires, fuel, insurance and CG fees I figure about $1 a mile.
Scary how accurate that figure is when you total everything up at the end of the year and divide it by miles traveled. Sometimes there's even enough wiggle room for a jug of Bib and Tucker to come to grips with it all lol.

[Skiddy]

Originally Posted by saddlesore

And not having to experience these buggars in your hotel/motel bed...

doh been there and done that, then we found out what they were and came from so never again, it's so worth it to have your own "apartment" (what the DW calls it) with you
also just signed up for tsd card