MPG in retirement...budget
We will be retiring soon and need to plug in approximate cost of fuel. Our tow vehicle will be a Ford or GMC 3/4 Diesel pulling a 13,000lb GVWR 5er. What approximate MPG should we expect to average?...
Forum Discussion
sdetweil wrote:laknox wrote:
Koop, I get 9-12 mpg towing my low-profile FW, depending on speed, grade and wind, with my '02 Duramax. I pick up about 1-1.5 mpg by slowing from 65 to 60; whatever truck you get, you'll have to find your own "sweet spot". For "quickie figuring", I calc range at 10 mpg. I agree that you're in 350/3500 truck range. With a FW, it's not what you can TOW, it's what you can CARRY...as in weight on the pin. FWIW, on a non-towing trip to Cortez CO last week, I was seeing > 20 mph running at 70-75 mph. I normally run 65-70, but DW wanted to "get there today", so bumped it up. After 11 years and 86k miles, I think I'm finally broken in, as that's the best mileage that I've seen. Don't forget that you should calc mileage based on GPS speed and miles, if possible. My truck has slightly taller tires than stock, which gives me a 4% error in speed and distance.
Lyle
the newer diesels do not get similar mileage unfortunately.
my 2012 DRW got 15.6 at 70-75 over 1400 miles in September (texas to michigan)
my 2012 F250 got as high as 17.8 at the same speed, austin to dallas and back a number of times.
I supposed if I went 60 it might be higher, but I would be run over by the highway traffic.
Yeah, the "pollution control"******really dings you, doesn't it? One reason that I'll never have a newer than 2007 truck, at this point. Not sure I can bring myself to own a Dodge. ;-) I've found that I have almost zero traffic issues at 60-65, since everyone's passing me ('cept in CA). I can live with that; let 'em dodge me, I'm in the right lane and can't go anywhere else.
Lyle
