gas millage

jdc1 wrote:
I can't wait to hear from the guy getting 18mpg towing a 35' trailer.

:B

I always find this topic very interesting, and frankly, a bit comical.

Here we are, a bunch of RVers who've spent at least 100K on our RVs, and in many, many cases substantially more than that, discussing fuel economy.

Let's do the math. The average RVer travels 5000 miles per year (Google it). If they get 8 miles per gallon, and gas is $2.00 per gallon, they'll spend about $1250 per year on gas.

Now, let's bump that up to 10 miles per gallon (a substantial increase no matter how you look at it). The new annual expense is about $1000, a whopping annual savings of $250, or a mind-boggling $20.83 per month!!

Sure, it's always an interesting topic, but to me the term penny-wise and pound-foolish comes to mind :C

Am I the only one that gets a big smile on my face when this particular topic surfaces??

jdc1 wrote:
I can't wait to hear from the guy getting 18mpg towing a 35' trailer.

14 MPG towing a 33' FW, but who's counting.... ;)

We had 2 small MH's previously, averaged about 8 towing a CRV. Frankly I never really bothered to measure MPG. What's the point? I need to get where I am going anyway. Someone at a gas station asked me what mileage I got in our MH, I responded, "it gets great mileage for an apartment".

pianotuna wrote:
How slow are you willing to travel?

MPG without your speed doesn’t mean much. Several years ago I did a 100 mile test on a rural WY road at 45... got 10 mpg instead of my normal 7 (at 65) in my 04 DP. Last week on my way home in Nebraska (very flat road) my “new” rig with Silverleaf tells me the current HP. At 65 it was 220 +-5 hp. At 60 it was 200 +-5 hp, and 55 it was 170 +-5 hp. A good tailwind can help by +1 mpg and -1 if it’s a headwind.

A 33' National SeaBreeze, and at 63 mph I get between 7.5 and 8. No toad, but just bought an Acadia, so we'll be towing in about 6 weeks. I'm expecting a drop of at least 1 mpg. As Dodge Guy says, I'm looking at doing a tune next year....getting the toad set up shot my budget for this year.

Al

Bruce Brown wrote:
Back when we had our V10 it had a sweet spot speed-wise where it got better mileage at - going from memory here, 70 MPH than it did 65 MPH. At 70 it would stay in overdrive going up hills and do a decent job maintaining speed. At 65 it would drop gears, the RPMs would climb, the speed would drop, and it would struggle to regain a reasonable speed.

I'm sure on the flat ground going slower would have returned better mileage. Where we traveled 70 was actually better than 65.

Again, that was going from memory. It might have been 65 vs 60. The point is slower isn't always better. Keeping your driveline at its most efficient point the longest/most you can should return your best mileage.

I have noticed that also. It does seem to be better when the RPM is higher, like when at 70 vs 65. The problem is that the F53 chassis is generic. It's built for every conceivable build type out there. So while a delivery truck weighing 12k lbs will do great, an RV weighing 22-26k lbs will perform terribly.
A tune will help it out tremendously and is what I will be getting next year.

I would be pleased to get 8. '16, 40' Canyon Star with 4 dr Jeep hard top

Back when we had our V10 it had a sweet spot speed-wise where it got better mileage at - going from memory here, 70 MPH than it did 65 MPH. At 70 it would stay in overdrive going up hills and do a decent job maintaining speed. At 65 it would drop gears, the RPMs would climb, the speed would drop, and it would struggle to regain a reasonable speed.

I'm sure on the flat ground going slower would have returned better mileage. Where we traveled 70 was actually better than 65.

Again, that was going from memory. It might have been 65 vs 60. The point is slower isn't always better. Keeping your driveline at its most efficient point the longest/most you can should return your best mileage.

I do about 5.5 towing an Explorer with the generator running. Haven't had a chance to try it at 65 with no toad or generator!

How slow are you willing to travel?