18 mpg Dodge while towing?

rhagfo wrote:
PS: I never look at the instant when towing up hill! :S

LOL ... Once I had a Volvo with the instant read. I use to like watching it while pulling hills when I was close to gross(80,000#). Lowest I remember was 0.5 mpg (2 GPM). But back then diesel was around a buck a gallon and the company bought the fuel.

That's one thing men tend to lie about. The other is how much they paid for something, or how much they got for something.

I've learned it's just easier to fib a bit than have someone think you got ripped off.

55mph would improve mpg substantially but not sure about 18mpg. I get 11 towing at 65-70. At 55mph I can get 14-16mpg but thats with A/C on. Maybe a bit more with A/C off but haven't measured that.

I have a 2004 tundra pulling a 286FK at best 10 mpg, I'm going camping anyway! I have a buddy that gets so freaked out about his mpg while towing he even removed the antenna from his truck for less wind resistance. Makes camping miserable.

I could probably get that with my 12 Ram CTD pulling our 5er cruising on the internet, but out on the interstates it's drops to 11.5-12.3mpg.:)

Tvov wrote:
Especially if the dashboard mpg is "instant" mpg instead of averaged. Go downhill, mpg could jump to 50mpg. Also he may have "hand calculated" mpg once under ideal conditions, instead of calculating on a regular basis to once again get an average mpg.

Man that is really bad, only 50 mpg instant going down hill! :B

I can get a reading of 99 mpg coasting downhill with the engine running.

My Lie-o-meter is only off by 1 mpg when hand calculated. :)

PS: I never look at the instant when towing up hill! :S

Have a 2014 Dodge 2500 Cummins 6.7L, 32' 5th Wheel, towed several times this summer. It's a huge improvement over my 01 Chev 2500 6.0L but still only averaging about 12.5 MPG

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Nope........

Best bet 13 mpg towing

IS his claim 'hand calculated' OR via the 'Lie-O-Meter'?

Exactly the same here and my TT is probably a lot smaller and lighter than your friends.

He probably has a programmer on it and they often cause the overhead to be way off.
Either way, there's no way he gets 18 towing.

azdryheat wrote:
Friend claims 18 mpg while towing 35' toy hauler with 2003 Dodge Cummins Diesel with manual transmission. He says he never goes over 55 mph. Is he for real?

I assume he isn't an imaginary friend. Unlikely but possible if he doesn't always refill the tank to the top.

I know as soon as I installed a tuner on my Ford the electronic gauge was thrown off. Always said I was getting way better mileage than I was.