differences in mpg when towing

My dad always said you get better mileage going south because when looking at the map it is downhill. :B

Back when I had an '06 1500 Suburban and a 21' Hybrid, the 4.5 hour trip from the coast (sea level) to the mountains (3-4000') I would get 10 MPG. On the way back, I would get 10.1. Attributed it to uphill vs. downhill.

If you were traveling from MO to IL Monday afternoon (Memorial Day) the wind was from the Southwest. We were heading home the opposite way and heading into the wind the whole trip. Going up on Friday we had slight tailwind (11.5mpg) and heading home headwind (9.9mpg) all though North central IL to Southern IL. Both ways were at 64-65mph (GPS), cruise on and in 6th gear.

Passin Thru wrote:
What difference does it make? If you worry about 1 or 2 mpg, stay in a motel. The predominate wind in MO and IL is Southwest. Maybe the people or they (they is Oprah Winfrey) are right. It is agonizing isn't it!! LOL Just having fun.

Actually absolutely none, other than the curiosity issue we are going to go no matter what the mpg or price of gas we have 2 more vactions booked and will do a thrid in late Oct. After we winterize the f'ver we still go and use motels. Like I said just curious, actually new tow vechile and was using the fuel economy mode.

What difference does it make? If you worry about 1 or 2 mpg, stay in a motel. The predominate wind in MO and IL is Southwest. Maybe the people or they (they is Oprah Winfrey) are right. It is agonizing isn't it!! LOL Just having fun.

Happens to me every time I go west then come back east. There is a 2800' rise between my driveway and Rapid City S.D., but you can't see it going down the road. I most generally have a head wind headed west and a tail wind coming back east. JME.

I bet the rain had a good part of it. Air/wind drag is enough to cut your fuel economy by about 40-45%. Pushing water is far more work than air! High humidity means your AC compressor may have been on more often too.

I notice the same thing in my daily driver, rain costs about 10% FE hit.

Maybe there was more wind going we postponed going in the afternoon and left around 5 am didn't seem like much breeze when we left. Thanks for the information. I usually don't see this much change and have towed this f'ver for 9 years. The tv is new though.

Wind and maybe a slight grade.

Many variables but wind is the biggest with speed and gas brands 2nd and 3rd.
Unscientific but this has been my general experience.

Wind- biggest with my MPG as low as 6.5 and as high as 9 depending on direction and wind speed.

Speed - I tried 60 mph for a few trips and the average was a .4 mpg gain over rolling at 70 or whatever traffic was doing. I did not like being a rolling road block and am much more comfortable at 65 to 70 depending on traffic.

Gas-Changing gas brands caused on average a difference of .5-.8 mpg. I get best with Shell or Exxon. Worst with Sam's Club and Murphy plus a slight knock. BP, Speedway, and Citgo OK.

Your experience may vary. Randu