Hello everyone. As the subject says, I was on a 1800 mile trip this summer and I hand calculated the mileage I was doing towing my 10K pound fiver @ 65 mph avg. I thought some of you might be interested in comparing notes. No BS in these numbers.Towing in hilly terrain, I averaged 7.53mpgTowing on fairly flat terrain, I averaged 8.36mpgEmpty it does:11.4 mpg city.14.7 mpg hwy.12.4 mpg combined.I was with two camping buddies, one with a 2005 GM 2500 w/Vortec 8.1L, the other with a 2006 RAM 2500 w/Cummins 5.9L. Guess who was the overall gas consumption winner...So here it is. Besides being thirsty, I love the truck. It's a smooth quiet towing beast.

AlBeGone wrote:Hello everyone. As the subject says, I was on a 1800 mile trip this summer and I hand calculated the mileage I was doing towing my 10K pound fiver @ 65 mph avg. I thought some of you might be interested in comparing notes. No BS in these numbers.Towing in hilly terrain, I averaged 7.53mpgTowing on fairly flat terrain, I averaged 8.36mpgEmpty it does:11.4 mpg city.14.7 mpg hwy.12.4 mpg combined.I was with two camping buddies, one with a 2005 GM 2500 w/Vortec 8.1L, the other with a 2006 RAM 2500 w/Cummins 5.9L. Guess who was the overall gas consumption winner...So here it is. Besides being thirsty, I love the truck. It's a smooth quiet towing beast.Ouch!

The numbers look like you were checking the mileage on my X. Empty is the same but if I drop down to 65 I can get 9 MPG on a good day.When on the road the TT and Xtogetherr are between 16,000 and 17,000 and the V10 works very well towing.

Your numbers towing are accurate based on my experience as well. My truck was a dually and empty got around 9 -10 ish basically no matter what I did. If I could get 12-14 like you empty I would have been ecstatic. Since you mentioned the 8.1 your buddy had.. may I ask what the MPG for your friend was? I have been considering an 8.1 in a Suburban recently. I suspect that the MPG's between the V10 and the 8.1 are relatively comparable. But I am not sure. Thanks!Jeremiah

jerem0621 wrote:Your numbers towing are accurate based on my experience as well. My truck was a dually and empty got around 9 -10 ish basically no matter what I did. If I could get 12-14 like you empty I would have been ecstatic. Since you mentioned the 8.1 your buddy had.. may I ask what the MPG for your friend was? I have been considering an 8.1 in a Suburban recently. I suspect that the MPG's between the V10 and the 8.1 are relatively comparable. But I am not sure. Thanks!JeremiahI just sold our Yukon XL with the 8.1 and 4.10 rear end. I was right at 10mpg in suburban traffic and around 12ish hwy solo. Towing a fairly high profile TT weighing 7500 ibs I'd get 7-8mpg going 65mph, if I went really easy and slowed down I'd get 8-8.5mpg. But she didn't labor at all, nice easy towing. Spent a lot in gas, but it was waaaaay cheaper than a diesel and towed our rig great.

Our fairly new 32' class C rental with a V-10 got almost exactly the same numbers over 3,300 miles. It really doesn't matter what you are pulling with that engine, does it?

Ford Superduty V10 towing trip | Good Sam Community

66chevelle
Explorer
Dec 01, 2013
AlBeGone wrote:
Hello everyone. As the subject says, I was on a 1800 mile trip this summer and I hand calculated the mileage I was doing towing my 10K pound fiver @ 65 mph avg. I thought some of you might be interested in comparing notes. No BS in these numbers.

Towing in hilly terrain, I averaged 7.53mpg
Towing on fairly flat terrain, I averaged 8.36mpg

Empty it does:
11.4 mpg city.
14.7 mpg hwy.
12.4 mpg combined.

I was with two camping buddies, one with a 2005 GM 2500 w/Vortec 8.1L, the other with a 2006 RAM 2500 w/Cummins 5.9L. Guess who was the overall gas consumption winner...

So here it is. Besides being thirsty, I love the truck. It's a smooth quiet towing beast.

Ouch!
K_Charles
Explorer
Dec 01, 2013
The numbers look like you were checking the mileage on my X. Empty is the same but if I drop down to 65 I can get 9 MPG on a good day.
When on the road the TT and Xtogetherr are between 16,000 and 17,000 and the V10 works very well towing.
jerem0621
Explorer II
Dec 01, 2013
Your numbers towing are accurate based on my experience as well. My truck was a dually and empty got around 9 -10 ish basically no matter what I did. If I could get 12-14 like you empty I would have been ecstatic.

Since you mentioned the 8.1 your buddy had.. may I ask what the MPG for your friend was? I have been considering an 8.1 in a Suburban recently. I suspect that the MPG's between the V10 and the 8.1 are relatively comparable. But I am not sure.

Thanks!

Jeremiah
hookie
Explorer
Dec 01, 2013
jerem0621 wrote:
Your numbers towing are accurate based on my experience as well. My truck was a dually and empty got around 9 -10 ish basically no matter what I did. If I could get 12-14 like you empty I would have been ecstatic.

Since you mentioned the 8.1 your buddy had.. may I ask what the MPG for your friend was? I have been considering an 8.1 in a Suburban recently. I suspect that the MPG's between the V10 and the 8.1 are relatively comparable. But I am not sure.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

I just sold our Yukon XL with the 8.1 and 4.10 rear end. I was right at 10mpg in suburban traffic and around 12ish hwy solo. Towing a fairly high profile TT weighing 7500 ibs I'd get 7-8mpg going 65mph, if I went really easy and slowed down I'd get 8-8.5mpg. But she didn't labor at all, nice easy towing. Spent a lot in gas, but it was waaaaay cheaper than a diesel and towed our rig great.
BigBaron
Explorer
Dec 01, 2013
Our fairly new 32' class C rental with a V-10 got almost exactly the same numbers over 3,300 miles. It really doesn't matter what you are pulling with that engine, does it?
Monaco_Montclai
Explorer
Dec 01, 2013
Well here's my numbers, 09montclair, Monaco,29ft,not towing, a constant, 12.6,towing a hhr--3100lbs, dead on 10.thouse numbers are from va to pei. And we have finaly got 18k on the clock, that's from new, so hopefully it will get better. Now it's all happy-camping
transamz9
Explorer
Dec 02, 2013
hookie wrote:
jerem0621 wrote:
Your numbers towing are accurate based on my experience as well. My truck was a dually and empty got around 9 -10 ish basically no matter what I did. If I could get 12-14 like you empty I would have been ecstatic.

Since you mentioned the 8.1 your buddy had.. may I ask what the MPG for your friend was? I have been considering an 8.1 in a Suburban recently. I suspect that the MPG's between the V10 and the 8.1 are relatively comparable. But I am not sure.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

I just sold our Yukon XL with the 8.1 and 4.10 rear end. I was right at 10mpg in suburban traffic and around 12ish hwy solo. Towing a fairly high profile TT weighing 7500 ibs I'd get 7-8mpg going 65mph, if I went really easy and slowed down I'd get 8-8.5mpg. But she didn't labor at all, nice easy towing. Spent a lot in gas, but it was waaaaay cheaper than a diesel and towed our rig great.

I'm not trying to turn this into a gas diesel thing so please don't take it that way. but how can you say that your 8.1 was waaaaay cheaper than a diesel to operate? My diesel gets right at 7-8 more miles per gallon in suburban traffic and 10 ish more mpg on the highway solo. Pulling a 7500 TT at 65 would be around 4 more mpg. The 8.1 was an option so I know it cost more than the standard 6.0. The diesel wouldn't have been waaaaay more expensive. If you traded the 8.1 then you would have gotten more for the diesel in trade.

I'm just trying to figure out how you do your math?
brirene
Explorer
Dec 02, 2013
Yup, that's right around where mine was too, but your empty numbers are better. That's why I went back to diesel. Improved mileage and range more than offsets slightly higher maintenance costs, imo.
jenoble99
Explorer
Dec 02, 2013
transamz9 wrote:
hookie wrote:
jerem0621 wrote:
Your numbers towing are accurate based on my experience as well. My truck was a dually and empty got around 9 -10 ish basically no matter what I did. If I could get 12-14 like you empty I would have been ecstatic.

Since you mentioned the 8.1 your buddy had.. may I ask what the MPG for your friend was? I have been considering an 8.1 in a Suburban recently. I suspect that the MPG's between the V10 and the 8.1 are relatively comparable. But I am not sure.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

I just sold our Yukon XL with the 8.1 and 4.10 rear end. I was right at 10mpg in suburban traffic and around 12ish hwy solo. Towing a fairly high profile TT weighing 7500 ibs I'd get 7-8mpg going 65mph, if I went really easy and slowed down I'd get 8-8.5mpg. But she didn't labor at all, nice easy towing. Spent a lot in gas, but it was waaaaay cheaper than a diesel and towed our rig great.

I'm not trying to turn this into a gas diesel thing so please don't take it that way. but how can you say that your 8.1 was waaaaay cheaper than a diesel to operate? My diesel gets right at 7-8 more miles per gallon in suburban traffic and 10 ish more mpg on the highway solo. Pulling a 7500 TT at 65 would be around 4 more mpg. The 8.1 was an option so I know it cost more than the standard 6.0. The diesel wouldn't have been waaaaay more expensive. If you traded the 8.1 then you would have gotten more for the diesel in trade.

I'm just trying to figure out how you do your math?

I took it as the initial purchase price was cheaper.
45Ricochet
Explorer
Dec 02, 2013
AlBeGone wrote:
Guess who was the overall gas consumption winner...

Just a wild guess here :W but it wasn't the Cummins :B
Very easy since it doesn't use GAS, and of course having owned a couple of em that pull down 20 plus running empty.
I had a 1981 3x3 GMC way back when, double digit sure would have been nice. Great truck though until 2001.