So what are folks average MPG when towing

Just finished a long family vacation. '16 Ram 3500 Cummins, and a '15 Sabre fifth wheel, 38 feet long, somewhere around 11,900lbs, give or take a hundred.

Rapid City to West Yellowstone, MT - 11.1 mpg
West Yellowstone, MT to West Glacier, MT - 12.2 mpg
West Glacier, MT to Livingston, MT - 11.1mpg
Livingston, MT to Rapid City, SD - 11.2mpg

Day one could easily have been better, if not for a brutal headwind the last 100 miles. But, the last day could easily have been worse if not for a moderate tailwind; different route with lots of rolling hills.

TT and TV spec make the most difference. It's where I started. Right down to the hitch.

14-16/mpg pulling a 35' TT. Consistent with others in South Central US (climate more important than terrain; after spec), where both vehicles were highly similar.

It's double what my parents and grandparents got with their big block gassers, but same trailer brand.

11 mpg towing, 24 mpg not towing.

Depending on the size (heightxwidth, plus a small factor for the aerodynamics of the unit) you'll likely get somewhere between 9 and 11 with most trailers if towing with gas. (Exceptions due to large aerodynamic differences: AirStream, fiberglass eggs, etc... The V-shaped nose trailers are not significantly different.)

13 mpg when I was towing commercially.

http://www.fuelly.com/car/dodge/ram_2500/1997/bovellois/346193

From looking at the responses to the post, I am happy with the 6 liter gas Chevy performance vs gas mileage. If I travel in CO with my camper, I get 12 mpg. If I head down to Texas I have gotten as low as 9.5 mpg.

Can't Wait Now wrote:

bob213 wrote:
If you are concerned about miles per gallon you picked the wrong way to enjoy your recreation. You are pulling a box down the road, mileage doesn't matter as there's not a lot you can do about it that makes economic sense. Just go and enjoy!:)

Nope just curious what others are getting to compare

This is the usual response that comes up regularly on here, but the fact is that you can get pretty reasonable MPG with a different tow vehicle. Filling up 4 times to go 600 miles would be a deal breaker for me. Our previous setup of VW Touareg 3.0 TDI towing a 4,500 lb 8' wide square TT was getting 14.5 mpg average. We are switching to a narrower fiberglass Escape 19 that may bump that up to 16+.

Why do I care about MPG? We are planning some really long trips across the country and up to Alaska. Going 6,000 miles at 8.7 mpg would cost close to $1,600 at today's low-ish gas prices. If / when gas goes back up to $4 a gallon that will be over $2,700, or close to 50-cents per mile! If you use your tow vehicle as a daily driver like we do, it makes great economic sense to choose the one that gets better fuel mileage.

Since you are asking, maybe you are thinking of changing vehicles? The Chevy Colorado/GMC Canyon 2.8 Duramax or Jeep Grand Cherokee diesel would be in the same ballpark MPG-wise as the Touareg. This is really the golden age of having great choices for tow vehicles.

There is a set formula for Specific Fuel Consumption used in Aviation and it is accurate. I don't care what anyone says about fuel mileage. It Ga Per Hr. My truck gets 9.8 MPG going from Va to central Co and back. That's at 67 MPH which it seems to like and that's 6.83 GPH for an 06 Chevy diesel with 420 hp and 19,000 lb GVW.Anyone wants to come tow my trailer to Pittsburgh Pa and back and can get better than 9.8 I'll buy the fuel. No One has ever taken me up. Road conditions, starts and stops, direction of travel, wind and atmospheric conditions have play in it. We owned a Class 8 truck and it got 6.5 Westbound from Balt to Sea and 7.5 on the return. Prevailing winds and more down hill ebnd.

4k lb coach 2015 ram eco diesel, wind is a factor but over 8k miles avg is 16.5. Lifetime avg of truck in the 23 range according to evic. Never reset it. incredible vehicle.

I JUST GOT BACK FROM Black Hills and Yellow Stone.4 adults,dog and loaded and got 10 miles per average.

16 mpg at 9,200 lbs. GCVW, 12 mpg at 12,900 lbs. GCVW