Gas milage for a diesel / gas engine

[etcssw]

Here's my request, I need people that own fifth wheel trailers to let me know about their gas mileage. I presently have a toyota tundra when I'm not towing anything I get about 20 miles to the gallon but when I'm towing my TT the gas mileage drops to 9 miles to the gallon. NOW WE ALL KNOW that truck sales men will tell you that their truck gets a million miles to the gallon which we know isn't true. So if you have a fifth wheel trailer please tell me which truck you tow with and is it gas or diesel and what your gas mileage is. This will help my wife and I to pick the correct truck and fifth wheel to buy.

[noteven]

yesterday - 2006 5.9 diesel, SRW, 6spd, 4.10 on 33in tires - Dodge 3500, low profile goose neck stock trailer, 50/50 loaded/empty, empty weight 12,800lbs, loaded weight 21,800lbs - 30 mph head/cross wind on loaded leg, 14.6 mp US gal

[sk734]

If you go gasser-get some ear plugs!!

[Blackcell]

Truck and 5er in Signature. Average 11-13mpg @ 65mph.

[hone_eagle]

goducks10 wrote:
How much of a return do people get with leather, nav, sunroof, bed cover, $1500 in aftermarket wheels, etc.? It's all about what makes you smile.
I'd much rather tow with my 12 2500 ST CTD than a 12 2500 Laramie 5.7. Less money too.

How much return - not much but a little(engine options return highest proportion) , but when a post contains a 1/2 page of calculations omitting resale /depreciation I wonder if the poster is kidding us or themselves

[LEE3714]

Just pulled from Delaware to Ft Lewis, Wa, ending this afternoon. I-90 at 64/65 mph. 10.5 over all, some strong headwinds in S.Dakota &Montana. I'm just over 23,000 lbs on the road. PAC-brake is the only mod on this2004 3500 Ram. 2940 miles travelled, now have 153,800 miles on her.

[goducks10]

How much of a return do people get with leather, nav, sunroof, bed cover, $1500 in aftermarket wheels, etc.? It's all about what makes you smile.
I'd much rather tow with my 12 2500 ST CTD than a 12 2500 Laramie 5.7. Less money too.

[hone_eagle]

HammerToe wrote:
Here’s ‘The Bottom Line’ (I.M.O.):

1. If 'The Math' with respect to 'How Much Truck' you need 'says' you 'NEED' a Diesel, buy a Diesel. (Study the truck manufacturer's towing guidelines).

2. If (1) (above) is NOT TRUE: If 'The Math' says that you don't NEED a Diesel but 'you're close' (say running upwards of 85%-90% or more of the truck's tow capacity *AND* you will be towing 'a fair bit to a lot of (the) time' in hilly/mountainous terrain, then you might *consider* upgrading to/buying a diesel.

3. If you plan on *towing* A *LOT* (*many* 10's of thousands of miles AT LEAST), you might consider buying a diesel even if you don't actually/technically NEED one.

4. If you just simply WANT a diesel/price is no object, then buy a diesel.

5. OTHERWISE, buy a Gaser.

Yes, *in comparison with* gasers that are towing trailers within the truck manufacturer's towing guidelines (i.e 'apples to apples'), diesels WILL get better MPG and the towing *experience* will be nicer. ***BUT*** it generally is REALLY HARD to recoup the additional initial purchase cost and maintenance costs in actual fuel savings. (And 'Gawd Help You' should you need repairs with a D.).

I spent an ENORMOUS amount of time trying to decide how much truck to buy back in '08 when I picked up new Cougar 291RLS 5er (advertised at 8125 lbs dry, with a normal tow weight probably in the 9000 to 9500 lb range (I always tow/travel with full water).

Did SERIOUS math/research.

Math showed I would have to ACTUALLY *TOW* BETWEEN 70,000 and 200,000 MILES to recoup the cost of the D. on fuel savings.

You can buy an AWFUL LOT of gas for the $8,000 to $10,000 premium that a (new!) diesel would cost.

For example: just to get a VERY ROUGH, 'BACK OF THE ENVELOPE', 'BALLPARK' FEEL for this:

Assume that both diesel and gasoline cost $4.00 per gallon. (CURRENTLY (I checked), gas looks like it is between 5% and 10% less BUT 'lets assume'):

$10,000 will buy 2,500 gallons of *fuel*.

At 10 MPG,(either fuel), the cost per mile will be $0.40 (40 cents) for fuel.

At 13 MPG (e.g. diesel), the cost per mile would be $0.40 * 10/13 ~= 31 cents per mile. (Let's say 30 cents per mile, to be generous IN FAVOR OF the diesel).

That's a saving of 10 cents per mile.

BUT: you paid (assumption) $10,000.00 MORE for the Diesel SO (*in this example*) it would take *ROUGHLY* 100,000 miles of TOWING to get your $.$$ back. (The actual cost per mile was about $30.8 for a savings of 9.2 cents per mile AND, as mentioned, gas is currently 5% - 10% less 'on average' (I checked) which would make it take even LONGER to 'get ones money' back.

Modern gasers, ESPECIALLY with DFI (Direct Fuel Injection, which tends to bring diesels TYPICAL fuel economy advantage down, especially when running lightly loaded, to around 15%) get pretty darn good fuel economy (relatively speaking). Diesels tend to WEIGH MORE and 'stop and go driving' tends to eat into their fuel economy advantage also. And, as mentioned, there the maintenance and (possible) repair side to worry about. (Oh. and diesel don't tend to make as nice a 'Daily Driver' as a (generally lighter; say 1/2 ton gasser (if that's a possibility), especially in colder winter weather, and DON'T 'make Heat' as much/fast)

One can 'drive oneself nuts' agonizing over this.

Personally, I wound up with an '05 GMC Sierra 4x4 Crew Cab 4:10 gears - tow capacity 9,900 lbs - and I don't regret my decision.

In the end, I followed (sssshhhh! Consumer Report's recommendation): "All the vehicles tested" (in '07-08 somewhere - 1/2 ton Gasser's and 3/4 ton diesels) "will tow their Maximum Rated Loads *ADEQUATELY*.

If 'Adequately' ain't good enough for you, then 'upgrade'.

I don't drive 'FAST'. I generally tow around 55 MPH '4-lane' (ya gotta be able to STOP these things once in awhile, and then ST tires aren't really rated for high(er) speeds), 'drive the speed limit' 2-lane) and on mostly flat/slightly rolling terrain, I AVERAGE about 9.75 MPG (U.S.) and I HAVE on occasion gotten as high as 11.25 MPG.

Hope this helps.

man lots of verbiage there but no mention of resale value remaining?
deep down if you don't want one this is the calculation I always see,only the down side never the entire picture .....you only fool yourself

[goducks10]

REWahoo wrote:

goducks10 wrote:
I see the best mpg's while cruising on the internets.

+1

Doesn't take a lot of fuel to haul a big load of BS. 🙂

LOL, got that right.

[REWahoo]

goducks10 wrote:
I see the best mpg's while cruising on the internets.

+1

Doesn't take a lot of fuel to haul a big load of BS. 🙂

[REWahoo]

prfssr wrote:


Your computer is not very accurate like other so I would say your really getting about 9 mpg as a general rule of thumb. Until you have hand calculated your usage you will not accurate. 😉

Sigh...

I'm always amazed at the ability to know the accuracy of computerized fuel mileage computations on another person's vehicle - and to know it is always wrong and always gives results higher than hand calculating. I've checked mine a number of times and never found the difference between what my DIC says and my hand computation to vary by more than 0.2 MPG.

[goducks10]

I see the best mpg's while cruising on the internets.

[rhagfo]

prfssr wrote:

Tom/Barb wrote:
If you are going to pull get a diesel. I am running a 28,000 pound motorhome at highway speeds and getting better milage than you are pulling your TT.

2200 miles this trip, April 23-27 computer is saying 10.02 MPH

Your computer is not very accurate like other so I would say your really getting about 9 mpg as a general rule of thumb. Until you have hand calculated your usage you will not accurate. 😉

X2 to that my computer is always about 1 mpg better than hand calculated.

[prfssr]

Tom/Barb wrote:
If you are going to pull get a diesel. I am running a 28,000 pound motorhome at highway speeds and getting better milage than you are pulling your TT.

2200 miles this trip, April 23-27 computer is saying 10.02 MPH

Your computer is not very accurate like other so I would say your really getting about 9 mpg as a general rule of thumb. Until you have hand calculated your usage you will not accurate. 😉

[transamz9]

The MPG for me is not so much the money part of it. For me, I'm known to run 5-6 hrs without stopping. If I do HAVE to stop then it's on a ramp. I have no need in getting off the interstate.