MPG in retirement...budget

[Koopgal]

We will be retiring soon and need to plug in approximate cost of fuel. Our tow vehicle will be a Ford or GMC 3/4 Diesel pulling a 13,000lb GVWR 5er. What approximate MPG should we expect to average?

Koop

[SolidAxleDurang]

RV costs.... Forget all the silly 0.5 or 1.0 mpg differences. For the sake of this discussion, they really don't matter.

Instead:

$135/day when moving

$30/day when sitting still

[oldbeek]

Combination weight 17,800 at 60 mph, 12mpg over 12,000 mile trip to Alaska twice. Only 18mpg hw empty. Cg cost could be the factor to budget. I only travel 150 miles a day. Really pushing it to a destination would be 300 miles a day.

[2oldman]

laknox wrote:
no matter th HP or load size, diesel trucks all seem to get right around 10 to 11 mpg when towing. Pickups to sport chassis to HD semis.

I wish.

[laknox]

I find it interesting that, no matter th HP or load size, diesel trucks all seem to get right around 10 to 11 mpg when towing. Pickups to sport chassis to HD semis.

Lyle

[CWSWine]

I have 2013 Chevy 2500HD Diesel and solo I get around 22 MPG and loaded with 8500# 5th wheel I get 11.5 to 12.5 towing. On side roads doing 50 to 55 I have clock 13 and 13.5 MPG.

[352]

2000 Dodge 2500 diesel 5.9 Cummins 355 gears. 10.5 towing 12,000 @ 70 mph. 17 in the city empty. 22 mpg empty highway @ 70 to 75 mph. All calculated by hand and driving on flat land.

[avvidclif1]

GoPackGo wrote:
I'm a 'stop and smell the roses' kind of guy. And I'm retired. And I only want to drive about 250 miles (max) in a day and stop by 3:00 if I can. I just don't have a reason to run any faster. But I used to - back when I had a motorcycle, or my Trans Am.

I do realize many have to fit a vacation into 2 weeks and need to get someplace quicker. Or only have a long weekend. I'm not criticizing.

Tim

Yep, X2. Cruise at 62, usually 250-300 mi/day. If I need to be someplace quicker I leave sooner. If I can't leave sooner then I'll just be late.... Life's too short to get in a hurry....

[2oldman]

GoPackGo wrote:
I'm a 'stop and smell the roses' kind of guy.

Me too, but it's usually trucker pee.

[greende]

We run 60 - 63 mph. Get about 10mpg

[GoPackGo]

I'm a 'stop and smell the roses' kind of guy. And I'm retired. And I only want to drive about 250 miles (max) in a day and stop by 3:00 if I can. I just don't have a reason to run any faster. But I used to - back when I had a motorcycle, or my Trans Am.

I do realize many have to fit a vacation into 2 weeks and need to get someplace quicker. Or only have a long weekend. I'm not criticizing.

Tim

[bad99ram]

2oldman wrote:

GoPackGo wrote:
I try to run between 58-60 (I'm retired)

You're a rare breed. Most of the RVers I see are between 75-80mph.

I will agree with that. We traveled 8000 miles last year and passed 1 ( one) other RV. We travel at 60-63MPH. And then people wonder why tires blow out!

[2oldman]

GoPackGo wrote:
I try to run between 58-60 (I'm retired)

You're a rare breed. Most of the RVers I see are between 75-80mph.

[rhagfo]

Budget for 6 mpg, and fuel at $8.00 per gallon, that SHOULD cover it safely!

[GoPackGo]

I have a 2013 F350 dually with 3.73 gears, pulling a 14,000# GVW 5th wheel (rounded nose).

I've traveled about 4,000 miles so far, all east of the Mississippi. I try to run between 58-60 (I'm retired) and budget for 10 mpg. So far, my best one day average was 12.3 and worst was barely 10 (pushing into a headwind all day). Just about all the other daily averages were between 11.5 and 12.0.

Truck has about 9,300 miles on it now. My gut feeling is that the mileage seems to be getting slightly better as more miles are put on the truck. If it matters, non-towing mileage at 60 is in the 20-22 mpg range. For a truck that makes 400 HP and 800 pounds of torque, I'm real happy with these numbers.

Tim