Impressed with MPG of used rig

[KeninAZ]

We picked up a 2000 31M Bounder with the Ford V10 Chassis used a few months back. After some medical problems I decided to give it a shakedown cruise. The unit is 31' 4" and was moderately loaded.
I took it from our home in Prescott Valley through several elevation changed ranging from 3100' to 7600' and camped at Woods Canyon Lake at 7600' close to Heber. We ran the genset a total of about 1/2 hour while there which used some fuel too of course.
Needless to say following the Rim in AZ is not the best for MPG. So I was surprised when I checked it and found that I pulled 8.1 MPG for the 252 mile trip. 🙂 I was expecting 6-7 MPG range. That may not sound like much but that is good considering.
No it's not my diesel of days past with a 5th wheel so it can be slow going up hills and such. I did not push it hard as there was not much traffic and did under the speed limit just cruising along.

[KeninAZ]

D.E.Bishop wrote:
During May and June we drove our new to us 2002 Winnie with the F53/V-10 through Monument Valley up to Canyonlands and over to Ft Bragg and then up to Surfside Washington and back home to L.A. We towed the Vitara and over five weeks we averaged 7.5 MPG.

The rig is outfitted with the Banks Power pack and the trans has the Banks controller. As we approached Great Basin from the East we went up and down from lows of 2000 feet to highs around 7000 feet for what seemed like hours and hours, come to think of it, it was hours.

When we had the Bounder 27D w/the Chevy 454cid, we would get from 5 to 9 MPG pulling the sidekick. Now we're getting 6 to 9 MPG with the V10. I love it and while it still shifts a little more than the Bounder, it climbs better and our average speeds going up hills(mountains for you folks E/O the Rockies) is much higher and the RPM are lower.

To say I am in heaven with the improvement is an understatement. I do wonder if there will be any improvement towing the Sidekick over the Grand Vitara.

So enjoy the improvement and I'm sure your MPG will stay about the same if you drive the same way for the foreseeable future.

Of course our unit is used needless to say, but the only mods I can find on it is the older standard Banks intake system which apparently part of the unit when new as near as I can tell.

[zigzagrv]

My 13 year old rig in my sig averages 7.5 over the 10 years I've owned it towing a car. Over 45k miles during that time in all kinds of conditions. Hills, mountains, flat country, etc. Worst I got was 6.4 traveling west on I40 into a headwind for two days. Best I got was 8.3 traveling east on I80 thru Nebraska and Iowa with a strong tail wind. I calculated manually every tank of fuel during that time. Love the V10!

[D_E_Bishop]

During May and June we drove our new to us 2002 Winnie with the F53/V-10 through Monument Valley up to Canyonlands and over to Ft Bragg and then up to Surfside Washington and back home to L.A. We towed the Vitara and over five weeks we averaged 7.5 MPG.

The rig is outfitted with the Banks Power pack and the trans has the Banks controller. As we approached Great Basin from the East we went up and down from lows of 2000 feet to highs around 7000 feet for what seemed like hours and hours, come to think of it, it was hours.

When we had the Bounder 27D w/the Chevy 454cid, we would get from 5 to 9 MPG pulling the sidekick. Now we're getting 6 to 9 MPG with the V10. I love it and while it still shifts a little more than the Bounder, it climbs better and our average speeds going up hills(mountains for you folks E/O the Rockies) is much higher and the RPM are lower.

To say I am in heaven with the improvement is an understatement. I do wonder if there will be any improvement towing the Sidekick over the Grand Vitara.

So enjoy the improvement and I'm sure your MPG will stay about the same if you drive the same way for the foreseeable future.

[harley-dave]

Our 31' Itasca Sundancer gets 7-8.2 MPG running in that area. We don't speed or go fast all the time. Towing it drops to 6.5-7 MPG. Last winter we went from Phoenix to Benson on the interstate and got 8.7 MPG over 2 tanks! I calculated it twice and it was right.. You might look into the 5 Star tuner for your V10, it really improved our performance climbing hills. It shifts and pulls much better than stock tune.

Dave

[JumboJet]

My 2000 31' Hurricane V-10 running 65 MPH between Arkansas and Florida would get 10-11 MPG hand calculated - with favorable tail winds.

[KeninAZ]

Figured MPG by hand. Fill and refill at same station before and after trip. I was shocked at the MPG too.
We have had many RVs/types in the past although mostly diesel trucks with 5th wheels.
Logged well over 100K miles in our time with RVs.
I suppose next time it will be 5.5!

[DownTheAvenue]

Those figures are great and I hope they continue. However, just one tank of fuel is not a good indicator- just too many variables. Run about 10 tanks of fuel and then average your mpgs of those 10 tanks.

[Old-Biscuit]

Was that a 'hand calculated' mpg?

V10 in those elevations.........Hwy 260 along the Mogollon Rim

That would be phenomenal gas mileage.

[Kayteg1]

What size of tank you have?
252 miles make 32 gallons fill up, while big tanks at miniature tilt can make 10 gallons air bubble.
Single fill up is never good measurement.

[cmeade]

You should be happy. I had a 1989 Chevy 3500 crewcab dually 4x4 with 454 TBI and the best I got was 8 mpg (4.56 gears). My joke was it got 15 mpg -- 8 on the highway and 7 in the city = 15 mpg right?? 70 mph was almost 4000 rpms. Sold it 21 years later with 84000 fuel expensive miles on it.