Towing capacity of Sprinter motorhome
My wife and I are evaluating the purchase of a 2015 Winnebago View or Itasca Navion 24J. They in essence are the same motorhome except for color schemes. We previously full-timed for two years in ...
Forum Discussion
I took written notes this week on a round trip from central Oregon to Mt. Rainier N.P. crossing several mountain passes and the Columbia River gorge. So here's some careful data instead of pulling things out of memory. I measured grades with the combination of odometer and GPS elevation data. I need to make one major correction, the prior comment about running at redline in 3rd gear is actually running at redline in 2nd gear which gives 43 mph. That's the worst case low speed for any grade I've traveled when not needing to slow for curves or other traffic. 6% grades are easily run in 3rd gear. Here are the grades I recorded along with the "pedal on the floor" speeds:
4.7% - 55 mph
5.2% - 52 mph
6.0% - 47 mph
6.3% - 47 mph
6.5% - 45 mph (3rd gear)
7.9% - 42 mph (2nd gear part of the time)
8.8% - 42 mph (2nd gear part of the time)
I passed 8 semis on the upgrades. Could have passed more but I don't pass them near the top because they end up on my tail going down. On the 6% downgrades, 3rd gear holds me at 60, so if it's not curvy I go down at 60. On steeper or curvy downgrades I'm running about 40 in 2nd gear.
I didn't count how many vehicles passed me going uphill, but it was fewer that the 8 semis I passed. What is the huge traffic-related problem for me is on the flat roads where I'm running at 55 to 60. There were about a half-dozen instances where other vehicles engaged in IMO unsafe passing around me with oncoming traffic or approaching a curve. A few of them resulted in uncomfortable close calls with the oncoming traffic. In one case, there was an unsafe passing incident approaching me that led to me nailing the brakes and hitting the shoulder.
These are just the facts, I've already stated my opinions and interpretations. I think the worst climb I've made, overall, pulling the car was on Utah 12 climbing Boulder Mountain going north. This was a 2nd gear redline affair that seemed to go on "forever". It was curvy enough that I wouldn't have been going much faster on most of the climb even if I could have, but listening to the engine scream for that long was not pretty.
4.7% - 55 mph
5.2% - 52 mph
6.0% - 47 mph
6.3% - 47 mph
6.5% - 45 mph (3rd gear)
7.9% - 42 mph (2nd gear part of the time)
8.8% - 42 mph (2nd gear part of the time)
I passed 8 semis on the upgrades. Could have passed more but I don't pass them near the top because they end up on my tail going down. On the 6% downgrades, 3rd gear holds me at 60, so if it's not curvy I go down at 60. On steeper or curvy downgrades I'm running about 40 in 2nd gear.
I didn't count how many vehicles passed me going uphill, but it was fewer that the 8 semis I passed. What is the huge traffic-related problem for me is on the flat roads where I'm running at 55 to 60. There were about a half-dozen instances where other vehicles engaged in IMO unsafe passing around me with oncoming traffic or approaching a curve. A few of them resulted in uncomfortable close calls with the oncoming traffic. In one case, there was an unsafe passing incident approaching me that led to me nailing the brakes and hitting the shoulder.
These are just the facts, I've already stated my opinions and interpretations. I think the worst climb I've made, overall, pulling the car was on Utah 12 climbing Boulder Mountain going north. This was a 2nd gear redline affair that seemed to go on "forever". It was curvy enough that I wouldn't have been going much faster on most of the climb even if I could have, but listening to the engine scream for that long was not pretty.
