MPG when towing

[Michelle Thompson]

I have a 2017 EL limited with the heavy duty tow package. Today was the first day we towed anything,we went to NC 230 miles away. We towed a 15ft enclosed trailer with 2 ATVs. I filled up when we left- I get here and I have 2 gallons left. WTF! I got 7 MPG. Is this normal?

 

[Tim Fuller]

Unfortunately

 

[JasonH]

I have a 2017 EL limited with the heavy duty tow package. Today was the first day we towed anything,we went to NC 230 miles away. We towed a 15ft enclosed trailer with 2 ATVs. I filled up when we left- I get here and I have 2 gallons left. WTF! I got 7 MPG. Is this normal?

Primarily depends ons and terrain. I'm towing right now from Houston to Melbourne, FL with a 7k travel trailer. Expedition EL, 2017. We're at 9.6 between 60 and 65 mph. We're also on 92 octane. This is probably the best I've ever gotten. Usually we're between 8 and 9. Follow trucks when possible.

 

[cmiles97]

Eco or boost your choice. It's not a hybrid. It still takes X amount of energy to move this 6,000lb brick and the trailer weight, people and gear. They didn't magically make it as aerodynamic as a corvette. When you get into the boost, around 14psi, you are driving the volumetric equivalent of a 7.0L motor. You are driving a 3.5L when not into the turbos that's where the greater mpg comes into play.

How fast were you going? What octane are you using? I've towed from Alabama to NY, Roanoke VA to Fl, Upstate to NY to Roanoke Va a couple of times, mostly in hot weather. Doing 65 towing a large (very wind resistant) utility trailer weighing from 3,000 to 6,000 depending on what's loaded. I was getting around 9 mpg. Not towing I'm getting nearly 19mpg average. I have the EL 4x4 3.73 gear ratio using 93 octane.

For comparison my 2007 Sequoia got around 8mpg towing and 14.7mpg average in the same driving conditions.

I hope I didn't come off as being condescending but folks that don't know how a forced air induction motor works in relation to their gas mileage are here asking the same question often. It's like folks read the window sticker mpg ratings, buy the SUV and because it's rated for high mpg when tested by the EPA at 55mph not towing in perfect conditions, can floor it when driving everywhere or tow on the highway doing 80mph+ and get the max miles per gallon. Nope, under those conditions the mpg will be worse than a naturally aspirated V-8, that is the cost of more peak HP and torque. It's the non turbo use end of the scale where you are driving a v-6 that the MPG increases

Eco OR Boost.

 

[chuck s]

Once rolling the major (certainly not only) influence of fuel use is air resistance which is exponential meaning as speed doubles the resistance increases by a factor of 4. And a speed increase of about 40% will double the air resistance (1.4 is the square root of 2). Takes the same amount of power to move the vehicle thru the air regardless of what engine or fuel is used. Air resistance at 70mph is roughly twice what was at 50. Slow down or burn fuel -- it's that simple.

Coupling a trailer behind the truck will naturally increase the air resistance and I found trailer weight has only a minor effect on fuel usage. My maybe-2500 pound mini-cabin cruiser uses the same amount of fuel as my 6000 pound travel trailer on level roads. Yep, 9mpg is normal.

-- Chuck

 

[ManUpOrShutUp]

A couple months I hauled a bunch of stall mats (~6,500 lbs w/ the trailer) and got 8 mpg. I don't tow much, so it came as a bit of a surprise to me at the time also. As the man said though, it's to be expected when one is driving a land yacht hauling a full load of cargo.

 

[bobmbx]

1.4 is the square root of 2

-- Chuck

F-

 

[Michelle Thompson]

We traveled around 65-70mph on i-95 so not rough terrain. I would imagine towing a travel trailer would warrant this MPG but it's just an enclosed trailer with atv's, maybe 4k tops. We just connected the trailer, is there a setting on the dash display that we should've changed to tow? I filled up with 87 octane.

 

[bobmbx]

We traveled around 65-70mph on i-95 so not rough terrain. I would imagine towing a travel trailer would warrant this MPG but it's just an enclosed trailer with atv's, maybe 4k tops. We just connected the trailer, is there a setting on the dash display that we should've changed to tow? I filled up with 87 octane.

Tell us about your Expy.

year, model, trim, etc...

 

[Michelle Thompson]

It's a 2017 expedition EL limited ,eco boost, 4WD, power running boards with navigation and HD tow package. I usually average 19mpg with day to day driving.

 

[bobmbx]

It's a 2017 expedition EL limited ,eco boost, 4WD, power running boards with navigation and HD tow package. I usually average 19mpg with day to day driving.

Starting on page 94 of the owners manual are descriptions of the information displays for setting up a trailer. It is not required to set up a trailer via the display, but if you have trailer brakes its best to follow the TT brake setup procedure.

In addition, you can select the "Tow/Haul" option which modifies the transmission shift points.

 

[chuck s]

You can set the "miles to empty" prediction to Towing on the left dash display. Only thing I know this does is activate the Low Fuel light earlier with a more realistic number of miles until empty. I think this is independent of the truck actually towing anything. Probably uses very recent fuel consumption information, not the past 500 or so miles of general driving.

I have two trailers stored in the computer. One is my travel trailer and the setting retains brake settings for the electric brakes. The other is "Uhaul" and assumes no electric brakes. Accumulates trailer miles for both but does not to my knowledge change the miles to empty prediction.

-- Chuck

 

[Iowan]

Welcome to the world of towing, my 08s job is towing a 30' travel trailer @ 7500 lbs 8 mpg is a good day but I've gotten 20 pulling the open car trailer with a car on @ 6000 lbs.
One thing I've noticed is that my 08 likes going 55 because I've gotten 24 mpg empty with it and that's were it does best.

 

[Gary Waugh]

Wow, that seems low, I have a 24' foot (8.5 foot wide) twin axle enclosed trailer that is usually loaded up with 6 motorbikes, generators and other items, I see about 7.5MPG, but before I used to pull a 16 foot twin axle (but only 7 foot wide) and would see around 10mpg, I don't know if its the extra width or the extra weight that makes the 24 foot trailer so much harder to pull, but I would have expected a better MPG from your setup..

Gary

 

[cmiles97]

F-

 

[gtncpa]

Towing a car on a trailer resulted in 12MPG on my 2017. My trailer is a BigTex (heavy steel ... diamond plate ect) and the car is a BMW 3 Series. The 2017 towes better then my 2014 but if you are not careful with the Ecoboost you can end up in the single digit area.

 

[ElliottM]

We have a 2016 configured similar to yours, OP, and as others have stated, your mileage is expected. We tow a boat that weighs about 4000 lbs and get about 10mpg if I am lead-footed, a little more if I back off. We also tow a 30' travel trailer that weighs about 8000 pounds and get 7-8mpg towing that.

 

[Michelle Thompson]

If this is normal, I would never be able to afford the gas for towing a small travel trailer, i would probably get 4-5 MPG

 

[Steve in WV]

speed kills (mileage). Just a couple mph's can make a very noticeable difference in my experience.

 

[cmiles97]

Towing a car on a trailer resulted in 12MPG on my 2017. My trailer is a BigTex (heavy steel ... diamond plate ect) and the car is a BMW 3 Series. The 2017 towes better then my 2014 but if you are not careful with the Ecoboost you can end up in the single digit area.

It must be wind resistance being the culprit. Towing my dual axle 6'x14' (6' 3" interior height) diamond trailer empty on the highway, I never got above 10mpg. When I towed my 2016 Camaro SS on a dual axle uHaul car trailer, I was getting 12mpg. This on the same route. The Camaro and trailer had to weigh at at least 3,000lbs more. Wind resistance is a killer on mpg. Both towed around 65mph.