MPG Real World driving conditions

[proeasy]

Might be something wrong with the trailer. Have you greased your bearings recently? Tire pressure good etc? Maybe it just has the aerodynamics of a sea anchor.

I made a trip from CO to CA and back around Christmas. 6200 lb (measured on scales) travel trailer and fully loaded Expy with family, dogs, toys, etc. Cruise set at 72 and usually maintained that speed. Averaged 11.9 mpg over 3,080 miles traveled, hand-calc'd. Those numbers exclude times I drove around without the trailer attached.

Trailer is in great condition, borrowed from a friend who just got a new Denali XL 6.2. so we can soon do side by side comparisons He was formerly a chief Engineer at one of the big three, so trailer is in more than perfect shape. One of my hobbies is Adventure Motor cycle riding and many buddies have a wide range of tow vehicle, but unfortunately a constant theme is poor towing MPG from the Eco Boost

 

[rumline]

Yeah I was heavily considering the Yukon Denali due to hearing similar things. I wanted the Yukon for towing prowess but my wife didn't like the interior and wanted the Expy instead so here I am. Have to say I'm pretty impressed with the ecoboost so far. I thought for sure I'd be in the 9-10 mpg range but lifetime mpg while towing that trailer is 12.05 mpg over 4672 miles. I'm sorry that you are not seeing the numbers you were hoping for.

I cruised both this and the Yukon forums extensively before purchasing and on both forums most people say that when towing a travel trailer they get 10-11 mpg. [shrug]

 

[aggiegrad05]

I am not a tower, but I read a lot on this stuff...so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

These EcoBoosts are veeery thirsty when on boost. Turn the boost gauge on on your gauge cluster (instead of the trans temp...altho I know the trans temp is important for towing, just try this for a bit) and adjust your highway cruising speed to a point at which your boost is as low as possible. I find that my mpgs (again, not while towing, but still) are vastly different when cruising at 68 and cruising at 73. That 70mph range seems the be the aerodynamic threshold which a lot of boost is needed to overcome.

I know that's not super-helpful because if you're like me, you buy a vehicle and want it to perform optimally while you use it in the way you want to use it, but I have found that a slight 5 mph speed adjustment has given me almost a full 5-7 mpg more on the highway.

 

[Edistobob]

Towing mpg on our Expy Max with HD trailer package, towing a 6900-lb Airstream (per the CAT scales) on a recent trip for about 1800 miles was 10.5. It ranged from 9.5 to 11.5; mileage is hand-calculated. Total miles on the Expy are still less than 5000, so I'm hopeful that the mpg will improve somewhat as a few more miles accumulate. While I was slightly disappointed in that, it is very slightly better than I averaged while towing the same trailer with our 2008 Expy EL with the V8 engine. But the vastly better performance with the Ecoboost while towing makes for an overall better experience. My typical towing speed is about 62-63 mph.

 

[byz250f]

Towing MPGs are so subjective...what was traffic like (75mph cruise vs 75mph in traffic with some passive drafting) will provide drastically different MPGs. Also what was the wind direction. I will be towing our 7500lb travel trailer this summer. I towed about 4000 miles last summer with my 16 F150 3.5l max tow and never had one tank over 11.0mpg. Most tanks were around 8.8-9.5mpg. Rarely got into the 10.00 mpg range. All number hand calculated. I found premium made no difference in fuel mileage or towing performance. Curious to see how the new motor with trans tows in the Expedition.

 

[Garrett]

Mine has been **** lately, even after tuning.