Towing MPG

[rumline]

I'm curious what kind of gas mileage folks who tow travel trailers are getting. If you tow a travel or tall enclosed cargo trailer please post what kind of mileage you get, and what conditions it was driven in. (Average speed, flat or mountains, midwest wind or not, etc)

The reason I'm qualifying travel or cargo trailers is the large frontal area means there's a lot more drag than towing a boat or ATV on a flatbed.

 

[1997SCEBFEX]

'97 5.4L2V Eddie Bauer 4X4

8.8 mpg from MD to CA (no mods other than trailering mirrors and air deflector) month of June.

10.2 mpg from CA to MD (added supercharger/aftercooler; opened exhaust; larger trans pan; *NOSE CONE on trailer). Reciprocal route month of October.

Contents of cargo unchanged. Able to use overdrive more often due to increased transmission fluid capacity.

You are correct in that the trailer nose (unaltered) total square footage is a huge detractor aerodynamically.

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[Meeker]

Just finished a weekend with my 2018 XLT towing a 27' Keystone Cougar 21RBSWE travel trailer. The trailer sits very high and has a very square front end so it pulls hard. Did over 500 miles, mostly prairie driving (very few hills). However, strong headwinds on half the trip, without the corresponding tailwind on the way home (life is like that sometimes...)

(And, coincidentally, I decided to weigh my new rig to make sure I'm not overloading it (which I am - ooops):
Front axle: 2712 lbs, Rear axle: 4674 lbs, Trailer axles: 6085 lbs, Trailer hitch weight (disconnected): 1036 lbs, total trailer: 7121 lbs, GCVW: 13471 lbs
So my hitch weight is 116 lbs over, and rear axle is 310 lbs over. I had water in the trailer tank which is near the front of the trailer but I don't know how much. I'll be sure to drive with it nearly empty from now on. It's very frustrating that this trailer has only front storage compartments - there's no way to balance it front/back by moving gear around).

Averaged 27 L/100km (10 mpg approx.) over the whole trip. I drive between 95-100km/h (59-62 mph) because of the afore-mentioned frontal area. When the wind was causing lots of shifting, I locked out 9th and 10th gears...

 

[shane_th_ee]

It’s blurry, but that’s 10.4mpg over ~800mi. with a ~5400lb travel trailer. We did find that we lose a bit over 1mpg if we use regular instead of premium. And we did get Ford to swap out the Michelin Primacy tires for a set of Goodyear Wrangler Adventure A/T tires which may have cost us a bit of fuel economy.

 

[Randy Schmidt]

I have just completed 1/2 of my cross country trip pulling a little fishing boat. Chicago to Washington State. Going through some of the highest mountain passes in the country. The trip computer puts my mpg at 14.1 for the trip. 1750 miles approx.

 

[proeasy]

Not in the same realm, but towing open landscape trailer, single axle with two 300 lb. dirt bikes for 600 miles + camping gear, cruse set at 75 mph. 2018 Max HD Tow Package. Got a respectable 18.6 mpg. Similar in my 2007 Denali would have been lucky to get 13.5

Update, also fold the loading ramp down/flat, as it acts like an parachute, so just load the bikes with 2X6's

 

[mssbf2011]

'18 LTD w/Tow Pkg towing 33' travel trailer from OH to IN (~90 miles) averaging 65mph with 8-10mph SW winds. 8.7mpg on 89 octane

 

[cekkk]

Generalizing, non diesels pulling a 12 foot tall sail at 60 to 65 will get 10 mpg or less.

 

[Habbibie]

WoW I'm actually surprised by the numbers everyone is posting, I thought they'd be higher to be honest, reason I say that is I drive a Transit 250 for work and I constantly tow an enclosed trailer (not a V nose) with it that weights gross 8200 lbs and I average 13.5 mpg out of the 3.5L EcoBoost it has (same as the expedition but slightly detuned)

I think my van breaks the wind better than an expedition and possibly weights a ton less too