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Tow Vehicle Effiency |
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CUGrad90 
Newbie 
Joined: 13 Nov 2020 Location: North Carolina Online Status: Offline Posts: 14 |
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 Topic: Tow Vehicle EffiencyPosted: 30 Jun 2024 at 8:38pm |
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I'm wondering what kind of MPG some of you are getting behind your tow vehicle?
I tow my 171 with a 2011 Honda Pilot. It gets the job done just fine, but a recent mostly flat run from NC to FL showed 10.6 MPG for the nearly 1000 mile trip. And that's on the liar meter on the dash, not my calculation at the pump. Whose getting better fuel efficiency, and with what tow vehicle? Been thinking about upgrading, either my pickup to one of the Ford ecoboosts, or my wife's Pilot for a SUV with better MPG, if there is such a thing.
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Leo B
podders Helping podders - pHp 
Joined: 13 Jan 2012 Location: Lyndonville, VT Online Status: Offline Posts: 4514 |
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Posted: Yesterday at 7:36am |
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we tow our Vista Cruiser 23 foot with our Ford F-150 with the V-8 engine. Depending on the wind, we average 13.5 on our trips up and down the east coast. We had tail winds this last trip in the spring we averaged 14.5 down and 14.7 coming home.
we use exxon/mobile mid level gas. we average 60 mph. I use both the little trip computer in the truck and double check it the mileage and gallons used. |
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Leo & Melissa Bachand
2017 Ford F150 2021 Vista Cruiser 19 csk Previously owned 2015 Rpod 179 2010 Rpod 171 |
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GlueGuy
Senior Member
Joined: 15 May 2017 Location: N. California Online Status: Offline Posts: 2634 |
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Posted: Yesterday at 1:13pm |
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We get 14 MPG towing with the 3.5L EcoBoost for the most part (depending). If we're doing hills, it will be a little worse than that. If we have favorable terrain/wind conditions, it can be a little more than that.
I use the lie-o-meter (which I have corrected through Forscan), and also have an app on the phone that tracks it on a per-tank basis. After correcting the lie-o-meter, it matches very close to actual. When we're not towing, we get between 18 and 22. 18 when around town doing starts and stops. 22 when we are cruising on the freeway with favorable conditions.
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bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River 2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost |
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lostagain
Senior Member
Joined: 06 Sep 2016 Location: Quaker Hill, CT Online Status: Offline Posts: 2591 |
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Posted: Yesterday at 2:19pm |
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When we lived in NV we routinely got around 14 mpg towing our trailer with our F-150 2.7 ecoboost. Now that we live in the east, all of our mileage is worse, and we get closer about 12.5 to 13 mpg towing. I wonder if the gasoline formula differs and if there is more ethanol in the gas here. We've lost about 4 mpg for regular driving compared to what we got out west.
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Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney Sonoma 167RB Our Pod 172 2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost |
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gpokluda
Senior Member
Joined: 11 Nov 2018 Location: NM Online Status: Offline Posts: 293 |
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Posted: Yesterday at 8:42pm |
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We tow a small, fiberglass fifth wheel (tandem axle, 5500lb GVW) with a Ford 3.5 Ecoboost with 10speed tranny. We're having a bad day if we get bellow 12mpg. Usually closer to 14mpg in varied terrain and weather. The mileage you get with your Pilot is about what we would get when we pulled our 179 with a Nissan Frontier 4.0L. I know it doesn't make sense, but when an engine can spend more time in the lower RPM range, it's going to get better mileage.
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Gpokluda
2017 Rpod 179(sold 2023) 2022 Escape 5.0TA 2022 Ford F150 4X4 3.5EB Triumph T120 |
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Pod People
Senior Member
Joined: 22 Sep 2011 Location: Chapel Hill,NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 1069 |
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Posted: Today at 10:08am |
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We have towed our 179 for 7 years with both a 2012 Ford Expedition v8 and our new to us 2022 F150 3.5L Ecoboost. We have always used regular gas with 87(?) octane and have not tried higher rated fuel. The Expedition V8 usually gave us about 9-10 mpg depending on travel conditions. We recently came back from a 3 week round trip from NC to Texas. Towing with the F150 Ecoboost was much easier and we averaged 14.2mpg over 2500 miles. When not towing, we just averaged 21.9mpg on a weekend trip to the NC mountains We find the F150 to be extremely comfortable, easy driving/riding and a great tow vehicle. We added an ARE camper shell and Bilstein shocks on the rear. Everything else is standard Ford 10 speed I hope to keep this F150 as our tow vehicle for the rest of our trailering days Travel often and safe Vann |
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Vann & Laura 2015 RPod 179 
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