This past weekend I took my X on it’s first trip towing the TT for more than 100 miles. After figuring out MPG, I was a little disappointed. The round trip was about 400 miles. On the way down to the campsite (from central MN to southeast MN), my average speed was 65-70mph. The last 40 miles had some hills and was single lane and we dropped our speed to 55-60mph. On the way home I filled the tank and found out that I averaged 8.6 mpg ( 60 of the 331 miles were without the TT while we toured the area). I was hoping to get closer to 10 mpg considering my TT only weighs 6,000-6,500 and is a lower profile trailer. For the last hundred miles, I decided to keep the speed at 60 mph, try to accelerate down hill and ease up as I climbed hills. This method only resulted in .2 mpg increase as I averaged 8.8 mpg, I have read numerous posts by others that hand calculate their mileage and most seem to be in that 8.4-8.6 mpg range, but travel through mountains and tow trailers that are 3,000 lbs heavier. I was hoping to get at least 1 mpg better with my lighter load and fairly flat terrain. Is the slower speed causing the engine to bog? I did notice that if I turned the overdrive off when approaching hills @ 60, the rpms went up to 3000 and the truck had no problem holding the speed. I also found that slight inclines caused the truck to down shift when the rpms were at 2,100 or below. Am I better off locking out of overdrive and increasing rpms whenever I am in a hilly area and letting the engine rev if I am trying to get the best mileage? I knew the V10 wouldn’t get great mileage, but I was hoping it would be comparable to my 94 suburban that had a 5.7 liter. Pulling the same trailer last year, we averaged between 8.4 and 10.3 mpg going out to the Black Hills, which had much bigger inclines.

 

Sounds like another disappointed Wee-10 owner. Should have bought a diesel. Sorry I couldn't resist.....

 

Sorry to inform you, but I pull a trailer daily through Snoqualmie Pass and I average around 8.5 mpg. It's 210 miles round trip. Get use to it or trade it in for a diesel. Even on flat terrain pulling my trailer I only get between 11 and 12 mpg.

 

The only way too get better mpg's in a V-10 is drive to the nearest RV park and unhook the trailer and turn your engine off! I don't think 8.6 is bad at all!! I have gotten that in my 6.0 diesel with a 25mph head wind!! Your doing good! My friend gets 6-7 towing his hauler up the 6% grade to Flagstaff AZ!!

 

What is the trailer rating of a Prius?

 

I guess I was hoping to be a little closer to the 10 mpg range since most of the trip was on flat terrain. In hills I have no problem with the 8.5 mpg. I guess the reason for the post, especailly after towinng at 60 and not seeing a big improvement, was if I would be better off towing with the overdrive turned off to keep the engine from bogging down. The terrain may have had more hills than I thought. The family that went with us was pulling a similar size trailer with a Cummins. He told me he averaged 2 mpg less than he normally gets.

 

Don't forget, your Ex weighs at least 1000 pounds more than your Suburban and that definitley affects fuel mileage.

 

There was also no mention on what the wind was either. That will affect mpg more than the hills when towing something with as much frontal area as a TT.

 

sounds like you re right on the mpg money. i tow a fleetwood prowler lynx 29 bh. (about a 7000 lb camper) with the tt and 7 people and all of the stuff, i get between 8-9.5 mpg. i travel alot between upper east tennessee to pigeon forge tn. and to myrtle beach, sc. i too had a 1500 suburban with a 5.7. gas milage was a little better. but the EX hauls much better. i have been running the midgrade gas without the ethenol and the EX seems to run and pull better and a slight mpg increase.

 

The ethanol might be my problem. All gas in MN has ethanol, unless it is for use in a collector car. I was impressed with the pulling power at 3,000 rpms on big inclines.

 

there are a few gas stations around home that sell unleaded without the ethanol. i even stopped at one near columbia sc that had ethanol free gas.

 

towed my car on a trailer to the dragstrip 99 miles each way. got 12+mpg. srove about 60-65mph

 

Found that 50-60mph or >70mph in OD is the best for me pulling a 33' and 13' tall toyhauler @ 8000#. 2000 Ex V10 4.30's stock wheels. WAS good money spend to get 'Scan gauge II', will give you instand mpg and "critical" stuff like trans temp ect.

 

Truck Monkey,
This was the info I was looking for. If I understand you, you lock to OD off when towing at 50-60mph? I haven been looking at the Scangauge two II for the past month. I especially liked the trans temp reading. Does it come with teh ability to read trans temp? In looking at the info online, it looked like trans temp was a feature that needs to be added.

 

I always used to tow with OD OFF, but after reading a lot on FTE i decide to go with OD ON. As long as you keep an eye on trans temp ect. you will get beter mpg. They say trans temp lower than 190F, i'm running @ 195-199F, when it creeps up i turn OD OFF.

Scan Gauge gives me:Trans temp, Cyl head temp, Converter line pres, Eng HP; and standard... water temp ect on my 2000 V10.
The bled mount also works pretty good.

I get between 7.2 - 8.8 mpg towing my 'mountain' in fairly flat Florida and 90++ temps.