Does anyone get over 20 mpg while towing a TAB?

Deac

Does anyone get over 20 mpg while towing a TAB?  If so, what is your tow vehicle?

I bought a Ford Edge hoping to get at least into the high teens but only get 13-14 mpg while towing my 2017 Tab Sofitel.
Any my range is less that 200 miles between fillups, pretty inconvenient.

RMo

Not us.  We typically get 12 to 13 with our Highlander and T@B 400, but can get as low as 9 when I “accidentally” hit 75 or so.

Deac

RMo said:

Not us.  We typically get 12 to 13 with our Highlander and T@B 400, but can get as low as 9 when I “accidentally” hit 75 or so.

Good post!  I was actually wondering about a Toyota Highlander as a next vehicle to tow with, but mpg is about the same as my Ford Edge.  

What sort of range between gas fillups are you getting?

RMo

Same as you, about 200.  I try to think of it as forced relaxation, but usually I’d rather just drive!

Mouseketab

I got 16-17 towing my T@B with my 21 F-150 3.5 Ecoboost with about a 500 mile range with the 36 gallon tank

RMo

I’m jealous!

Deac

RMo, thanks much, that helps me calibrate!!   My Tab is a bit lighter than your 400 but may not get a lot better performance with the same tow vehicle.  
MUCH THANKS!!

PS.   Google says the Highlander gets about 34 mpg not towing.  Are you over 30?

Deac

Mouseketab , WOW, you get the prize so far.  I'd love the mpg and really love the range.  Fillups cost a house but love the range.  Thanks much.

lkc001

I have a Nissan Frontier SV 4x4 6 cylinder -- I seem to get 14-15 mpg towing & 15 not towing around town.

Deac

Nice, thanks, about how many miles between fillups when towing?

pthomas745

I get 20 with my 2014 VW Touareg.  It is a diesel, however.  Going downhill with the wind it can top out at 22. 

lkc001

@Deac. If you're asking me, I get 300 miles on a tankful--i wish it had a larger tank.

webers3

Couple of times went to 22, flat with wind at my back

rfuss928

My 2014 VW Touareg TDI gets 20 mpg at 55mph towing SUNT@B.  A 5mph change equals 1mpg change.  =>  22mpg @ 45mph - 16mpg @75mph.  Generally I can plan on fuel stops every 400 miles with a comfortable cushion.
I've seen the 22mpg meandering state routes and parkways.  I often see 16mpg average with day long interstate runs @75mph to distant destinations. 
Regular 200 mile "commutes" to our cabin not towing we get 29-30 mpg.

Deac

rfuss928, Wow, nice!   Any trouble finding diesel?

Binghi

We get 11-12 mpg on premium gas with our 2016 VW Touareg and our 2021 400 BD. That’s about 250 miles on a tank of gasoline.

PNWtabber

On my latest trip (Seattle, WA to Gold Beach, OR) my mileage was 16.2mpg (2015.5 Volvo XC60). My 2005 Durango would have gotten that mileage, or worse, without pulling a trailer!

pak

2014 F-150 5.0 pulling 2017 cs-s 14.4mph+- a bit

SLJ

I get ~16-17 mpg towing my 320S with canoes on the roof of my Bronco Sport. Much better than my motorhome which got 7 mpg.

jimrj

We get 16-17 with our Jeep Cherokee V6. 

AnOldUR

jimrj said:

We get 16-17 with our Jeep Cherokee V6. 

Same range with a Wrangler pulling a 320. That gets us about 250 miles.

rcuomo

Best I’ve seen is 21.7 with my Ridgeline 88 miles towing east to Montauk on LIE, Sunrise Highway and Montauk Highway. 80 degrees outside and generally going 60 mph on the LIE and around 30 mph on the Montauk. Return trip averaged 18.6. I usually keep the truck in ECO mode since it’s mostly flat highway. Averaged 16.7 on initial trip from Mifflintown PA to LI on interstate doing 70+, through the Bronx over the bridges in stop and go and LIE to home. I’m pretty pleased with the mileage the Ridgeline is getting. 

warbler_road

Towing a 400 with a V6 Toyota Tacoma on premium gas: 13 mpg in the western Virginia mountains, as high as 15.8 mpg on flatter land in warm weather. Cold weather knocks it all down 1-2 mpg. 

Tabnero

2017 chevy colorado 2.8l diesel 21mpg most of the time. 

CanadianTabber

I am getting 15-16 mpg (US) towing our 2021 Tab320sBd with v6 Toyota Venza...and i tow with 6th gear (OD) locked out.....without towing 20-25mpg.

mona

I tow a 320 with Jeep GC Trailhawk, and get between 15.5 and 17, depending on terrain. I can go 400 between fill ups. 

Jeannie

Dereco

I get 10 to 12 MPG, towing with a 2010 Honda Pilot, 2014 Tab 320S. It was worse, then I slowed down from closer to 70 MPH to 60+ MPH. Also, Newfoundland is very hilly, especially Avalon Peninsula and Gros Morne Nat'l Park area on west coast. Centre of province is better. And I wonder if Pilot is just too old...  

CharlieRN

Our 2008 XC90 with a 4.4 liter V8 and full-time AWD, averages about 17 mpg while towing our 320. With a fuel tank capacity of about 21 gallons, we can theoretically travel nearly 350 miles between stops. In practice, fuel stops are usually around the time the gauge shows 1/4 full, probably at around 225 or so miles. By comparison, the Volvo gets over 24 mpg without the T@B, but with the Thule top box mounted, so towing imposes a roughly 30% mileage penalty.

For internal combustion engine vehicles however, mileage and range represent mostly only interesting questions because gas stations are essentially ubiquitous. I hope to be able to replace my ICE TV with an EV in the near future however, so range becomes much more than a hypothetical issue. I actually have a pre-order in place for a Rivian R1T with the "Max" battery pack and a nominal range with of 415 miles. If the towing penalty is similar to that of my Volvo (30%), that would mean a maximum range of  about 290 miles.

That's deceiving however, because EV's cannot be charged to 100% each time, and should not be fully discharged either. Using 80% - 20% SOC parameters equates to an effective range of about 185 miles while towing. That's not good enough to completely allay range anxiety fears, since there are quite a few "charging deserts" in North American at present. The situation is changing rapidly however, and by 2023 - the time I expect to take delivery of the R1T - there should be about 1,300 Electrify America charging stations, plus something like 600 Rivian Adventure Network charging locations. If Tesla follows through on their pledge to open their charging network to all, that would mean an additional 1,200 stations. That's still a lot fewer than the number of gas stations, but enough to make range anxiety manageable. And if we actually enact an infrastructure bill, the number of charging stations would be much greater.

Apologies to the OP for the slight diversion of topic!

qhumberd

Not even close with my TV and a 2019 400. 12 MPG going at 60-65 MPH. Tundra  gets around 15-16 mpg  not towing, so actually not that much of a drop. We have a 38 gal tank so we get to travel longer between fill ups, but as prices increase we may be having to work to pay for it between stops!

Travelin3D

I tow my 2020 320S BDL with a 2019 Subaru Ascent. I am a long-time Subaru owner and I also wanted a vehicle that would give me decent mileage for the majority of my driving (i.e. not towing). When not towing I can pretty routinely get high 20's or even low 30's under the right conditions.

That said, when towing I usually average between 14 and 17mpg although it's not hard to get around 20 or slightly above, again, under the right conditions. We recently got back from a two-month, 9000 mile road trip and my average mileage came out to 15.2 according to the car's computer. I usually figure on about 200 miles max between fill-ups and 50mph estimate of travel time; this seems to work well for us.

Reading through this thread and the many others on this question (especially on the FB groups), it has always struck me that regardless of whether it's a full-size pickup down to a Subaru Outback, mileage tends to fall in that 13-18 range. Now, a 5mpg difference could be significant if that was a constant you could count on, but the reality is that there are too many variables when towing to make estimated mileage a significant factor in choosing a TV. More important questions, IMO, are things like truck v. SUV, V8 v. V6 v. turbo 4, payload capacity, etc.

In the end, we hopefully make the choice that suits our needs best. Safe travels!

Denny16

AnOldUR said:

jimrj said:

We get 16-17 with our Jeep Cherokee V6. 

Same range with a Wrangler pulling a 320. That gets us about 250 miles.

I am in a similar area, getting 16-18 mpg with our Jeep Gladiator, V6, factory package, pulling a TaB400.  I have noticed, keeping the speed at or below 60mph keeps the mpg closer to 18mpg.  Once your speed increases past 55/60mph, your gas mileage goes down significantly— the faster you pull a trailer, the greater the wind resistance, and your mpg goes down.
dheers