Not buying that one either. My first gen V8 Tundra has a camper shell so aerodynamically it resembles an SUV. Pulling my 20 foot car hauler I am lucky to break 10 mpg. If I tow at 70 that drops to 7-8 mpg. My mileage calculations were recently repeated on a 10 hour round trip to NOLA.

I would rather have a Diesel but the ROI period just does not work even with much better mileage. That aside the Tundra does the job and is paid for. I offset the fuel cost by sleeping in the trailer.

 

in 06, dodge included the durango hemi in their new lineup of vehicles which had a feature called their "multi-displacement system." it alternates between four-cylinder mode when less power is needed and V8 mode when more power is in demand. they also redesigned the "tow/haul" feature to make the tranny stay in the lower gear longer.

from my house in tucson, AZ to chandler, AZ/the place i stay at when i go to track days is 124 miles. i use ~ 1/4 tank, depending if i feel like using A/C or heat to get there. 27 gallon tank.

27/4=6.75

124/6.75=18.3 average.

its slightly uphill/downhill depending if im coming to or from.

 

Hmmm... OK I can see a mileage improvement with the four cylinder mode. But that is pretty dramatic so I am still skeptical. Two things come to mind. One, it seems like it would be tough to keep it in 4-cyl mode most of the time unless the terrain is fairly flat, but then again Tuscon to Chandler IIRC is pretty flat. Two, not sure I agree with your gas consumption measurement. In a lot of vehicles, the gas gauge is not linear. It certainly is not in mine. A better way is to measure the mileage between tank fills, and divide by how much fuel is dispensed by the pump.

Only way I can get that kind of mileage at interstate speeds is to drop the trailer completely and tow nothing. Drafting tractor trailers helps a bit but not that much.

 

I don't think you're getting an accurate consumption number from the "1/4" reading on your gauge. Are you drafting trucks at 50mph or something?

 

I freekin hate pickup trucks for loading and unloading and I’ve been shopping for Vans maybe diesel sort of like the sprinter and started making a spreadsheet comparing plus and minuses of years and models for comparison. Then I looked up ford vans to see what was available and stumbled across the 2014 ford transit full size van. I’m kind of intrigued. With The 3.5L V6 Ecoboost out of the F150 powering the thing it should have decent towing ability with 420 ft-lbs 365 hp and still get decent fuel economy burning cheaper gas as appose to expensive diesel. The mid height roof is tall enough to stand up in and the unibody construction makes the floor low for easy access. I can really see lots of utility with this sort of vehicle. Maybe this will be my vehicle purchase next year.
2014 Transit Combinator | Configure Your Very Own Transit | Ford.com

 

A Van is useful in more ways than you might think



You don't need to add much to the Van to be able to live in it at the track either.

 

My '98 Durango 4x4 I used to have weighed 5000lbs empty and got 13mpg with no load and no trailer. I have a '01 Tundra 4.7 now and it does better but I haven't ever checked towing mileage. I really don't care what it is because I'm going to the track come hell or high water anyway.

 

My tow rig consists of a 20' X 7.5' tri axle trailer used to haul our loader and other heavish equipment. Looks silly with the miata on it.

 

BTW, the guy from Hertz Eq. said they are dumping some 580XT's from inventory.

 

Exactly. I'd love to rock a 1950s Chevrolet pickup for a tow rig.

And then there is the opposite end of the spectrum from the hotrod pickup. Zero "cool points" but probably ridiculously practical for your purposes.

 

Transit + twin turbo V6 = win.

Youtube embedding fail, I wanted to start at 5:24 but it won't let me.

 

I have a '97 F150 w/ the 5.4L and towing an open 15' trailer I tend to get anywhere from 10-14 MPG towing depending on on the number and magnitude of the hills. Without a trailer I get 14-15 around town and 17 on pure interstate. Hopefully in a few years I can upgrade to a newer model, possibly with the EcoBoost V6.

 

I like the idea of getting one of those Ford Transit vans for a hauler, thanks Bob. I had a cargo van as a race hauler when I was racing beach cats back in the day and it worked well.

Hopefully this does not derail the thread but I have been considering/researching aero add ons to improve mileage when towing the trailer. There is some research out there mostly on semis on reducing drag. Anyone seen anything interesting that might be useful?

 

Coolness! 1970's Boeing Surplus Cadillac Eldorado converted into a flatbed hauler. And it is even hauling a twin turbo V6 in the picture.

 

The problem is to put the air back where it were in a nice manner. Semis often have the problem that they "need" to use all allowed length for cargo, so there is little room for a long tail.
Adding a teardrop at the end of an enclosed trailer would help i guess (addon folding upwards?), and towing the trailer with a van of the same height as the trailer would be better than a pickup.

If an "aerotail" could be made of self-inflating fabric it would be easier to manage.

Edit: "Trailertail" looks like something a racer cobbled together

 

If you guys feeling the Old School vibe you'll probably like this: Big Alice, our former "shop truck"... It's a 1990's Nissan UD rollback with a 1940's Diamond T COE cab grafted on. Nightmarishly slow, and perhaps the most cramped cab I've ever been in, but it definitely had a certain appeal... It went away when the '66 ramp truck came on scene. (Most of what we tow runs; I can winch the occasional exception.. It's a good trade-off for the ability to do highway speeds gracefully.)

 

It is amazing how cramped some of those old truck cabs are. I don't think half the Modern truck drivers would be capable of operating them from an ergonomic standpoint.

 

Im waiting to see some hard numbers on pricing for the transit but my guess is the Ford will be thosands cheaper than a Sprinter. Seems like it should cost less than a similarly equipped 4 door F150 considering it is just a big box with two seats.

Bob

 

IIRC RLogan and I were sitting around discussing ideas in a beer enhanced engineering session and 're-invented' the inflatable dovetail thing. I googled it later and found some had done it already.

I have thought about building something like the trailer tail. That would probably be the easiest one to redneck.

 

Yes I would think it would be inexpensive as well considering how basic it is. Plus most companies who want to use it as a work van are not going to want to overpay and lose money on it.