Took my OT+ camping, pulling my 30’ Ultra Lite. Dry wt about 6800. Towed mostly fine. No lack of power but got swung around a bit with a good side wind. I have stabilizer bars, etc. main complaint? Averaged about 6.6 mpg. Couple that with the small fuel tank and you’re stopping about every 100-125 miles to stay on the safe side. Pretty disappointed. Guess I’ll go back to my dodge diesel for towing it. Also cruise won’t function while towing. Unless I’m missing something. View attachment 12585
Dismal mpg
- Thread starter stevejvh
- Start date
I thought that you were going to complain about the 16 MPG average like other MPG threads. Thanks for posting about your towing MPG. I figured that it would drop since gasoline engines are not efficient at towing. I wasn't expect more than 50% decline. That will add a lot to the cost of a cross country trip.
I did about 11.5 towing a ski boat. 30' trailer's a bit big for this rig.
I saw someone said on YT. When towing, the adaptive cruise control will not function, but regular cruise control (just speed governing) still functions.
- Thread starter
- #5
Well I couldn’t get either to work. I’d better go back to YT university haha
- Thread starter
- #6
Interesting. I towed a very small U-Haul trailer and didn’t get anywhere near that. What speed? Yeah I knew I was pushing the envelope at 30’. Plenty of power though. But any significant wind and it’s squirrelly.
- Thread starter
- #7
I think a cross country trip with set up is pretty much impractical. It will probably become our grocery-getter with the knowledge I could take the back roads to the store. But never will. Haha
We've actually been pretty happy with our towing experience and milage. Towing our Sea Ray which is close to 4000# including the trailer we have been getting 13+ mpg, but keep the speed at less than 70, mainly on state highways. Our Honda Pilot really struggled towing this, and got about 10mpg.. Towing smaller trailers, and a empty pontoon trailer barely affected our mileage, but we also kept the speeds low. We drove 280 miles last night to our cabin, and got 21mpg without any trailer. So far our biggest complaint is the lack of general storage space compared to the Pilot.
Attachments
- Thread starter
- #9
That’s really good mileage. Well my trailer is probably north of 8000lbs. And I had a 4000ft elevation gain. I’m sure that all contributed. I kept the speed under 70 as well.
Just returned from 900 mile trip to CO pulling 3800lb travel trailer. Traveled along flats of northern New Mexico and CO front range. Biggest grades about 4% but some serious head and crosswinds in spots. MPG hovered around 10.5 which beats the hell out of my 4Runner's 6.5 mpg on same route. So I should be happy, right? Kept speed around 65mph but loved the power to pull any grade or accelerate when necessary. No more getting run over by semis. Still have to watch gas gauge same as I did with the 4Runner which kind of sucks.
- Thread starter
- #12
Honestly, that’s not bad. So my trailer is over double that weight. Guess I shouldn’t complain.
. And I wouldn’t if it had a 30 gallon tank (ok I might still complain). But other than short trips, I think I’m back to the dodge ram diesel for towing. It’s just not as cool and comfortable as the GX. Did you have stabilizer bars? I did but still got pushed around quite a bit. Uncomfortably so at times. I’ve resigned myself to the reality I’m pushing the envelope on weight with the GX. Plenty of power, though. That wasn’t an issue.
Do have a friction sway bar on one side of tongue. It really helps. No WDH. Except for power, trailer does NOT tow as smoothly as it did with my 4Runner. Even with same basic setup. Fast moving cattle trucks, when they pass, are the worst. They must push air a different way vs regular semis.
GX550 Forum Photos
GX550 Forum Photos
Similar threads
