MPG When Towing

Car computers are notoriously inaccurate but if your happy then why should we criticise....;-0

I also get about a 30% increase in consumption towing 1346kg with my Tig  All depends on road conditions, weather, wind,  driving style etc. Mega years ago I towed a Piper with a 1600cc petrol Cortina got about 20mpg  - you could see the petrol gauge going down when crossing the Alps!

I've had much less than that  Towing to Devon/Cornwall with  3.0 petrol Omega in horrible weather conditions saw 16.6mpg 

Just got back from Brixham got 65 mph to the gallon towing a 1700kg caravan solo 96mph Toyota Land Cruiser 190 bhp. mmmmmmm. Best 4 x 4 for towing.

Actually got 24.6 to the gallon. 175 mile trip.

Briang, spot on with what I always got from my Land cruisers too.  They did about 32 solo and 24ish towing 1650Kgs.

I also agree that they were fine tow vehicles (I had three one after the other). But I found the V6 3 Litre Merc ML300CDI even better. 34-5 solo and the same 24 mpg towing, but more power in hand.  Where the Merc excelled though was Rock Steady stability even better than the LC. Tyre wear very good too 35,000 per set of tyres. back & front wearing at exactly the same rate. - The only drawback being the need to buy 4 tyres at a time!

Finally the Merc has a Timing chain not a belt so no worries about timing belts.  Come to think of it so did the Landcruisers!

TF

I have no idea what MPG I get towing or solo  other than I don't consider it excessive  

Caravaning is  our escape form the other things that life has thrown at us, so if the car needs Diesel I fill it up 

Just my outlook on things, I can't remember who said it but there are no pockets in a shroud and I don't want to be the richest man in the cemetery.

My golf 2.0 tdi gives up to 65mpg at 70mph solo. Towing 1250kgs it drops to 33mpg. I think its brill!

Olivgrower, that's really good. But  you are towing a very light van !

In contrast I am towing a 1650 KG van, very often over very difficult terrain  en route to the South of France.  So I consider my 24MPG is at least as good as yours, given the very different load factors and usage.

My point is that all of us need to be aware of matching car and caravan under all conditions, and not quoting MPG figures that only apply to their own rig.

Your own van is some 400 KGs lighter than mine, and I expect mine to cope with some quite severe terrain, so are we comparing apples with apples?

Please understand I am not trying to denigrate your point, merely saying that MPG will vary dramatically, dependant on use!

TF

I have checked the mileage against the consumption on my car and the figures appear accurate allowing for the fact that you can never fill to exactly the same level. With the last car the computer gradually got more optimistic as the tyres wore down but replacing them corrected the error. The wear on the tyres canbe a factor and the only accurate way is probably to do the arithmatic after several tank fulls.

Towing figures are more difficult and because they are shorter are less easy to get right and are affected by traffic and weather conditions. As an example we did once tow down to Chester Fairoaks into a strong headwind and the car recorded 25 mph. We came back with a similar tail wind and got 36 mph shown.