Trailer Towing

[Ron O]

A friend of mine has a Ford Hybred and towed a small trailer with 800# aprox 600 miles . He found that his milleage droped to 13mpg @ 70MPH. After unloading the 800 lbs the result on return trip was about the same.

He normally gets about 24 -25 MPG on the SUV.

Anone here have an experiance hauling trailers ? Was your mileage that deteriated ?

[Gryphon]

I haven't towed with my RX400h but with other vehicles I have observed much lower mileage with a trailer in tow. I think it's not weight but wind resistance.

Tom

[thesaintjim]

When I towed my jet ski (700 lbs) using my 400h, my MPG dropped by 2mpg. Not too bad :)

[rvtravel]

I have a car hauler that weighs 1300 pounds with a protective shield on the front. I towed it 550 miles and my mileage dropped 9 miles per gallon at speeds of 60-65 mph. Wind resistance seems to be the culprit.

[Gryphon]

I have towed an enclosed 8 x 8 x 16 box trailer and a 8 x 16 flatbed trailer, both with similar gross weights,behind a GMC Yukon (specifically, loaded with motorcycles). My fuel mileage was much worse with the box trailer pushing air with 64 sq-ft of vertical frontal area.

Tom