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What kind of MPG can I expect?


gringostar

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Yeah Maineah hunkaman and me are taking our rigs to the Total Eclipse in Illinois. Joe mapped out a route using US 50 almost the entire way. Back roads here we come!

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Theres someone on the Facebook group,and it seems like he's posted here with his logbooks,that he's averages on some of his trips 30mpg{4 cyl,not a chinook}and is pretty much always over 20 mpg,posted pics of his logs,Find it very very hard to believe but he did not appreciate me questioning those numbers

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45 minutes ago, redskinman said:

Theres someone on the Facebook group,and it seems like he's posted here with his logbooks,that he's averages on some of his trips 30mpg{4 cyl,not a chinook}and is pretty much always over 20 mpg,posted pics of his logs,Find it very very hard to believe but he did not appreciate me questioning those numbers

Well quit picking on him. He's obviously mathematically challenged. I have 2 RV's that use no gas at all. Of course they are parked.

Linda S

The bare trucks didn't get 30 mpg

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I had a 97 Tacoma 4 cylinder the very best I ever did 23 MG granted it was a 2.7 and 4WD but it sat up high with more wind resistance kind of like a Toy home. My 2011 4 liter Tacoma can get as much as 20 MPG hook the camper up I'm doing well to get 13 1/2 The only real way to get accurate results is to fill the tank to the same point every time, after the pump clicks off on my 2011 I still can put another 2 gallons in the tank that's a 10% increase mileage if you don't full it.

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The 30MPG poster is really indeed getting 30MPG, he travels 30 miles while drinking a gallon of Bacardi then posts; the MPG is a measurement of alcohol consumption. this is easy to do because he is in effect really getting 40 MPG of gas mileage with his toyota rig in tow behind a prius.

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16 hours ago, linda s said:

Well quit picking on him. He's obviously mathematically challenged. I have 2 RV's that use no gas at all. Of course they are parked.

Linda S

The bare trucks didn't get 30 mpg

lol,I wasnt picking on him,I even made a joke he was using canadian math and it didnt go over well:rolleyes:. I was going to bring up the fact the pickups didnt get that good but I decided to just leave it alone

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  • 1 year later...

Greetings. This is my first post here. I am about to buy an '85 Dolphin from a neighbor. 2RE Engine with 5 Speed Manual transmission. Seller claims 17 MPG. I know back in those days a manual gave a few more MPG than the automatics. Any thoughts on this?

Last year I purchased an ancient 1700 pound 14 ft Shasta Lo Flyte trailer.  It is not nicely streamlined. Using an OBDI scanner and phone app, I got instantaneous gas mileage readout. Below 45 MPH, It seemed like the trailer was not even there. Once I got past 45 MPH, mileage dropped down to 12 and 14 MPG. Am not sure if putting that kind of load is good for the engine especially for long trips. It normally averages 22 to 24 MPG unloaded. I thought it would be OK for back road travel at 45 MPH because I am retired.  It seems like aerodynamics creates a limit to getting anything better than mid teens for highway speeds.

I am not sure how practical 45 MPH cross country travel is but how is mileage on the Dolphin on slower speeds?

Shasta Outback 17 10 26.jpg

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It's pretty much a given speed is the greatest factor if you can drive around the byways at 40MPH not so bad it is the wind resistance that gets you. My 87 Nova Star at highway speeds 13-14 my Tacoma towing the 18' camper 14 on a good day 20 with out. It does not seem to matter granted bigger stuff pulls bigger campers but 10-14 seems to be the max no matter what you stick up in the air. Shoot big class A's do well to get 6-8 MPG that's nothing more than a turbo brick.

Edited by Maineah
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our dolphin was doing about 12 with an auto trans 22re  pulled into a koa guy next door had a 40 foot something or other kind of moter home said I haven't taken this out in 2 years gets 4 miles to a gallon. I try too go about 55 to 60 on the freeway on the flat lol. I kept my mouth shut and rejoiced about  12 to 13 miles too a gallon .

Edited by 5Toyota
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2 minutes ago, 5Toyota said:

our dolphin was doing about 12 with an auto trans 22re  pulled into a koa guy next door had a 40 foot something or other kind of moter home said I haven't taken this out in 2 years gets 4 miles to a gallon. I try too go about 55 to 60 on the freeway on the flat lol. I kept my mouth shut and rejoiced about  12 to 13 miles too a gallon .

maineah said class a is like a turbo brick yea or a jiant loaf of bread  all wind resistance.

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  • 3 months later...

I'm new to the forum... been read posts for a while.  I bought a 1992 warrior, built on 1991 cab, from Kentucky and drove it to California.  Family of 5, water tank 1/2-3/4. Average speed was 65 mph with mixed weather and grade. I was averaging 13mpg.

A couple days ago I purchased a 1990 sunrader, built on 1989 cab, drove it from Sacramento to Los Angeles and averaged 70mph. Just myself and my 9yr old son with water tank less that 1/2 full. Mixed weather and grade. I was averaging 18+ mpg. Using GPS for speed and distance.

Both v6. Not sure why the big difference. 

 

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Well either your GPS is faulty, you had one hell of a tail wind or driving south is really driving downhill. I'm pretty sure no one else here has ever gotten 18 mpg with the V6 especially at those speeds. The 13 you got in your Winnebago is the norm. 

Linda S

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8 hours ago, linda s said:

Well either your GPS is faulty, you had one hell of a tail wind or driving south is really driving downhill. I'm pretty sure no one else here has ever gotten 18 mpg with the V6 especially at those speeds. The 13 you got in your Winnebago is the norm. 

Linda S

Yeah 13-14 is a lot more like it. Even the bigger stuff is 10-13 I'm real excited when I get 13-14 towing a 3,000# camper about the weight of a Toy Home house much less the truck. My 2011 Tacoma in the summer does 18  empty. From 50 to 65 I take a 2 MPG hit towing.

 

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I do not keep tract of mpg,  I don't care and do not want to know.  I did notice I was filling up often and checked mpg at 10 avg!   Did some repairs and mpg seems to be around 13.  That is pedal to the metal in the flatlands of Florida. 

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13 hours ago, linda s said:

Well either your GPS is faulty, you had one hell of a tail wind or driving south is really driving downhill. I'm pretty sure no one else here has ever gotten 18 mpg with the V6 especially at those speeds. The 13 you got in your Winnebago is the norm. 

Linda S

I am new to all this.  I bought the Warrior in December because it was a great deal and my kids were on winter break from school for us to make a road trip out of it.  This was my first motorhome and I had never been in one before.  All the worse case scenarios that could possible happened occurred on that eight state road trip home... sick wife, bad weather, alternator gave out in the middle of nowhere Arkansas, did not know how to use the furnace till late into the trip, kids with cabin fever, etc...  I still want to pursue RVing as the kids are growing fast.  Once back home, the Sunrader popped up for a good deal last week and I purchased it because it was the model I have been searching for.  I will sell the Warrior.

As for the mileage, I will keep tabs on the next few trips as I am very curious as to the accuracy of the GPS and the motor performance as a whole.  I just got it registered this afternoon.  I found out why it was a good deal; payed almost $1000 in back registration.  The guy sold with it current tabs on the plate and I did not bother to verify if it was real.  I will report more accurate average mileage later.

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  • 2 months later...

Update: returned from Grand Canyon trip on Sunday and kept track of mileage.  1990 sunrader 21 feet. About 1000 miles round trip

2 adults = 300 pounds

3 kids = 150 pounds 

Fully loaded with food and supplies with 1/2 water tank = 250 to 300 pounds (not including fuel)

Trip up was at 65-70 mph. Cruise control. AC on. Average 12.5 mpg

Trip back was at 55-60mph. No cruise. Minimal AC during down hill only. Average  14 mph

NOTE: trip from Williams camp site to canyon and back was approx 120 miles at 40-45 mph. Average 17.6 mpg

Cluster swapes with 4runner and samssung s10e cell phone GPS used to verify speed and mileage.

Obviously speed has a lot to do with it but the fuel economy is still higher on average than what has historically been reported.

 

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Yes speed has a huge amount to do with it! When you are driving/towing a brick it does not matter what you are driving/towing the faster you go the worse it gets nothing gets good mileage at speed. I can go from 10 to 14 by dropping 5-8 MPH towing a camper.

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Your MPG and speed numbers are spot on.

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You can still maintain good speed and get better mileage, drink a red bull and carefully draft a fast moving semi. I use em all the time. Make sure you have excellent brakes and follow all laws. High winds are a bigger killer of MPG than speed even, drafting in storms is a must.

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Shoot when I was behind a semi with mine it shook me to death from the turbulence until it out ran me!

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It was sad. Trying to test out the best speed and economy,  I constantly got passed up by rigs. Looks like the sweet spot is 55.

On 5/5/2019 at 7:14 PM, jjrbus said:

Really sad getting outrun by big rigs!

 

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  • 4 years later...

Mileage depends on many variables. The 20R is a bullet proof engine. If we’ll maintained is good for 250K + .

Not knowing the actual mileage or maintenance done, you should be good for around 13mpg.

 

Big concern should be the rear axle. If only 5 lug nuts are holding the rear  wheels on the axle is unsafe and will need to be upgraded. 6 lug is what you want to see.

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