Expo Vehicle MPG

[ReluctantTraveler]

I bought a Rav4 Prime back when Toyota was offering the $6500 credit. 50 mpg average combined. It's awesome. Just turned 20000 miles in a year. Putting $15 of fuel in it feels like I am back in college. I haven't used it for camping yet but you could, plenty of people have done it.


I still have my Transit AWD High Roof but I only use it for long travel. I am lucky to get 13mpg in it.

Surprised to hear how poor the mpg is in the transit!

 

[Alloy]

Just to recap, the options and tradeoffs are...

• A RTT or ground tent provide the best fuel economy, but least comfortable/amenity-rich.
• A pop-top truck camper keeps the fuel economy good, but is often lacking in space.
• Campervans seem to get shockingly good MPG, but are narrower and better suited for 2 people than a family.
• A hard-side truck camper or expedition vehicle has comfort and space in spades, but guzzles gas.
• A travel trailer can get better MPG with the right setup, but now you're stuck towing a big thing.

From what I can gather, bigger rigs are in the 10-12 mpg range, vans gets closer to 15-20 mpg, and RTT/ground tent options get as good mpg as the vehicle you use them with.

And as always, slower is better.

Is that about right?

My trip to the Yukon with a 2022 F450PU carrying a NL 10-2 camper at 60-70mph was 13mpg.

On the way back I met someone with a 2022 F550 running MPT tires carrying a Host Camper (19,000lbs) getting 9mpg.

What's suprising is a 2022 F450 has 145 more horsepower than a 2022 F550.

 

[ReluctantTraveler]

My trip to the Yukon with a 2022 F450PU carrying a NL 10-2 camper at 60-70mph was 13mpg.

On the way back I met someone with a 2022 F550 running MPT tires carrying a Host Camper (19,000lbs) getting 9mpg.

What's suprising is a 2022 F450 has 145 more horsepower than a 2022 F550.

Weight related you think?

 

[Alloy]

Weight related you think?

My guess would be in this order Tires / Wheels / Gear Ratio / Frontal Area / Weight.

 

[rruff]

My guess would be in this order Tires / Wheels / Gear Ratio / Frontal Area / Weight.

I'd guess Frontal area/ Speed/ Tires/ Weight. The first two and last two, basically go together.

 

[ReluctantTraveler]

Yea, there's a whole mix of physics at play here, huh?

I suspect stock tires/wheels, keeping speed down, a box with some curves or angles to it, and maybe one of those aftermarket tuning things adjusted for fuel economy could all make a slight difference.

I'm also surprised to hear how bad the MPG apparently is on campervans, given how often the videos I see on YouTube talk about them getting 19-23 mpg. Sounds like that's "best case scenario" and not real world driving!

 

[rruff]

Yea, there's a whole mix of physics at play here, huh?

Weight mostly comes into play by increasing rolling resistance, which is a also a property of the tires. I wouldn't say stock tires are necessarily the best, but the military tires will be poor. And contrary to popular belief, larger diameter and wider tires tend to have less rolling resistance, not more.

Aero drag is a big one, and power to overcome it increases with the cube of speed, which is why slowing down helps a lot. Going slower on climbs can make a significant difference as well.

I wouldn't do aftermarket tuning on a NA vehicle since they are already as lean and efficient as they can be... unless you wanted to use premium gas all the time, and then you could tune it for that. Deleting emissions and tuning a diesel would probably help a decent amount.

The 3L GM diesel is the one you want...

 

[ReluctantTraveler]

I wouldn't do aftermarket tuning on a NA vehicle since they are already as lean and efficient as they can be...

Not sure why, but I'm surprised to hear that. I'd have assumed an F550 gasser would be tuned for power more than fuel economy.

Can absolutely confirm on going slower up hills, though!

On our last trip with the travel trailer, I started doing the big rig thing and bleeding speed on climbs to keep the RPMs below 3k. Made a huge difference in MPG!

 

[rruff]

Not sure why, but I'm surprised to hear that. I'd have assumed an F550 gasser would be tuned for power more than fuel economy

There isn't really any difference... and I don't know why you'd assume that work truck owners don't care.

I also don't know why you'd be looking at a 7.3L 19,500 GVWR vehicle if minimum fuel consumption is your goal.

Besides the 3L GM engine I mentioned earlier, the recent Sprinter vans have a 2L turbo diesel which should surely get good mpg. 19mpg average according to Fuelly, and they can be had with AWD.

 

[ReluctantTraveler]

There isn't really any difference... and I don't know why you'd assume that work truck owners don't care.

I also don't know why you'd be looking at a 7.3L 19,500 GVWR vehicle if minimum fuel consumption is your goal.

Besides the 3L GM engine I mentioned earlier, the recent Sprinter vans have a 2L turbo diesel which should surely get good mpg. 19mpg average according to Fuelly, and they can be had with AWD.

It would seem you missed all of the nuance and context around balancing a variety of wants. 😀