bigguy58

I bought a 2014 ecoboost 3.5 eng. I have no complaints about city mpg, but I just bought a travel trailer. The trailer is 25 ft long, 4800 lbs. From Tulsa to long beach, ca I only got 8 mpg avg. I was extremely disappointed. I towed in the tow haul mode, @ 70 miles per hour, Is there something I'm doing wrong?

wdbates

Nope...thats about the rite MPGs towing at 70

Wannafbody

Drop down to 65 and you might gain 1 mpg

sloans4x4

I pulled 10,000 lbs load of hay from Kansas to Texas and got 7mpg. But I set the cruise at 80 on the turnpike and it just rolled with it!!!

brulaz

It's ECO or BOOST, not both at the same time. When tow/hauling you are in boost most of the time and your mileage is no better than a V8 with the same HP.

But as has been said, in your case, speed is killing your mileage.

I drive go ~62mph with the 7500# trailer and so far get 10mpgUS on regular, 10.7mpgUS on premium.

You may also have been driving against headwinds.

raisin

'14 5.0 3.73 towing 6K trailer 3K miles at ~64mph. 12.5 with slight tailwind and 11mpg with 30mph headwind.

Tystevens

Curious what the OP was expecting to get?

Travel trailers are giant sails back there. I get around 10 mpg w/ mine, and I keep it around 60 mph.

venatic

I was getting 9.5 mpg with travel trailer in tow and keeping it around 65 mph.

brulaz

Many people assume that the better mpg they get when unloaded will translate into better mpg when towing or heavily loaded.

But that doesn't seem to happen.

Smaller, less powerful V8s like Ford's 5L or Chevy's new 5.3L, may actually get a bit better mileage towing, but they'll be downshifting more and up in the rpms when they do it. And the unloaded mileage is a bit worse according to the EPA.

The bigger V8s with similar torque and HP to the 3.5L EcoB will probably get similar mileage towing heavy, but much worse mileage when unloaded, although cylinder cut-off used by RAM & Chevy V8s should help some.

One way to get substantially better mileage than the EcoB when loaded up is to go to a diesel with similar power. The O.P's 4800# trailer could probably be towed by RAM's EcoD and get much better mileage. Unfortunately that's not enough truck for my trailer/needs (low payloads, and the 3L V6 EcoD only puts out 240HP, but at low rpms).

And for a lotta people diesel is just too expensive initially and ongoing to be an option.

Ford's new light-weight 2015 trucks will help a bit, especially around town. But I expect loaded hwy mileage will be only slightly affected. As you say, it's all about wind resistance back there, not so much weight.

Myersd1

Pulling my 29' enclosed sled trailer I get around 10. My Duramax would get 11-12 pulling the same trailer. Worth the trade off so far.