It is obvious that towing a caravan can affect your miles per gallon by quite a bit, but I'm just wondering to what extent it is affected. Does the type of going vehicle you have also have a role to play in this, or is it simply down to the weight of your caravan?
How much does towing a caravan effect your MPG?
- Thread starter smd
- Start date
Done this last year on a 80 mile trip. With caravan 33 mpg , solo 60+ mpg . Both at 60 mph. Motorway most of way.. I do keep log on all our vehicles and over 70k caravanning and solo it worked out at 42 mpg
Do you have any tips on what to look for in a towing vehicle that might help with the mpg?
It is a variable, wind, weight of caravan, the area which your driving, if your on a flat motorway, or on a hilly section for 150 miles.
The more powerfull the car probably the less difference between solo and towing mpg.
The more powerfull the car probably the less difference between solo and towing mpg.
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Yes, buy a diesel. Seriously though there will be differences between makes. My XC70 D5 auto only managed 40 mpg going to Krakow solo whereas a Superb 4wd estate auto would do 50-55 mpg solo. This difference was reflected in their towing figures. Most peoples towing mileage is far less than solo particularly if they use the car every day. So considerations need to be given to car mpg, weight of car, body shape of car (estate, SUV,) and intended caravan weight
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Hi SMD and welcome to the forums.
Unfortunately, towing has a massive detrimental effect on MPG, there is no escaping this simple fact.
A caravan isn't the most aerodynamic of beasts and even the lightest caravan will reduce MPG due to wind resistance. The heavier the caravan the harder the towing vehicle has to work to maintain a reasonable road speed during the journey.
There are also variables to take into consideration such as:
Unfortunately, towing has a massive detrimental effect on MPG, there is no escaping this simple fact.
A caravan isn't the most aerodynamic of beasts and even the lightest caravan will reduce MPG due to wind resistance. The heavier the caravan the harder the towing vehicle has to work to maintain a reasonable road speed during the journey.
There are also variables to take into consideration such as:
- the time of year, petrol and diesel vehicles are more economical in warm weather.
- the weather, high winds can be good or bad depending if you are driving into the wind or it's pushing you along. Heavy rain, fog and snow will all affect your driving style and therefore mpg
- the terain, hills are a killer because you have to put your foot down more to sustain speed
- stop start traffic where you are using the lower gears. Motorways and dual carriageways are by far the best bet for higher mpg because speed can be maintained over greater distances, in theory.
- the performance of your vehicle, a more powerful vehicle is going to be more economical than one where lower gears have to be used to maintain progress
- type of fuel, quite subjective but before Mr Putin went berserk I was using Shell V-Power diesel and I found I was getting much better MPG that it justified the extra cost at the pump. However, I think I might be returning to supermarket jungle juice now though, thank you Vladimir...not!!
- the speed you choose to travel at. When I first started caravanning, I wanted to hit the speed limit every time. I didn't want to be the shed dragger holding everyone up but it comes at a cost. I've realised something as I enter my 63rd year, "the older I get, the faster I was". I'm now happy to follow the heavies who are on their limiter at 56mph on the motorway. Remarkably, this simple trick has increased my MPG on the motorway from around 24mpg @ 60mph to around 30mpg @ 56mph. On one occasion through a quiet section of roadworks on the M1 with a limit of 40mph my MPG climbed to 38. So, the need for speed while towing is going to cost you dearly.
Over nearly 40 years of caravanning, my outfits have been very consistent - the towing mpg is 2/3 my solo mpg - that's across small and large cars, SUVs, 2wd and 4wd, petrols and diesels, manuals and automatics.
A gentle right foot.
My tow car for the past 15 years has been a 2 ltr diesel estate car. On a motorway run it can give 60mpg with a daily average of around 50mpg. With the caravan, it varies between 28mpg and 32mpg, depending on speed and how the van is loaded. UK touring is quite light whilst going abroad there's rather more gear.
The best towing fuel consumption I've ever had was when I had to do 120 motorway miles in Spain, but limited to 45mph in fifth gear because of snow-covered roads. My average was around 36mpg.
The real problem with these type of posts is the numerous variables. A baby SA can be half the weight of my TA!
A gentle right foot.
My tow car for the past 15 years has been a 2 ltr diesel estate car. On a motorway run it can give 60mpg with a daily average of around 50mpg. With the caravan, it varies between 28mpg and 32mpg, depending on speed and how the van is loaded. UK touring is quite light whilst going abroad there's rather more gear.
The best towing fuel consumption I've ever had was when I had to do 120 motorway miles in Spain, but limited to 45mph in fifth gear because of snow-covered roads. My average was around 36mpg.
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+1.
Have you got a Passat Estate as well?
In the Jeep we get 32mpg solo, but towing we get average 22mpg. However it is a 3.0l diesel towing a 2000kg caravan plus jeep is loaded with gear.
Regardless of whether I've towed with a petrol or a diesel, as a rule of thumb it's always used about 50% more fuel. A hybrid was the exception, depending upon the conditions, it used up to twice the amount. This was because solo it relied more on electric power and less on the ICE, but towing it was mostly on full power from both sources.
A lovely car, much under rated. We considered one but in the end went for a Volvo that had a higher rating for towing with an auto box. But it was a close call.
I have VW Tiguan TDI 4motion Dsg towing 1366kg 40 around town and so far on motorway 46mpg Towing 29-31mpg
So far the car done less than 14,000 miles might do more later
Hello SMD,
There are many aspects of how much a vehicles economy is affected by towing. Paulus's comment #7 was fairly comprehensive, but there are some basic aspects which apply whether solo or towing.
Air drag is has the greatest effect on constant speed economy. If you double your speed, you need 4 times the power to maintain it, or the square of the speed difference. Generally at speeds above about 20mph air drag is the predominant energy sink. Also its worth speculating that if there were no reduced speed limits for towing, that its highly likely most tow cars would see constant speed economies of 50% or less when towing compared to solo.
As cars have modernised over the decades, modern manufacturing processes have allowed car makers to improve how slippy they are and now its quite to see Coefficient of Drag (CD's) values of between 0.25 and 0.4 or better.
Low CD's allows the vehicle to slip through the air more easily, thus the same speed can be achieved with a less powerful engine resulting in better mpg. But it also means that when you strap on a caravan (akin to an aerodynamic brick) to the drag factor becomes even more significant part of the combination.
Weight is also a factor but its effects are more noticeable when accelerating. This often exacerbated becasue caravanners are used to the cars solo performance when accelerating and they try to repeat it when towing.
You can affect your towing economy quite noticeably by limiting your top speed, and by keeping your caravan as light as possible and accelerating more gently.
There are many aspects of how much a vehicles economy is affected by towing. Paulus's comment #7 was fairly comprehensive, but there are some basic aspects which apply whether solo or towing.
Air drag is has the greatest effect on constant speed economy. If you double your speed, you need 4 times the power to maintain it, or the square of the speed difference. Generally at speeds above about 20mph air drag is the predominant energy sink. Also its worth speculating that if there were no reduced speed limits for towing, that its highly likely most tow cars would see constant speed economies of 50% or less when towing compared to solo.
As cars have modernised over the decades, modern manufacturing processes have allowed car makers to improve how slippy they are and now its quite to see Coefficient of Drag (CD's) values of between 0.25 and 0.4 or better.
Low CD's allows the vehicle to slip through the air more easily, thus the same speed can be achieved with a less powerful engine resulting in better mpg. But it also means that when you strap on a caravan (akin to an aerodynamic brick) to the drag factor becomes even more significant part of the combination.
Weight is also a factor but its effects are more noticeable when accelerating. This often exacerbated becasue caravanners are used to the cars solo performance when accelerating and they try to repeat it when towing.
You can affect your towing economy quite noticeably by limiting your top speed, and by keeping your caravan as light as possible and accelerating more gently.
Today drove down the M5 at a steady 60mph doing 100 miles solo. Consumption 32.6mpg. Coming back same route towing caravan 19.8mpg at 57mph as it is all uphill from Weston Super Mare. I know for a fact that towing down the M5 to Somerset we get at least 22mpg.
Also need to take into consideration the type of gearbox fitted into the car i.e. CVT, torque convertor etc.
One thing I noticed yesterday when towing the caravan back from Somerset and travelling at a lower speed is that the car seemed to change gear more often from a high to a lower gear which then amounts to higher revs and more fuel used.
I am not sure however if this balances out i.e. towing at a higher speed less gear changes, but using more fuel or travelling at a lower speed, more gear changes and using more fuel on gear changes?
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