Newbie - How does towing affect mpg?

[mwilde]

Hi everyone - I am a total newbie to caravans, we are about to purchase our first second hand van.
The issue is I have a petrol car (I have been told diesel is better for towing) which I cannot change at the moment as it was brand new just over 12 months ago.

The car is a Nissan Qashqai 1.6 DIG-T Petrol - the book says 1500kg braked towing. The caravan I am looking at is a Bailey Ranger 540/6 2009 MTPLM 1306 kg.

What percentage will towing affect my MPGs please? Is there a website to calculate it? I currently get around 40-45mpg (average)on a motorway run - 30mpg around town. I am scared that I'll buy this van and get 10mpg or something! What realistically can I expect please?

 

[otherclive]

I had a 2014 2.0 litre petrol non turbo Forester at 150bhp rated output. On solo journeys it would do around 35-38 mpg. Towing 1300 kg and with the car loaded it would be around 20-22 mpg. I don’t think that there is any way you can calculate it. But no doubt the figures don’t look great but you need to consider them in relation to the balance of towing mileage to solo mileage.
My present Car a 2.0 170ps auto 4wd diesel will do 50-55 mpg on a run and reduces to around 30 mpg when towing 1300 kg.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hi everyone - I am a total newbie to caravans, we are about to purchase our first second hand van.
The issue is I have a petrol car (I have been told diesel is better for towing) which I cannot change at the moment as it was brand new just over 12 months ago.

The car is a Nissan Qashqai 1.6 DIG-T Petrol - the book says 1500kg braked towing. The caravan I am looking at is a Bailey Ranger 540/6 2009 MTPLM 1306 kg.

What percentage will towing affect my MPGs please? Is there a website to calculate it? I currently get around 40-45mpg (average)on a motorway run - 30mpg around town. I am scared that I'll buy this van and get 10mpg or something! What realistically can I expect please?

Hi.

There is no simple way to predict what your towing MPG will be, the only certainty is it will be less than the solo vehicle. Even if I were to give you a figure, the chances are your actual figure would be different for a variety of reasons, which includes;-
The conditions you will actually drive in will be different to any test results,
How you drive will make a big difference, especially being new to towing your throttle responses will be going through a learning curve.

There are some tow car matching web sites that give extra information and they may provide an indication of what you might expect.

In practice I think if you are getting 30 around town, then your likely to see the towing figure drop to about 25mpg over all. But this is just as guess.

Can i draw your attention to the caravan industries guidance on car and caravan matching. The industry uses a comparator called the "towing ratio". This takes the caravan at its legal heaviest (MTPLM) and compares it to the car at its lightest (Kerbweight) and it recommends the caravan should be no more that 85% of the kerbweight. This is an arbitrary calculation and it takes no account of the vehicle manufacturers limits which must never be exceeded.

 

[Dodger524]

My rule of thumb quite is that over all consumption will increase by about 25 - 30% depending on your driving practice and how heavy on the throttle you are.

 

[Icaru5]

Without analysing the figures in detail, with my 2015 Passat 2.0 Tdi and having had just a couple of cursory glances at the indicated MPG figures, I would say an increase of 40-50% in fuel consumption when towing the van on the motorway.

Then again I am quite heavily right-footed and prefer to enjoy driving rather than paying any attention to fuel consumption.

 

[Harby]

Hi, we started caravanning a couple of years ago and at the time had a '15 Range Rover Vogue (over 3 litres from memory). My husband was confident that towing wouldn't really affect the MPG all that much as it was such a heavy car, however it did drop quite a lot though I can't recall the numbers... I think we were only getting around 22mpg (average) when towing, and he does drive very carefully and not at all quickly. It does make you good at navigating your way around very busy fuel stations on the French autoroutes...

Now we travel fully laden and are 'that' family every other car on the autoroutes overtakes and stares at with those 'how much do they need?' looks - Audi Q7 with 4 bikes on the roof and twin axle caravan.Oh well. At least we're very comfortable when we arrive and have everything (including the kitchen sink) that we need

Enjoy!!!

 

[Raywood]

I agree with the Prof in that the increase in fuel consumption varies with the combination and driving style, so predicting the effect on any given example is difficult. Basically the lighter the caravan and the more powerful the car will give you a lower increase.
In the example given here you are looking at a fairly small petrol engine towing well up its towing capacity and my guess would be a reduction near 50%. The lack of torque on a petrol engine will mean more fuel is used on the hills as you will need to use lower gears than you would with an equivalent diesel.

 

[Hutch]

Welcome to the Forum Mwilde, I can see where your coming from with this problem, and with all the other answers you have recieved are correct. Another big important thing as others have said it is Where you are towing, if we go to Norfolk its fairly flat and we can get maybe about 26 mpg. But over to Wales and hilly areas we can be down to about 22mpg. But to be truthfull the cost of the fuel is probably one of the least expensive part of touring in the caravan, site costs for awnings, a charge for 2 dogs at anything upto £3 each. We dont go away at bank holidays as the site costs shoot up.
Enjoy your carravanning,

 

[emmerson]

It's going to be about 25% down, unless you drive an old classic Range Rover 4.2litre, which does 13.8mpg, towing, solo, uphill or down!
You just get used to it. You cannot haul a couple of tons of outfit around and expect economy.

 

[gyp]

I run a Quashkai 1,6 DIESEL. This has a 5 year average of 53 mpf including all towing a Lunar quasar 462 at 1175 MTPLM .
When towing I get about 30mpg .The 1,6 petrol will struggle to get 30mpg and has a much lower totque than the diesel. I wuld think that the 1.6 petrol may be underpowered with the caravan proposed

 

[PADFIEG1]

Hi everyone - I am a total newbie to caravans, we are about to purchase our first second hand van.
The issue is I have a petrol car (I have been told diesel is better for towing) which I cannot change at the moment as it was brand new just over 12 months ago.

The car is a Nissan Qashqai 1.6 DIG-T Petrol - the book says 1500kg braked towing. The caravan I am looking at is a Bailey Ranger 540/6 2009 MTPLM 1306 kg.

What percentage will towing affect my MPGs please? Is there a website to calculate it? I currently get around 40-45mpg (average)on a motorway run - 30mpg around town. I am scared that I'll buy this van and get 10mpg or something! What realistically can I expect please?

I have a 2.2l diesel Honda CRV which normally does in the region of 45mpg. Towing our Elddis Avante 860 which has a loaded weight of approaching 1650kg i get around 24mpg.

 

[RogerL]

My rule of thumb quite is that over all consumption will increase by about 25 - 30% depending on your driving practice and how heavy on the throttle you are.

I've found that a 50% increase has occurred on every vehicle I've towed caravans with over nearly 40 years - so if the OP is getting 40-45, I'd expect mid-high 20s when towing

 

[Hutch]

Welcome to the Forum Mwilde, I can see where your coming from with this problem, and with all the other answers you have recieved are correct. Another big important thing as others have said it is Where you are towing, if we go to Norfolk its fairly flat and we can get maybe about 26 mpg. But over to Wales and hilly areas we can be down to about 22mpg. But to be truthfull the cost of the fuel is probably one of the least expensive part of touring in the caravan, site costs for awnings, a charge for 2 dogs at anything upto £3 each. We dont go away at bank holidays as the site costs shoot up.
Enjoy your carravanning,

I will now correct my reply, The cost of fuel is pobably the biggest cost now. I can possibly forsee Cl/cs pitches reducing costs especially if your off grid.

 

[ProfJohnL]

I will now correct my reply, The cost of fuel is pobably the biggest cost now. I can possibly forsee Cl/cs pitches reducing costs especially if your off grid.

I don't share your optimism regarding pitch fees. Just like all of us site owners/operators will be experiencing inflationary pressures, from the aftermath of Covid, and now especially fuel and energy prices. They might also be experiencing staffing issues

I suspect they may try to hold price rises down as much as possible but ultimately I think even CL/CS's fees will have to rise.

 

[Dustydog]

The number of variables make an answer impossible.

Your own driving style ? This may well change when you tow.

A petrol engine develops its max torque at a higher RPM than diesel. You will find your Nissan may well perform better in a lower gear at higher rpm than higher gear “labouring”.
This is a factor that will affect your mpg.

Check the tyre pressures Per handbook for towing.
Generally look further ahead, read the road, avoid hard braking and acceleration.

Assume you will get 20 mpg initially, adjust your driving technique and you may see an improvement

 

[Sam Vimes]

I have a Qashqai 1.5dci. I tow a caravan that's about 1100kg which is within the 85% limit. Last week on a 6 hour journey through the Highlands, so mostly just A and B roads, we averaged 34mpg when towing. Since I had to drop the van into the dealers the same journey home 'sans' caravan we averaged 64mpg.

As they say....'mileage will vary...'

 

[ProfJohnL]

I have a Qashqai 1.5dci. I tow a caravan that's about 1100kg which is within the 85% limit.

85% is only advisory it's not a limit. Recurring references to "limit" or "rule" tend to reinforce the misinformation illusion that it has some regulatory base or even guarantee of safety, especially for novices who can trawl the internet for information.

 

[Sam Vimes]

It's my limit and in no way does my wording imply any regulatory basis.

 

[Raywood]

85% is only advisory it's not a limit. Recurring references to "limit" or "rule" tend to reinforce the misinformation illusion that it has some regulatory base or even guarantee of safety, especially for novices who can trawl the internet for information.

Prof, this is correct, but at least it means people should be safe. I would far rather people came on here or other forums for advice, the ones I worry about are those who see a towing limit twice the weight of the car and go for that. If people go for 85% they should be safe enough, but I do always refer to it as a recommendation by the industry rather than a limit or rule. Personally I think 90% is a better figure but we all have differing opinions and frankly none of them is correct for every case.

 

[Bluetonic]

Well, solo we get about 28mpg on the city commute. Last time out with my wife towing we got 30 mpg 🤷‍♂️.
She can do the towing from now on 😁

 

[ProfJohnL]

Prof, this is correct, but at least it means people should be safe. ...

Safety is not a guaranteed, and that's another reason why it's best not to give it extra credence by calling it a limit or a rule.

 

[RogerL]

Safety is not a guaranteed, and that's another reason why it's best not to give it extra credence by calling it a limit or a rule.

You make it sound as though the 85% recommendation in the Towing Code is a bad thing - it's not a bad thing, it's a good place for newbies to start and then make their OWN minds up when they get some experience.

 

[Bluetonic]

Why does every thread always come down to the 85% argument. *Yawn*

 

[audiorob]

From my towing experience if you think around the 50% reduction then a higher figure is a bonus. As has been said there are so many variables, one of which for me is standing traffic queues of which there have been a lot recently on the M42 south of Birmingham and the M6 east of the city.

 

[Sam Vimes]

Why does every thread always come down to the 85% argument. *Yawn*

Bit like always coming back to CRA2015