Most economical tow rig?

Is there one? Or is it an ironic statement in and of itself? Wife and I would like to get a trailer probably a toy hauler large enough to fit a 4 seat side by side (10ft garage or so?) but don't want to go bigger than we have to. Can we tow something like this with any kind of SUV or do we have to go truck? And if truck whats the best hope I can get for mpg? manual cummins? My old 04 F150 got 16mpg regularly regardless of what it was doing it seemed. I have heard tales of 20+ on some diesels

I know of some full size diesels getting 25 ~ 30 mpg, but it is the set up and how you drive them.

What about a VM Motori Diesel in a Grand Cherokee?

Mongo and the International share 8 mpg, towing makes no difference

I tow with a 4x4 93 Z71 15mpg.... For a 3k dollar truck. I can buy a lot of gas.

Diesel is so high you need to be knocking down some great mpg to justify it. A Duramax with an mpg tune will out do most all of them. My 2001.5 ext cab 4x4 dually Cummins with 5spd HX 35/40 turbo 110 injectors and a tst tuner got 25mpg on the highway. That was before the 66/70 250's and I completely ruined all street ability.

Not cheap, but new EcoBoost Ford?

If you are looking new, Dodge is putting the VM diesel in it's 1/2 tons for sale 3rd quarter. I'd expect a 10,000 pound tow rating. Will by FAR get the best towing MPG of anything IMO.

I get right at 18 city, 22.5 highway and 12-16 (wind, mountain and RPM dependent) towing a 7500lb load in a 20ft box trailer. The RPM part... it loves 1900RPM so that mostly means keeping the speed at 68 mph and not letting it lag on big hills. Mostly I set the cruise right there and don't worry about it.

I pull with a 2004.5 Chevy 2500HD with a 6.6L Duramax diesel.

What do you mean by economical? Just gas mpg, or is purchase price factored in? a $5000 tow rig getting 10 mpg will be much more economical than a brand new 40,000 tow rig getting 30 mpg if purchase price is included.

icaneat50eggs wrote: ...a $5000 tow rig getting 10 mpg will be much more economical than a brand new 40,000 tow rig getting 30 mpg if purchase price is included.

What he said!

JKleiner wrote:

icaneat50eggs wrote: ...a $5000 tow rig getting 10 mpg will be much more economical than a brand new 40,000 tow rig getting 30 mpg if purchase price is included.

What he said!

+2. To me it seems it'll depend on how much risk you're willing to take on an older, higher mileage truck. I'm still in the debating mode, but right now I'm leaning towards the "less risk & no-projects" side. I have neither the time nor space to build up some sort of pie-in-the-sky diesel conversion. I need whatever I get to be absolutely reliable for a good 4-5 years. With that in mind, I'm hoping for something 10 years old or newer and that a budget of around $20K will get me that. If it's a diesel - great, but it's not a #1 priority. Nor is fuel mileage. I know I won't be driving the truck often enough for the diesel purchase premium to be worth it.

As far as the original question, one of my region members has a F250 4x4, diesel 4-dr short bed he uses to haul around his toy-hauler 5th wheel (he runs a F500 in F-Mod). IIRC, when he comments about driving it to Nationals, the rig gets a bit under 20 mpg. His DD is a Prius, so I'm guessing fuel mileage was part of his decision process.

That is my plan too Ian. Big hauler with next car being hybrid style DD.

The price difference between gas, either small or big block, and diesel cost per mile/MPG's, you can buy a LOT of gas for the difference, unless you are buying a diesel with a problem, typically injector, injection pump, or transmission related or you get an owner that doesn't know how to fix it.

My 97 2wd F250 PSD got 18mpg, everywhere empty. 16mpg pulling an open trailer loaded or enclosed trailer empty. I'll relate this, wife's Avalanche 1500 pulled the same open trailer I always have had with that same F250 on it(!) and got 11mpg in Drive. That was an easy 8k load up, down, and around the mountains of Eastern KY.

Would I change what I bought? No. But then again, if I am just pulling once or twice a year for longer then 3-4hrs, it is far cheaper to just stay gas with reduced mileage. You will never see the price break unless you are running all over the country.

I did some thinking on this and just bought a F350 with a 460 in it. Thread to come later today.

Toyman01 wrote: I did some thinking on this and just bought a F350 with a 460 in it. Thread to come later today.

I just hope you fix the leaking exhaust manifolds before they leak, if they aren't already.

Holy crap. Our F350 460 with EFI gets 7 mpg.

When I said you can buy a lot of gas for the price of an expensive truck I'm not sure I meant that much gas. Haha congratulations on a new rig.

Been looking at 97-99 GMC Suburban suvs. Debating between truck vs suv as well.

Love the F350 I borrow when I go racing.

Vans are typically cheaper to buy than trucks or SUVs.

FranktheTank wrote: Holy crap. Our F350 460 with EFI gets 7 mpg. When I said you can buy a lot of gas for the price of an expensive truck I'm not sure I meant that much gas. Haha congratulations on a new rig.

7mpg, loaded or empty and how fast? I know the newspaper delivery trucks, F450's with 460's on gas and propane, I used to drive got 6mpg loaded down with 12k# of newspapers in the cargo box, 8mpg completely empty with hours of idle time delivering to every street corner. I know when they sold the cab chassis off, a few of the guys got 11-12mpg with a flatbed on the back.

petegossett wrote: Vans are typically cheaper to buy than trucks or SUVs.

And 3x harder to work on with no footwell room.

Ranger50 wrote: And 3x harder to work on with no footwell room.

Footwell room never bothered me with my van.

The next truck/van I buy won't be fixed by me. Ever. I'll do oil changes, but anything else will be my mechanic's job. Whatever it costs, it costs... After 10 years of doing every single bloody task on my DD TDi and then the g/f's MINI and MF'ingPOS Volvo 850, I'm burnt out from working on the non-toy cars. Hell, I'm half tempted to sell the TDi because I'm so sick of it.

AndreGT6 wrote: Been looking at 97-99 GMC Suburban suvs. Debating between truck vs suv as well. Love the F350 I borrow when I go racing.

I'd go with a truck (Crew cab) so all the stinky stuff like gas cans and the like and stay out of the cabin.

z31maniac wrote: I'd go with a truck (Crew cab) so all the stinky stuff like gas cans and the like and stay out of the cabin.

The stinky/dirty stuff goes on the trailer with the car...

To the original poster: Most of the larger toy haulers I've looked at are up near 10,000lbs gvw. I wouldn't want to tow that with less than a 3/4 ton truck. Not just for power, but overall safety and trailer control.

Ian F wrote:

z31maniac wrote: I'd go with a truck (Crew cab) so all the stinky stuff like gas cans and the like and stay out of the cabin.

The stinky/dirty stuff goes on the trailer with the car...

QFT

The F350...

I agree with having a bed but the suv brings good camping/family use.

Just have to take steps to keep it clean.

Still a few yrs away from owning one still.