This depends entirely on the exact camper in question.
This depends entirely on the exact camper in question.
Tom Suddard wrote:nocones wrote:7 vehicles averaging 23 mpg. I fully believe that a well-driven, stock 4runner can pull 23-24 mpg. Ask the guys on Expedition Portal.Tom Suddard wrote: 4runners get 23-24 and can tow 5,000 pounds.Hahahahahahaha http://www.fuelly.com/car/toyota/4runner
Oh come on now and 283 of them are averaging less than 18mpg. Using your logic I could have the opinion that 4runners get 14mpg because 7 fuelly users average that. I would not imply to someone that a vehicle gets the MPG that is representative of only 9 of 438 (or 2%) of those who have reported REAL data on Fuelly. Chances are very High (52% in fact) you buy a 4runner you will get 18+/-1 mpg average.
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=yourMpgVehicle&id=4104
Pop ups are surprisingly heavy for what they look like. A few years ago we were looking into them and I was amazed how quickly you could get up to 3,500lb's. That said this is America so the conversation usualy goes like this.
"Oh, you want to pull a 3'x2' utility trailer do you? Well I guess you could do it with something less than a crew cab SuperDuty Duelly F250, I wouldn't but it's your life, go ahead"
I towed my TR7 hundreds and hundred of miles on a tandem axle all steel trailer behind my 1.8L Cavalier (Yes I had the big engined one) in the UK. No prolem and no one batted an eye. I've seen SMART Cars pulling trailers over in Europe, although even I blanch at that one.
The older ones are only rated to tow 3500lbs. If you are comfortable recommending someone buy a 4runner because they tow 5000lbs and get 23-24mpg expected average that's fine.
The vibe has a factory towing capacity of 1500lbs. I would not recomend it for towing more than that. I have seen popups with dry weights of between 800 and 1100lbs for "small ones".
I think the OP's wagon recomendation is pretty good. Also just about any Minivan would do what he is looking for and get around 20mpg average. I owned a roadmaster and although it could get 22-23 I averaged 18 while I had it. That said they are very cheap to buy, cheap to maintain, haul lots of stuff, and are overall superior to a truck if you need to haul stuff and people. As a bonus you may even get more than 20mpg out of it.
I'll be driving my Moms 2007(?) 4Runner a bunch this weekend. V6, 4WD (but obviously kept in 2WD). I'll keep track of the mileage and report back. FWIW, her driving is probably 70% city and the computer consistently reports 19-21.
There are way too many cars that can get mid 20s mpg and haul 4 people and pull a small trailer.
Now, if you want something to get mid 20s mpg WHILE hauling 4 people and a small trailer, NOW we have a challenge. Otherwise, it's so open ended it's tedious just to think of all the things that qualify. 
Powar wrote: You just exactly described how my friend Jon uses his Saab 9-5 Aero station wagon with a manual transmission.
This.
Minivan. Really. If he doesn't care about the "stigma", it meets every criteria. Our Kia Sedona has tons of room, seats 7 and can tow 3500lbs.
Minivan.
My mom tows a Casita trailer with her Forester- she did it with a 2003 for several years, and now has a 2012- up and over to Grass Valley, and from Chico up through the Siskyou's. She has a brake controller and that's about it- she says it tows pretty well.
Edit: the '03 and '12 are rated for 2400 lb. And they get a real 20 something MPG combined.
nocones wrote:Tom Suddard wrote:Oh come on now and 283 of them are averaging less than 18mpg. Using your logic I could have the opinion that 4runners get 14mpg because 7 fuelly users average that. I would not imply to someone that a vehicle gets the MPG that is representative of only 9 of 438 (or 2%) of those who have reported REAL data on Fuelly. Chances are very High (52% in fact) you buy a 4runner you will get 18+/-1 mpg average.nocones wrote:7 vehicles averaging 23 mpg. I fully believe that a well-driven, stock 4runner can pull 23-24 mpg. Ask the guys on Expedition Portal.Tom Suddard wrote: 4runners get 23-24 and can tow 5,000 pounds.Hahahahahahaha http://www.fuelly.com/car/toyota/4runner
I have a healthy, stock '89 with the 22RE/5-spd and, like anything else, it depends on the driving you're talking about. Doing 60 on a flat interstate can net you 25-26 MPG. My rural-biased mix of 55 mph country roads and light city driving got me 21 MPG. Stop and go in the city and you're under 18, closer to 15. Keep in mind that a 4Runner from that era is like 110 hp and 3600 lbs. 0-60 times in the high teens. Getting one up to speed requires some throttle.
I tow 1000 pounds with my Kia Rondo and it does OK. My ex has a popup, and there is no way I would attempt it! She has a Honda Pilot and a CRV and the Pilot is only just able to hack it.
My vote, in all seriousness, would be this:
Not going to hit the MPG target, but with the smallest V8 is won't be horrible.
mtn wrote: I'll be driving my Moms 2007(?) 4Runner a bunch this weekend. V6, 4WD (but obviously kept in 2WD). I'll keep track of the mileage and report back. FWIW, her driving is probably 70% city and the computer consistently reports 19-21.
Bumping this up.
Drove over 100 miles this weekend in mom's 2007 V6 4Runner. Roughly 60 miles highway driving about 65-70, about 15 miles in the city of Chicago (about the worst possible thing for MPG), and the rest somewhere in the middle. All with at least 3 adults in the car, usually 4 adults.
The average MPG over the 100ish miles (calculated at the pump) was 19.5.
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