GOOD MILEAGE SUV THAT TOWS OK?

Is there such a thing? Looked at a diesel but diesel fuel is going to be more expensive than gas this summer. We are looking into getting another expedition but it suck on gas.

Ty, if you find one, let the rest of us know.

Then tell the dealer you can get over 100 purchases of the vehicle!

Ty,
I have a '02 Yukon XL, I get about 15mpg in town, 18-20mpg on the highway and 13 pulling the boat. I could probably do better, but I refuse to drive the speed limit.
I have no problem pulling the boat at all.••••.3 engine.

Sorry 5-3 engine

Ty- Why do you think diesel is going to be more expensive than gas? I don't think that is going to happen. Truckers are already losing money at the current price. Look for a work stoppage if it gets much higher. Creeping gas prices are really the thing that is going to cripploe this economy. When people have to stop buying necesseties so they can keep fuel in the car, it gets ugly.

I researched this a few weeks ago and what I came up with is the Ford PSD is the way to go. 16-18 towing is pretty hard to beat and it turns any grade into mild hill.

I'm dreaming of a black 4x4 PSD Excursion. Either that or a nice used diesel pusher motor home.

We deal directly with the trucking business and diesel and they are all telling us that diesel is supposed to be higher than gas this summer and to get ready for higher rates. This sucks because it will directly effect the prices of everything that you eat. Diesel excursion would be awesome accept that it will not fit in the garage.
BTW nice profile pic you have now.

My 00 Excursion gets 12mpg combined, 9 towing. Great truck, but was not sure if PSD was for me. I hear Ford is phasing out the Excursion in 04.

Dodge Crew Cab with the 5.9.... Loving the fact that I am getting 12 MPG....

E.J.

Ty - When you are looking at engine choices watch the tourque/hp curves.

Some the newer, smaller, easier on gas V-8 motors make their peak power pretty high up the RPM band. That results high gas usage, where a "lazy" big block that makes a ton of tourque down low (low RPMs) get the same or better gas usage while towing.

Milage and towing don't really go hand and hand. Maybe a SUV that has good milage while not towing, but is ok for towing. Like a Tahoe or Yukon. I love the 7.4L in my 3/4 ton Suburban and try to only drive it for towing, moving and road trips. It gets about 14 mpg empty and 10 to 12 mpg towing.

our expedition gets 13 around town and 10 towing. that sucks.

Car diesel and semi-truck diesel are different, the car stuff is usually more expensive because it is more refined. We have a Durango (not 4wd) and it gets about 15-16 w/out the boat. Not sure about with bcuz we usually only trailer about 10 mins

Diesel enigines also cost alot more than gas say 4k to 5k more, just for the motor. Say gas cost's 2 bucks a gallon and diesel cost 1.95. Gas gets 13 mpg deisel gets 16 on average. You drive 300 miles gas will cost you 46.15. Deisel will cost you 36.56 for the same trip. The average person drives say 15k miles per year. Gas 2307 per year, deisel 1828 per year
Deisel is 497 cheaper to drive per year than gas.
It will take you over 8 years make up the price difference. That is only if deisel stays cheaper than gas.
That being said I want a PSD 4 door long bed. I'll most likely settle for the Chevy gas king cab 4 door long bed 3/4 with a 6.0 in it.

If you don't tow a lot you could look at a trailblazer. With a 4.2 six they are rated at 16/22 and can tow 6300 lbs. I would want trailer brakes if the boat is heavy though

I like those but I think our sanger would bury it.

Actually Ty, we just got one of those for my wife, and while it doesn't pull great, it does the job. I think my MC is a little larger than your Sanger too, but I could be wrong. We did get the EXT though, and it is two inches longer than my 99 Tahoe. Go figure.

It gets better gas mileage than my Tahoe, but not by much.

We tow with a 2002 Toyota Highlander v6. It tows pretty good, and gets pretty good mileage as well.

I think Sean hit the nail on the head "Maybe a SUV that has good milage while not towing, but is ok for towing." Thats my V8 explorer. 20 highway and i almost never tow more then 5 miles so i dont even know what the mileage is towing. Just take it out of OD and it is fine at 60 but will go faster, no need realy though.

03 Chev. HD crew cab, duramax diesel,around town 12.5, freeway at 70mph 17.5mpg, towing around 14-15mpg at 65-70 mph. I just put an edge juice programmer "chip" in it and it tows like there is nothing behind you! hauls ****.

I drive the PSD, that PSD may cause 4k more but also look at the NADA resale values, the diesel's retain their value, and go forever. I have 77K miles on a 2000 model, most diesel owners put on the miles, that's why we buy the reliable engine. On mine, get about 16 towing, and hills, don't even notice them.

Alan, I have the same truck. Are you running guages? What other mods have you done to your truck?

I'm a little surprised about your around town mileage. I get about 16-17 around town, around 20 on the freeway between 70-75, and about 13 towing.

I agree the diesels cost more and you have to evaluate all the variables. How much you tow, power, mileage.....for me this was an awesome purchase that I have never regreted since day one.

Steve

M.I.A. I check every time I fill up and it's allways 12-13 mpg. city. completely stock with the juice module, the power is awsome. It has 4 power settings and 1 or 2 is plenty, with setting 3 it tries to spin the tires just taking off from a stop. They say you are safe to tow in 1 or 2 so I hope guages arent nessesary, what do you think?

I have a 2000 Durango RT with the 5.9 and all wheel drive. Gas milage is decent but when I tow I take it out of overdrive. That keeps the RPMs up but the milage drops to like 8. Is this neccessary or could I tow with OD on?

Nathan, check your owner's manual. With my GMC, it says right on the driver's side door to tow in 3 and not OD.

If I remember right, OD reduces the pressure in the tranny (better gas milage) but may cause the tranny to heat up (bad) if you are towing in OD.

Alan,

Are you running "Hot" juice (version 4.61)?

Is it a CA truck? Don't they have cats, thus additional exhaust restriction? More restriction=higher EGT's. I'm no expert but have been trying to gather information for that upgrade as well and EGT's and warranty are my primary concern.

So far on my truck I've changed to a dual stage Amsoil air filter and changed my tranny, diffs, and transfer case over to sythetics. Plan to get that hunk of crap muffler out of there soon at a minimum, then may do the Juice, and that's it.

Check this out:
http://www.antiquetractorpulling.com/TomacDuramax14.301.mpg

2002 D/A CC on with Hot Juice, Flowmaster muffler, and custom air box as only upgrades.
1/4 mile 14.3, camero only beats him by 3/10's of a second but don't know the camero mods.

Steve

TY-one-on (typhoon), What % of the time will your tow rig be used to tow and what % of the time will it be a driver?

When I made these cost calculations about a year ago, the best I could narrow it down was if you tow over 50% of the time, it generally paid to step up to a diesel. In my situation, I only tow about 5 - 10% of the time, so I went with a GMC 2500HD with the 8.1 lt V8 gas engine. I'm VERY happy with it, currently getting about 11 1/2 mpg combined city and highway, about 13 mpg straight highway and about 9-10 mpg while towing, But the "FUN" factor while driving it everyday is more than enough to make up for any excess fuel that it may use!!!!