Towing Fuel Consumption

[rob]

I have been lurking here for a while and finding a ton of info about our Pathfinder....so I figured this was a great place for a sanity check....

We are towing a trailer with a 4200# dry weight (so figure it is closer to 5K realistically after the beer and food and beer is loaded) with our 2008 v6 Pathfinder SE. We have a WDH, and it is a comfortable stable feeling tow, the power is lacking on bigger hills....but at about 60MPH is it pretty reasonable.

However, the fuel consumption when we are towing is crazy....our Pathfinder is not great...even downhill with a tailwind...~ 15L/100KM (~15-16MPG) but when we are hauling the trailer....we are about 30L/100KM (~7-8MPG)....

Is this reasonable? What are others getting?

[disallow]

Probably not far off. Last weekend I burnt 85 liters in 350km, so thats 24L/100km. And my setup seems similar to yours.

[skinny2]

It's a guzzler when towing. Even light trailers. I get quite good mileage empty (18.5 overall average, 22 on highway) but it drops by a huge margin even with a fairly light load. Not sure why because it doesn't really struggle or downshift a lot...but the fuel is going somewhere. I use my truck for hauling anything heavy or very far...it avgs 12mpg with my 15,000# trailer at 75mph. 16-17mpg with a 5,000# trailer. Cheaper to run that even with a light load.

[CPLTECH]

Your mileage is similar to that of “disallow” a Canadian on this forum. I’m sure he will comment when he has the chance. How come Canada, an oil exporter, has higher fuel prices than the US? I’m not too thrilled to tow up there.

Last Sept I got 11-12 MPG on recommended prem fuel towing a 1997 Jayco Hawk lightweight ~3000# empty traveling ~60 MPH. Otherwise it is able to get ~20MPG on reg fuel. When I go out this yr, I will attempt to keep it around 55MPH to see if mileage improves, if traffic doesn’t run me over.

Needless to say that few trailer mfg could care less if theirs is shaped like a brick and those that do care about aerodynamics charge dearly. One issue I have with the engineers of the transmission that is purchased by Nissan for this engine is that the torq converter lock-up only works in 5th gear. Nissan says to tow only in 4th resulting in a lot of heat and wasted fuel. In my old 98 Tahoe, it would lock-up in 3rd & 4th. At that time, the instantaneous MPG (per instruments) would jump 10%. Strange that I get similar mileage with the PF vs. Tahoe despite being 1K# lighter and a smaller engine. What’s with that? My 1993 S10 Blazer with a 4.3L would get 13MPG. So I have 3 vehicles to compare towing this same trailer. How come newer is not better, Nissan? One option, if staying with the Nissan Family, is to consider the shorter Xterra w/MT. But on the other hand, a longer wheelbase is preferred, per trailering forums.

[disallow]

Hey Rob,

What TT are your pulling?

We tow a 2008 Keystone Passport 280BH travel trailer:

Dry Weight: 4508lbs
Loaded Weight: 5500lbs
Tongue Weight: 415lbs
Length: 32ft (hitch to rear bumper)
Height: 10'2"
GVW: 6050lbs

See this thread for some discussion on my experiences. Would love to hear your experiences, please feel free to chime in!

http://www.thenissanpath.com/viewtopic. ... 23&start=0

t

[05Pathfinder]

CPLTECH

Our gas is more expensive because of NAFTA. Im not going to go into explaining the whole thing but essentially we are mandated to continue exporting at or above the same levels and unfortuantely our demand rises so we now are stuck importing. At least thats what I understand of it.

[disallow]

CPLTECH

Our gas is more expensive because of NAFTA. Im not going to go into explaining the whole thing but essentially we are mandated to continue exporting at or above the same levels and unfortuantely our demand rises so we now are stuck importing. At least thats what I understand of it.

I agree with 05Path, but there is one other factor. If gas prices in the US went to Canadian levels, there would be a revolt. We canadians are too nice and passive to do anything like that. So in essence the fuel companies know they can get away with it!

We also have much higher taxation on fuel here. Unfortunately, they don't put this revenue directly into building infrastructure and roads. Hence the rough roads in and around the city I live close to.

[skinny2]

A lot of the price difference is tax. Canadian fuel tax is about $.40-.60 more per gallon than most states in the U.S. Not sure what you folks are seeing in your location...but it looks like $1.10-1.20 per liter is in the ballpark. Our price with tax is around $1.00/liter.

[CPLTECH]

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/canada/201 ... her-taxes/

WOW! Did I just hit a nerve? I apologize. I had no idea of all the issues up there that are so similar to US drivers. Thanks for filling us in on issues that plague our fellow N Americans.

[hfrez]

May prices be as they are! Your gas mileage is mainly based on what you tow and not so much what you tow it with. Of course the smaller V6 vs V8 plays a roll (especially the torque numbers) but diesels sometimes are as bad as gasoline engines when towing. It has a lot to do with aerodynamics and it does not help if you are towing the so called brick behind you. The wind gets caught between the tow vehicle and the trailer and creates an awful inefficiency that requires the tow vehicle to pull harder. I have seen and read about some folks that will put a wind deflector on the roof of the tow vehicle to deflect the wind over the trailer and therefore get better gas mileage. The trick there is that the dispersed air from the deflector has to be a minimum of 75% of the wind discernment of the trailer. I cannot find one that would work for the Pathfinder and in general they are rare items and mostly made for trucks.
BTW: Believe it or not, 5th wheel towing is even worse for gas mileage because the wind gets trapped between the tow vehicle and the goose neck.