Report your 6.2 towing mpg only.....

fishingtruck · December 15, 2018

We will be towing about 35-3600 lbs of fishing boat, and were. Urious about real life towing consumption(in some remote areas the small full tank may require pre-planning to kerp fuel in otherwise have to buy old fuel at marinas for 5 $/gal)

steve841 · December 17, 2018

Expect about 8-10 mpg ...

I tow a 2000lb trailer (very tall) .. It gets about 9-11 ... and a flats boat around 2000lbs ... it gets 11-13.

Edited December 17, 2018 by steve841

ECGolfer04 · December 17, 2018

I'm around 10-11mpg mix of city/hwy towing around 3500-4000lb's consistently. The new trailering app is great and tracks your towing mileage specific to the trailer profile you setup. I'm currently averaging 10.3mpg.

L86 All Terrain · December 17, 2018

I pull a 2500# deck trailer with 3 ATV's and a older SXS, about 6,400# gross. I get between 9-10mpg on 33" 10 ply tires depending on what area we go to. It is very hilly in my area, no mountains but you are always going up and down steep rolling hills. Comparatively, if I did the same load with my 2500 6.0L I would be getting 6-8mpg.

fishingtruck · December 17, 2018

ok, thanks for the info, that is a bit less, I expected 13-15. Wife's QX56 gets 14-15, borrowed a 13 f150 ecob and it got 13-14. I thought a 6.2 would have to work less and the 10 speed would help. Might have to carry fuel, unless a magical larger tank gets on the option list.

mookdoc6 · December 20, 2018

On ‎12‎/‎17‎/‎2018 at 12:22 PM, fishingtruck said:

ok, thanks for the info, that is a bit less, I expected 13-15. Wife's QX56 gets 14-15, borrowed a 13 f150 ecob and it got 13-14. I thought a 6.2 would have to work less and the 10 speed would help. Might have to carry fuel, unless a magical larger tank gets on the option list.

The digital readout on vehicle is more accurate in GM's Ferds...is way off IMO So hand calculated I bet the GM's 6.2 is as good or superior

Steve Bryant · December 29, 2018

I've gotten around 10.5 to 11.5 MPG towing around 70 MPH on level ground, steady state. My best towing MPG has been around 12.3. I think that this is excellent for my 9,000 pound 34' Airstream tri-axle trailer.

DeLucecc · December 29, 2018

My average is 10.1 with a 3k trailer going around 75ish.

Jerry Lee · December 30, 2018

That Air Stream must have good air dynamics! I pull a 7,500 Cougar 31’ bumper pull and can only get about 10.5 mpg at 62 mph and about 7.5 mpg at 70 mph. The wind direction makes a big difference though.

Steve Bryant · December 31, 2018

23 hours ago, Jerry Lee said:

That Air Stream must have good air dynamics! I pull a 7,500 Cougar 31’ bumper pull and can only get about 10.5 mpg at 62 mph and about 7.5 mpg at 70 mph. The wind direction makes a big difference though.

The aerodynamic design does make a difference. Also, in a headwind of 20 or 30 MPH, the mileage goes down to 9.5 or so. I find that if I set the center display to MPG most of the time, then I'm aware of the instantaneous MPG and keep my foot out of the throttle. It's easy to beat the mileage obtained when using cruise control by manual throttle control in hilly terrain. I keep the speed up during the last portion of the downhill portion and the initial uphill climb. Then, I keep the throttle where the MPG stays pretty steady and let the speed decay within reason on the uphill portion. On a longer trip, you can easily follow this technique in your subconscious mind.

Another interesting point is that driving solo, I get about 2 MPG better gas mileage with my GMC than I do with my other vehicle a 2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee with a 5.7L Hemi. Now, I'm running 91 octane in the truck and 87 octane in the Jeep, but I'm really surprised by this.

Edited December 31, 2018 by Steve Bryant

Jerry Lee · December 31, 2018

Thanks for the reply. I guess I’m too lazy to work at it. Smile. I usually set the cruise at 62 and found that to be my best speed vs gas mileage. But on a different note, I had to really work at it when I had the 2014 with a 5.3. That engine really struggled to pull through the mountains!

L86 All Terrain · January 3, 2019

On ‎2018‎-‎12‎-‎17 at 1:22 PM, fishingtruck said:

ok, thanks for the info, that is a bit less, I expected 13-15. Wife's QX56 gets 14-15, borrowed a 13 f150 ecob and it got 13-14. I thought a 6.2 would have to work less and the 10 speed would help. Might have to carry fuel, unless a magical larger tank gets on the option list.

To be honest, if you really drive the 6.2L hard, you can get your unladen mileage to only be 15mpg never mind loaded. I put my 6.2L away for winter but I warmed it up today and took it to the dealer for a front bumper replacement (after some old guy hit it at the fuel pumps with a boat trailer back in September) and with my warm up and drive my computer was reading 17.7L/100km which equals 13.3 US MPG. My 6L gets about 11-12 on the day-to-day. When you hear guys say "Oh yeah, I put on 35" tires and get 24mpg on 80mph interstates" you know they are so full of crap it's running out their noses.

Snoringbear · January 4, 2019

On 12/29/2018 at 9:10 PM, Jerry Lee said:

That Air Stream must have good air dynamics! I pull a 7,500 Cougar 31’ bumper pull and can only get about 10.5 mpg at 62 mph and about 7.5 mpg at 70 mph. The wind direction makes a big difference though.

Yeh, Dynamics are probably better than the shoe boxes such as mine. But, I’m guessing he had a nice tail wind to boot. Heck, I once got 15 mpg towing my 6,500lb two axle for about 300 miles west to east to my home near Dallas. Did I mention I dropped from elevation of 3,200ft to about 300ft? Oh, almost forgot; had a tailwind of 20~30mph. The experience was kinda like sailing, nice and quiet, engine turning about 1,800rpm probably in 8th gear ?....

Cowpie · January 16, 2019

On 12/17/2018 at 11:08 AM, L86 All Terrain said:

I pull a 2500# deck trailer with 3 ATV's and a older SXS, about 6,400# gross. I get between 9-10mpg on 33" 10 ply tires depending on what area we go to. It is very hilly in my area, no mountains but you are always going up and down steep rolling hills. Comparatively, if I did the same load with my 2500 6.0L I would be getting 6-8mpg.

But the 6.0 does have some flexibility. I have used E85 exclusively in my 2015 2500 6.0 for about 2 years now due to the substantially lower fuel cost. I just filled up the other day for $1.12 a gallon. It averages about 10 mpg on the stuff. It takes a dive to 7 mpg when towing. So..... $1.12 a gallon at 7 mpg is a cost of 16 cents a mile. At 10 mpg average, 11 cents per mile.

Now let's look at premium fuel and the 6.2. $2.40 in my area. For a 6.2 using premium and gets the 10-11 mpg that some are claiming while towing, that is a fuel cost of 24 cents per mile.... 8+ cents per mile higher cost than I it costs me with my 2500 6.0 towing the same thing.

On regular, my 6.0 has gotten 17-18 highway with a 14 mpg average for all miles. Even towing up to 5000 lb, it has never dropped below 11-12. Could be driving style or trailer shape.

Edited January 16, 2019 by Cowpie

L86 All Terrain · January 16, 2019

7 hours ago, Cowpie said:

But the 6.0 does have some flexibility. I have used E85 exclusively in my 2015 2500 6.0 for about 2 years now due to the substantially lower fuel cost. I just filled up the other day for $1.12 a gallon. It averages about 10 mpg on the stuff. It takes a dive to 7 mpg when towing. So..... $1.12 a gallon at 7 mpg is a cost of 16 cents a mile. At 10 mpg average, 11 cents per mile.

Now let's look at premium fuel and the 6.2. $2.40 in my area. For a 6.2 using premium and gets the 10-11 mpg that some are claiming while towing, that is a fuel cost of 24 cents per mile.... 8+ cents per mile higher cost than I it costs me with my 2500 6.0 towing the same thing.

On regular, my 6.0 has gotten 17-18 highway with a 14 mpg average for all miles. Even towing up to 5000 lb, it has never dropped below 11-12. Could be driving style or trailer shape.

No E85 in Canada. I am a contractor, so lots of it is idle time. And my 2500 is a CCLB that carries 150gal of coloured fuel at all times. We are in winter now, -31f today, so that doesn't help its mileage either. I have a 5.3L half ton I just gave to the shop in trade for my new 2500, and the 5.3L would be slightly better than my 6.2L on gas, it costs me $8 more to fill my 6.2L after a ten day stint than the 6spd 5.3L, so less than $1/day to drive the 6.2L over a 5.3L. With that said, I put around 30 imperial gal in the new 2500 and 21.5gal in the 1500 and can drive approximately the same distance. Where my half ton runs at 1600-1700rpm at cruising speed and moving nearly 3,000lbs less, the 2500 with the 4.10 gears is up at 2100rpm, add weight and watch it get worse. There is good reason GM does not publish estimated consumption on the HD trucks lol. The 2500 is night and day better for work applications, but if I was only towing a load once a month at <8,000lbs I would choose the 1500 every single time just because they are so much nicer to drive and live with on a daily basis. The 2500 pulls the trailers nicer, more stable, less sway from the stiffer suspension and chassis, better braking, safer. But the 6.2L does outshine it in terms of power and economy. I love both trucks, they each have their attributes that make them good choices in each discipline.