[OmahaJeff]

Just got back from a long trip to the Black Hills—camped in Spearfish, SD, at a very nice city campground. The Spearfish Creek, full of native brown trout, ran next to the campsite.

We took our Tab 400 camper up there. The forced perspective makes it look larger than it is, which is about 18 feet. Weighs in at 2800 lb dry weight.

The good part was that the Ridgeline towed it like a champ. It was a bit slow starting out, as in 10 seconds 0-60 or so, but once up to speed ran fine with no gear hunting. In fact, if not for the rear mirror being blocked, I wouldn’t have known the trailer was back there. It was also super quiet, despite a lot of wind along I-90.

The bad part—gas mileage sucked, and went down as the trip went on. I kept the speed at 65 the entire way. First hundred miles were 15 mpg, but overall going about 550 miles the computer read 13 mpg. In fact, I got a bit panicked when down to 1/8 tank on I-29 (30 miles range) close to home and no gas stations in sight. Gas ranged from $4.49 to $4.89–about $.20 lower than it’s been lately.

The ugly? There was no ugly. That was just click bait.

This is my GF fishing. Despite seeing tons of trout, they were not buying what we were selling, until Thursday night, when I finally got one just 100 feet from our campsite.

 

[ferrari1898]

So we have a 22 RTLE with a slightly larger Hitch 17BHS that is less aerodynamic and weighs around 3500lb. We have very similar MPG towing. Interstate tends to be worse due to the drag. Going to a local campground (non-interstate) we approached 15mpg. At the end of the day 12-15mpg is not anything great, but keep in mind several of the "Real Trucks" that are jacked up and with mud tires, who never see as much as a forest service road, get that fuel economy day in and day out.

 

[WB77]

So we have a 22 RTLE with a slightly larger Hitch 17BHS that is less aerodynamic and weighs around 3500lb. We have very similar MPG towing. Interstate tends to be worse due to the drag. Going to a local campground (non-interstate) we approached 15mpg. At the end of the day 12-15mpg is not anything great, but keep in mind several of the "Real Trucks" that are jacked up and with mud tires, who never see as much as a forest service road, get that fuel economy day in and day out.

An ecoboost ford F150 will only average 15 mpg not towing.
I have a Ridgeline on order, to replace the F150.

 

[Seasonal]

So we have a 22 RTLE with a slightly larger Hitch 17BHS that is less aerodynamic and weighs around 3500lb. We have very similar MPG towing. Interstate tends to be worse due to the drag. Going to a local campground (non-interstate) we approached 15mpg. At the end of the day 12-15mpg is not anything great, but keep in mind several of the "Real Trucks" that are jacked up and with mud tires, who never see as much as a forest service road, get that fuel economy day in and day out.

I've had numerous larger trucks. Gas and diesel. Best mileage I ever got was 16 miles to the gallon, empty.

 

[GOAT]

We just finished a month long trip from Oklahoma City to North of Seattle, about 5100 miles. I have a 2021 RTL-E and towed a 17' Casita Spirit Deluxe that weighed with all our gear about 3,000 pounds. Our average mpg was 17, however through the mountains it dropped to around 13 mpg. I let the truck figure out which gear to be in, there was lots of shifting through the hills and mountains and I let her run, kept speed 65-75 but never over 3K rpms-just me don't like to hear the higher revs. I tried using the paddle shifters in "S" mode but after awhile found it better to let the truck do the work-that is what it is engineered to do. Overall extremely satisfied with how the truck performed.

 

[skromfols]

Just got back from a long trip to the Black Hills—camped in Spearfish, SD, at a very nice city campground. The Spearfish Creek, full of native brown trout, ran next to the campsite.

We took our Tab 400 camper up there. The forced perspective makes it look larger than it is, which is about 18 feet. Weighs in at 2800 lb dry weight.

View attachment 427373

The good part was that the Ridgeline towed it like a champ. It was a bit slow starting out, as in 10 seconds 0-60 or so, but once up to speed ran fine with no gear hunting. In fact, if not for the rear mirror being blocked, I wouldn’t have known the trailer was back there. It was also super quiet, despite a lot of wind along I-90.

The bad part—gas mileage sucked, and went down as the trip went on. I kept the speed at 65 the entire way. First hundred miles were 15 mpg, but overall going about 550 miles the computer read 13 mpg. In fact, I got a bit panicked when down to 1/8 tank on I-29 (30 miles range) close to home and no gas stations in sight. Gas ranged from $4.49 to $4.89–about $.20 lower than it’s been lately.

The ugly? There was no ugly. That was just click bait.

View attachment 427374

This is my GF fishing. Despite seeing tons of trout, they were not buying what we were selling, until Thursday night, when I finally got one just 100 feet from our campsite.

View attachment 427375

I noticed your comment about a concern with running out of gas. That was my concern on towing on hwy 50. I found it comforting to have a 2 gallon gas can in the storage compartment of the bed. Just a little safety measure.

 

[GCSteve]

I just got back from towing my 3700# Lance 1475. On Highway I used 5th gear from 50 to 75 mph. Sometimes in sequential mode it would switch into 6th gear and it felt like it was lugging. 5th is the best highway tow gear 3500 RPM at 70mph. 6th gear and there was very little power to get up the hills. Off highway I use sequential mode for the first gear. Towed great 200 miles each way got 14 mpg mostly flat driving Long Island to Rhode Island. Compared to my 17 Tacoma ability is about the same but the RL is way more comfortable and quiet. Very happy with the truck. The camper pic is a 1988 Toyota 4 cylinder with 200k miles on it. He was next to me at camp site and just putting it here because its cool. He came down from Montreal in it.

 

[Jeff130]

I’ve been thinking on a [email protected] 320 CS-S, glad to hear that the Ridgeline has no issues with the larger [email protected] 400. By the way your truck teardrop combo looks badass! Enjoy!

 

[Tuckamore]

I have the same config as the OP (2022 RL + 2020 Tab 400). I've been averaging 14 L/100 kms (16.8 MPG) for normal driving - which is not necessarily good - but I have only had the truck since November so my driving numbers are mostly winter. I expect it to get better over time. I did have the trailer out for one short trip of 225 kms (139 Miles) and averaged 17.8 L/100 kms (13.2 MPG) . I used "S" mode most of the way because I liked to be able to control the gears for the conditions.

I previously had a 2019 RL and pulled the Tab on two round trips between Ontario and Newfoundland. I wasn't tracking my gas at the time but I did find that the sweet spot for the best gas consumption was about 95 kms/hr or 60 MPH. Any faster than that and the numbers got a lot worse. I expect the 2022 RL to behave the same.

Both trucks had no problem pulling the trailer. The east coast of Canada can be very hilly, especially Newfoundland, but the RL handled it fine.

 

[SandyBeach]

I just got back from my first trip towing a 2017 [email protected] 320 S Max with my '22 RTL. My trip was Durham, NC to Sugar Creek, OH, where I attended NuCamp's rally called, "uCamp". Going up was through W. Va, and I came back through Kentucky via Asheville, so lots of big hills. Overall mileage was about 16 mpg, which I find pretty darn good. My loaded [email protected] is about 1800 #. I used cruise control when it was reasonably flat, and slowed down for bigger climbs. Overall speed was about 63-67 mph.

With these small trailers and the G2 RL, have any of you used tow mirrors? I found the RL side mirrors quite good as-is, but have no idea what I'm missing since I've never tried add-on tow mirrors.

 

[wjfyfe]

I just got back from my first trip towing a 2017 [email protected] 320 S Max with my '22 RTL. My trip was Durham, NC to Sugar Creek, OH, where I attended NuCamp's rally called, "uCamp". Going up was through W. Va, and I came back through Kentucky via Asheville, so lots of big hills. Overall mileage was about 16 mpg, which I find pretty darn good. My loaded [email protected] is about 1800 #. I used cruise control when it was reasonably flat, and slowed down for bigger climbs. Overall speed was about 63-67 mph.

With these small trailers and the G2 RL, have any of you used tow mirrors? I found the RL side mirrors quite good as-is, but have no idea what I'm missing since I've never tried add-on tow mirrors.

With our 6X12 cargo trailer and folding camper we have found auxiliary mirrors to be unnecessary. But we're planning on purchasing a wider travel trailer where auxiliary mirrors will become necessary. I have requested recommendations here several times over the past couple of years about auxillary mirrors that work well with the Ridgeline, but unfortunately little to no information has been forth coming.

Bill

 

[GOAT]

I just got back from my first trip towing a 2017 [email protected] 320 S Max with my '22 RTL. My trip was Durham, NC to Sugar Creek, OH, where I attended NuCamp's rally called, "uCamp". Going up was through W. Va, and I came back through Kentucky via Asheville, so lots of big hills. Overall mileage was about 16 mpg, which I find pretty darn good. My loaded [email protected] is about 1800 #. I used cruise control when it was reasonably flat, and slowed down for bigger climbs. Overall speed was about 63-67 mph.

With these small trailers and the G2 RL, have any of you used tow mirrors? I found the RL side mirrors quite good as-is, but have no idea what I'm missing since I've never tried add-on tow mirrors.

I don't see the need for tow mirrors with our trailer-