OT: towing vs not towing - efficiency

[doubt at inwave.com (Nate Mellom)]

A good friend of mine took a Dodge Ram and a very large flatbed deck 
trailer (meant for hauling large farm equipment) from Wisconsin to 
California to pick up a Citroen DS he bought on eBay.  The truck 
averaged 12 mpg unloaded, 8 mpg with the trailer, and 5 mpg with the 
trailer and DS.  The car wasn't running, so it had to be towed.  He 
probably would have gotten better results with a dolly (the trailer is 
VERY heavy), but he couldn't dolly it.

You could always do the calculations.  I'd guess depending on the tow 
vehicle, you'd be better off towing, unless both cars would average more 
mpg than the tow vehicle and load.

Nate


Koabi Brooks wrote:
> I had planned on driving a uhaul type thing down to AZ from CO while towing
> a car.  Now it looks like I'll have a job interview so I am considering
> driving a car down early and flying back which would free up the need for
> the trailer.  Anyways I started wondering if its more efficient to tow a 
> car
> with a truck or to drive a car and the truck.  I assume that the towing
> arrangement would be most efficient because you have one engine running
> instead of two, but that's not really much of a conclusion.
> 
> discuss if you're bored :)
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