older motor homes-jamboree, Tioga etc.

[desertguy24]

It seems as if these sorts of RVs only get 10-15 mpg. Even an older ford Brougham I looked at fetches 10-15. Should I be happy with that? The alternative seems to be Road Trek, so you lose all the living space and are stuck in a van with two people but you gain mpg. Or is there another way to approach this? Road Treks have such a crazy asking price....Isn't there an older RV which obtains decent mileage? I can't believe people drive around with Rvs which top out at 5 mpg. That's nuts...

[Sun2Retire]

I can't believe people drive around with Rvs which top out at 5 mpg. That's nuts...

While there have been improvements efficiency, it all comes down to a math problem. It still takes a lot of horsepower (i.e., fuel) to move a heavy, large vehicle down the road.


What sort of mileage does your house get? 

[WILDEBILL308]

It seems as if these sorts of RVs only get 10-15 mpg. Even an older ford Brougham I looked at fetches 10-15. Should I be happy with that? The alternative seems to be Road Trek, so you lose all the living space and are stuck in a van with two people but you gain mpg. Or is there another way to approach this? Road Treks have such a crazy asking price....Isn't there an older RV which obtains decent mileage? I can't believe people drive around with Rvs which top out at 5 mpg. That's nuts...

Call me nuts if you want but my condo gets 8-9 MPG (over the last 4600 miles). My toad gets 30+ I go to a new area and explore with the toad.
I bet in reality the old Ford only gets 9-10. By the way I am leaving on another trip Thursday. Yep I am nuts but I am traveling.
By the way welcome to the forum.
Bill

[Pugapooh]

The whole idea of a house going down the road is crazy!

Nobody said this was gonna be cheap.

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Isn't there an older RV which obtains decent mileage? I can't believe people drive around with Rvs which top out at 5 mpg. That's nuts...

Short answer is NO. Smaller van or pick-up styles do better, but anything with a substantial house is going to be in the 8-10 mpg arena. If on an 80's vintage vehicle chassis, probably 5-8 mpg.   Medium and heavy duty trucks got 4-6 mpg back in that era.  Weight (which creates tire rolling resistance) and frontal area (wind resistance) makes for hard work!

The good news is that bigger ones aren't any worse - 40 foot diesel coaches still get about 8 mpg.

[WILDEBILL308]

Garry, It won't help the OP but the new diesel's running DEF are getting better mileage because they don't have to dial back performance for emissions. Some were running up to 40% EGR. One of the members in a club I belong to is getting 12 in his 40 ft. coach.
On the other side I had a class C with a thirsty 460 that got 4-6 mpg less in town.
desertguy24, The newer coach you can buy the better mileage you will get. you want all the improvements you can get. Better engine. fuel injection more gears
 6-9 in a gas coach is about what reality is.
Bill

[Spring Creek]

All figures below interstate driving at or about 65mph and all with 6.8L Ford gas.

2016 Class C 27 ft = 6-8 mpg towing.  Best mileage was 9.2 w/o towing and 30mph tailwind for an entire day.
2016 Class A 38 ft = same as above (I was surprised too...figured a larger coach would be less mpg)
2018 Class C 33 ft = same as above

All numbers hand calculated using actual miles divided by gallons.

Bottom line is 3 different units and nothing under 6 and nothing substantial over 9.  Can you get better mpg with a small coach w/ diesel?  Sure, but they cost more so I'm not sure it's a real form of savings when you pencil it out.

If gas $$ are that important, you may get better than 9 but you'll have to drive 50-55 mph....and that is a maybe.   I used to cringe the first few times I filled up.  Now I just consider it the cost of doing business.

If the money spent on gas is a concern, probably should look at another form of fun.  RV'ing isn't cheap.

And, I don't need a wind tunnel or a PhD to prove a brick has horrible aerodynamics 

[Mile High]

Boy,
My Dad's Tioga with a carbureted 460 made him smile if it got 6 mpg  

[desertguy24]

I have never checked the mileage on my house....My goal is to avoid the Ford 460 motor. Nearly every older motor home I see seems to have that very engine.

[WILDEBILL308]

Hear is a good buy for the money.
 https://www.pplmotorhomes.com/used-rvs-for-sale/class-a/1999-fleetwood-bounder_rv-37024
No slides but it does have new tires. The Ford V10 is a great engine.
Tell me what you think about it.
Bill

[mikebreeze]

That 1999 Bounder does look good, the mileage is about average and the price is right.  The only thing that I'm not crazy about is the material used on the sofa, chair and drapes. 

[desertguy24]

i appreciate the link but I really don't like Class A motor homes...They always remind me of Greyhound and I doubt I could drive one without piling it up. I really want a class c or a class B.....we used to have  a Toyota Dolphin which was actually a Toyota pick-up truck with a manual tranny so putting gas in it was not scary. Trouble was, pulling that Camper shell, so to speak, was crazy and horribly under powered.
I think I achieved about 13.5 mpg. That was fine. My concern about buying this motor home is that we live in a time of fracking and petroleum glut. That won't last. gas is reasonable now but.....next year could be different. I guess i should be content as the guy who wants to sell me this retro Ford brougham says he gets between 10-15 mpg.  I would think those would be good mpg owing to the fiberglass,,,,

[ArdraF]

I have never checked the mileage on my house

Dang!  What fun are you?  Here I was looking for a really interesting number....

Desertguy24, if you get over 8mpg in any '80s motorhome I'd be surprised.  We had three gas Cs with Chevy, Dodge 440, and Chevy 454 engines between  1972 and 1999 and I don't recall much under 8mpg unless going downhill with a tailwind!  One year up in Newfoundland we paid US$6/US gallon for our diesel pusher.  Definitely not cheap!  But we sure had a great trip.  If the cost of fuel is going to be stressful, then having a motorhome might not be for you because it should be fun.

By the way, as I recall those Toyota Dolphins were grossly underpowered and easily over weight.

ArdraF

[WILDEBILL308]

i appreciate the link but I really don't like Class A motor homes...They always remind me of Greyhound and I doubt I could drive one without piling it up. I really want a class c or a class B.....we used to have  a Toyota Dolphin which was actually a Toyota pick-up truck with a manual tranny so putting gas in it was not scary. Trouble was, pulling that Camper shell, so to speak, was crazy and horribly under powered.
I think I achieved about 13.5 mpg. That was fine. My concern about buying this motor home is that we live in a time of fracking and petroleum glut. That won't last. gas is reasonable now but.....next year could be different. I guess i should be content as the guy who wants to sell me this retro Ford brougham says he gets between 10-15 mpg.  I would think those would be good mpg owing to the fiberglass,,,,

Did you bother to look at the class C coaches on that site?
Bill

[ArdraF]

The only thing that I'm not crazy about is the material used on the sofa, chair and drapes.

Fabrics can be changed as can flooring materials and things like sofas.  You should check out our Remodeling your RV board to see how much can be done.  If you find a floor plan you both love and feel like it could be home then you're on track and can make cosmetic changes.  If there are too many negatives or impossible structural changes, then you need to keep looking.

They always remind me of Greyhound and I doubt I could drive one without piling it up.

They're all boxes and we can't do much about that, but As often are easier to drive than Cs.  I've loved all our motorhomes (both Cs and As) but love driving our As.  And you certainly get more bang for your buck especially in terms of livability and storage which you will need fulltiming.  We've never been full-timers but we often spend months at a time traveling so as part-timers know the importance of comfort and livability features - whether a C or A.  I wouldn't recommend a B for full-timing although some people do it.  Just not my ideal.

ArdraF

[cgmartin]

10 to 15 mpg? Not even my 2016 Buick gets that good a mileage. My Class C Tioga gets about 7.5 to 8 mpg on a mirror glass surface and without any bumps, and driving at 58.5 mph

[muskoka guy]

This guy is just telling you what you want to hear. There is no way you are getting anywhere near 10 to 15 miles per gallon in anything bigger than a stripped down B class. My tundra barely gets that if it does most of the time. Dont be scared of an A class. They are just like driving a car, only a bit bigger. lol  C class mhs are  just as wide and usually just as long as a smaller A. Good luck and happy travels.

[Mile High]

I have never checked the mileage on my house....My goal is to avoid the Ford 460 motor. Nearly every older motor home I see seems to have that very engine.

They ran neck and neck with the Chev 454, which was a POS in my opinion.   The primary failure on the old Fords was the transmission, and the GMs was the engine and that 454 was expensive to replace and even find.

[desertguy24]

The Toyota dolphin was grossly underpowered.....Imagine a 4 -cylinder motor trying ti pull that weight. it did get you there after a while.  My memory is of 13.5 mpg.

[WILDEBILL308]

You need to seriously go look at that bounder again or some of the outer coaches. You can find out what engine they have.
Bill

[desertguy24]

Bill: That Bounder for sale-you sent me the link-what would you estimate it would cost me to drive that thing from here to where I want to be in the summer, 424 miles one-way. I would not be towing anything.....jeep, Plymouth Neon nada....it's a hilly 424 rising to 7000 feet from 598 feet above sea level...

[Sun2Retire]

Bill: That Bounder for sale-you sent me the link-what would you estimate it would cost me to drive that thing from here to where I want to be in the summer, 424 miles one-way. I would not be towing anything.....jeep, Plymouth Neon nada....it's a hilly 424 rising to 7000 feet from 598 feet above sea level...

$150-200 in fuel assuming nothing breaks

[Old_Crow]

I've got an '00 37' Bounder with the V-10.  Just drove across Hwy 64 in N New Mexico/Oklahoma.  Fuel mileage was about 5mpg in western NM(including 3 10,000' summits), and around 7 across eastern NM/OK(fairly flat). 
I usually try for 300-350 miles a day, so, basically 1 fill-up at around $115-$125 a day.  You get used to it after a while.

[WILDEBILL308]

To many variables to give a fixed cost. I would use 6mpg as a planning number. If you get better mileage you are ahead of the game. I would use 6 with any RV till you have concrete history.
I would plan on setting the jeep up as a towed. Much cheaper to drive the Jeep to town for grocery's or to go exploring.
Bill

[desertguy24]

good info....but I believe my fear of vehicles and cost stems from my Mother giving me a fixed amount of money when i was a kid  to go to swim class in a taxi. i would watch the taxi meter-ping ping ping.....wondering if I had enough cash to cover the trip. Always hated that-especially when at a stop light going nowhere but the meter still churned....ping ping ping....I just want a simple conveyance with mileage not resembling one of Patton's tanks slogging through North Africa. My cousin JUST TOLD told me his 80s Sunrader achieves 17-18 mpg. I think it's AN '84. bILL, NO TOWING FOR ME! The wife drives the Toyota behind me.....

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Garry, It won't help the OP but the new diesel's running DEF are getting better mileage because they don't have to dial back performance for emissions.

They are only "better" than the diesels built after 1/1/2007 but before DEF (1/1/2010). The DEF (SCR) engines get back the mpg that was lost when the 2007 emissions regs went into effect. Engines built prior to 2007 already got an mpg equal or better than DEF engines.

[Gary RV_Wizard]

My cousin JUST TOLD told me his 80s Sunrader achieves 17-18 mpg. I think it's AN '84

The Toyota mini-truck based campers like the Sunrader and Dolphin did indeed get decent mpg, though I think your cousin is bragging more than a little!  Sunraders were built up until about 1990, so you might find one that isn't totally worn out mechanically. Whether the house body is Ok is still another question. And those are pretty small as well.

If you are much afraid of unexpected expenses, buying an old, old RV ought to scare the beejezus out of you. Especially one that was overloaded when it left the factory!


http://toyotarvforsale.com/tag/sunrader/page/2/

[WILDEBILL308]

good info....but I believe my fear of vehicles and cost stems from my Mother giving me a fixed amount of money when i was a kid  to go to swim class in a taxi. i would watch the taxi meter-ping ping ping.....wondering if I had enough cash to cover the trip. Always hated that-especially when at a stop light going nowhere but the meter still churned....ping ping ping....I just want a simple conveyance with mileage not resembling one of Patton's tanks slogging through North Africa. My cousin JUST TOLD told me his 80s Sunrader achieves 17-18 mpg. I think it's AN '84. bILL, NO TOWING FOR ME! The wife drives the Toyota behind me.....

Ok why do you hate your wife? If you can't budget 5-8 MPG for fuel expense quit wasting our time. THERE IS NO RV OUT THER YOU CAN AFORRD THAT GETS 17-18 MPG.
Your cousin  is lying to you.
Bill

[desertguy24]

starstarstarstarstar   1986 Winnebago Lesharo
by: Anonymous

turbo diesel, front wheel drive. 22mpg
I've owned 6 of these. I have gotten as high as 24 mpg once or twice.
(Random listing on the web....)

[desertguy24]

I own two Sunraders one is a 1983 with a 22R motor 4-speed 21ft. The other is a 1988 with a 22RE, auto trans, it is 18ft. Runs strong with over 200,000 miles on it. Gets 17 mpg on the highway.
Chuck
(Random web posting)