Palomino Soft Side vs Hard Side gas mileage?

[Wild Turkey]

Doing lots of shopping online since no local dealers have any slide-ins on the lot.
One big question is how much gas mileage difference does the extra height of the HS vs SS make?
Anyone with any experience?
(2014 Silverado 2500 HD 4x4, 6.0L gas)

 

[Great Horned Owl]

Probably not much. Air resistance is likely to be more important than weight. I would think that the HS would have less drag, and might even get better mileage.

Joel

 

[Wild Turkey]

HS exterior is 8'4" to 9'9"; Soft is 6' closed. Even with better aerodynamics seems extra height would cause some drag.
But HS is +/- 1500 lbs heavier.
But what happens in the real world? Truck may not care

 

[Great Horned Owl]

I hadn't looked into the height difference. The lower SS will give better mileage, but probably not enough to be significant.

Joel

 

[Ernie n Tara]

Given ss is three feet shorter (1/3rd) and 1,500 lb lighter than hs and comparable towing speeds, the ss would have a large advantage, especially at higher speeds (drag vs speed is an exponential function.)

Ernie

 

[Jkoht]

I would guess you might see 2-4 mpg difference between the two. Statistically probably not enough to worry about. I think the better question is do you want to duck in and out the 3/4 door on the soft side one vs the full door of the hard side? I can tell ypu bases on experience that small door isn't exactly fun, especially if you have to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.