With world events destabilizing fuel prices (among other things), many truck consumers are looking at gas guzzlers with a more critical eye. We sort out the current crop of thirsty half-ton pickups.
There are a lot of compromises truck lovers make when it comes to gas-guzzling rigs, in many cases, they trade miles per gallon for horsepower and torque. In other cases, the reliability and feel of an old-school V8 are more than enough to justify the poor economy. Still, there are a lot of people who may not realize how thirsty some trucks are.
The video we produced not only shows low EPA fuel numbers, but we also recall our personal driving experiences with these vehicles. In some cases, the trucks on this list performed better than their official numbers would indicate. Some tow amazingly well, with respectable numbers under load.
With that being said, we included MPG numbers of many of these vehicles from a few of our test loops. As you’ll see, they may not be the most efficient as commuters, but many returned good towing results.
It’s a give and take. If you’re shopping for a pickup truck, do you need to tow a trailer often? If not, maybe you should consider a more efficient ride.
Here are the results of the EPA numbers, and some of our towing numbers, for the top five guzzlers:
- Ford F-150 5.0 V8 4×4 16 city/22 highway/18 combined
Towing on our 66 mile loop, we got 9.84 mpg – which was better than the Ford equipped with an EcoBoost on the same loop.
- Nissan Titan 4×4 Pro4X (EPA rating on Premium fuel) 15 city/20 highway/17 combined
Towing, we got up to 8.6 mpg in our loop in a 2017 model. The newer nine-speed transmission is more efficient.
- Ram 1500 5.7 V8 15/21/17. Oddly, the mileage is very similar with the new generation Ram, and the “Classic.”
We averaged 16 mpg in the attached video.
- Chevy Silverado 4X4 6-speed with the 5.3 V8 14/16/15 … on E85 it gets 11 mpg combined
Towing, it got 10.6 MPG on our loop.
- 2021 Toyota Tundra 13/17/14. Yes, we know the new Tundra is a whole different enchilada, but there are still a few dealership lots selling the older model. It averaged 11 MPG towing loop of 66 miles.
Obviously, not all things are equal. Many of these vehicles pulled similar loads, but in “real world” conditions, it’s difficult to exactly recreate the exact same environmental conditions.
