This MPG battle aims to answer a question a lot of you have asked — and the results are surprising!
Towing is a fact of life for a lot of folks out there, but we’ve been wanting to answer a burning question. Obviously, hooking up a trailer to your truck will impact your fuel economy, but does the type of trailer you’re using have a major impact? In this TFLtruck video, Andre and Kase set out on an MPG run in our 2025 Ford F-150 Tremor to see whether using a box trailer or a more aerodynamic arrangement with a similar weight would burn more fuel.
To see just how much of a difference we see in these two tests, we’re using the box trailer as the baseline. In this video, the truck (and its stock 5.0-liter Coyote V8) stay the same. We’re using this particular truck because of its popularity — Ford’s F-Series trucks have been the best-selling vehicle in America for nearly half a century — and because the 400-horsepower naturally aspirated V8 offers solid all-around versatility that endear it to a large number of buyers.
Our northern Colorado MPG loop, which we’ve dubbed the “Buc-ee’s 70” as we’re starting from the Buc-ee’s fuel stop in Johnstown, Colorado. From there, the guys set a steady-state highway drive at 75 mph (the speed limit on Interstate 25). For the first run, we’re using a 24-foot inTech enclosed box trailer provided by Complete Trailers: a high-profile setup that’s 8.5 feet wide and about 9 feet, 2 inches tall, with a dry weight of just over 4,000 pounds. But that’s not all, as there’s also a Kawasaki Ridge Crew side-by-side loaded inside, bringing the total weight to about 6,500 pounds (with the vehicle and all the tie-downs accounted for).
As for the second, low-profile setup, we’re using our own 20-foot Big Tex tilt bed equipment trailer that weighs in at about 3,300 pounds. On top, we have our classic 1969 Chevrolet Corvette C3 convertible (at about 3,100 pounds). The idea, of course, is to bring both setups to around the same weight point (6,400-6,500 pounds), so we can focus on the main point of whether the trailer’s aerodynamic profile makes a significant difference to fuel mileage.
So, how did each setup perform?
Over a relatively short distance of 70.2 miles, you may not expect a huge difference between these two trailer profiles in an MPG run. As it turns out (at least in our testing here), that was not the case.
In fact, the results of the box trailer run resulted in 10.2 mpg on the Buc-ee’s 70 run. As for the more aerodynamic trailer setup with the Corvette, our same Ford F-150 Tremor managed a remarkable 13.7 mpg. Between the two, that represents a 34% difference in fuel economy over this distance, in highway testing conditions. Now, there are always some factors you could change up to improve that range with either trailer, but this particular run demonstrated a substantial contrast between a high-profile trailer versus a more streamlined and aerodynamic setup.
Check out the full video below and let us know your thoughts in the comments:
