Borrowed the brother's Ridgeline again this weekend to pull a light trailer (not the same trailer used in the MPG vs MPH test, above).
Went about ~220 km (~125 mi) pulling a small, empty ~200 lb flat trailer one way, then loaded it up with ~400 lbs for the return trip. The trailer height (loaded) was lower than the height of the hard tonneau on the bed. 2 adults on board + about another ~400 lbs of tools & junk.
Managed
24 mpg (US) for the round trip... which had me groaning the whole way! Ack!
Single digit MPG acceleration is not for the faint of heart.
And this was under nearly ideal conditions: fine weather, no A/C, rural highways with max. posted speed limit of 80 km/h (50 mph). No, on second thought, about 60 km / ~35 miles of that was with the empty trailer going ~90-95 km/h (~55 mph) on a multi-lane freeway. Right lane, of course.
Major technique used was DWL (driving with load).
Average speed for the whole trip (per the ScanGauge, including stops) was
39 mph.
I need to get a trailer hitch on my Firefly (or the Insight)!
Either could have hauled this load and easily halved the fuel consumption. (I have a hitch on the electric car, but it's only good for around town hauling, obviously.)
I filled it up on our return ... and, while watching the numbers on the pump, felt sorry for people who drive vehicles like this if they don't really need to.