A cheap vfr 400 popped up on kijiji.ca, $2000 CAN. CHEAP! So my dad sent his canadian friend to go buy it. Now time to go get it, which is an 1800 mile round trip. We had done this once before, renting a uhaul at the beginning of the trip to pick up my cbr 250r. The uhaul "motorcycle" trailer is a real pig, probably weighs 2000 lbs alone and has a nice barn door at the back to catch the air. (Yes we tried to take it off, pretty sure its welded on.)
Here is what the trailer looks like:
On the way up, we got 18 mpg with that empty uhaul trailer...with a mazda cx-5 rated for 32 mpg highway...After picking up the 250, mpg improved slightly, maybe 19 mpg, still terrible. Oh yeah, and I got to see Detroit for the first time in my life. It was ON FIRE. Literally on fire. I think that tells you all you need to know about that city.
Not real excited about doing that again. We didn't have a trailer yet, but were planning to get one in the future. Dad didn't have the money ready to buy one at the moment. So the uhaul almost happened again. Instead I offered to loan MY MONEY to buy a PROPER motorcycle trailer so we aren't stuck getting 18 mpg again. We bought an Ace foldable motorcycle trailer. Tiny little thing that tucks in behind the car nicely. Weighs probably 250-300 lbs. Better yet, it fits inside the car, so no trailer on the way up!
On the way up he got 28 mpg, supposedly going 75-80 mph. On the way back, 29 mpg, slowly at first but later also at 75-80 mph.
Doing some simple calculations, here would be the fuel usage for the two trailers.
Uhaul: 97.3 gallons @ 18.5 mpg
Ace: 63.2 @ 28.5 mpg
34.1 gallons saved
So I single handedly saved 34.1 gallons by loaning my money to buy a proper trailer!
Will update with pics of my new baby viffer when I get home.