Tow report from DE to Niagara Falls

C5FE · 06-27-2004, 09:04 PM

Well I know some of you want to know how the Nissan pulls. I previously had a 02 Chevy Z71 with 5.3 and it did a pretty good job pulling my 28' Coachmen trailer. Nissan did it right. The truck performed very good. I went from Harrington, DE up 1 to I95 to I476 through the Pocono's on I81 to the NY thruway. There are some perculiarities though. I have the Big Tow and Offroad package. I engaged tow mode and started out doing what the manual suggests of towing in "4" and it does well on slightly rolling terrain and less than 60 mph. It almost acts like there is an overdrive in this gear and drops almost 500RPM vs. the "D" position. If you like to travel the speed limit on most Interstates or slightly faster than I would say "D" is a better choice. When I had it in "4" and came to a relatively large/long hill the transmission would not kick out of the "overdrive mode" and would bog down til it had to shift into third. Anyway when I put it in "D" the hills were alot better so when it shifted down to fourth there was more power and never did I need to shift down to third. Okay once when I decided to pass a Chevy on a hill towing a coparably sized camper. Smoked past him! The tranny is nice though. Very smooth, especially when you compare it to Chevy but Chevy does have a good rep for strong trannies. Hope Nissan does too. Guess time will tell. Anyway, back to the trip. Gas mileage was about what I expected to a little worse. I was barely getting 14 in mixed driving without towing so I was hoping for 10. Well, I got about 10 to 11 on the NY thruway but that dropped to about 8 to 9 in the Pocono's. I did get a gas mileage check in Niagara Falls and saw slightly better than 15. Total towing miles was about 1100 and now the total miles on the truck is 3400. Needs to go in for an oil change and fluid checks to include differentials. I never noticed any high temps while towing. This truck feels real good and towing performance is great for a half ton and I'll even bet it could hold it's own against some 3/4 ton gas trucks.

Would like to say thanks to every one for the great reads. I get a lot of info from here and now with my service check due I'm armed with things to take to the dealer.

Thankyou
Chad

**CaliforniaTitan** · 06-27-2004, 09:29 PM

Thanks for the report Chad. What are all the wieghts for your Coachmen setup if I may ask? (Tongue, laden, etc).

Chris

C5FE · 06-27-2004, 09:41 PM

Never had the trailer weighed. the manufacture weight is close to 5,000 without accessories and mine is fairly well accessorized and with the supplies we carried I'd say it close to 6,000 lbs. I also had about 500lbs of wood and tools in the bed of the truck. Wish I had more precise info. Maybe some day I'll get that info. I'll have to get some pics posted too I suppose.

Chad

**CaliforniaTitan** · 06-27-2004, 09:59 PM

Thanks again Chad...a rough idea is good. We are looking at 24'26' Travel Trailers ourselves but are having to wait for a bit now. Might actually buy this fall/winter which is fine...should get one heck of a deal.

Chris

greg w · 06-28-2004, 04:07 AM

Your getting to the mileage that you should start seeing an improvement in mpg.
I was getting around 13 - 15 highway early on but now with 7k I'm seeing 18 on the highway running at 75 mph. hope you get the same improvements in mpg. Of course heavy foot subtracts quickly. But it's worth the loss the show up a Chevy.