Polar Bear Suburban

[84chevyguyid]

Larry, what kind of mileage do you get with the suburban both empty and towing your camper? Best and worst mpg?

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by 84chevyguyid

Larry, what kind of mileage do you get with the suburban both empty and towing your camper? Best and worst mpg?

That is everybody’s favorite question. The Suburban pulls 12/13 most of the time and about 10/11 MPG with the travel trailer behind it. This is about 1 to 1.5 better MPG than it did with the old gutless 5.7L. More power and better fuel economy as the 8.1L isn’t working its tail off to move this big ole rig. Now the K10 with the 8.1L gets lower fuel economy due to its weight and aerodynamics with the camper on top. That one gets 10/11 and probably single digits flying down the Interstate at 85 MPH.

My stock Silverado with an 8.1L always did the worse in fuel economy but I recently had the ECM retuned but have not checked fuel economy yet but I can already tell it is up there with the Suburban if not even greater. What kills fuel economy with an 8.1L is an automatic trans, especially an Allison. If you can run a manual and shift them at low RPM’s like a diesel is the key to getting decent economy out of them. All of my 8.1Ls have manuals behind them.

[84chevyguyid]

Thanks for the info. So if you had to choose between automatics, allison or 4l80e?

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by 84chevyguyid

Thanks for the info. So if you had to choose between automatics, allison or 4l80e?

If you must have an Automatic, 4L80E would be the best. NV4500 manual is my preference