Miles per Tank for 12 foot Penske?
 

Renting Penske 12 foot truck between Sacramento and Cape Coral, FL Have you calculated what's the average miles per TANK?

I'm renting a 12 foot Penske (Van-like front with box in back) from Sacramento, CA to Cape Coral, FL. My plan is to drive south to Moreno Valley, CA to pick up the stuff and drive to Albuquerque via I-10 to Phoenix then up via AZ-87 to I-40.

After couple days of visiting in ABQ I will then continue to drive from ABQ to Austin, TX via mostly non-interstate roads where I will spend time there for a day before heading out I-10 to Florida and south on I-75. I know it's about 10mpg but my question to Fuelly members if they had driven 12 foot Penske and how many miles from full tank to near empty so I can plan ahead.

Thanks in Advance! :-)

10 MPG? Is that a typo? Please dont tell me it runs on petrol and has an auto tranny too...

It undoubtedly runs on gasoline (petrol) and has an automatic transmission. I'd bet for closer to 8 mpg than to 10. The thing is a truck (lorry) and has lousy aerodynamics. Absent more information, I'd plan on filling it every 200 miles. Hope your credit card has a good limit. Keep your speeds under 60 mph or pay the price.

10, seriously!?

I recently used a Volkswagen Crafter Luton, a similar sized vehcile, a bit bigger actually at 13 feet.

I ran it for several hundred miles, fully laden for most of the time, at motorway speeds, across London and returned just shy of 30 (UK) mpg.

It was a 2 litre turbocharged diesel with a 6spd manual transmission and a pleasure to drive.

Would you be able to hire a vehcile similar to that?



I've just looked up the Freightliner Sprinter, which seems to be related to the Crafter, available in the US, and is fitted with a 2.1 twin-turbocharged diesel, a 7spd transmission, nice!

I did the obvious. I went to https://www.pensketruckrental.com/moving-trucks.html and looked up what Penske says. Truck is estimated to get 12 mpg, has a 35 gallon tank, and has an automatic transmission. That would give it a range of 420 miles per tank.

Is every vehicle in America designed to guzzle fuel like this? Its laughable that a vehicle this size runs on gas anyway, the auto tranny makes it seem even more of a joke. A vehicle this size should get at least 25 to 30 MPG, you are being ripped off big time!

Penske rentals along with several other companies like Ryder and Uhaul are designed for average American Drivers to be able to rent one and drive it themselves. They are all equipped with an automatic transmission since few drivers licensed in the US in the last 20 years can drive a manual transmission and most of us who have been licensed for more than 20 years haven't driven a stick in years. Most if not all are equipped with gasoline (petrol) engines because diesel is not as prevelant and the idea is to make them user friendly, not require drivers to go to truck stops and the like to refuel, another factor is that very few drivers have diesels here on this side of the pond so many renters would just drive straight to the nearest gas station and pump the same thing into the truck that they put in the personal cars, gasoline in a diesel isn't a good mix.

@SactoMailMan, I would suggest heading up to I 40 from Moreno Valley via the 215 to the 15 to the 40 East rather than taking the 10 to Phoenix if you're concerened about speeds. The 10 in that corridor tends to have very fast moving traffic and the speed limit once you cross the Colorado River into Arizona goes up to 75 or 80 mph if my memory serves. Also, you would be well served to fuel earlier rather than later when the opportunity affords itself. That truck may have a hard time fitting under the roof line at some gas stations and you don't want to be sweatting it on fumes only to pull up to a service station only to realize that you're clearance height won't allow you access to the pumps. I've been there done that in the past with a full sized Chevy Van and a "car topper" aluminum boat on roof racks, not fun.

I am disappointed. I was eagerly awaiting the line about fat, lazy Americans who can't be bothered to learn to drive manual transmissions.

More seriously, a vehicle getting 25 mpg at 60 mph is burning about 2.4 gallons of fuel per hour. Gasoline engines are hard pressed to get over 11 horsepower-hours per gallon. That means it is making maybe 26 horsepower, and it will only be that efficient at wide-open throttle. I'd like to see anyone push a vehicle that size and shape at 60 mph with 26 horsepower.

Power means nothing, it's torque that matters. Havnt you seen the clips of a tiny Land Rover play tug of war with a huge 6.0 L Dodge? My friend drives a huge truck that weighs over 20 tonnes fully laden, it only has 200 HP but the torque is insane. Torque is another thing Americans struggle with, no offense.

Power is torque multiplied by engine speed. Engine torque is multiplied in the gear train and ends up producing ground thrust through the drive wheels. Thrust moves the vehicle, and it makes little difference whether the thrust is produced by a small high-revving engine geared down a lot or a large slow-turning engine geared down less. The 26 horsepower I used as an example equates to about 162 pounds of thrust at 60 mph. The vehicle doesn't care how the thrust is produced.

Thanks everyone for your comments!

@Bates, I was planning on 10 to PHX up on 87, etc to Holbrook and take 40 to ABQ. I tend to drive slower like 60MPH to conserve gas and to enjoy the surroundings since I'm not in rush! (after Texas to Florida is another story LOL!).

I even thought about taking 10 to CA62 up to Twenty Palms then take small road (Amboy Road) to Historic 66 to Needles and then 40 to ABQ. What do you think?

@SactoMailman, I've driven the Amboy road to Vegas once about 18 years ago, picked up a buddy who was stationed at 29 Palms and drove him to Vegas for a bachelor party, that is some lonely road with many miles between service stations or civilazation for that matter. If you're a fan of the desert, it is an intersting drive and the Amboy Crater is pretty impressive.

You could also take Arizona 60 off of I10 and cut up that way, but check to make sure that it hits the I40, I'm not positive it does.

@SactoMailman, the 12' Penske/Uhaul/ etc rentals are notoriously bad on fuel.

Depending on the weight that you are loading into the truck, your fuel consumption will vary because the tow/haul button will not be activated until your 1st stop, then realize you have driven 200 miles at highway, yet the rental shop forgot to mention its function. (If you have the Ford E150/E250 front end).

The Horsepower/Torque of the vehicle is what drives the wheels,and as you know with gas propelled , pushing the pedal to make the rpms faster sometimes give you more horsepower. Unfortunately the Power/Torque curve for the larger engines of Chevy/Ford/Dodge are not so easily found.

IF you drop the Roadspeed by 5 MPH you will save the SQUARE of the value as an improvement in MPG.

IF you use the tow/haul switch until you get on the Interstate / Large Strait Stretches of road, then on the straight stretches disengage the tow haul so the Auto Tranny goes to OVerdrive.

When you are going up the Steeper stretches of road at the base of the hill, put 4 ways(Flashers) on , as your roadspeed may drop

By using the tow/haul you will save fuel, because in the end you are not working the tranny too hard ,to push you up the hill.

Since you are starting from CA, after getting to the next State, Fillup the vehicle and stick to the Known Roads, as it is easier to find fillup stations.

Check GasBuddy.com along the way, Use Your Custom Vehicle Stats of 8 MPG/ Check the Fuel Tank for Capacity, and allow 50 Miles/1 hour of driving for the Variations of driving style.

Ease up on the Accelelrator, as you approach the crest of a hill, and let momentum carry you over the top.

Safe driving, as its a long drive.

from a former Long Distance Driver -CVDY

@SactoMailman The Penske Site lists 12 foot vans as holding 35 gallons of gas. Given the Source and Destination Zip codes thats almost 5 day journey. (maybe more). The penske website quotes approx 1500.00 for the rental alone. (rental from 10/16 to 10/21)... I an guessing that shipping it in a container is not an option for you.

Guessing 10 MPG, and a 35 gallon tank, you are going to be filling up regularly. (See if You Can get a hold of a 22 foot Diesel Truck instead(with hydraulic brakes)] The Fuel consumption will be a lot less. And the 22 foot have 50 gallon tanks.

The total weight pushing down the road is up to 22,000 Pounds.

I drive school buses, and while it is not a direct comparison the two Diesel buses are rated just under 30000 pounds; have turbocharged Diesels and six-speed automatic transmissions with torque-converter lockup; and get somewhere in the 8 mpg range (I cannot be more specific because I am not in charge of filling them). They have top speeds about 72 mph, probably because of engine rpm limits. These are conventional front-engine buses, not pushers, and do not have air conditioning. The killer is not weight, but aerodynamics. Big vehicles move a lot of air.

@SactoMailMan, one other thing that I forgot to mention, fill up in Arizona, not California if possible. Arizona doesn't have So Cal's AQMD mandates and therefore you can get pure gasoline, not the gasohol crap we get here, that will give you a significant increase in mileage due to the higher btu's in gasoline compared to methonol. For my cars I get 10-20 percent increase in mileage by using Arizona gas not to mention that you won't be paying all the CA gas taxes, so you pay less and get more mileage, a true win / win situation.