AWD vs 4WD fuel economy

[05tahoelt]

Is there any difference in fuel economy between Tahoes with AWD and those with selectable awd/2hi?

I just bought an 05 ith awd, I actually didnt even notice until I went to hit 4wd when we got some snow. I had an 02 tahoe and I used to notice a little difference when I put that in AWD. Just wondering If the AWD is worse on gas, and what I should expect

 

[Stargazer]

All things being equal, AWD is going to consume more fuel than 2wd. How big of a difference is hard to say. I drive with a heavy foot and mostly in the city, and I'm averaging about 11.6 mpg. But my vehicle is a lot bigger than yours so hopefully you'll do better than that.

 

[Rollin Thunder]

my 2wd with 5.3 yukon xl gets 14.3 city with a heavy foot. about 16 on highway about 75. City towing about 9 mph and highway towing about 11. I actully think If I towed with a denali It would be better. With the 6 speed and all. I know your asking about 03-06 here. but 5.3 liter in mine only has 20 more horses than the 5.3 in any tahoe your going to be looking at.

 

[Jsho13]

Towing with my Denali I get about 10-12 max (usually on the lower side). In the city I am averaging about 14 or 15 and on the highway I have gotten as good as 18 but it is usually 17 or lower.

 

[tribalbreak]

damn jsho what am i doing wrong? i average 11-13 in my 03 denali and thats being nice... if i romp it, i can literally watch my gas gauge drop... getting about 230mi. to a tank... thats with a mix of city and highway... and i have a k&n drop in.... made no visable difference

 

[05tahoelt]

damn jsho what am i doing wrong? i average 11-13 in my 03 denali and thats being nice... if i romp it, i can literally watch my gas gauge drop... getting about 230mi. to a tank... thats with a mix of city and highway... and i have a k&n drop in.... made no visable difference

Well, you have a 6.0L engine, I have a 5.3. On my first tank of gas, I got 15mpg, and its winter here so my mileage is a little worse with the winter blend gas they are selling. I primarily drive highway too.

 

[Jsho13]

damn jsho what am i doing wrong? i average 11-13 in my 03 denali and thats being nice... if i romp it, i can literally watch my gas gauge drop... getting about 230mi. to a tank... thats with a mix of city and highway... and i have a k&n drop in.... made no visable difference

hmm no idea. Maybe its time for plugs, wires, fuel filter, tune up? How many miles are on yours. I have 112k and it was in for a tune up right around 100k. Even with a real strong headwind I still get about 14mpg. We have a cottage 180 miles away and I can make it there and back on one tank. I get about 400 miles to a tank if it's just freeway and about 300 if I am city driving. No mods either with those numbers, stock exhaust and intake, stock tune.

 

[tribalbreak]

yea mine has 90k and ive done all the filters just havent gotten to the plugs and wires yet... however i did check my tire pressure today, because when i first got the truck i had much better mileage then i do now... i made sure all the tires had 35psi when i got it.. just checked them all and they all ranged from 26-29psi... so that could be part of the problem... we had a drastic change in temp here in pa since i bought the truck a few months ago

 

[boostaholic]

I got 13-14 stock in my Denali; gets 16-17 with intake, bb tune, and catback. Lately I've been getting 14-15 since gas is so cheap and 6000 rpm sounds so good.

 

[stephendudra]

Denali gas mileage

I have a BB Tune, CAI, just the Magnaflow muffler and Electric Fans installed. I am averaging around 14-15 in the city and about 16-17 on the highway. I am typing this while in Orlando right now so heading back to Jacksonville tomorrow. Getting a better mileage reading after this trip.

I will post my final reports on that tomorrow evening as I have had some city driving while here. I will tell you that the Magnaflow has a SUCK A$$ Resonance inside while driving for a distance. Enough where I am SERIOUSLY considering taking it off when I get back home.

More to come!!!!

 

[boostaholic]

Did you buy the catback or get a muffler? Mine occasionally drones around 85 or so but isn't very noticeable, these trucks have really thin floors I can't wait to get some deadener on to get rid of the road noise.

 

[stephendudra]

I put just the muffler on. I have put some sound deadning on my floor and 2 layers of the padding under the carpet. It was almost unbearable this weekend while on a trip to Orlando.

 

[Greg2002]

i get around 21mpg in 2wd i just did a test driving in 4hi its 18mpg......i muat not have as heavy of a foot as most of you. only mods i have is e fan swap, intake, throttle body spacer

 

[Rollin Thunder]

4 hi on pavement is a BIG no no. Screw up your truck so fast its not even funny. just to let anybody know.

But switch to corsa. They have a drone filter and a guarantee that it wont drone.

 

[boostaholic]

4Hi is fine on the highway, my truck is essentially full time 4hi and they sell thousands of these trucks as well as the silverado SS and any other awd truck. 4LO can be bad on the highway since you're putting alot of stress on the tcase low range gears and you probably can't go faster than 45mph :smilielol: Corsa did more r&d on frequency cancellation in their mufflers but most large magnaflows won't drone, mine is awesome 98% of the time and I feel it was a much better value than the $800 corsa.

 

[Rollin Thunder]

4Hi is fine on the highway, my truck is essentially full time 4hi and they sell thousands of these trucks as well as the silverado SS and any other awd truck. 4LO can be bad on the highway since you're putting alot of stress on the tcase low range gears and you probably can't go faster than 45mph :smilielol: Corsa did more r&d on frequency cancellation in their mufflers but most large magnaflows won't drone, mine is awesome 98% of the time and I feel it was a much better value than the $800 corsa.

Your torque is spil 40/60 though?? Right?? in 4 hi on a 4wd truck its split 50/50 and thats what binds the gears, I have read on the web (although it may not be true for all trucks) that even in a strait line its bad for the truck, turning will just murder your 4x4 drive train.

 

[boostaholic]

Nope, trucks do them all the time without issue. My truck has the nvg-149 so it continously varies torque bias to each axle independently kinda like Audi's quattro but a little more redneck since it's a truck.

 

[Rollin Thunder]

Nope, trucks do them all the time without issue. My truck has the nvg-149 so it continously varies torque bias to each axle independently kinda like Audi's quattro but a little more redneck since it's a truck.

Cool, thanks for the info. :yesnod:

 

[boostaholic]

No worries bro :cheers:

 

[Gordo]

I get about 15 in the city and about 18 in the hwy and thats going about 75-80mph usually above 77 because thats where the drone stops