Towing MPG Test Yields Interesting Results for Gladiator Diesel and F-150 Hybrid

These two vehicles have been working hard for The Fast Lane Truck and TFLnow YouTube channels, with the F-150 PowerBoost recently charging a fully-electric BMW i3 in about three hours and the Gladiator having an encounter with some... huge logs, among other shenanigans.

Now it’s time for something a bit more classic, as in going around their standard 66-mile (106-km) test loop in order to compare the official mpg ratings against the real-world encounter with the traffic and the pump. But, first up, there’s an added benefit – they're also going to be testing the real-world mileage when towing a large (6,000-lbs) trailer.

Their clear goal was to see if the full-size 2021 F-150 Hybrid was going to wind up having better towing mpg than a Jeep Gladiator Diesel. So, after spending a few hours hooking up the trailer – it turns out the process was so long and arduous it was night by the time all the fine calibration was done – the next day, both trucks meet up with “Mr. Truck” at the truck stop.

As they kick off the journey with a mandatory first stop at the gas station, from the 3:05 mark we find out the setting. The 2021 F-150 gets the trailer first, of course, and the 66-mile loop (with the cruise control set up at no more than 70 mph / 113 kph) is long enough for the guys to have some time to discuss the two vehicles.

We’re more interested in the actual results, though, which can be seen from the 6:55 mark for the first leg of the journey. Next up is the Jeep Gladiator Diesel’s turn to get hooked up to that massive trailer that gets the midsize pickup rightfully maxed out on its towing rating.

Interestingly, this is where we’re getting the first conclusion – the diesel version is much more adept at towing even this heavy load compared to their own Gladiator with the gasoline engine. By the way, the second conclusion comes just as natural, because from the 12:25 mark you can check out the results of the second leg of the journey.

With all the figures in front of us (both in the video embedded below and the gallery above) it’s quite obvious the Gladiator Diesel performs better while towing compared to the F-150 Hybrid. On the other hand, the Ford has a massive (mpg) upper hand when cruising empty – as it fared much better than its smaller rival in that respect.