Prius pulling an RV? What do you pull !!

Nothing IMO aside from they are the lightest, most purpose built trailers out there. It seems like a name brand thing to me & the "extreme" engineering to achieve it's light weight/size similar to road bicycle equipment if you're familiar with that analogy.

 

Some excellent and useful posts. Please keep them coming and enlighten us with your abundance of wisdom.

 

That was likely an editorial addition from a media outlet that doesn't understand stuff like that. Pretty forgivable IMO.

 

See what cold weather does to the brain? It freezes brain cells....

 

Hi all. I'm looking to purchase a 2016 over my current 2013 that I own just so that I can tow a tiny micro sized camper.
My question is: With the new tow allowance of the 2016+, will that be safe in mountainous areas such as traveling to the Colorado mountains? We would probably install air shocks.
Advice?

 

You should talk with Toyota and ask them what the weight limit is and if you need air shocks or not.
And what precautions you might need to take. But it will probably be tricky!

 

Besides shocks, there's braking distance to consider.

 

The 2016 is not rated in the US for towing.

What's the weight your towing and have a pic of the camper? I run the helper airbags from Firestone which is easy to install and helps. I have had success with towing 1500lbs with my C and showed Toyota employees at the LA Auto show to their surprise lol. I normally pull a Jetski with mine but but not pull more then a teardrop trailer personally and would add brakes to the trailer.

 

Just pulled our home built camper from Minneapolis,MN to Portland, OR. Camper weighs about #1800, two people and gear in the camper probably weighed #700, so we were quite heavy. Camper has electric brakes (installed a brake controller in the Prius). We also have air bags in the Prius rear end. I tried to keep the MG1 temp below 230, but occasionally would peak higher on longer climbs (longest climb was 6% for about 3/4mile). I would try to keep the kW below 40, and on the biggest climbs and our speed would drop to ~30mph. We generally kept our speed between 45-55mph though. Car seems to be doing well, but I think I'll take it in to look at the transmission fluid (which we replaced just before the trip) and see if there are any signs of wear.

Had to slam on the brakes once for some deer, actually stopped faster than without the trailer!

 

I should have also said, we got 24mpg for the 1900mile trip.

 

An accident, begging to happen. Probably to some innocent young family.

 

Good reason to be in an SUV these days.....
Although.....the most recent Prius Darwinian Award aspirate at least knows what electric brakes and air bags are for - the ones in back, not the ones that will deploy if Newtonian Laws start to assert themselves.....

2000# isn't completely irresponsible for a 3200# vehicle.....but it's probably a little outside the safe operating envelope for these cars if you start adding in terrain features and interstate speed.

Not completely throwing shade....but if I get hit by an ant moving a rubber tree plant then somebody had better not be insured at the state minimum for liability.....

 

We had a mechanic look at our transmission fluid after our drive and it still looks new! I should also point out that we have SUSPENSION SPRING air bags, should have been more clear about that in my original post.

 

I have a 2012 Prius 3 and have not done any modifications for towing. I towed Uhaul trailers loaded with heavy king size bed, entertainment center, dresser etc. I towed Yamaha jet ski with ease. Recently I bought a small boat Scarab 165 that I was not sure if Prius can Handel it because this is the heaviest I towed so far. The boat dry weight is 1600 lbs and the trailer is almost 500 lbs. the tank is almost full with 15-20 gallons of fuel. In the car just me and my wife around 290 lbs. When we purchased the boat we drove 40 miles on freeway with ease 60 mph, I even passed a Chevy truck towing a small boat but it was fishtailing maybe that’s why he drove slow. I monitored the fuel consumption was around 30-40 mpg a little bit less than what I use when not towing. The only thing I did was I used power mode instead of Eco mode and I increased the rear tire pressure to 36 psi and the trailer tires to 40 psi. I don’t have a long drive to boat ramp from my home so I think I should be ok. This was the first time I towed so much weight with my Prius and it did it without struggle or problems. I even backed up my boat into my garage uphill without problem. When I connected the boat and let go my foot from break it drove forward even with not pushing the gas pedal. The road to my home was almost flat only a couple bridges on the freeway that my speed came down maybe 5 mph because I did not push the gas pedal to compensate. On the way on freeway I did not push the gas pedal much and I’m sure if I did I could go faster but I did not want to stress the engine or shocks or springs. I’m a very happy Prius owner now and will tow my boat to the ramp regularly for now. Here are some pictures of the boat and my Prius.

 

^
Pulling 2100# of boat and trailer with STOCK 3200# car on a freeway at 60mph????
I mean....what can go wrong?

Small town ham and egg lawyers sit in their offices and daydream about people illegally (*in some states) tow boats with cars having a 0-pound factory tow rating, no trailer brakes, load leveling equipment, etc....

Me?
I just use it as justification for NEVER buying a used car.

 

If I decide to haul the boat long distance I certainly will do some modifications to accommodate that like what you suggested. I only have 3 miles to the boat ramp and I’m not hauling the boat long distance so I think I may be ok for now but if I feel the car can not handle it or it’s not safe I will stop hauling or make changes for sure. The freeway hauling was only one time affair when I bought the boat and needed to bring it home. When I connected the trailer I was carefully looked to see if the tongue weight is too much and it will push the back of the car down too much but I didn’t see any push or too much weights on the tongue. I started to test drive the car and trailer before I drove on freeway to see if it can handle it and no issues, surprisingly it could handle it nicely without any problems. During my drive on freeway I did not have any struggle or fishtailing so I think the boat position on the trailer is perfect that the weight is not in front to have much affect on the tongue weight or the weight is more at the back of the trailer so too low weight on the tongue that trailer can fishtail when towing.