I have a 2013 Five and cannot find the capacity for the car. I carried this load for 130 miles without a problem. There might have been an inch of travel left in the rear suspension. This was approximately 1,300 pounds, including me. Anyone know what Toyota recommends as their max?
According to the owner's manual, total weight should be no more than 915 pounds. You can also find it on the driver's door jam with the recommended air pressures.
Hmmm, I see that the P215/50R17 Proxes A20 tires are rated for 1,323 pounds each so that leaves a margin of 1,103 lbs. for the car's tires after the 915 pound load rating. I would say the suspension can easily handle 1,000 pounds though with the 1,300 pound load it did softly bottom in the rear a few times.
I believe the vehicle chassis and suspension is capable of handling the 1,300 lb, the issue may be braking capacity which is why it is listed as 915 lb load capacity in the Owner's manual. It's like the Toyota Tundra commercial pulling the space shuttle. Yes, the vehicle can pull the space shuttle. But can the brakes bring that truck to a stop from 60 mph.
As I said, there was a little left in the suspension, but it was bottoming on a hard bump. I think the 900 pounds would not be a problem but probably at the limit of a "safe load". I was very concerned about having to make a hard stop. I felt like I was risking having some of my load going through the windshield! I was also concerned about getting in a situation where I would have to make an evasive maneuver at highway speeds.
Weight distribution matters in the load on the suspension. The v isn't a truck and you aren't going to load most of the weight in the center because you may crack the seat backs. But I wouldn't be putting it all towards the rear liftgate either.
It IS my truck. I haul my garbage to the dump in it and take a Subaru engine to the machine shop with it. It's not just for groceries... There was about half of that 1300 lbs. on the right seat back. All that weight on the seat back did not hurt it at all. Yes, suspension loading was way off but it drove quite well. Again, this was with over-sized wheels and tires meant for my STi.
150 pounds per person wouldn't go very far in our family.....maybe get you someone in high school. A lot of four-adult combinations in our family would run 200 pounds apiece, which would easily take two-thirds of the payload of our main vehicle. Seriously, I think lots of people overload their vehicle sometimes, although not a lot.
