Compatible bike rack for 2017 Prius Prime?

Hmmm. I simply got Curt class I tow hitch and use a Hollywood Bike rack. Works great with no worry of scratching car or denting.

 

I have a 1.25" hitch on my gen 3. When we put a hitch on my wife's prime, it will certainly be a 2" you have way more options for bike racks with a 2" hitch.

I would go for this next time, but I am sure others will chime in with what 2" hitch works best.

Torklift Central | Select Your EcoHitch Style

 

1.25" hitch will net you 2 bikes in the back of the car.
2" hitch will get you 3+

I have a Yakima rack for the roof that could do 2+ bikes.

On a gen3 I think it is safest to do 2 on top and two on the back. Handling suffers a bit with 2 bikes out there.

I used this bike rack.
Transfer - Kuat Racks
It works very well. Do not love that there is so much plastic on it. Every bolt needs blue lock tight.

It gets really expensive to haul more than 2 bikes, how many bikes are you looking to transport?

 

BTW in the unlikely event you need warantee work, there are just 4 bolts to loosen. What hitch are you talking about?

 

It may only be 4 bolts, but it looks like several hours of dissembling/reassembling your rear bumper:

 

It took 15 min to mount my regular under the bumper curt hitch on. You just lay under the car and bolt on...

Not as nice as that 2" but it does the job.

That 2" hitch does have the two hidden mounting options.

 

That may have been the case for the gen3/original plugin prius, but it looks like the gen4/primes require significantly more work for installation/removal of the hitch.

Here's a curt hitch install:

Here's a draw-tite hitch install:

They all seem to attach by being wedged between the bumper bar and frame, which means removing the bumper bar and all of the associated coverings (e.g. fascia, underbody panels, etc). Also, it appears to require some cutting of the fascia/panels so it would probably be pretty obvious to the dealer that a hitch was installed even if you removed it before any warranty work.

 

Oh dang... 4th gen just didn't compute in my brain.

They ll look like a pain in the rear. Going to have to put aside 2-4 hours. That is really going to suck when my wife wants one.
I would certainly go for the 2" hitch. Get it done once and never look back!

 

Interesting rabbit hole I just went down...

The manual says it does not recommend towing. It says it does not recommend the installation of a tow hitch for any purpose.
It does not say anywhere in the warantee or owners manual that it will void anything. The maintenance manual even has maintenance intervals for those that tow with it. The footnote says some vehicles are not designed to tow. Looks like a bunch of BS to me and they are trying to CYA in every way possible.

Seems like its not legal in the US to reject coverage because of something like this but if they want to give you a hard time it will be you against them in court. I cannot imagine this happening, but anything is possible.

 

You won’t void your warranty putting a hitch in to haul bikes.

 

A hitch is the way to go. On another car I pulled the trunk latch out of alignment with 3 bikes on a trunk mounted rack. I'm sure the carbon hatch was not designed to carry a lot of weight, although it feels pretty sturdy. And a roof rack would add so much drag, plus the bikes get bugs on them, and they get in the way of driving into parking garages.

 

On my 2017 Prime, the Swagman G10 fits perfectly.

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Do you have a picture? My bike rack is a Transite and very similar to the Hollywood. But I think the Hollywood has a very straight connecting section that will hit my bumper. How far is the Curtis pin hole from the end of the bumper? Just bought the Prime and need to get a hitch very soon for my mtn bike. Thanks